41
10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 12, 2001
NATION/WORLD
First indictment made in
WASHINGTON (AP) - in the first criminal
indictment stemming from Sept. I1, a federal
grand jury yesterday charged a Frenchman who
was jailed a month before the attacks with con-
spiring with Osama bin Laden to murder thou-
sands in the suicide hijackings.
The 30-page indictment against Zacarias
Moussaoui, 33, who was born in France of
Moroccan descent, laid out in copious detail an
international plot dating to 1998 that involved the
19 hijackers, bin Laden, top al-Qaida deputies
and tens of thousand of dollars.
Moussaoui was charged with six felonies,
including four that carry the death penalty. The
indictment sets the stage for a trial in a federal
courtroom in the Virginia suburbs of Washington
rather than a military tribunal.
"The United States of America has brought
the awesome weight of justice against the terror-
ists who brutally murdered innocent Americans,"
Attorney General John Ashcroft said in
announcing the indictment on the three month
anniversary of the deadly hijackings.
"Al-Qaida will now meet the justice it abhors
and the judgment it fears."
Ashcroft called Moussaoui an "active partici-
pant" with the 19 hijackers who crashed four jet-
liners in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania, killing thousands.
Though jailed since Aug. 17 in Minnesota
after raising suspicions while seeking flight train-
ing, Moussaoui had worked in concert with bin
Laden associates to carry out the attacks, the
attorney general alleged.
The indictment said Moussaoui's activities
mirrored those of the 19 hijackers - he attended
I
sept. 11 c~
flight school, opened a bank account with cash,
joined a gym, purchased knives, bought flight
deck videos and looked into crop dusting planes.
"Moussaoui followed many of the same pat-
terns and took many of the same steps as the 19
hijackers," FBI Director Robert Mueller said.
The indictment charged Moussaoui "with con-
spiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida'to
murder thousands of innocent people in New
York, Virginia and Pennsylvania on Sept. i1."
Moussaoui faces arraignment Jan. 2 on six
charges of conspiracy: terrorism, aircraft piracy,
3nspiracy
destruction of aircraft, use of weapons of mass
destruction, murder and destruction of property.
The indictment also identifies bin Laden, his
top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri and other
alleged member of al-Qaida as unindicted co-
conspirators.
Among the unindicted co-conspirators was
Ramsi Binalshibh, a Yemeni fugitive who lived
in Germany with some of the hijackers. Mueller
has said Binalshibh was supposed to be the 20th
hijacker on Sept. 11, but failed to make it into the
United States.
4
Release of bin Laden
tape could come today
WASHINGTON (AP) - Not that they had
any doubts, but senators who reviewed the tape
of Osama bin Laden said yesterday they hope it
will convince the rest of the world that he's
responsible for the Sept. II attacks on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon.
"What's on it is a frightening display of evil.
Here-are three men, sitting in what looks like a
common room for that part of the world, calmly
discussing the events of September 11 like it was
last weekend's golf game,' said Sen. Richard J.
Durbin (D-Ill.) after viewing the tape. "Osama
bin Laden is laughinig, grinning and marveling at
the destruction and death of September 11."
The tape is expected to be made public as early
as today. The amateurish video apparently
meant for internal al-Qaida use - records a con-
versation between bin Laden and a Saudi Arabian
sheik, whom officials know little about and have
declined to identify. Two bin Laden associates --
spiritual adviser Ayman al-Zawahri and spokesman
Abu Ghaith - also appear in the tape, Durbin said.
After reviewing it, Durbin and other senators
on the intelligence committee called on the Bush
administration to release the tape, which was
found in an abandoned residence in Jalalabad,
Afghanistan.
"This is a basic acknowledgment by Osama
bin Laden of his central role in the 9-11 planning
of the events at the Trade towers and the Penta-
gon," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice
chairman of the intelligence committee. "I
believe the tapes ought to be released. The timing
is up to our policymakers and the president. I
believe it would explain to a lot of people that
have been doubting Osama bin Laden's culpabili-
ty that it's there."
"Here are three men,
sitting in what looks
like a common room for
at part of the world,
calmly discussing the
events o September 11
like it was last,
weekend's gof game."
- Sen. Richard J. Durbin
D-I.
Other senators expressed similar sentiments.
"It tells me that he is culpable, that he clearly
'knew that Mohammad Atta was the leader, that
he clearly knew what was going to happen before
it happened," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-
Calif.). "The inference was that there was a plan
to make it happen."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he hopes the
tape will refute claims from bin Laden's support-
ers that he was not behind the attacks and end
rumors that other groups were responsible. He
cited suspicions in Pakistan suggesting the attack
was a Jewish plot to draw the United States into a
war on Islam.
"This video will open a lot of eyes," Wyden
said. "The world will see that you are dealing
with the level of pathology ... that is very, very
twisted and sick."
A P PHOTO
Advancing Afghan anti-Taliban fighters search for al-Qaida fighters in the Milawa Valley of the White Mountains of northeastern Afghanistan
yesterday. Anti-Taliban forces, backed by U.S. fighter jets, drove al-Qaida forces from their mountain top positions in intense fighting.
CorneXre AIQaida fces
still expe,&cted to surrner
Michigan lawmakers
propose anti-terror bill
LANSING (AP) - A bill that would require
background checks on flight school students is
among a package of anti-terrorism bills intro-
duced yesterday by legislative leaders.
The package of 34 bills, introduced on the
three-month anniversary of the Sept. I1 terrorist
attacks, is intended to improve public safety. The
bills give law enforcement agencies new tools to
investigate threats and strengthen the state's
response to emergencies.
The bills were developed by House Speaker
Rick Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Dan
DeGrow, both Republicans, and House Minority
Leader Kwame Kilpatrick and Senate Minority
Leader John Cherry, who are Democrats.
"This is a commonsense approach that protects
the public without threatening civil liberties,"
Johnson, of LeRoy, said in a written statement.
The package's main bill would define a terror-
ist act as a violent felony that threatens, intimi-
dates or coerces people or attempts to affect the
conduct of government.
Assets used to commit a terrorist act could be
frozen under another bill in the package. Other
measures in the legislation would:
® Require those convicted of a terrorism-relat-
ed offense to reimburse municipalities for emer-
gency response costs.
M Require that applicants for drivers licenses
and personal identification cards be U.S. citizens
or legal aliens.
* Set penalties for using the Internet with the
intent of committing a terrorist act. A person
convicted of such an offense could face up 20
years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
* Require Michigan flight school operators to
conduct background checks on potential stu-
dents.
TORA BORA, Afghanistan (AP) - A
U.S. B-52 aircraft bombed Osama bin
Laden's mountain refuge today about one
hour after a deadline had passed for the sur-
render of cornered al-Qaida forces.
After the air raid, Mohammed Lal, a
senior commander with the U.S-supported
eastern alliance, told The Associated Press
that the surrender had only been been
delayed and was still expected to take place.
"They are running late. But they have
agreed to come down the mountain in
groups of between 20 and 40 men," Lal said.
"We are clearing the area to make a safe
place for their surrender."
He said the al-Qaida fighters would lay
down their weapons and walk a short dis-
tance to an alliance position where they
would be searched. Trucks would then take
them to the alliance's command post at
Agom village, about three miles to the
southeast, where they would be detained.
Journalists were kept away from the
mountainside canyon where al-Qaida forces
were holed up.
It was unclear whether the bombs directly
hit the canyon. However, gunfire could be
heard coming from the area. Lal said he did
not know why the bombing had taken place
or who had done the shooting.
The eastern alliance, which overran al-
Qaida's positions yesterday, gave their main-
ly Arab opponents until 8 a.m. today (10:30
p.m. EST yesterday) to disarm and walk out
of the Tora Bora area, saying they would
otherwise face a massive attack.
About 30 minutes after the surrender
deadline had come and gone, the alliance's
defense chief Mohammed Zaman said: "No
Arabs have come out, yet."
Zaman, who wants to hand the al-Qaida
fighters over to the United Nations for pros-
ecution, smiled and cocked his head when
asked if U.S. military personnel were operat-
ing in the area.
U.S. warplanes also carried out bombing
raids before dawn in the area today. And, as
the surrender deadline passed, a B-52
bomber circled menacingly over Tora Bora,
leaving a spiraling white vapor trail in the
blue sky.
It dropped its payload about an hour later.
There was no immediate details on possi-
ble casualties frbm the air raid.
It was also unclear whether bin Laden
was among the foreign fighters who were
stranded in the canyon yesterday after a
fierce tribal assault and devastating U.S.
airstrikes, which included 15,000-pound
"daisy cutters" bombs, flattened hillsides
and scattered debris over the barren, wind-
swept hills.
Yesterday afternoon,-some of the foreign
al-Qaida supporters had contacted tribal
commanders by radio and pleaded for the
chance to give up.
Zaman agreed to a pause in the fighting
after a radio conversation with al-Qaida
fighters in the Pashtun language, monitored
in part by an interpreter working for The
Associated Press.
Afterward, his representatives met some
al-Qaida commanders whom he said begged
the alliance: "Please don't fight us, we want
to surrender." Still, Zaman said he was skep-
tical all fighters would give up peacefully.
Pentagon officials said the war against ter-
rorism was far from over and that some al-
Qaida members might be hiding in the
underground network of caves and tunnels.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
warned that there might be holdouts willing
to fight, saying, "a wounded animal can be
dangerous."
6
I
Reports of discrimination at
work rise for Arabs, Muslims
6
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The number of
workplace discrimination complaints
filed by Arab Americans, Muslims and
Sikhs has more than doubled since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commis-
sion reported yesterday.
Between Sept. 11 and Dec. 6, offi-
cials said the EEOC received 166
complaints of illegal discrimination
from members of those groups, mostly
involving Muslim workers who were
fired from their jobs. During the same
period one year ago, only 64 such
*claims were filed.
EEOC Chairwoman Cari
Dominguez said at a public hearing at
EEOC headquarters that no other topic
could be "more timely and more
appropriate." It was the first hearing
she has held since becoming head of
the commission in August.
She and other commissioners said
they would act vigorously to pursue
such allegations. And they praised as a
"success story" the action many com-
panies took to tell employees after the
attacks that harassment and anti-Arab
discrimination would not be tolerated.
She said most of the bias complaints
occurred at companies with "no poli-
cies and no preventive measures,
allowing the employment environment
to be infected by ethnic or religious
prejudice."
But there were different views at the
hearing about how widespread the.
problem is.
Commissioner Paul Igasaki said he
understands fears of racial stereotyp-
ing because his mother was placed in a
Japanese internment camp in Califor-
nia during World War II. But he noted
that despite the surge in numbers, the
EEOC - which gets' 80,000 com-
plaints a year - has received a "rela-
tively small number" of complaints.
He said the agency has had "trouble
getting cases we can move" into the
courts.
Members of immigrant advocacy
groups, in contrast, testified that the sta-
tistics understate the magnitude of the
problem. Arshad Majid, an official of
the National Association of Muslim
Lawyers, said his organization is aware
of "hundreds, thousands" of such cases,
which he called "incredibly troubling."
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Scientists discussed
nukes with bin Laden
4
The Washington Post
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Two
Pakistani nuclear scientists reportedly
have told investigators they conducted
long discussions about nuclear, chemi-
mic" and said they have no evidence the
information resulted in the creation or
production of any type of weapon.
'The reported admissions by Sultan
Bashiruddin Mahmood, who held key
appointments in each of Pakistan's
A