(The following article by James Politi was posted on the Financial Times’ website on June 20.)
WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda had plans to sabotage American railroad tracks and sever the suspension cables on a New York bridge, according to an Ohio truck driver who has admitted to providing the terrorist network with “material support”, it emerged yesterday.
The plots were being devised in 2001, 2002 and into this year, a reminder that al-Qaeda has been active in the US even after the Bush administration implemented wide-ranging counter-terrorism measures and overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Details of the plots emerged as John Ashcroft, US attorney-general, announced that Iyman Faris, a Pakistani-born US citizen from Columbus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in a Virginia court to conspiring with al- Qaeda and providing it with material support.
Hailing the fact that an American al-Qaeda operative had been “taken off the streets”, Mr Ashcroft said: “He appeared to be a hard-working American truck driver but secretly he scouted terrorist sites that could have killed many of his fellow citizens.”
Mr Ashcroft said the investigation highlighted the importance of the enhanced powers granted by Congress to US law enforcement agencies combating terrorism after September 11. While many Democrats and some Republicans have grown uncomfortable with those powers, which have been criticised for undermining civil liberties, Mr Ashcroft is pushing for them to be strengthened.
According to documents released yesterday by the Justice Department, Mr Faris’ ties with al-Qaeda date to late 2000, when he travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, meeting Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.
Upon his return to the US in April last year, Mr Faris did much of the groundwork in preparation for attacks on New York, Washington and American railway lines.
Mr Faris will be sentenced in early August, and could face up to 20 years in prison.