Officials: Mohammed Exaggerated Claims

In a file photo Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan Saturday March 1, 2003, in this photo obtained by the Associated Press. Mohammed confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday March 14, 2007 by the Pentagon. Mohammed claimed responsibility for planning, financing, and training others for bombings ranging from the 1993 attack at the World Trade Center to the attempt by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes. (AP Photo) (AP)

_ He also claims to be responsible for the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, which was frequented by British and Australian tourists. Current and former officials say that his role was probably that of a financier for an al-Qaida affiliate group _ Jemaah Islamiyah _ operating in Southeast Asia.

Mohammed's link "could have been as small as arranging a safe house for travel. It could have been arranging finance," Rogers said. "But for his own self-worth, he may have tended to say, 'I was responsible for Bali.'"

_ He claims to have been responsible for providing financial support to "hit American, Jewish and British targets in Turkey." That's probably a reference to the 2003 bombing of two synagogues, a British-based bank and the British consulate in Istanbul, killing 58 people including the British consul-general.

Prosecutors said Osama bin Laden personally ordered the plot, and Mohammed was not named as a key provider of financial support during a three-year trial. Instead, Turkish authorities say a Syrian _ Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa _ masterminded the attacks and ran $170,000 between al-Qaida and the Turkey-based militants.

_ And Mohammed claimed he shared responsibility _ he stressed shared _ for an attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II during a 1995 visit to the Philippines. Authorities later blamed the plot on Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and accused of plotting to blow up U.S. airliners. Yousef was never charged in plotting to kill the pope.

Mohammed's claims help answer some questions. Some intelligence officials have long believed that would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was part of a larger plan to take down airliners after 9/11, in part, because of e-mails he wrote that were discovered on a computer in a Paris Internet cafe.

Another British citizen has been convicted in the plot. In his statement Saturday, Mohammed said he was responsible for the shoe bomber operation "to down two American airplanes."

Current and former government officials say the CIA spent hundreds _ if not thousands _ of hours interrogating Mohammed and would have heard him describe in great detail precisely what he claims to have done in each plot. The transcript provided a snippet of his claims, officials said.

A CIA official declined to analyze Mohammed's statements.

One official cautioned that many of Mohammed's claims during interrogation were "white noise" _ designed to send the U.S. on wild goose chases or to get him through the day's interrogation session.

In the Defense Department transcript, Mohammed said his statement was not made under duress. But Mohammed and human rights advocates have alleged that he was tortured, and legal experts say that could taint all his statements.

"In light of the rambling nature of his statements, and the views of some that he is prone to exaggerate his importance, we cannot feel confident we know exactly the level of his involvement in various prior attacks," said Joshua Dressler, a criminal law expert at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

The CIA has denied it uses torture. "The agency's terrorist interrogation program has been conducted lawfully, with great care and close review, producing vital information that has helped disrupt plots and save lives," spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.

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Associated Press writers Victor L. Simpson in Rome and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this story.