Encounter on a Train Led Hamburg Cell to Bin Laden

Disclosure in 9/11 Report Jeopardizes German Prosecutions

HAMBURG -- Two years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the ringleaders of the plot had a different destination in mind: Chechnya. But a chance encounter with a stranger on a train in Germany led the conspirators in a new direction, eventually putting them in touch for the first time with Osama bin Laden and the leadership of al Qaeda.

The 1999 episode on the German train, disclosed in the final report of the U.S. commission that investigated the attacks, is based on interrogation reports that until recently were kept secret. According to the account, a mysterious passenger -- identified as Khalid Masri, a name that has not previously surfaced in public records of the investigation -- urged the Islamic radicals from Hamburg to put off their mission to Chechnya until they could speak with a Mauritanian businessman, who in turn arranged a personal introduction to bin Laden.

The circuitous path that led the group to Afghanistan is one key piece of evidence cited by the commission in concluding that members of the Hamburg cell had no intention of attacking the United States until they were recruited almost by happenstance by the al Qaeda leadership to become the field marshals of the Sept. 11 operation.

That finding contradicts a long-held theory advanced by German prosecutors, who have argued that the Hamburg radicals wholly conceived of the plot themselves in Germany and only later traveled to Afghanistan to seek the support and sponsorship of al Qaeda.

According to U.S. and German investigators, the Hamburg cell included 11 core members and supporters who played a role in preparing for the attacks. Of those, three died during the hijackings, including plot leader Mohamed Atta; two are facing trial in Germany; two are in U.S. military custody and one is imprisoned in Syria. The other three remain at large.

The competing version of how the conspiracy began is threatening to derail Germany's attempts to prosecute two men accused of belonging to the Hamburg cell and providing assistance for the attacks. One of the suspects, Mounir Motassadeq, a Moroccan, was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Hamburg on 3,066 counts of serving as an accessory to murder.

Motassadeq was found guilty 18 months ago and is still the only person convicted in connection with the attacks. But the verdict was overturned on appeal, in part because of new information about the conspiracy that emerged from U.S. investigations, and a new trial was ordered.

The Sept. 11 commission's findings are based on classified reports of interrogations of Ramzi Binalshibh, a core member of the Hamburg cell who was supposed to serve as a lead hijacker but could not get a visa to enter the United States. He was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and is in U.S. custody in a secret location.

During interrogation, Binalshibh described the 1999 encounter on the German train that ultimately led the Hamburg group to meet bin Laden. His statements also led the Sept. 11 commission to reach a conclusion different from that of the German prosecutors, who alleged the plot originated in their country.

In 1999, "when the four core members of the Hamburg cell left Germany to journey to Afghanistan, it seems unlikely that they already knew about the planes operation," the commission wrote. "No evidence connects them to al Qaeda before that time."

For years, German authorities have wondered how the hijackings could have been planned in their midst without triggering any alarms. Now, the U.S. investigation has answered their question by saying the plot was not hatched here.

"This was the assumption for a long time," said Manfred Murck, a German intelligence official in Hamburg whose agency is responsible for monitoring domestic extremist groups. "In a way, we feel a little bit better that not all the responsibility is on our shoulders."

But the fresh disclosures present a severe challenge to German prosecutors in the upcoming trial. The indictment against Motassadeq charges that he played a direct role in furthering the attacks. Under German law in effect at the time, he can be found guilty of helping or belonging to a terrorist organization only if the conspiracy was planned within Germany.

A panel of judges that will hear the case in Hamburg has already requested that the Sept. 11 commission's report be included as evidence. Defense attorneys are also demanding that Binalshibh and other al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody be allowed to testify, arguing that their accounts could exonerate their client.