Blackburn bomb plotter: 'Osama bin Laden told me he planned a second 9/11' (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Blackburn bomb plotter: 'Osama bin Laden told me he planned a second 9/11'
1:22pm Tuesday 24th April 2012 in Crime news
Shoe bomb plotter Saajid Badat is giving evidence to a New York court..
A Blackburn man who trained to be a shoe bomber said Osama bin Laden told him shortly after the September 11 2001 attacks that he believed a follow-up terrorist attack could doom the American economy.
Saajid Badat recounted his meeting with the al Qaida founder in videotaped testimony that was played yesterday for a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York City.
"So he said the American economy is like a chain," Badat said. "If you break one - one link of the chain, the whole economy will be brought down. So after the September 11 attacks, this operation will ruin the aviation industry and in turn the whole economy will come down."
Badat, 33, was convicted in London in a 2001 plot to down an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes. His evidence came in the trial of a man accused in a 2009 plot to attack New York's tube network with suicide bombs.
Badat said he was supposed to carry out a simultaneous bombing with failed British shoe-bomber Richard Reid. In testimony recorded last month, Badat said he refused a request to testify in person because he remained under indictment in Boston on charges alleging he conspired with Reid and he has been told he would be arrested if he set foot in the United States.
Badat said he backed out of the bombing with Reid because of his reluctance, fear and the effect it would have on his family. He said he informed his handler in Pakistan by email but never notified bin Laden.
Arrested in November 2003, Badat is free after serving six years of an 11-year prison sentence. He testified that he began co-operating in part because he hoped to give evidence some day against Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who has claimed responsibility while in US custody as the architect of the September 11 attacks.
He said Mohammed gave final orders to himself and Reid, who is serving a life sentence.
"He just gave us advice, on how to interact with each other, how to contact each other," Badat said.
Badat said he believed Mohammed and others like him take advantage of vulnerable youths to carry out terrorism attacks. On cross-examination, he said he believed some of the September 11 hijackers were victims like the others who died that day, "to lesser extent, to a much lesser extent".
Reid and Badat travelled with each other just weeks before the planned December 2001 attacks, meeting for a time with a group of Malaysians who were preparing to perform a hijacking similar to the September 11 attacks, Badat said.
"I provided them with one of my shoes because ... both had explosives inserted into them," he said.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (45)
1:41pm Tue 24 Apr 12
jack daniels says...
2:40pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Lifeinthemix says...
consider this chap a mouth for Intelligence perhaps in readiness for this years false flag event/s
2:58pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Excluded again says...
3:13pm Tue 24 Apr 12
New World Order. says...
3:59pm Tue 24 Apr 12
I_Love_Mommy says...
4:21pm Tue 24 Apr 12
woolywords says...
Nothing sinister in my question, it's just a piece of journalistic trivia.
4:47pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Dave_P says...
5:35pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Lifeinthemix says...
5:36pm Tue 24 Apr 12
moggy669 says...
Do people still actually believe he did it??
God help us.
5:45pm Tue 24 Apr 12
bmurtaja says...
6:01pm Tue 24 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
Burn in hell.
6:19pm Tue 24 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
9/11, I strongly doubt it.
Sajid Badat, a v'anker
6:36pm Tue 24 Apr 12
berniep says...
al treatment & the freedom to speak bemoan & hate us could possibly be responsible for these terrible act,s against us.
6:57pm Tue 24 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
9/11 was a planned attack by the Yanks.
7:16pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Good call says...
8:04pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Ronnietate says...
9:08pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Reality50 says...
9:09pm Tue 24 Apr 12
retired one says...
9:11pm Tue 24 Apr 12
ghanto says...
Now his story about bin laden seems totally lies
he just making this up i think becuase he wants to attract america and british so he can be freed.
9:44pm Tue 24 Apr 12
Good call says...
10:34pm Tue 24 Apr 12
blackburn4life says...
12:34am Wed 25 Apr 12
Gennoe1 says...
12:45am Wed 25 Apr 12
Keep Darwen Green says...
Success has been so easy to achieve.
1:20am Wed 25 Apr 12
nil bye mouth says...
8:48am Wed 25 Apr 12
jack daniels says...
9:02am Wed 25 Apr 12
karolgadge says...
And, likewise, Councillor Abdul Patel was also reported (in the same LT article last week) that 'Islam is very forgiving'.
Both Salim Mulla and Abdul Patel clearly regard Saajid Badat as part of the Islamic community. If they hadn't, they would have remained silent on this issue.
9:03am Wed 25 Apr 12
Keep Darwen Green says...
9:18am Wed 25 Apr 12
Keep Darwen Green says...
10:39am Wed 25 Apr 12
did you smash it? says...
.
What a wonderful advert for the town - you must all be so proud....
11:40am Wed 25 Apr 12
benal13 says...
1:02pm Wed 25 Apr 12
slongio says...
3:50pm Wed 25 Apr 12
ghanto says...
I agree islam is forgivable but in saudi peoples hands are cut for stealing
5:04pm Wed 25 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
Get as much information as you can out of him and then baseball bat him.
5:14pm Wed 25 Apr 12
Good call says...
9:10pm Wed 25 Apr 12
ghanto says...
he ust being a babby
9:38pm Wed 25 Apr 12
Good call says...
10:07am Thu 26 Apr 12
Keep Darwen Green says...
There is a different mindset going on here. Don't let them suck in your gullible mind, use your eyes, ears and grey stuff. I'm sure you'll get through.
6:52pm Thu 26 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
If it was a terrorist attack, Bin Laden didn't do it.
Not even a powerful earthquake could bring towers down as 9/11.
7:10pm Thu 26 Apr 12
Good call says...
10:22pm Thu 26 Apr 12
slongio says...
6:21pm Fri 27 Apr 12
sen c bl says...
EVERY TIME I LOOK AT HIM IT GIVES ME THE SHIVERS.
7:56pm Fri 27 Apr 12
Good call says...
.....
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Freedom is Slavery
7:04am Sat 28 Apr 12
slongio says...
7:05am Sat 28 Apr 12
slongio says...
10:13am Sun 29 Apr 12
JingleBells says...
Let the individual have their say without the need for your direct heckling at them. Sarcastic comments doesn't really give what you have to say any credibility.
p.s. Remember this is just my opinion!