Mastermind : the many faces of the 9/11 architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

288 Pages·2011·1.58 MB·English

by  Richard Miniter

M A S T E R M I N D
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M A S T E R M I N D
THE MANY FACES OF THE 9/11 ARCHITECT,
KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED
R I C H A R D M I N I T E R
SENTINEL
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SENTINEL
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First published in 2011 by Sentinel,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Richard Miniter, 2011
All rights reserved
Photograph credits 4 (top and bottom), 7 (top): Thomson Reuters
Insert page 1 (top): AP Photo/File 5 (top): Getty Images News
1 (bottom): AP Photo/www.muslm.net 5 (middle and bottom): Courtesy of the author
2 (top): AP Photo/B. K. Bangash 6 (top and middle): Time & Life Images/Robert
2 (bottom): AP Photo/Janet Hamlin/Pool Nickelsberg/Getty Images
3 (top): Jeffrey Markowitz/Sygma/Corbis 6 (bottom): AFP/Jay Directo/Getty Images
3 (bottom), 7 (bottom), 8 (bottom): Federal 8 (top): Rewards for Justice Program, United
Bureau of Investigation States Department of State
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Miniter, Richard.
Mastermind : the many faces of the 9/11 architect, Khalid Shailk Mohammed / Richard Miniter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 1- 59523- 072- 0
1. Mohammed, Khalid Shaikh, 1965- 2. Terrorists. 3. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001. I. Title.
HV6430.M64M56 2011
363.325092— dc22
[B]
2010047777
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Simoncini Garamond
Designed by Pauline Neuwirth
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To Lisa Merriam, a true friend
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Contents
Introduction 1
BOOK I: ORIGINS

1
The Outsider 13
2
Campus Radical 35
3
Searching for War 55
BOOK II: A TERRORIST CAREER

4
Tradebom 67
5
The Plot to Kill the Pope, the President,
and Four Thousand Americans 81
6
Losing Ramzi 93
7
Meeting bin Laden 107
BOOK III: THE PLANES OPERATION

8
September 11, 2001 119
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BOOK IV: HUNTING KSM

9
The Daniel Pearl Murder 133
10
Explosions in Paradise 144
11
“Recognize Us Yet?” 161
BOOK V: INTERROGATING KSM

12
KSM and Obama: The Mastermind’s Last Laugh 171
13
Aftermath 210
Acknowledgments 217
A Note on Sources and Methods 219
List of Aliases Used by KSM 225
Time Line 227
Notes 241
Bibliography 263
Index 269
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Introduction
From a cage in Guantánamo Bay, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is on
the verge of satisfying his life’s biggest ambitions: to be a world-
famous performer and to die a martyr. The man that prosecutors
and the press call “the 9/11 mastermind” couldn’t be happier. He
plainly relishes the CIA’s description of him as “one of history’s most
famous terrorists.”1
That America, the enemy he swore to destroy, is giving him a
global stage and a way to a jihadi death is either an irony or a gift
from Allah.
The fi rst time he had a stage in America, Khalid was a student
doing college comedy skits in North Carolina for The Friday Tonight
Show, with an informal Muslim group that met near his college
campus.2 His performances were biting and, former classmates say,
very funny. One former student called him “the king of comedy.”3
Another told me “he loves the attention.”4 By all accounts he is going
to enjoy every moment of a public trial. It may be his last chance to
perform before a large audience.
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MASTERMIND
KSM, as he is universally known in intelligence circles, has put
himself at the center of every major Al Qaeda plot for the past fi f-
2 teen years, leading U.S. intelligence offi cials to call him “the Forrest
Gump of al Qaeda.”5 Indeed, KSM was involved with so many major
terror plots that some knowledgeable observers, like noted Pakistani
journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, wonder if he is exaggerating his
role.6 In fact, the opposite may be true. Intelligence analysts say the
“9/11 mastermind” is still being tied to more plots, including ones
that will be made public for the fi rst time in this book.
He admitted to planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center (killing six), the bombing of two nightclubs in Bali (killing
202), Richard Reid’s “shoe bomber” plot (which would have killed
hundreds aboard a Miami-bound fl ight), the September 11 attacks
(killing nearly three thousand), and plots to bomb London’s
Heathrow Airport (one of the world’s busiest), the Big Ben clock
tower, and the Empire State Building (where more than a thousand
people work). He also confessed to schemes to kill offi ce workers in
skyscrapers in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago.7 He even planned
to bomb the Panama Canal, which would have devastated world
shipping and strangled the U.S. economy. KSM was an endless foun-
tain of plans to bomb, murder, and maim.
Nor did KSM ever cease trying to hit targets inside the United
States. After the September 11 attacks, he twice tried to infi ltrate the
American mainland with Al Qaeda–trained terrorists. But both were
captured before reaching their destinations, thanks to interrogations
and phone taps.8
When not engaged in large-scale killings, KSM focused on indi-
vidual murders. He plotted to assassinate President Bill Clinton and
twice tried to kill Pope John Paul II. Several prime ministers of Paki-
stan narrowly escaped his bombs.
KSM is proud of his central role in the kidnapping and murder of
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who innocently wanted to
get “both sides” of the Al Qaeda story. KSM boasted: “I decapitated
with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel
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