by Klaus Marre
“Poor guy,” Stevenson said. “I can't imagine what he must feel like after finding out that his son is a terrorist.”
The FBI, based on the initial interrogation in Egypt, all available evidence and follow-up interviews, including lie detector tests that the al-Zaids had consented to, was convinced that Hassan's parents had no idea about what their son had planned to do before leaving on their trip. It looked like he had wanted to strike when they were safely out of the way.
Slattery nodded.
“My son was caught shoplifting when he was in high school,” he said. “That was 15 years ago and I still remember the feeling when they told me about it. I can't fathom what it must be like for the al-Zaids right now.
“You spend your whole life trying to raise your son the right away and then he turns out to be all kinds of fucked up, killing his own people and causing his parents unspeakable grief. He ended up almost killing his dad, too. The way I see it, Hassan is responsible for this heart attack. I hope we catch him alive so that he has to face his parents and not just justice.”
“At this point, I just hope we get him … dead or alive,” Stevenson said.
Thursday, 8:12 pm ET
Omar Bashir had wasted little time after watching Hassan al-Zaid's confession to put together a message of his own. His audio tape, which messengers would take from Andan to Islamabad and from there get it into the hands of al-Jazeera, praised the attack and the attacker.
“A new phase in our fight against the oppressors has begun,” the as-Sirat leader said. It was the second take of the message. Buoyed by the events of the past couple of days, Omar Bashir had been too excited when they began recording, going on for too long about the evil United States. This message needed to be relatively short and concise. The as-Sirat leader never worked off a script, relying instead on his natural oratory skills.
“America should take notice that its own people are turning on their country. First, it will be one, then it will be dozens, later it will be hundreds and soon it will be an army of those who will rise to take on the great devil from within.”
Though his English was fairly good, Omar Bashir's messages were always delivered in Arabic. After all, their main target was not the United States but rather young Muslims.
“I call on the faithful to rise against the enemy, not only in America but also anywhere else where those following the true religion are oppressed. We have seen that one determined man striking from within can rattle the enemy. Imagine what thousands could do.”
Omar Bashir and his top lieutenants had agreed to put out a tape quickly. The aim was to get it aired while the attacker was still at large. Sadly, they feared that Hassan al-Zaid would likely be caught soon or die a martyr's death. In fact, they believed that, if it was the Americans who caught him, they would kill him immediately instead of risking a trial during which his side would be heard.
The same messenger who was to take the tape to Islamabad had also brought news from Pakistan's capital. Apparently, Hassan al-Zaid had inquired years ago about where he should go if he wanted to make contact with as-Sirat.
Though the messenger had few details, it seemed that, following the dismissal from his university sports team, he had reached out to some of the people who had praised him on message boards that were sympathetic of as-Sirat's cause. One of the men he had contacted, the owner of a Pakistani restaurant in Anaheim, indeed had some ties to people associated with the group and Hassan al-Zaid had asked him whom he should get in touch with if he ever wanted to be more “directly of service” to as-Sirat. Not wanting to compromise himself too much, the restaurant owner was vague in his answers but, after meeting several times with Hassan al-Zaid and believing that he was serious about possibly joining as-Sirat, he gave the young man a couple of contacts who might be able to help him should he ever be in Pakistan.
After realizing that it was Hassan al-Zaid who had carried out the Washington attack and managed to flee the country, the restaurant owner drove to Tijuana, Mexico, visited an Internet cafe, and used a new skype account and a prepaid credit card, to place a call to Islamabad. As carefully as possible, he told one of his contacts that it might be possible that Hassan al-Zaid would try to get in touch with him and provided as much background as he could without naming names.
The contact in Islamabad, a teacher at a madrasah, had then passed on that information to someone else, who had told the messenger about it.
Upon learning the news, Omar Bashir and Khalid el-Jeffe debated what should be done if, against all odds, Hassan al-Zaid were to manage to escape to Pakistan and make contact with as-Sirat. Both men agreed that the young American would be a tremendous asset to the group, mainly as a public relations tool but also as someone who had spent his entire life in the United States and could help them understand the enemy better. Though they felt that the chance was very small that Hassan would make it to Pakistan safely, the two men allowed themselves to dream. It could be done and would be a tremendous victory for as-Sirat.
They decided that, should he make it to Islamabad, they would keep Hassan there for a day to be certain that there were no pursuers, have all of his belongings destroyed to make sure he could not be identified through them and then get him to Andan as quickly as possible.
They both realized that a video tape with Omar Bashir and Hassan al-Zaid, the two most wanted men on the face of the world, would not only be a powerful image but also a slap in the face of the Americans.
The U.S. government had announced the previous day that it would pay $25 million to anybody who could provide information that would lead to the arrest of Hassan al-Zaid, the same amount offered for the capture of Omar Bashir and $5 million more than for Khalid el-Jeffe. It could be a great coup for as-Sirat to present both of them on one tape, showing that America was powerless to capture either of them.
“You have been with The Path for 20 years, Khalid,” Omar Bashir told his friend and closest adviser. “This man has been with as-Sirat for less than a week and is worth more than you. I worry about you, my friend.”
Both men laughed, giddy with the recent developments and the upcoming attack on the nuclear plant, and then discussed how a successful escape could also show other Muslims in the U.S. who might contemplate taking action in the name of as-Sirat that it was possible to hit America and then get away.
The potential benefits of Hassan's attack were endless and the more Omar Bashir and el-Jeffe talked about it, the greater the opportunities seemed.
***
In his latest story on the manhunt, Art Kempner, citing two high-ranking but unnamed intelligence sources, wrote that Hassan al-Zaid had escaped from the Bahamas to Bogotá. According to the article, a Bahamian fisherman had also come forward, in return for immunity and a reward, testifying that he had smuggled the suspect back into the U.S. a week ago. With that piece of the puzzle in place, the FBI had been able to put together how Hassan al-Zaid had managed to flee the country with relative ease.
A lifetime in journalism had given Art some of the best sources in the business. He thought of them as more than people he contacted for stories. Some of them were friends, others were buddies and he often supplied them with more information than he received. Above all, his sources knew they could trust him to never burn them.
It were those relationships that allowed Art to shed light on what was going on at the highest and lowest levels of government. In this case, two high-ranking intelligence officials had spilled the beans.
Art had long sought to figure out what got people to tell reporters things that they were not meant to pass on and there was a long list of reasons. Of course, sometimes leaks were authorized to get out certain information. But mostly, people were just not good at keeping secrets. Often he was approached by someone who was disgruntled or disillusioned for some reason or another and telling a story they were not supposed to tell was their way of payback. Art was very careful with those kind of sources. He did not want to be an instrument of
their frustration or vengeance.
Other sources were acting out of idealism. They were a type of whistleblower, only did they not go to the proper authorities within their agency or company but rather contacted Art to report some sort of wrongdoing. Those sources often led to great scoops.
What he liked best was to put together the pieces of a puzzle by talking to countless people and sifting through documents, each bringing him a step closer to finding out what was going on. Often he would take his newest piece of information or a hunch to one of his best sources and they would confirm whether he was on the right track. Sometimes it felt as though they were rewarding him for doing things the right way and working tirelessly to dig up something that somebody else had covered up.
In this case, though, things had been much easier. Both of his sources had given him a scoop because they were convinced that the information about Bogotá would come out soon enough. In addition, both of the members of the intelligence community had said that it would be good for this piece of news to get out as quickly as possible.
“We sure ain't close to finding this son of a bitch, maybe somebody in South America will,” one of them had said.
The quote was off the record, but not the information, so Art was the first to break this piece of news.
***
The sophistication of the escape fueled FBI Director Stevenson's belief that the terrorist must have had outside help. With the Bureau increasingly on the sidelines, he decided to steer additional resources to a task force examining that possibility. He hoped that, if accomplices could be found, they could be used to track Hassan al-Zaid. Mindful of the president's request to keep a tight lid on things, he selected a team of senior agents that he deemed most trustworthy.
“I want no leaks and you report back only to me,” he had told them repeatedly. “I just want you guys to figure out if it is even possible for this kid to pull off the attack without help.”
As a starting point, Stevenson gave the team a copy of a draft report on Hassan al-Zaid that some of the Bureau's best investigators had put together and that he had just received.
Now, the FBI director sat on the couch in his office, the only place in his office with anything that could be described as having “a view,” and also studied the report.
Ever since he had become the lone suspect, dozens of FBI field agents had left no stone unturned to find out everything they could about Hassan al-Zaid to better understand his motives and possibly find clues regarding his whereabouts or associates. They had talked to family members, friends, teammates, professors and neighbors. In addition, the investigators had studied any recoverable document on his computer, any correspondence they could get their hands on and even Hassan al-Zaid's college papers. They had gone through credit card and bank statements, phone and library records. They sifted through any database imaginable to see if the name Hassan al-Zaid showed up anywhere.
While this effort remained a work in progress, Stevenson had been given periodic updates and now held in his hands the first comprehensive report on what the investigation had uncovered.
After sifting through the document, the FBI director was stunned and mesmerized by its findings.
The report basically said that it appeared as though Hassan al-Zaid had been living his life over the past couple of years mainly for the purpose of training and planning for the attack and the subsequent escape.
The agents had found out that the suspect had been a popular, fun-loving and completely normal kid in high school. Hassan al-Zaid was an excellent student and, as a standout athlete, he had enjoyed great popularity, many friends and several girlfriends. His life was that of a completely ordinary American teenager, at least that of a popular standout athlete. Hassan al-Zaid loved sports and was a fan of the New York Yankees, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bulls. During the soccer off-season, he would play tennis and pickup hoops. He enjoyed going to the movies, loved video games and went to parties, where he would have an occasional beer but never got drunk. By all accounts, he had never used drugs or smoked.
Unanimously, all of the people who had only known Hassan al-Zaid in high school and were not in touch with him in college, such as some of his friends, teammates and teachers, said that they did not believe that Hassan was capable of carrying out the bombing. Separately, several of them had told investigators that the idea was preposterous.
Then his life changed drastically when he moved to UCLA. People still in touch with him then said Hassan al-Zaid quickly became a different person.
Shortly after starting college, he had told his parents and some friends back home that he began attending a Los Angeles mosque, an experience he at the time described as “eye-opening” in letters and e-mails. Investigators had been unable to figure out which mosque Hassan had initially attended, one of the many areas in which the report was still incomplete.
According to his credit card bills from that time and library records, he read many books on Islam during his freshman year and also took a class on the subject in his second semester. Investigators had contacted the professor of the course and also found a couple of students who attended it. They all said that they remembered Hassan well because he was very argumentative in class to the point of being combative, lamenting that Islam was being taught from a “western perspective.”
As opposed to the people who knew him before going to college, those who met him after he moved to Los Angeles did not dismiss the notion that he could have become a terrorist.
It was as though they were investigating two completely different people. One was a normal American high school kid, the other a terrorist-in-training.
The FBI field agents were unable to locate anybody at UCLA, apart from his teammates on the soccer team, who ever called Hassan al-Zaid a friend. His coach and several of the other players praised Hassan's work ethic and said he was easy to get along with in his first year and never complained about sitting on the bench as a freshman.
They did mention that he rarely went out with the team or attended parties. Also, nobody the investigators contacted ever remembered seeing Hassan drink alcohol. In a change from his life in Virginia, he now performed the five prayers that devout Muslims observe daily.
Bill Cusack, who roomed with him when the team was on the road, said the prayers or any other part of Hassan al-Zaid's religion were never an issue and that the two never had any problems during his freshman year.
However, the members of the soccer team all told the FBI that they noticed a change in Hassan in his second year at UCLA. He had become more aggressive and would often argue with teammates about religion and world affairs.
At the same time, Hassan al-Zaid's behavior also changed in other ways, according to the documents the FBI agents had examined. He had purchased some books on explosives, martial arts and weapons. In addition he had used his credit card several times to visit the Los Angeles Gun Club.
Shortly before he refused to play against the Israeli soccer team and consequently lost his spot on the team and his scholarship, those who knew him back then said that he had become even more withdrawn.
His parents had told the FBI that his dismissal from the soccer squad had led them to have several long discussions with their son. As an upper middle class family, they could afford to continue paying for Hassan's education but both parents said it was at that point that they started to get worried about the path on which he seemed to be embarking.
He assured them that there was no need to be concerned, arguing that he had just taken a principled stand and vowing that he would be fine and his grades would not suffer. From that point on, his contact with his parents grew more sparse. One FBI psychologist involved in putting together the report had said the case was a “textbook example” of how young Muslims slowly become radicalized by severing the bonds that had tied them to another life. His parents had simply chalked up to the decreasing contact to their son having established his own life in Los Angeles.
&
nbsp; However, the investigators were not able to determine that he had much of a life at all. His landlord told the FBI that he was gone almost every weekend but he had no idea what he was up to. He often left with a large backpack and the landlord had just assumed that Hassan al-Zaid simply enjoyed the outdoors.
It was at that time, about 20 months before the attack, that Hassan's behavior changed again. He purchased some books on how to “disappear” in the United States and, shortly after that, stopped using his credit cards and didn't leave much of a paper trail. He only began using the cards again to amass as much money as possible in the past few weeks.
“It must be assumed that al-Zaid has been planning this attack and his escape for more than two years,” the report concluded. “We have been unable to find any close contacts and the few acquaintances he maintained do not appear to have any association to radical Islamists. It is likely that al-Zaid used a variety of tools to acquire the kind of training that as-Sirat members usually get in camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
The FBI director studied the report carefully. It had answered some of his questions but raised others. It certainly gave somewhat of an explanation for why Hassan al-Zaid had not been caught. He seemed incredibly disciplined, well-organized and dedicated.
But the document provided no answers about what triggered his change in personality or why he decided to attack the United States.
It was difficult for Stevenson to understand how a person could live years of their life only for a single purpose. Hassan al-Zaid had been living in the United States, even if it was on the fringe of society, biding his time, preparing and waiting for the right time to strike.
The FBI director shuddered at the thought of others like him being out there.
***
As always, the chili con queso and the salsa had been fantastic and Alan and his guests were waiting for their main courses while sipping on some Coronas. There were nine of them and they were sitting in a back room to give the other patrons some peace and quiet. Large groups tended to be loud. A tenth chair was still empty. Art Kempner had gotten some new information that he had to add to his latest article. He called and said he would be a few minutes late but also expressed hope that he would likely not be called away from Alan's celebratory shindig.
