NEW YORK (AP) - Nov. 11, 2005 - A Pakistani man working in Manhattan confessed that he conspired in 2003 to try to sneak an al-Qaida operative into the country who was planning a chemical attack against Americans, a prosecutor said as a terrorism trial began Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Bruce accused Uzair Paracha, 25, of agreeing to support the plot during meetings in Pakistan with two al-Qaida operatives and his father, a businessman.
"This trial is about the defendant's role in helping al-Qaida penetrate this country and attack the United States from within its own borders," Bruce said in his opening statement.
Edward Wilford, a lawyer for Paracha, told jurors the government's claims stemmed from a false confession Paracha gave after he was subjected to 72 hours of interrogation without being told he could consult a lawyer or speak with his parents. "Uzair Paracha agreed to assist his father," Wilford said. "At no point did Uzair Paracha agree to help al-Qaida do anything."
Paracha's father is being held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
** Well if they convict him they might ship his ass out to Cuba, and who knows they can meet up and spend many happy hours bitching about the Great Satan.
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