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Attorneys: Chicago man providing info on terrorism
CHICAGO -- An American who admitted slipping quietly into the Indian city of Mumbai on scouting missions that led to the November 2008 attack that killed 166 people has already started spilling terrorists' secrets to U.S. authorities, according to his attorney and federal prosecutors.
David Coleman Headley pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago to laying the groundwork for the massacre in Mumbai and performing similar surveillance in anticipation of an attack on a Danish newspaper whose cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were offensive to Muslims.
Federal officials say the 49-year-old Headley, who was arrested in Chicago in October, has become a valuable asset to the war on terrorism, furnishing information about terrorist networks in exchange for a promise that he won't be executed.
"Not only has the criminal justice system achieved a guilty plea in this case, but David Headley is now providing us valuable intelligence about terrorist activities," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Headley - appearing in leg irons and a prison-issued orange jumpsuit - pleaded guilty to all 12 counts in the indictment against him, including conspiracy to provide material aid to the Pakistani-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure) and to the murder of six Americans in Mumbai. The U.S. and India say the 10 gunmen in the three-day siege in Mumbai were trained and directed by Lashkar.
"Are you pleading guilty of your own free, voluntary will?" U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber asked. "I am," said Headley softly, speaking with a slight British accent.
Defense attorney Robert Seeder told reporters afterward that Headley's decision to help the U.S. government was "a manifestation and example of his regret and remorse" and not based just on the agreement that spares him the death penalty. Headley still faces a potential life sentence but could get a lesser term.
"He has provided significant help to the United States and aided other countries," said Seeder, who declined to reveal specifics.
Headley was born in the U.S. as Daood Gilani to a Pakistani father and American mother. They later moved to Pakistan, where Headley spent his early years. According to court documents, Headley changed his name in 2006 to get across international boundaries without too many questions.
In his signed plea agreement, Headley told how he met with terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri in Waziristan in the tribal areas of western Pakistan in May 2009. He said Kashmiri put him in touch with a European contact who could provide weapons and manpower for the Danish attack.
Kashmiri and a retired Pakistani military man, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, also are charged in the indictment. Their whereabouts are unknown.
According to the indictment, Kashmiri has been in regular contact with the No. 3 man in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, Sheikh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid.
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