Terrorism author testifies in Padilla trial

Terrorism author testifies in Padilla trial - 07/02/2007 - MiamiHerald.com Page 1 of 3

Posted on Mon, Jul. 02, 2007

Terrorism author testifies in Padilla trial

BY DAN CHRISTENSEN AND JAY WEAVER
The federal government's leading expert witness in the case against terrorism suspect Jose Padilla is a bestselling
author from Sri Lanka with a background rich in scholarship -- and controversy.

His name: Dr. Rohan Gunaratna. His role: to explain Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to American jurors.

Since last week, the 45-year-old Gunaratna has been on the witness stand in Miami federal court, describing how
Padilla and his two co-defendants would have been motivated to form a South Florida-based cell to support
embattled Muslims worldwide as part of a global terrorist mission.

His testimony is crucial to the U.S. government's high-profile trial, which began in early May and could run through
August. It will reach a turning point later this month when the defense is expected to put on its case.

Under questioning, the mild-mannered author of Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror outlined why the
defendants shared the same goal as bin Laden -- to create Islamic states through any means necessary.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley praised Gunaratna, telling U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, ``He's the
leading scholar in this area.''

Not everyone agrees.

Attorneys and some U.S. intelligence officials, including those at the CIA, have challenged Gunaratna's credibility
as an expert on al Qaeda.

''He is known to pander to the opinion of those paying for his services,'' attorney Mahir Sherif wrote in a defense
motion filed in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, where Gunaratna is scheduled to testify for the government in
another terrorism case this summer.

As an expert in the Padilla case, he has a contract with the Justice Department for $53,700, with hourly rates of
$250 for out-of-court work and $300 for in-court testimony.

On the stand, Gunaratna said the pay ''will have no effect'' on his testimony, but defense attorneys on Monday
questioned his expertise.

They also challenged his refusal to disclose his sources of information. Without knowing his sources, defense
lawyers said, they would never know if Gunaratna may have obtained information from witnesses who had been
coerced by others.

Last week, Gunaratna spent several days on the stand in a trial where federal prosecutors are trying to prove that
Padilla and co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi conspired to commit murder and
provide material support for violent groups of Islamic holy warriors overseas. The indictment accuses Hassoun and
Jayyousi of recruiting the former Broward County resident, who allegedly filled out an al Qaeda application form in
July 2000 to train with the terror group in Afghanistan.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent, carries notoriety because President Bush designated him as an
''enemy combatant'' in 2002 and ordered him held by the U.S. military until he was transferred to Miami last year to
face charges.

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/v-print/story/158553.html 7/3/2007

Terrorism author testifies in Padilla trial - 07/02/2007 - MiamiHerald.com Page 2 of 3
INSIDE THEIR HEADS

For prosecutors, Gunaratna has the legal leeway as an expert witness to discuss the defendants' state of mind -- how
their alleged motives matched the ''violent jihad'' mission of al Qaeda during its rise in the 1990s.

Born in Sri Lanka, Gunaratna earned a master's degree in international peace studies from Notre Dame University
in 1996 and a doctorate from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 1999.

He learned firsthand of terrorism while growing up in Sri Lanka, where the militant Tamil Tigers have fought the
government since the 1970s. Later, he studied the phenomenon, and in 2002 he founded a terrorism study center at
Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, where he is an associate professor.

''I debriefed my first terrorist in 1984,'' he said.

Gunaratna testified last week that he has received numerous fellowships and grants. He developed a database for the
United Nations on terrorism, including al Qaeda and its entities.

His value to the government is rooted in his 10-page resume: a scholar with ``extensive field experience.''

In court, he added that he has had ''several hundred'' contacts with Islamic radical groups and their members over
the years -- despite the fact that he is not fluent in Arabic.

''I am not a Muslim. I am not a scholar on Islam, but I am a scholar on terrorism,'' Gunaratna told the jury.

Gunaratna, who has also testified as a terrorism expert in Great Britain and Canada, has worked for both
prosecutors and defense attorneys.

He was hired by defense lawyers for American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, whose terrorism case was
the first prosecuted by the Justice Department after 9/11. Following a long interview with Lindh, Gunaratna
concluded he did not fit the terrorist profile.

Lindh later pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a deal approved by President Bush.

In 2004, Gunaratna testified for the government at the trial of Sami Omas Al-Hussayen, a University of Idaho
graduate student who was acquitted of using his Islamic website to provide material support for terrorists.

SLATED TO TESTIFY

Federal prosecutors in Ohio plan to use Gunaratna at the August trial of Nuradin Abdi, a 35-year-old Somali
immigrant who allegedly wanted to bomb a shopping mall. No bomb went off, but Abdi is charged with providing
material support to al Qaeda.

''Dr. Gunaratna's proposed testimony is reliable and relevant,'' prosecutors said.

Yet Abdi defense lawyer Mahir Sherif contends Gunaratna uses a ''broad brush'' to paint many legitimate Muslims
as terrorists. ''He's never had an intricate knowledge of all the players,'' he said.

In court filings, Sherif cited remarks by CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, who told Newsweek magazine in 2003 that
Gunaratna made inaccurate statements to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Gunaratna had testified that he'd seen classified information showing that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed chaired a January 2000 meeting in Asia at which the U.S. attacks were discussed. But the CIA, which
stood to be embarrassed if that were true, said it had monitored the meeting and that Mohammed did not attend.

''He's totally incorrect,'' Harlow told the magazine. 7/3/2007
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On July 27, the Ohio judge will hold a hearing to consider whether Gunaratna should be allowed to testify.

At Padilla's trial Monday, Hassoun lawyers Jeanne Baker and Ken Swartz continued challenging Gunaratna.

But some of Baker's questions drew objections from prosecutors, and Judge Cooke cautioned that she might be
forced to sever Hassoun from the trial if Baker persisted.

On Friday, Baker suggested that Gunaratna is short on experience when it comes to Arab terrorism and overly
secretive about his sources.

At one point, as Gunaratna defended himself, Baker asked whether he thought he had a ``monopoly on the truth.''

''No one has a monopoly on the truth,'' Gunaratna replied. ``Except for God.''

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http://www.miamiherald.com/416/v-print/story/158553.html 7/3/2007