On January 30, 1993, Kasi called Mir to tell him that he had to leave town in a hurry. He said that someone would come back to get his belongings and that he would never return. Mir believed that it was a longdistance call.
On February 6, 1993, Mir called police and said that he believed Kasi was the killer. Mir’s call was among 2,700 tips police received. On February 8, 1993, Kasi’s roommate let police into the apartment, and police found two semiautomatic pistols, a bulletproof vest, and 550 rounds of ammunition in addition to the AK-47-type assault rifle used in the killings. The ammunition, 11 magazines for the assault rifle, and pistols were found in a suitcase.
On February 9, 1993, police announced that ballistics tests demonstrated that Kasi’s AK-47 was the weapon used in the shootings. He was charged with capital murder, which carries the death penalty as the maximum sentence; first-degree murder; three counts of malicious wounding; five weapons charges; and federal charges of fleeing prosecution. He apparently had no previous record and had never been in a mental hospital. He apparently was not a member of any radical group, had no affiliation with any terrorist group, and had no affiliation with the CIA.
On February 10, 1993, police announced that a fingerprint found on a shell casing on 123 matched those of Kasi’s immigration records.
Kasi was issued a business visa in Karachi, Pakistan, in the name of “Mir Aimal Kansi” on December 4, 1990. His birth date was listed as October 22, 1964.
Kasi had entered the United States on a flight to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on March 3, 1991 (some records say February 27, 1991). He did not turn in an entry card. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials did turn up a card for “Kansi.” Two weeks after arriving in the United States, Kasi reported that he had lost his passport. He filed an application for asylum (because of political persecution, based on flimsy evidence of fear of the rival Baluchs) with the INS office in Arlington, Virginia, on February 3, 1992. He said that he had not gone through INS inspections and listed relatives named Kansi on the application. He was permitted to stay in the United States while the application was being considered. (U.S. law prohibits deportation of immigrants whose requests are pending.) He was granted a one-year work permit that was due to expire on February 13, 1993. He had not applied to renew the permit.
Kasi was born on October 2, 1964, the son of Abdullah Jan Kasi, a well-known Quetta building contractor who died in 1989. His father founded Pakistan Particle Board in Karachi in the early 1970s. His father’s will left 20 million rupees (circa $500,000) for the construction of the Kasi Ward, a medical general ward in Civil Hospital, Quetta. His mother died in 1982. His well-respected Pashtun family includes two brothers and three stepbrothers and also runs the Faran and Novelty Hotels and a dozen shops in Quetta. His father sent him to a prestigious private grammar school, unlike other children of the family. Kasi graduated from Baluchistan University in Quetta with a master’s degree in English literature. He inherited $100,000 after his father’s death. His family was not a strictly observant Muslim family. His friends said he was “fun-loving” and was not close to any religious group or university student group.
In 1988, he became close to students affiliated with the Pashtun Students Organization (PSO), the student wing of Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party. Former PSO leader and former Kasi friend Nasrullah Khan Achakzai told the press, “He was a patient listener of our political ideology which was heavily influenced by the revolution in Afghanistan. Aimal never accepted my offers to work in the front line.” Nasrullah, now a lawyer in Quetta’s lower courts, said that at the time, the group believed that “the CIA had killed fifteen million innocent people in Afghanistan.” He admitted having led the 1989 demonstration against an American professor, during which Kasi fired shots. Kasi frequently carried a weapon and often used threats and intimidation to get higher grades.
In early 1989, a small group of students at the Department of English at Baluchistan University shouted “Death to America” in protesting a presentation by an American professor on T. S. Eliot. Kasi fired shots into the air. The teachers called off the lecture and the American professor left town the next day. Professors and students remembered Kasi as changing from a shy student in 1987 to a short-tempered, angry youth in 1989 who used strong-arm tactics against senior teachers.
On February 12, 1993, the Virginia General Assembly unanimously consented to the introduction of legislation that would require aliens to get a judge’s permission before buying or possessing assault rifles. A Fairfax County ordinance had permitted Kasi to buy the rifle without a waiting period, unlike the 72-hour delay required for handgun sales. Moreover, police cannot check immigrants’ criminal backgrounds in other countries when they try to buy guns. Police noted that there are a large number of gunsmiths in the county. To compare, there are 500 licensed gun sellers in Fairfax to only 240 service stations.
On February 16, 1993, Islamabad’s The News reported that Pakistan had asked Iran to join the search for Kasi. Iran had earlier indicated that Kasi was not in the country. The paper suggested that the FBI was exploring whether Kasi was part of the growing number of Afghan war veterans trained in Pakistan who had lately turned their expertise against proU.S. governments in the Middle East and Africa.
Foreign media offered suggestions as to Kasi’s whereabouts. On February 26, 1993, Islamabad’s The Nation said that he was staying with Hezbe Eslami leader Engineer Golboddin Hekmatyar at Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Correspondent Umer Alam wrote that U.S. commandos were unable to find him in Quetta.
On March 9, 1993, Islamabad’s Pakistan Observer said that Kasi was in India, whose intelligence services had hired him.
In May 1993, the FBI said that Kasi had been spotted a few times in Pakistan, where two FBI agents were searching for him.
On May 15, 1993, Yosseff Bodansky, head of the House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, claimed in a book that Kasi was trained by Iranian intelligence, sent to Washington, and “activated” to carry out the killings. He also said the Iranians were behind the World Trade Center bombing.
On June 16, 1993, a team of Pakistani Frontier Corps paramilitary personnel raided some 200 houses of the Kasi tribe in Quetta in an attempt to find the killer. The family informed the officials that Kasi had left for the United States a couple of days earlier. Family members complained that the troops swooped in from ladders perched on top of the houses, sans search warrants. The provincial authorities said that they were not informed before the raid, having been told instead that the militiamen were seeking Chakar Khan Chakarani who was wanted for shooting dead some militiamen in Kashmore District a few months earlier.
On August 23, 1993, the FBI announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to Kasi’s arrest. The FBI earlier in August announced that it was withdrawing its agents from Pakistan.
On October 2, 1995, the United States increased the reward for information leading to Kasi’s arrest to $2 million. Posters and matchbooks with Kasi’s photo were distributed. The Associated Press reported that Washington was also offering relocation to the United States for anyone who provided information leading to Kasi’s arrest.
Five FBI agents captured Kasi on June 15, 1997, at a hotel near the Pakistan–Afghanistan border. He was led there by bounty hunters seeking the $2 million reward. He had registered two days earlier as Hafiz-ur Rehman in the two-story Hotel Shalimar in Derra Ghazi Khan, in eastern Punjab Province. At 4:00 A.M., a dozen men ran into the hotel, banged on the door to room 213, and then took Kasi into custody.
President William Jefferson Clinton said the arrest showed that the United States “will not relent in the pursuit of terrorists . . . no matter how long it takes, no matter where they hide.”
Kasi was flown into Dulles International Airport on June 17, 1997, and turned over to Fairfax County, Virginia, police. He had signed a severalpage confession during the flight to the United States. He was arraigned on June 18, 1997, and held in
the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond. He was charged with one count of capital murder, one count of first-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and five counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Pakistani media and lawyers’ associations complained that he had been taken away illegally without extradition hearings. At least three lawsuits were filed against the government. The local authorities had several times attempted to organize raids against locations believed to be Kasi’s hideouts, but many suspected that his wealthy family, which held important government positions, had been tipped off, letting him escape. On June 24, 1997, 5,000 demonstrators in Quetta called Kasi a hero.
On November 3, 1997, his trial began, with Kasi pleading innocent to capital murder, felony murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and five counts of use of a firearm during a felony. Each count of malicious wounding carried a sentence of 5–20 years; each firearms conviction carried a sentence of 3 years. The prosecutor changed the official spelling of the defendant’s name to “Kasi” to reflect the way he signed a statement made to the FBI.
On November 6, 1997, FBI Special Agent Bradley J. Garrett testified regarding Kasi’s confession. Kasi chose the AK-47 because it was more accurate than a handgun. He brought 150 rounds of ammunition in case he had to “deal with” responding police officers. He was angry for the U.S. bombing of Iraq and allegedly killing Palestinians. He was also upset with CIA involvement in Muslim countries and wanted to send the United States a message to stop these activities. He chose to attack the CIA rather than the Israeli Embassy in Washington because he thought it would be easier and the CIA employees would not be armed. He aimed for the men’s chests.
Kasi was found guilty of all charges on November 10, 1997. The jury needed only four hours to deliberate. The jury recommended a life term plus 78 years and $400,000 in fines for nine of the felonies.
On November 12, 1997, Pakistani terrorists shot to death four American auditors for Union Texas Petroleum in Karachi. Kasi had predicted retaliation for his case by his sympathizers. The Kasi jury was sequestered; panel members said they feared for their safety after their initial verdict of guilty. The Aimal Secret Committee said it would keep killing Americans.
On November 14, 1997, the jury recommended the death penalty. The family said it would appeal. Kasi’s death sentence would be appealed automatically to the Virginia Supreme Court.
On January 23, 1998, Judge Brown sentenced Kasi to death for killing Darling, observing “Mr. Kasi planned to shoot innocent people. He shot Frank Darling and returned to blow part of his head off while his wife sat beside him. He planned this killing. His acts were the product of a depraved mind, but not a brain-damaged mind.” According to court records, Kasi told the court, “I don’t feel proud for it. This is the result of the wrong policy toward Islamic countries. I don’t expect any justice or mercy from this country or court.” He was also sentenced to life plus 78 years and $400,000 in fines for killing Bennett.
On September 16, 1998, Kasi’s attorney, Elwood E. Sanders, Jr. told the Virginia Supreme Court that Kasi’s arrest violated a 1935 treaty. Donald R. Curry, senior assistant attorney general, said the treaty did not specifically prohibit the type of arrest the FBI agents made. On November 6, 1998, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
On February 18, 1999, Kasi told reporters he wanted the International Court of Justice to hear his case because he had not received justice in the United States. He wanted Amnesty International and Pakistan to take up his cause. He claimed to be a political prisoner who “did my moral duty by attacking CIA.” He said he had no regrets about killing the two CIA employees but would have preferred killing the CIA director.
On June 24, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment Kasi’s appeal of the Virginia Supreme Court, ruling that Kasi lacked the legal right to claim that his seizure violated the U.S. Constitution because he was seized overseas. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his claim that his seizure by the FBI in Pakistan violated international treaties, that his confession was illegally obtained, and that his constitutional rights against unreasonable seizure were violated.
On August 15, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit rejected Kasi’s appeal of his death sentence.
Kasi was executed by lethal injection on November 14, 2002, at 9:00 P.M. The killer’s remains were returned to Pakistan on November 18, 2002. Some 2,000 Pakistanis at the Quetta airport chanted anti-U.S. slogans.
2001
Anthrax Attacks
Overview: Terrorist-watchers have been puzzled by the paucity of terrorist attacks using unconventional weapons, such as biological, chemical, and radiological material. Aside from the occasional poisoning and the large-scale attacks by the Aum Shin Rikyo cult in Japan, such attacks have been the province of individuals with little scientific knowledge and minimal political motivation. As became evident, such biological weapons attacks—or inadvertent release—quickly can get out of control, infecting individuals well beyond the original targets of the perpetrators. The timeline of victims in the U.S. anthrax crisis, which began in the fall of 2001, demonstrates how quickly a few spores released in one seemingly confined malicious act sent the spores globetrotting across the United States and across the seas.
Because the anthrax attacks in the United States followed closely behind the 9/11 attacks, many observers suggested that terrorists had at long last decided that since the U.S. homeland was now fair game, so, too, were biological weapons attacks. Many believed that al Qaeda or individuals inspired by the group were behind the release. Opportunistic claims on behalf of terrorist groups kept this line of inquiry—at least by the press and the public—open for some time. The case also showed the difficulties in attributing this type of attack to a perpetrator, with authorities following incorrect leads for years. The FBI ultimately came to believe that the attack was the work of a single researcher, who possibly was attempting to demonstrate the vulnerability of the U.S. defense system. The suicide of the most prominent suspect ended the opportunity to establish his culpability to the satisfaction of an army of conspiracy theorists.
Incidents: The nationwide anthrax crisis began on October 5, 2001, when Sun tabloid assistant photo editor Robert Stevens, 63, died of inhalation anthrax in Boca Raton, Florida. Stevens worked for American Media, Inc. (AMI), the headquarters of the National Enquirer, Globe, and Sun tabloids. He fell unconscious on October 2, 2001, before anyone suspected anthrax. In coming weeks, anthrax-laced letters were sent to other media outlets and Congress and affected mail-handling stations in Washington, D.C.; New Jersey; New York; and Florida.
Health authorities initially believed Stevens might have contracted the anthrax during a hike in North Carolina. Suspicion moved to the mails, however, as others tested positive for anthrax spores. Letters coming from outside the county first go to the West Palm Beach main mail-processing center, which was swept for anthrax spores. Spores were found inside a vacuum cleaner in the Blue Lake sorting facility in Boca Raton. Nearly 100 spores were found in the Boca Raton postal building, which sorts mail for AMI. At AMI, mailroom employee Ernesto Blanco, 73, contracted inhalation anthrax on October 15, 2001; he was released from the hospital in mid-October. Administrative clerk Stephanie Dailey tested positive for exposure, but did not become ill. At least 1,100 people were tested and given Cipro or other antibiotics.
Anthrax was found in a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-SD). The letter, postmarked Hamilton Township, New Jersey, on October 9, 2001, went through the Processing and Distribution Center there. It may have come from central New Jersey, possibly West Trenton. Similar letters sent on September 18, 2001, to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and to the New York Post may also have originated there. They had similar block-lettered handwriting on the envelopes and were dated September 11, 2001. The misspelled Post letter read, “Take penacilin now.” The Daschle letter asked, “Are you afraid?” All three letters finished, “D
eath to America. Death to Israel. God is Great.” West Trenton letter carrier Teresa Heller, 32, contracted cutaneous anthrax; no one on her route was affected. No spores were found in swipe tests, but more thorough tests, including air samples, were conducted on October 25, 2001. All 24 postal employees were tested and treated with antibiotics.
At the Hamilton Township center, the next step on the letters’ journeys, Patrick O’Donnell, 35, contracted cutaneous anthrax on October 19, 2001. Richard Morgano may have contracted cutaneous anthrax. Two suspected inhalation cases were reported. Spores were found in several areas tested, and more than 1,100 people received nasal swabs. All 1,000 postal employees were treated with antibiotics; another 2,500 contractors and businesses that pick up or deliver bulk mail were advised to test and treat employees.
The letters moved on to the Hub and Spoke Program Facility in Carteret, New Jersey. While no mail is sorted there, it is put onto trucks for various destinations, including New York and Washington. About 100 employees were tested and treated with antibiotics.
The New York letters moved on to Morgan Station in Manhattan, the city’s largest mail sorting center with 5,500 workers. Anthrax spores were found on four bar code mail-sorting machines on October 25, 2001. Cipro was offered to 7,000 postal workers at Morgan Station and five other Manhattan post offices.
The Brokaw letter moved on to Rockefeller Center Station, where employees were put on Cipro. It arrived at NBC headquarters, where two employees apparently developed cutaneous anthrax. Erin O’Connor, 38, an assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, opened the letter. Another probable case was a female desk assistant.
The New York Post letter was stopped by the Times Square Station mail facility, where employees were put on Cipro. Editorial assistant Johanna Huden developed cutaneous anthrax on September 22, 2001; a second employee was probably also affected.
The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks Page 31
