GOP leader criticizes handling of Somali suspect (AP)

WASHINGTON – The Senate Republican leader on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of undermining U.S. national security by bringing a Somali man facing terrorism charges to New York for trial.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Mitch McConnell assailed the administration's decision, arguing that the Somali citizen — Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame — belongs at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he could be tried by a military tribunal.

"The administration has purposefully imported a terrorist into the U.S. and is providing him all the rights of U.S. citizens in court," McConnell said. "This ideological rigidity being displayed by the administration is harming the national security of the United States of America."

Senior administration officials said Tuesday that the military captured Warsame on April 19, and then put him aboard a Navy warship, where he was interrogated at sea by intelligence officials. Under interrogation, Warsame gave up what officials called important intelligence about al-Qaida in Yemen and its relationship with al-Shabab militants in Somalia. The two groups have been known to have ties, but the extent of that relationship has remained unclear.

After the interrogation was complete, the FBI stepped in and began the interrogation from scratch, in a way that could be used in court. After the FBI read Warsame his Miranda rights — the right to remain silent and speak with an attorney — he opted to keep talking for days, helping the government build its case.

"Why? Why? Why is a man, who is a known terrorist and enemy of the United States, being afforded these protections?" McConnell, R-Ky., asked. "And now, he is in the hands of the civilian authorities and will be given all the rights accorded to a U.S. citizen in a civilian court."

A senior administration official defended the decision, saying the Defense Department and intelligence officials agreed with other members of the national security team that Warsame should be prosecuted in civilian courts. The official also said they interrogated him for two months to obtain as much information as possible and only when they finished, did they bring in the FBI, which read Warsame his Miranda rights. He waived those rights.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

In a statement, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Warsame belongs at Guantanamo, not in a civilian court, and expressed concern about the security costs for New York police.

"He is not an American citizen, nor did his criminal acts or his detention occur in the U.S. He is a Somali who traveled to Yemen for terror training. Warsame is a foreigner and an unlawful enemy combatant," King said.

President Barack Obama has said he would like to close the facility at Guantanamo, but Congress has repeatedly stopped the administration from transferring any detainees out of Guantanamo for trial in the U.S. Many in Congress want military commissions to handle the trials of terrorism cases.

McConnell's remarks drew an immediate rebuke from Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, who pointed out that under the administrations of Republican President George W. Bush and Obama more than 400 suspected terrorists have been tried in civilian courts in the United States and are serving time in U.S. prisons.

"To come here and second-guess the president because he's held a man for two months in military interrogation and now is being prosecuted in our criminal courts is totally unfair, unfair because the same standard was not applied to the Republican president who tried hundreds of would-be terrorists, accused terrorists in our criminal courts successfully," Durbin said.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney defended the administration's decision to detain Warsame for two months to allow intelligence officials to interrogate him.

"Wherever possible, first priority is and always has been to apprehend terrorist suspects and preserve the opportunity to elicit valuable intelligence that can help protect the American people," said Carney, who added that the government acquired valuable information.

Carney said the Red Cross was told of his detention and officials had a chance to visit the site and interview the detainee.

Matthew Waxman, a former Pentagon adviser on detention issues in the George W. Bush administration, said, "Congressional Republicans are wrong to try to restrict the president's options. I think it's misguided as a matter of principle and long-term terrorism policy."

Waxman, who served the Bush administration in various posts from 2001 to 2007, said, "These cases come with their own complexities and I think any effort to try to craft a one-size-fits-all approach is dangerous."

Now a professor at Columbia University law school, Waxman said the Obama administration after weighing a number of options probably concluded that in this instance criminal prosecution may have been the best available option for ensuring "that this guy is kept off the streets for a long time."

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AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller and Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

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Rights of Somali suspect may pose issue: U.S. judge (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Questioning by U.S. law enforcement agents overseas of a Somali militant accused of terrorism charges may become a sticking point in his prosecution, the judge overseeing the case said.

Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was captured in waters between Yemen and Somalia in April and interrogated aboard an American Navy ship by a special intelligence team for more than two months.

He was then turned over to the FBI for several days of questioning in late June during which time he waived his Miranda rights multiple times, U.S. officials have said.

The Miranda warning, to be read before questioning under U.S. law in civilian criminal cases, advises suspects of their constitutional rights to remain silent and entitles them to a lawyer.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon told Warsame, who pleaded not guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Somali group Al Shabaab, the issue of Miranda rights might crop up at trial.

"And what I wanted to tell you, I know that the agents, or at least I was informed ... that the agents gave you certain warnings before they talked to you," she said in a transcript of a July 5 federal court proceeding in New York that was made available on Thursday.

"That may become an issue later in the case, I don't know," she said.

Warsame's case has revived the argument between the Obama administration and critics who oppose its plan to prosecute Warsame in civilian court, where suspects are afforded a full suite of constitutional protections.

Republicans and some Democrats want Obama to prosecute terrorism suspects in military courts and to treat them as enemy combatants as was the case for some suspects during the Bush administration.

Civil liberties advocates have said that the interrogations aboard the U.S. Navy ship could jeopardize the case against Warsame.

(Reporting by Basil Katz in New York and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington)

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Somali detainee linked to Qaeda cleric: US (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Somali terror suspect captured and detained by the United States has links to Anwar al-Awlaqi, a key leader of Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, a US official said Thursday.

Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who was captured in the Gulf by the US military on April 19 and is now facing terror charges, had contacts with Awlaqi and "was a key interlocutor" between Somalia's Shebab Islamist insurgency and Awlaqi's Al-Qaeda outfit in Yemen, the official told AFP.

"He was a senior commander" in Shebab, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Somali national was indicted on Tuesday in a New York court on charges of providing material support to both Shebab and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, (AQAP).

Warsame, 25, faces nine counts including acting as a go-between between the two groups, providing them with both money and training between 2007 and 2011. He faces a life sentence if convicted on the terror and weapons charges.

US officials say Awlaqi, an American citizen who remains at large in Yemen, is a powerful leader of AQAP and is suspected of instigating a string of attacks against the United States, including a failed attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner.

The Saudi and Yemeni Al-Qaeda branches merged in January 2009 to form the Yemen-based AQAP.

US officials have voiced concern about deepening ties between AQAP and Shebab and that the Somali insurgency may broaden its focus to try to strike at Western targets outside of Somalia.

The Shebab rebels are locked in a protracted battle with the country's weak, Western-backed government for control of the Horn of Africa nation.

The Shebab are currently facing an unprecedented offensive launched by the transitional government and backed by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu.

The Shebab have suffered serious setbacks during the major offensive launched in February by the government and backed by the AU peacekeeping mission.

The US government meanwhile has defended the treatment of Warsame, who was interrogated for two months on an American warship.

US officials said Warsame provided "valuable" intelligence and that military and civilian interrogators strictly followed Army rules that prohibit abuse or torture of a detainee.

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Somali man held two months faces charges (Reuters)

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Somali man suspected of assisting al Qaeda was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights, an administration official said.

The man, identified as Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, was brought to New York City on July 4 to face charges in a U.S. criminal court.

He appeared in a New York court on Tuesday morning and pleaded not guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Somali group Al Shabaab, prosecutors in Manhattan said on Tuesday.

Warsame was arrested in April by the U.S. military in the Gulf, he was questioned about anti-terrorism "for intelligence purposes for more than two months" before being read his Miranda rights, the prosecutors said in a statement.

Miranda rights entitle suspects to a lawyer and the right to remain silent.

He was questioned by interrogators from the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group and the U.S. military, according to an administration official.

President Barack Obama's administration has come under fire by Republicans and even some fellow Democrats over his decision to prosecute some terrorism suspects in criminal courts and not in military courts, where rules for evidence are looser.

In Washington, another senior administration official said Obama's national security team had unanimously recommended the prosecution of Warsame in a criminal court.

The senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Susan Collins, said she did not agree with this decision.

"A foreign national who fought on behalf of al Shabaab in Somalia - and who was captured by our military overseas - should be tried in a military commission, not a federal civilian court in New York or anywhere else in our country," she said in a statement.

LATER WAIVED RIGHTS

After his interrogation, a fresh FBI team came in and was permitted to talk with him, at which time he waived his legal rights and continued to talk for several days, said the first official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to talk on the record about matters of terrorism.

Warsame arrived in New York City late on July 4 after being formally arrested the previous day, according to a letter from prosecutors to the U.S. court.

Warsame, said to be in his mid-20s, was indicted on nine charges, including providing material support from at least 2007 to April 2011 to Somali militants al Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), two groups designated by Washington as terrorist organizations.

According to the charges, Warsame also worked to broker a weapons deal with AQAP on behalf of al Shabaab.

A joint statement by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, the FBI and the New York Police Department said he was also charged with "conspiring to teach and demonstrate the making of explosives, possessing firearms and explosives in furtherance of crimes of violence and other violations."

(Reporting by Grant McCool and Basil Katz in New York and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; editing by Todd Eastham and Jackie Frank)

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Brennan says Somali action setback for al-Qaida (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism says the death of an al-Qaida operative behind the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania is a huge setback for the terrorist organization and its allies.

A Somali minister earlier Saturday said officials in that country have determined that a man killed by security forces on Tuesday was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

John Brennan says the death provides a measure of justice to people who lost loved ones in the attacks. Brennan commended the efforts of the Somali government forces, saying they struck a significant blow against those in the region seeking to carry out terrorist attacks.

The blasts killed 224 people. Most were Kenyans. Twelve Americans also died.

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