The Big League Muslim Terrorist Of Chicago
Dec 7, 2009 6 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Federal prosecutors charged a Chicago man Monday with carrying out surveillance on targets in India in advance of deadly terrorist attacks that wracked that nation’s business center last year and killed 170 people, including six Americans.
David Coleman Headley, 49, is accused of conspiring to bomb targets in Mumbai, India; providing material support to Lashkar-i-Taiba, a militant Pakistani Islamist group; and aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens.
The three-day siege of luxury hotels, cafes, a train station and a Jewish cultural center in late November 2008 in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, terrorized India’s largest city and financial center and raised tensions between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors that have fought three wars since 1947.
For the first time, U.S. authorities disclosed that Headley is cooperating with law enforcement officials. He could provide other leads on the Mumbai bombings, because the case remains “active and ongoing,” according to Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
In a related development, prosecutors unsealed criminal charges Monday against a retired major in the Pakistani military, identified as Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for allegedly conspiring with Headley and others to attack a Danish newspaper that published controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in 2005. The retired officer remains in Pakistan, law enforcement officials said.
Headley was arrested in the Chicago area in early October on federal charges relating to the alleged plot to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. He remains in U.S. custody. Charged in the same alleged conspiracy was Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Chicago businessman from Pakistan who has Canadian citizenship.
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For years, Headley appeared to operate well below the radar of law enforcement, changing his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to help conceal his identity in advance of his trip to India to case locations for a possible terrorist strike, prosecutors alleged.
Ultimately, Headley made five different trips to India, taking video footage of several targets, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Cafe, the Jewish cultural center Nariman House and the city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.
Ten attackers, only one of whom survived, assaulted those targets with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices between Nov. 26 and Nov. 29, 2008.
“This case serves as a reminder that the terrorist threat is global in nature and requires constant vigilance at home and abroad,” said David S. Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. “We continue to share leads developed in this investigation with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we work together on this important matter.”
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said the Headley case demonstrated the need for the bureau to foster close relationships with counterparts overseas to help disrupt and dismantle terrorist plots before they occur.
