Charges Qatar harboring and smuggling the mastermind of the September 11 attacks

Charges Qatar harboring and smuggling the mastermind of the September 11 attacks

DOHA, July 8 (Reuters) - Observers of developments in the Qatari crisis say Doha has provided shelter to leaders in terrorist organizations for at least 20 years but what is less known is that among Qatar's masterminds of the 9/11 attacks on the Trade Center In New York.
The 9/11 attacks are usually linked to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, while the real planner was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who later learned US intelligence had an unmatched ability to organize major terrorist attacks other than bin Laden, who had no such capability.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a Pakistani, grew up in Kuwait and spent four years studying for a mechanical engineering degree from the State University of North Carolina.
Mohammed was involved in terrorism from Manila to Thailand to New York, and in 1996 US intelligence placed him at the top of the world's most dangerous terrorists, and made his discovery a top priority. Finally I found him in Qatar where he was given a formal job at the General Establishment for Water and Electricity.
Richard Clark, coordinator for security and counterterrorism affairs at the Clinton and Bush administrations, said the decision on the next step after knowing the whereabouts of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a member of a committee representing the relevant organs and ministries he chaired.
"There was agreement in the committee that we can not trust the Qatari government to do what is obvious, that is to ask the local security services to arrest him and hand him over. The Qataris have a history of sympathy for the terrorists and a particular minister from the ruling family seems to have links to groups such as al-Qaeda that apparently sponsors Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, "Clark writes in the New York Daily News.
US intelligence services have thought of kidnapping Mohammed from Qatar and taking him to the United States for trial there. But because of the potential consequences of such a process, the Clinton administration finally decided that the only option available to it was to approach the Qatari government itself.
To minimize the danger of such a move, he asked the US ambassador in Doha to speak only with the Emir himself and ask the Emir to speak only with the head of Qatari intelligence.
The US request was to arrest Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for a few hours while a US team arrived with a warrant to arrest him and transfer him to the United States.
Richard Clarke reveals that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is wanted for terrorist activities worldwide, disappeared from sight within hours of the US ambassador's meeting with the emir of Qatar.
No one could find him in a small city like Doha at the time.
"The Qataris later told us they thought he had left the country. They never told us how he left. "
Khalid al-Sheikh Mohammed remained at large to organize the 9/11 attacks, the Bali bombings in Indonesia, the killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl and other terrorist attacks.
In 2003, he was arrested by US officials in Pakistan accompanied by Pakistani officers. He is now held at Guantanamo Bay.
"If we were handed over to the Qataris as we asked in 1996, the world would be a very different place today," said former US security official Richard Clarke. Finished

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