Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri pleaded guilty today to being an al-Qaeda ‘sleeper’ operative working on U.S. soil under the direction of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, planner of the 9/11 attacks. He case was before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Al-Marri was arrested in December 2001 on a material witness warrant issued in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Charges against him of credit card and identity fraud were dismissed in June 2003, when President Bush designated the dual Saudi-Qatari national an “enemy combatant” and sent him to a Navy brig in South Carolina, where he remained until the Obama administration transfered his case to the civilian courts with a new indictment issued in February.
From today’s DOJ news release:
“Al-Marri researched the use of chemical weapons, potential targets and maximum casualties,” said Arthur M. Cummings, II, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch. …
“Ali al-Marri today admitted that he traveled to central Illinois as an al-Qaeda operative the day before the Sept.11, 2001, attacks to plan and prepare for future acts of terrorism within the United States,” said Jeffrey B. Lang, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois.
The government said al-Marri knew the government was prepared to prove he attended terrorist training camps from 1998 to 2001 and stayed in safe houses in Pakistan run by al-Qaeda. He gave al-Qaeda operatives his family contact information should he be killed or “martyred” during an al-Qaeda mission, the DOJ news release said. KSM approached him in 2001 about going to the U.S. no later than Sept. 10, 2001. Al-Marri used codes and email to communicate with KSM, the government said.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Joanna Baltes and Sharon Lever of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Risley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin F. McDonald of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina also provided critical assistance.
