Bombing Suspect Helped Feds
A U.S. citizen on trial for conspiring to kill Americans in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa cooperated with investigators because he had nothing to hide, his lawyer said in a closing argument Monday.
Wadih El-Hage, 40, of Arlington, Texas was labeled a terrorist merely because he had worked for Saudi millionaire and alleged terrorism leader Osama bin Laden, lawyer Sam Schmidt, told a jury in federal court.
Schmidt said the FBI assumed the association with bin Laden meant "that he must be an Arab terrorist who wants to kill Americans."
"He supports much of what Mr. bin Laden did, but he does not support the killing of innocent women and children," the lawyer said.
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El-Hage made himself available to U.S. investigators after the Aug. 7, 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, Schmidt said.
Speaking to the FBI and testifying before the grand jury, El-Hage never hid the fact that he opposed U.S. policies in the Middle East, Schmidt said.
The lawyer said his client's behavior showed El-Hage had nothing to hide. Instead, he was someone "willing to work with investigators after the bombing," Schmidt said.
"He didn't run away. He stayed in the place where his family had the best chance, the free United States," he added.
El-Hage is among four men charged with conspiracy in the bombings.
Prosecutors have said El-Hage played a central role in bin Laden's campaign to kill Americans anywhere they could be found, raising money for the group and smoothing communications in his job as personal secretary.
They also alleged that El-Hage tried to obtain Stinger weapons and served for a time as the head of bin Laden's terrorism cell in Nairobi, Kenya. Schmidt said both charges were false.
El-Hage and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, an alleged explosives expert, could face life in prison if fond guilty of conspiracy. Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, 24, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, who are accused of helping to rig the trucks that carried the embassy bombs — could get the death penalty.
Defense summations were expected to continue until early this week, when the government will offer a rebuttal.
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