linked - Investigating the Terror

Introduction
The bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC) in February 1993 was a
landmark act of terrorism. At least officially, it was the first major strike in
the US by radical Islamic militants and as such pre-empted the attacks of
9/11. The perpetrators were a group of men based out of the Al-Kifah
refugee center in the Al Farooq mosque in Brooklyn, New York. This was the
local branch of the Maktab al-Khidamat or Mujahideen Services Office that
funnelled money and people to Afghanistan during the war with the Soviets.
The bombing resulted in several trials – US vs Salameh et al in 1994, US vs
Rahman et al in 1995, and US vs Yousef et al in 1997. The first trial
prosecuted several of those in New York who had assisted in building and
delivering the bomb. The second trial prosecuted the Blind Sheikh Omar
Abdel Rahman and some of his followers for a ‘seditious conspiracy’ that
included the WTC bombing, the ‘Day of Terror’ plot and several solicitations to
murder Hosni Mubarek. The third trial prosecuted Ramzi Yousef, the man
primarily responsible for choosing the target and building the bomb.
Nonetheless, the case is still subject to a swirl of conspiracy theories, mostly
revolving around the FBI informant Emad Salem, who infiltrated the group at
the Al-Kifah both before and after the bombing. The idea that Salem built the
bomb is misleading, as he was actually sacked by the FBI in the summer of
1992 and wasn’t involved with the Al-Kifah group from then until after the
bombing.
The more substantive theories are based on the issue of the Bind Sheikh
being some kind of CIA asset, the legends created around Ramzi Yousef and
also the possible involvement of triple agent Ali Mohamed. The forensic
science investigation of the bombing was also particularly bad. This
document collection includes files that shed light on these questions and
provide a basis for establishing a more subtle view of exactly who was
responsible for the bombing and why they did what they did.
Part One: The Blind Sheikh
State Department Cables on meetings with followers of the Blind Sheikh,
April-May 1989
These cables were made available in 2007 via JM Berger’s Intelwire website
and detail secret meetings between US officials and followers of the Blind
Sheikh in mid-1989. Both of the cables are signed by Frank Wisner, the son
of the former CIA black ops veteran of the same name, who was the US
ambassador to Egypt at the time.
In the first meeting the member of the Blind Sheikh’s Islamic Group (IG or al-
Gama'a al-Islamiyya) offered abundant information on the group’s
membership, its agenda and aims. Despite scepticism in the US embassy of