Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl
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Jamal Ahmed al Fadl, a Sudanese-born Arab, was recruited for the Afghan war through the Farouq mosque in Brooklyn. He joined al Qaeda and took an oath of fealty to Osama bin Laden but later became an informant to the US government on al Qaeda activities.
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[edit] Association with Osama bin Laden
Most of what is publicly known about Jamal Al Fadl came through the The 9/11 Commission Report. Fadl became a business agent for al Qaeda but resented receiving a salary of only $500 a month while some of the Egyptians in al Qaeda were given $1,200 a month. Osama bin Laden discovered that Fadl had skimmed about $110,000 and asked for restitution. Fadl then defected and became a star informant for the United States.[1]
In the summer of 1996, Fadl walked into an U.S. embassy in Africa and established the fact he was a former senior employee of Bin Laden and provided a major breakthrough on intelligence on al Qaeda. This may explain in part the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa.
[edit] al Fadl testifies in court
Al Fadl testified in a trial United States v. Usama bin Laden, No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023 (S.D. N.Y.), Feb. 6, 2001 (transcript pp. 218-219, 233); Feb. 13, 2001 (transcript pp. 514-516); Feb. 20, 2001 (transcript p.890).
[edit] al Fadl's debriefing
The New York Times profiled al Fadl on December 9, 2007.[2] Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who would later become well-known for serving as the Special Prosecutor who investigate the Bush Presidency's leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, played a lead role in debriefing al Fadl.
The transcripts from his debriefing ran to 900 pages. According to the New York Times:
"The transcripts themselves emerged from a messy process: The videotapes they detail were made by mistake, from 2000 to 2002, by federal marshals who had set up the videophone hookup so prosecutors in New York could keep in close touch with Mr. Fadl. Prosecutors and the F.B.I. had not authorized the taping, and when prosecutors learned of it in 2002 they were shocked, knowing they would have to share the tapes with defense lawyers who were appealing the embassy bombings verdict."
The New York Times review of the transcripts described al Fadl's anxieties over testifying, the emotional difficulties enforced idleness caused, and the motional difficulties his entire family faced due to isolation and culture shock.[2] The article describes his wife, who didn't speak English, demanding he refuse to testify, and demanding to leave him and return to Sudan.
[edit] See also
Bin Laden Issue Station - the CIA's bin Laden tracking unit, 1996-2005
[edit] Book
Fadl is also mentioned in the book Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror by Rohan Gunaratna.
[edit] References
- ^ 9-11 Commission Report page 79. 9-11 Commission (2003). Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
- ^ a b Benjamin Weiser. "How to Keep an Ex-Terrorist Talking", New York Times, December 9, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
