Compare and contrast: Al-Marri

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al-Marri a student and family man, victim of Bush administration
BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE, Undated, presumably prior to 4/30/09

EXCEPRT: Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is the only person detained as an “enemy combatant” in the United States. Mr. al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar and a legal U.S. resident, has been imprisoned without a trial and without due process since he was arrested in Peoria, Illinois, in December 2001. Mr. al-Marri came to the United States with his wife and five children to obtain a masters degree at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. After he was arrested, he was charged with credit card fraud and other criminal offenses. Mr. al-Marri asserted his innocence and prepared to contest the charges at trial. But, in June 2003, shortly before his trial was scheduled to commence, and on the eve of a hearing to suppress illegally seized evidence, President Bush signed a one-page order declaring Mr. al-Marri an “enemy combatant” and directing his transfer to a Navy Brig in South Carolina, where he was held incommunicado and interrogated for more than a year. At the Brig, Mr. al-Marri was subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. He remains in solitary confinement at the Brig under severe restrictions and has not seen his family in nearly six years, and has spoken to them only a couple of times.

Although Mr. al-Marri was arrested at his home in the middle of the United States, the Executive claims the power to hold him indefinitely as an “enemy combatant” based upon second- and third-hand allegations that he is an “al Qaeda sleeper agent.” No evidence was presented to sustain these allegations, many of which appear to have been gained through torture. Further, President Bush asserted that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 strips the federal courts of their historic habeas corpus review over his challenge to his detention. If so, any of the millions of immigrants in the United States can be swept off the streets and locked in a military jail without access to the courts.

al-Marri pleads guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to Al Qaeda
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Press Release 4/30/09

EXCERPT: Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. ***In pleading guilty, al-Marri has admitted the following facts [...] Between 1998 to 2001, al-Marri attended various terrorist training camps where he learned the use of weapons and operational security tradecraft that al Qaeda employed to avoid detection, conceal their communications and protect their operations. These methods included prearranged codes and other techniques to protect communications, counter-surveillance techniques and the protection of information on computers.

In 2001, al-Marri was approached by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was then the external operations chief for al Qaeda, about assisting al Qaeda operations in the United States. Al-Marri agreed to do so and knew at the time that he entered into the agreement with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that he was providing himself to al Qaeda to further their terrorist objectives. [...]Al-Marri was instructed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to enter the United States no later than Sept. 10, 2001, with an understanding that he was to remain in the United States for an undetermined length of time. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed also directed al-Marri to meet with Mustafa al-Hawsawi (hereinafter al-Hawsawi) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where al-Hawsawi provided him with $10,000. Al-Marri knew that al-Hawsawi was associated with al Qaeda and agrees that the government would prove at trial that al-Hawsawi was a primary financier of the September 11th attacks.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and al-Marri also set up a code through which they communicated. Al-Marri was instructed to conceal telephone numbers and other numbers to be used in e-mail addresses by using a numeric code (hereinafter, “10-code”). This code was used by al Qaeda members, including al-Hawsawi and some of the Sept. 11th hijackers to conceal telephone numbers so as to avoid detection. Al-Marri was also provided contact information for several al Qaeda associates which he stored in his personal PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) using the 10-code.

[...]Details of the prearranged code were stored in an address book that was found in an al Qaeda safe house in Pakistan. [...] From approximately June 2001 through August 2001, al-Marri communicated via e-mail with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as directed and agreed upon, about his attempts to gain entry into the United States via a student visa from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He applied online to Bradley University using the same e-mail address he used to communicate with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. To expedite his admission, he applied for a second bachelor’s degree instead of a master’s degree.
Once al-Marri learned he had been re-enrolled in Bradley University, he traveled to Dubai and met with al-Hawsawi, who provided him $10,000. Al-Marri then traveled to Pakistan to meet Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Upon his return to Qatar, al-Marri applied for a new Qatari passport. He also obtained his student visa, but did not admit on his visa application that he had taken a trip to the United States in 2000, where he had established a fictitious business using a false name and stolen Social Security number, fraudulently obtaining a number of credit cards and opening several business accounts.

Al-Marri and his family arrived in the United States on Sept. 10, 2001. On Sept. 21, 2001, he traveled to another university in Illinois and created five new e-mail accounts under different aliases. By this time, he knew al Qaeda was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and understood why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had directed him to be in the United States before that date. Al-Marri used these new e-mail accounts to inform Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that he had arrived safely in the United States. He also provided Khalid Sheikh Mohammed with his Peoria cellular telephone number. From Sept. 23, 2001 through Nov. 4, 2001, al-Marri made several unsuccessful attempts to call al-Hawsawi and others he knew were al Qaeda operatives. To conceal his communications efforts, he used prepaid calling cards at public pay phones in and around central and northern Illinois. Although the initial calls were made from payphones in the Peoria area, after al-Marri was interviewed by the FBI on Oct. 2, 2001, he expanded the calling area, sometimes traveling more 160 miles away to place calls.

Al-Marri also conducted online research of various cyanide compounds, including hydrogen cyanide, potassium cyanide, and sodium cyanide. He reviewed toxicity levels, locations where these items could be purchased, and specific pricing of the compounds. He also explored obtaining sulfuric acid, a well-known binary agent used in a hydrogen cyanide binary device to create cyanide gas. Al-Marri agrees that the government would prove at trial this is the method taught by al Qaeda for manufacturing cyanide gas.
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In December 2001, al-Marri was arrested on a material witness warrant issued in connection with the investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He was later indicted on credit card fraud, false statements and identity fraud charges. These charges were dismissed on June 23, 2003, when al-Marri was designated by President Bush as an enemy combatant and transported to the Naval Consolidated Brig in South Carolina. Al-Marri remained detained by the Defense Department until his transfer to Justice Department custody this year in connection with this case.