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Based on the amount of urea and nitric acid missing from the defendants' facility, they had the capacity to produce urea nitrate in an amount in excess of 2000 pounds if the yield was high (over 90%) and in an amount less than 1200 pounds if the yield was low (below 50%). Williams testified at trial that the amount of the explosive used in the Trade Center bombing was about 1200 pounds. If the defendants' yield was substantially below 90% but not below 50%, a good match could be obtained between the amount the defendants could have produced and the amount supposedly used in the bombing. By setting the nonlaboratory yield at 60 to 70 percent, Williams obtained a good match. The purpose of a criminal trial, of course, is to determine guilt. The issue of guilt is the ultimate question to which all others are directed. In contrast, Williams began with a presumption of guilt as a foundation on which to build inferences. (As we shall see below, this is not the only time in the Salameh trial that Williams so utilized a presumption of guilt.) The agent simply assumed that the perpetrators produced a 1200 pound bomb at the Trade Center using the urea and nitric acid missing from the defendants' facility, and that yield (the amount used at the bombing divided by the amount missing) informed his testimony about nonlaboratory yield, which was presented to the jury as a general number applicable to all non-laboratory environments. It appears Williams may have worked backwards --that is, he may have first determined the result he wanted (here, that the defendants could have produced 1200 pounds of urea nitrate, the amount he estimated was used in the bombing) and then tailored his testimony about yield to reach that result. We are deeply troubled by this possibility. We conclude that a competent expert cannot give a narrow range for the yield in a non-laboratory environment. A commercial production facility or a meticulous chemist in a garage can potentially achieve a yield as high as that produced in a laboratory. On the other extreme, careless persons without knowledge or skill may be unable to produce the explosive at all (0% yield) or may achieve only a very low yield. Accordingly, we find that Williams' testimony about non-laboratory yield was invalid and beyond his area of expertise. Fourth, had Williams or another witness performed the stoichiometric calculation correctly, the result--a 100% yield of about 2273 pounds of urea nitrate with a real possibility of a much lower figure in a non-
laboratory setting--would have been perfectly acceptable to the prosecution's theory of the case. Williams seemed to have pushed the envelope to get to 1200 pounds--his estimate of the weight of the explosive used in the bombing. Such exacting symmetry was unnecessary. In sum, we conclude that Williams' testimony about the potential production of urea nitrate was outside his area of expertise and deeply flawed, and his excesses were unnecessary to an effective presentation of the prosecution's case. 2. Williams ' Opinion Regarding the Explosive Used in the Trade Center Bombing Having established the defendants' capacity to manufacture 1200 pounds of urea nitrate, Williams went on to render an opinion in the Salameh trial that the main explosive charge in the Trade Center bombing was 1200 pounds of urea nitrate. This testimony was also seriously flawed. a. Velocity of Detonation An important part of Williams' opinion concerning the explosive used at the Trade Center was his determination of the velocity of detonation (VOD) of that explosive based on his assessment of the damage at the scene. Attachment C: A Primer on Explosives and Velocity of Detonation, infra, defines VOD and is a necessary foundation for the discussion that follows. The significance of the VOD determination was that it provided a basis for Williams' opinion concerning the type of explosive used in the bombing. (1) The VOD of Urea Nitrate (a) Background
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Contents Introduction by Tom Secker
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Introduction The bombing of the Wor
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information available at the time o
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The prosecution claimed that urea n
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a deliberately provoked act of terr
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Ironically, this Matrix also lists
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INTELWIRE.com
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9/11 Personal Privacy Current Class
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MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: SUBJECT: REF:
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MEMORANDUM TO: CA - Ms. Mary A. Rya
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-2- 9/11 Closed by Statute JAccordi
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With specific respect to sections 2
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-7- year. Cairo also reported that
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Series: Team 5 Files WITHDRAWAL NOT
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WITHDRAWAL NOTICE RG: 148 Expositio
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Series: Team 5 Files WITHDRAWAL NOT
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Blast Damage by Steven C. De Rosa T
Page 99 and 100: SECTION C: WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBI
Page 101 and 102: Williams testified that he had expe
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Page 105 and 106: nitric acid and were noted undernea
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Page 109 and 110: If Dave was supervising, Dave was s
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Page 113 and 114: pounds of urea and 1694 pounds of n
Page 115 and 116: We have reached several conclusions
Page 117: where they had purchased urea or ni
Page 121 and 122: AGENT WILLIAMS: I don't recall. . .
Page 123 and 124: Williams claimed in his OIG intervi
Page 125 and 126: We conclude that Williams' VOD opin
Page 127 and 128: of explosive damage. By putting all
Page 129 and 130: That's my question, sir. AGENT WILL
Page 131 and 132: and one was C-4; and I had individu
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Page 135 and 136: velocity of detonation are just a t
Page 137 and 138: (2) Analysis MR. CAMPRIELLO: I didn
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Page 141 and 142: explosive. [] Williams' use of the
Page 143 and 144: nitrate, the court was unable to pu
Page 145 and 146: AGENT WILLIAMS: Well, after looking
Page 147 and 148: (Italics added.) extracts of urine
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Page 153 and 154: Whitehurst and Burmeister then prep
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FD—302a Rev 11—15—13) Contrnu
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FD—302a (Rev. 11—15—83) Conti
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FD—302a (Rev. 11—15—3) Contln
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'FD—302a (Rev. 11-.1S43) C Conimu
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14 that the targets included both m
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Gulf War. If so, and if, as U.S. of
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ureaucracies that there was "no evi
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Abdul Rahman Yasin--Musab's brother
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Musab lived in the same building as
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[12] Of Passports and Fingerprints
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Logic and circumstance also suggest
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acknowledged in July having had an
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2. Indeed, there is good reason to
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Cover of the passport that Ramzi Yo
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Pages 3 and 4 of Ramzi Yousef’s p
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Pages 10 and 11 of Ramzi Yousef’s
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