| A Clean Getaway |
Abdul Rahman Yasin was indicted as a conspirator in the 1993 bombing
of the World Trade Center, on grounds that he assisted in the
preparation of the bomb itself. He has been sheltered ever since in
Baghdad.
Yasin is an Iraqi who holds U.S. citizenship—born in the U.S. but raised in
Baghdad. He arrived in New York in September 1992 on a U.S. passport.
Yasin was questioned by the FBI (New Jersey) a few days after the bombing but was
released the same day, regarded at that point as a cooperative witness rather than a
suspect. A week after the bombing he was on a flight out of New York to Jordan. After
an overnight stay in Amman—where he obtained an Iraqi visa—Yasin departed for
Baghdad, where he presumably remains.
Yasin was clearly a smooth operator. There are several interesting details about
the way his case has been handled by the U.S. government.
1. Yasin was so persuasive that FBI-NJ failed even to take the precaution of withholding
his passport, or putting his name on the restricted-travel list.
2. When the FBI decided that Yasin needed to be apprehended, they tried to lure him
back to New York by having his brother telephone him in Baghdad, to tell him he was
wanted for further questioning by U.S. authorities.
The FBI seems not to have understood the situation they were dealing with. Not
only was it highly unlikely that a man who had successfully evaded arrest would willingly
return for “questioning.” The fact that Yasin’s brother made those phone calls suggests
that he knew (or assumed) that Yasin had been working for Iraqi intelligence. After all,
any telephone in Baghdad might be tapped (and more especially, the phone of a U.S.
citizen). To implicate his brother in a “free-lance” terrorist bombing would surely make
him a target for serious interrogation at the hands of Iraqi intelligence.
3. When those telephone calls bore no fruit, Yasin was finally indicted in early August—five
months after the bombing. But the U.S. never requested extradition of this indicted
fugitive and U.S. citizen (even though an extradition treaty with Iraq had been used as
recently as 1985, in the Achille Lauro case).
Nor did the U.S. file a report with the U.N. regarding Iraq's harboring of a suspected
terrorist -- even though the terms of the 1991 cease-fire required that any Iraqi support
for terrorist activity be reported to the Secretary General.
Abdul Rahman Yasin was not "hiding out" in Baghdad. He apparently lived initially at his
father's house. "Neighbors told us Yasin comes and goes freely” (Sheila MacVicar,
“‘America’s Most Wanted’ – Fugitive Terrorists.” ABC News’ Day One, July 27, 1994).
FBI Director Louis Freeh affirmed in 1998 that Yasin was "still at large, hiding in his native
Iraq" (speech on May 12, 1998, in Buenos Aires).
Continued: The Terrorist Masterminds
of the World Trade Center, on grounds that he assisted in the
preparation of the bomb itself. He has been sheltered ever since in
Baghdad.
Yasin is an Iraqi who holds U.S. citizenship—born in the U.S. but raised in
Baghdad. He arrived in New York in September 1992 on a U.S. passport.
Yasin was questioned by the FBI (New Jersey) a few days after the bombing but was
released the same day, regarded at that point as a cooperative witness rather than a
suspect. A week after the bombing he was on a flight out of New York to Jordan. After
an overnight stay in Amman—where he obtained an Iraqi visa—Yasin departed for
Baghdad, where he presumably remains.
Yasin was clearly a smooth operator. There are several interesting details about
the way his case has been handled by the U.S. government.
1. Yasin was so persuasive that FBI-NJ failed even to take the precaution of withholding
his passport, or putting his name on the restricted-travel list.
2. When the FBI decided that Yasin needed to be apprehended, they tried to lure him
back to New York by having his brother telephone him in Baghdad, to tell him he was
wanted for further questioning by U.S. authorities.
The FBI seems not to have understood the situation they were dealing with. Not
only was it highly unlikely that a man who had successfully evaded arrest would willingly
return for “questioning.” The fact that Yasin’s brother made those phone calls suggests
that he knew (or assumed) that Yasin had been working for Iraqi intelligence. After all,
any telephone in Baghdad might be tapped (and more especially, the phone of a U.S.
citizen). To implicate his brother in a “free-lance” terrorist bombing would surely make
him a target for serious interrogation at the hands of Iraqi intelligence.
3. When those telephone calls bore no fruit, Yasin was finally indicted in early August—five
months after the bombing. But the U.S. never requested extradition of this indicted
fugitive and U.S. citizen (even though an extradition treaty with Iraq had been used as
recently as 1985, in the Achille Lauro case).
Nor did the U.S. file a report with the U.N. regarding Iraq's harboring of a suspected
terrorist -- even though the terms of the 1991 cease-fire required that any Iraqi support
for terrorist activity be reported to the Secretary General.
Abdul Rahman Yasin was not "hiding out" in Baghdad. He apparently lived initially at his
father's house. "Neighbors told us Yasin comes and goes freely” (Sheila MacVicar,
“‘America’s Most Wanted’ – Fugitive Terrorists.” ABC News’ Day One, July 27, 1994).
FBI Director Louis Freeh affirmed in 1998 that Yasin was "still at large, hiding in his native
Iraq" (speech on May 12, 1998, in Buenos Aires).
Continued: The Terrorist Masterminds
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