Al Qaeda used Hotmail to direct attacks

The unquoteable news agency has the story based on al Marri's confession.

CNN gives some details from the plea agreement:

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According to a copy of his plea agreement, al-Marri admits that he "knowingly conspired and agreed with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" to provide support to al Qaeda and to work under the organization's direction and control.

"Between 1998 and 2001, the defendant attended various training camps because he wished to engage in jihad," the document states. While in the training camps and in al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan, he was known by the name Abdul-Rahman al-Qatari, according to the plea agreement.

Mohammed approached al-Marri in 2001, the plea agreement says, about his offer to assist al Qaeda. "The defendant was instructed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to enter the United States no later than September 10, 2001, with an understanding that he was to remain in the United States for an undetermined length of time," the documents said.

Al-Marri applied to Bradley using the same e-mail address he used to communicate with Mohammed, the plea agreement says. At Bradley, he "rarely attended classes and was in a failing status by the end of his first semester."

On September 21, 2001, al-Marri traveled to another central Illinois university and created five new e-mail accounts under different aliases, the documents said. "By this time, the defendant knew that al Qaeda was responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and fully understood why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had directed him to be in the United States before that date." He used the new e-mail accounts to inform Mohammed of his whereabouts and activities, and also gave him his cell phone number in encoded format, according to the plea agreement.

In addition, he conducted online research "related to various cyanide compounds. The defendant's focus was on various cyanide substances ... the defendant reviewed toxicity levels, the locations where these items could be purchased, and specific pricing of the compounds," the documents said. He also explored obtaining sulfuric acid.

An almanac found at al-Marri's residence was bookmarked "at pages showing dams, waterways and tunnels in the United States," the plea agreement said.

"Ali al-Marri was an al Qaeda 'sleeper' operative working on U.S. soil and directed by the chief planner of the 9/11 attacks," said Arthur Cummings, executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch, in a Department of Justice statement.

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He faces a sentence of up to 15 years which does not seem like enough for an Al Qaeda mass murderer who was caught before he could implement his plan. We would be safer if he was shipped to Gitmo and held for the duration of the war. This lawfare approach will make us less safe.