| Walid bin Attash وليد بن عطاش | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bin Attash, 2010 | |
| Born | Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash 1978 (age 46–47)[1] Yemen |
| Detained at | CIAblack sites,Guantanamo |
| Other name(s) | Tawfiq bin Attash[2][3][4] Khallad[5] Silver[6] |
| ISN | 10014 |
| Charge | Charged before a military commission |
Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash (Arabic:وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978)[7] is a Yemeni prisoner held at the United States'Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-related charges and is suspected of playing a key role in the early stages of the 9/11 attacks.[8] The Office of theDirector of National Intelligence has described him as a "scion of a terrorist family".[9] American prosecutors at theGuantanamo military commissions allege that he helped in the preparation of the 1998East Africa Embassy bombings and the 2000USSCole bombing[10] and acted as abodyguard to Osama bin Laden,[11] gaining himself the reputation of an "errand boy".[12] He is formally charged with selecting and helping to train several of the hijackers of theSeptember 11 attacks.[13] On 31 July 2024, Attash agreed to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.[14][15] His plea deal was revoked by Secretary of DefenseLloyd Austin two days later.[16][17]
Hailing from a prominent Saudi family on friendly terms withOsama bin Laden,[18] Attash had several brothers fighting during the tumultuous1990s in Afghanistan.[19] His family was deported from Yemen based on his father's radical views, and he grew up in Saudi Arabia.[20]
He studied at theUniversity of Islamic Studies inKarachi, Pakistan.[11]
Attash lost his right leg in 1997 while fighting against theNorthern Alliance and wore a metal prosthesis in its place,[12][19] leading to the nicknames "Father of the Leg"[10] and Silver, the latter a reference toLong John Silver who similarly had only one real leg.[6] His brother was killed in the same battle, and his death led Attash to joinal-Qaeda.[20]
He was asked to help obtain explosives to target theUSSThe Sullivans in 1999, as part of the intended2000 millennium attack plots.[20]
In late 1999, while using thenom de guerreKhallad, Attash phonedKhalid al-Mihdhar, informing him of the upcomingKuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. In January 2000, Attash flew toMalaysia, ostensibly to receive a newprosthetic leg, and attended the summit. On January 8,Malaysian Special Branch informed theCIA that Attash had flown toBangkok together with al-Mihdhar andNawaf al-Hazmi. While there, theFBI received a transcript of a phone call fromFahd al-Quso and one of theUSS Cole bombers, which mentioned giving Attash $5,000 to purchase a new prosthesis. During later interrogation, al-Quso confessed that he was handing over $36,000, and that it wasn't actually meant to purchase a prosthesis.[12]
In October 2000, Attash was identified as themastermind behind theUSSCole bombing which took place inAden,Yemen.[21]
On September 11, 2002, his 17-year-old brotherHassan bin Attash was taken prisoner by Pakistani forces raiding theTariq Road House, handed over to the Americans and sent toThe Dark Prison.[22]
In the spring of 1999,Bin Laden selected four individuals to serve as suicide operatives after discussing what U.S. targets to crash planes into. These operatives were identified as Walid bin Attash,Nawaf al-Hazmi,Khalid al-Mihdhar, andAbu Bara al-Yemeni.[4] Bin Laden directed Bin Attash to obtain a United States visa so that he could travel to the U.S. and obtain pilot training in order to participate in what Bin Attash termed the "Planes Operation."[4] However, in April 1999 al-Mihdhar was unable to obtain a U.S. visa and returned to Afghanistan. Once back in Afghanistan, Bin Attash administered a forty-five day special course in hand-to-hand combat training at an al Qaeda camp in Logar, Afghanistan, in order to help select trainees for the "Planes Operation." al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar (both eventual hijackers ofAmerican Airlines Flight 77) attended this course and would later be selected as "muscle" hijackers in the 9/11 attacks.[23]
Still wanting Bin Attash to be involved in the planes operation, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) split the operation into two parts. The first part involved the planned attacks in the US with the second part involving the hijacking of US-flagged commercial airlines over South East Asia and blowing them up. Bin Attash confirmed this part of the plot and state the intention was to hijack several airlines from various Southeast Asian countries. In December 1999, Bin Attash was trained by KSM in Karachi, Pakistan which involved learning basic English, interpreting and reading airline timetables/flight schedules, making travel arrangements, watching movies that featured hijackings, using flight simulator games and learning how to case flights.[4] Near the end of December 1999, KSM directed Bin Attash to conduct a casing mission in support of the Planes Operation. Bin Attash was given a razor knife to assess airline security and carried this razor knife on flights to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Bangkok, Thailand, and Hong Kong, China. On these flights, Bin Attash collected information on United States air carriers, such as the number of passengers on the flights that were in first class, business class, and economy class.[23] During a January 1, 2000 flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong, Bin Attash flew aboard a U.S. airliner and tested security by carrying his razor onto the plane in his toiletries kit and realized that sitting in first class on that flight did not offer a good view of the cockpit.[24]
Bin Attash traveled to Kuala Lumpur where he met with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar and discussed the surveillance obtained while casing flights, which included the security on the flights, secreting the razor knife on board the aircraft, and other flight information for use in the "Planes Operation."[23] During this time Bin Attash was aware that al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar were involved in an operation involving planes in the U.S. but denied knowing details of the plan.[24] Upon his return to Karachi, Pakistan, Bin Attash prepared a written report and briefed KSM and Mohammed Atef (the military commander of al-Qaeda) on airline security and his ability to get the razor knife on board the flights.[23] Bin Laden would cancel the East Asia portion of the plot in the spring of 2000 as he thought it would be too difficult to coordinate this part of the plan along with the operation in the U.S.[24] Bin Attash would later provide future hijackerHani Hanjour with an email address in order to contact al-Hazmi in the United States sometime in December 2000.[23]
Attash was captured together withAli Abdul Aziz Ali inKarachi, on 29 April 2003.[25][26][27]
He was sent toThe Dark Prison, and his brother was moved toGuantanamo Bay detention camps in 2003 or 2004. While there, he was interrogated under harsh circumstances and confessed thatAbderraouf Jdey had been known to him.[28] Despite having only one leg, he was forced to stand instress positions, "an acutely difficult technique for him" as the Americans took away his false leg, forcing him to balance awkwardly on one foot until losing his balance and ripping at the tendons in his arms.[29]
He was transferred to Guantanamo on 6 September 2006, together with 13 other "high-level detainees" the CIA had been holding in secret detention. He was given victim status in Poland for his allegedtorture by Americans in aCIA black site on Polish soil.[30]
Having been brought to Guantanamo fromblack sites, the new prisoners were accorded a new series ofCombatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant". They had been instituted in 2004 to mitigate theSupreme Court's findings that the holding of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay was unconstitutional.
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. These included thatMohammad Rashed Daoud al-Owhali had stated that Attash had told him to prepare for a suicide carbombing against East African embassies of the United States a month or two before the attacks occurred. The memo alleged that Attash had trained inclose-combat in theLowgar training camp and seenOsama bin Laden give a speech to graduates of the camp. The memo also alleged that Attash used a Yemeni merchant's registration card that had been forged by "a suspect of the USSCole bombing". An unnamed participant in theCole bombing also confessed to being given a letter written by Attash which asked for his assistance with the bombing, and was the only reason he aided the bombers.
It also said that authorities knew of an al-Qaeda cell dubbed "Father of the Leg" that revolved around a senior member, and believed this was a reference to Attash due to his missing limb.
It also stated that a contact stored in the phone belonging to Attash was also listed as a contact in a notebook belonging to "a senior al Qaida operative", and that his University ID card had been found "at an alleged al Qaida residence" in Karachi. He was also "implicated" by a notebook found during a raid, which listed payments made to various al-Qaeda members. An unnamed source also claimed to have seen him at al Farouq training camp.
Bin Attash attended his Tribunal.[33] A week after the March 12, 2007, tribunal, Attash was reported to have confessed to his role in preparing both theCole and Embassy attacks.[34] He confessed purchasing the explosives and small boat used in theCole bombing, as well as recruiting the perpetrators, and planning the operation 18 months before the actual attack; he stated that he was inKandahar, Afghanistan with bin Laden at the time of theCole attack, and in Karachi at the time of the simultaneous embassy bombings meeting with the mastermind of the attack. The DoD was later to publish a ten-page transcript from the unclassified portion of the Tribunal:
I was the link between Usama bin Laden and his deputy SheikhAbu Hafs al-Masri and the cell chief in Nairobi. I was the link that was available in Pakistan. I used to supply the cell with whatever documents they need from fake stamps to visas, whatever.
HisPersonal Representative met with him on February 13, and told the tribunal that Attash confirmed that many of the allegations were basically correct, but that he had never owned a telephone and that he had forged the Yemeni registration card himself.
TheUS Department of Defense announced on 9 August 2007, that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to Guantanamo from the CIA'sblack sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants".[35] Although judgesPeter Brownback andKeith J. Allred had ruled two months earlier that only "illegal enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges beforeGuantanamo military commissions.[36][37]
Bin Attash,Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,Ammar al Baluchi chose to serve as their own attorney.[38] They requested laptops, and internet access, in order to prepare their defenses. In October 2008,Ralph Kohlmann ruled that they be provided with the computers, but not the internet access.
On 8 December 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to confess and plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until aftermental competency hearings for Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh. Mohammed said, "We want everyone to plead together."[39]
On 17 May 2010,Saba News Agency reported that Walid bin Attash, and four other Yemenis would face charges in the summer of 2010.[40] Two of the other Yemenis Saba News reported would face charges were:Ramzi bin al-Shibh andAbd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
On 31 May 2011, the Department of Defense announced that capital charges have been re-filed against Bin 'Attash and four other alleged co-conspirators for their alleged roles in the September 11th, 2001 attacks. The charges include: conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking aircraft and terrorism.[41] As of December 2022, the case is still in the pretrial phase after years of delays. Reporting in late 2022 indicated that the Biden administration was weighing a possible plea deal with Bin 'Attash and the four other suspected terrorists' Military Commission Trial.[42] On 31 July 2024, Attash agreed to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty,[14][15] however it was revoked by Defense SecretaryLloyd Austin two days later.[15][16][43]
Tawfiq bin Atash, a senior al Qaeda operative considered the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in 2000, also assisted the 9/11 plot.
Mohammed, his nephew Ammar al-Baluchi and Walid bin Attash have sought through standby counsel filings at the Military Commission a long list of resources they say they need to mount their defense -- including Internet links to read news accounts and do live research on databases.
The U.S. will start in this summer trying five Yemeni detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay in Cuba including Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash and Abdul Rahim Al-Nasheri, the September 26 website has reported.
Detainees who faced charges before theGuantanamo military commission | |
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| February 2004 charges |
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| August 2004 charges |
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| November 2005 charges |
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| January 2006 charges | |
| June 2006 ruling |
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| February 2007 |
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| October 2007 charges |
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| January 2008 charges |
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| February 2008 charges |
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| March 2008 charges | |
| May 2008 charges |
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| June 2008 charges |
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| July 2008 charges |
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| September 2008 charges |
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| October 2008 charges |
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| December 2008 charges |
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