*EPF411 05/03/01
U.S. Outlines Charges Against Embassy Bombing Defendants
(Confession "tap dances with the truth," prosecutor says) (1720)
By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Correspondent

New York -- Working through the 302 counts of the indictment against four men accused in the conspiracy and bombing of two U.S. embassies, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Karas May 2 accused one of the defendants of "tap dancing with the truth" when he told an FBI agent that he had no part in planning the destruction of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

In the second day of summing up the government's case, Karas continued linking the volumes of evidence collected by law enforcement officials from the United States, Kenya, Tanzania, and Great Britain to the government's charges. He also described the 302 counts against Odeh and the three other defendants, showing how the evidence proves their guilt on each count.

Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, who is charged by the United States with, among other things, conspiracy to murder Americans, gave a statement to the FBI agent soon after being returned to Kenya in August 1998 by Pakistani officials who rejected his fake passport.

"What I submit to you as we go through this statement is that what you are going to see is Odeh tap dancing with the truth," Karas said. "He explicitly denies having a role in the bombing, but he talks all around the bombing and he talks all around the meetings that take place, the meetings that he was willing to admit to the agent, the meetings with the other people who told him the things that preceded the bombing."

Karas rejected Odeh's defense that he knew "something big" was going to happen in Nairobi but knew no specifics. Urging the jury to "see what the evidence is telling you," he said that Odeh participated in planning the operation and working with the explosives.

"He borrows from the truth, but he doesn't give the complete truth," Karas said.

What Odeh did, he said, "is give up as much information as he thinks he can to convince the Americans that he wasn't involved, to make his story sound credible, and ... in the course of doing that, you will see precisely how it is that he was involved in this bombing."

Odeh said that in early August 1998, using a fake passport, he checked into a Nairobi hotel where he met his former al Qaeda bomb instructor. He said he also knew that two associates, Saleh and Harun, were "going off to do a small job, which he knows isn't to do shopping," and that al Qaeda headquarters in Kandahar was expecting U.S. retaliation, the prosecutor said. Odeh himself had been ordered to leave Kenya by August 6.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, common sense tells you that there is much more to that story. But we don't have to go down and figure out exactly how much Odeh left out, because when you look at the statement in conjunction with the other physical evidence, you see precisely what it is that makes Odeh guilty," Karas said.

Karas pointed out that Odeh's travel bag and some of the articles inside tested negative for explosives, but rumpled and dirty clothing tested positive for TNT and PETN, components of the Nairobi bomb.

"That explosive residue got on Odeh's clothing before he got on that plane on August 6, 1998," Karas said.

Referring to the defense's claim that the residue got on the clothing from residue on the hands and table when law enforcement agents handled them at Kenyan CID headquarters, Karas said, "That's not what the evidence tells you."

If the agents "are running around with TNT-laden hands," holding the bag and touching the clothing, he pointed out, the bag handles and all the clothes would have been positive.

Instead, "it was the articles of clothing, precisely the kinds of things you would expect would get TNT when you are working around TNT and PETN," Karas said.

Showing diagrams of the embassy grounds found in Odeh's house in Witu, Karas explained that when Odeh said he was unhappy about the number of Kenyans killed, "what he is telling the FBI is that that was not the plan."

When you put it all together, "the only conclusion is that Odeh's role in this was not to drive the truck, it was not to throw the flash grenades -- he was one of the people who was going to plan the operation," he said.

On trial in New York in addition to Odeh, a Jordanian, are Wadih El Hage, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon; Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, a Saudi Arabian; and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a Tanzanian. They are charged with the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 4,000. They are part of a group of 22 men, including al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, indicted in the case.

Surrounded by pieces of evidence, Karas also pointed at a grinder, saying, "This is the piece of machinery that was used to grind the TNT.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we don't have a picture of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed and the others grinding the TNT and putting together the components of the bomb. That is something you are going to have to picture," he said.

"You picture Khalfan Khamis Mohamed and Mustafa Fadhl and the others, with Mustafa Fadhl's children somewhere in the house, grinding the TNT, putting together the components of what they know is going to be a massive bomb, that they know is planned to be delivered at the doorstep of a building filled with people, and who knows how many people around that building. That's what went on in 213 Ilala, the house that Khalfan Khamis Mohamed rented in the summer of 1998," Karas said.

When the 12 jurors begin their closed deliberations they will have three documents provided by the court to guide them -- a copy of the indictment; a copy of the judge's instructions, which will already have been read to them; and a "verdict form," which will explain what questions have to be answered to determine innocence or guilt.

The trial is expected to go to the jury about May 10. Attorneys for the defendants are scheduled to give their summations beginning May 3.

The indictment contains four conspiracy counts: The first one, which includes all four defendants, is a conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals; the second is a conspiracy to murder United States government officers and employees and also includes all four defendants; the third count, which only includes Odeh, Al-'Owhali and K.K. Mohamed, charges conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against United States nationals; and the fourth count is a conspiracy to destroy United States government property and buildings.

A conspiracy "is simply an illegal agreement between two or more people to break the law," Karas explained to the jury. "To prove a conspiracy count, the government must show you beyond a reasonable doubt the agreement to violate the law, each defendant's membership and participation in that agreement, and an overt act -- something that was done by somebody in the conspiracy in furtherance of the conspiracy.

"The goal of the conspiracy need not be achieved," he added.

Membership in al Qaeda by swearing bayat (oath) is not a requirement for guilt of conspiracy, the prosecutor said., and taking the bayat is not by itself membership in the conspiracy.

There is no evidence that Al-'Owhali and K.K. Mohamed swore bayat to al Qaeda, Karas said. "The evidence is, however, that they joined in a conspiracy with others, including some who swore allegiance to al Qaeda, as part of the conspiracy to murder United States nationals." Al-'Owhali's participation was most evident in his making a video about his participation and expected martyrdom in the bombing before he left for Kenya.

El Hage's participation, Karas said, dates back to when he was in Sudan and al Qaeda was targeting the United States in Somalia, including issuing private fatwahs saying that Americans had to be attacked because of their presence in the gulf. El Hage was present at those secret meetings, he said.

Karas cited as evidence of the secret conspiracy the testimony of former al Qaeda members Jamal al-Fadl and L'Houssaine Kherchtou, public statements such as the August 1996 declaration of jihad, a March 1997 CNN interview with bin Laden, the February 1998 fatwah, and a May 1998 ABC News interview with the al Qaeda leader. And, most vividly, the embassy bombings.

Count 5 charges Odeh and Al-'Owhali in connection with the Nairobi bombing of using an explosive to damage or destroy a U.S. government building. Count 6 charges K.K. Mohamed with using an explosive in connection with the Dar es Salaam bombing. Counts 7 and 8 deal with the use of a weapon of mass destruction against United States nationals -- count 7 in connection with Nairobi and count 8 with Dar es Salaam. A weapon of mass destruction "basically means a bomb," the prosecutor said.

Counts 9 through 232 are the individual murder counts for each victim. Counts 9 to 221 are the victims in Nairobi, and counts 222 to 232 are the murder counts in Dar es Salaam. Counts 233 through 273 charge individual murder counts for each of the U.S. government employees killed in Nairobi. Count 274 charges attempted murder of U.S. government employees in Nairobi and count 277 charges attempted murder of U.S. government employees in Dar es Salaam.

Counts 278 and 279 charge Odeh and Al-'Owhali with murder of internationally protected persons -- such as ambassadors and other diplomats -- in Nairobi. Count 280 charges the attempted murder of internationally protected persons in Nairobi and count 281 charges K.K. Mohamed with attempted murder in Dar es Salaam.

Count 282 charges Odeh, Al-'Owhali, and K.K. Mohamed with the use and carrying of an explosive in connection with count 1. Count 284 charges K.K. Mohamed with using and carrying a destructive device -- a bomb.

Counts 285 and 302 are the perjury counts against El Hage for his grand jury testimony in 1997 and 1998.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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