After Being Held for Five Years, Padilla To Begin Trial

MIAMI — It's been nearly five years since then-Attorney General John Ashcroft declared that America had thwarted a Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a major city and had arrested a "known terrorist," Jose Padilla.

Mr. Ashcroft darkly suggested the plot could have caused "mass death and injury" and said President Bush had designated Mr. Padilla, an American citizen, as an enemy combatant who would be held in indefinite military custody rather than face civilian charges.

"He was involved in planning future terrorist attacks on American civilians in the United States," Mr. Ashcroft said in June 2002, while the jittery nation still reeled from the September 11 and anthrax attacks in 2001.

However, as jury selection begins today, the case against Mr. Padilla has no mention of the "dirty bomb" allegations or purported plots inside America.

Instead, Mr. Padilla, held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant, and co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, and 44-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi face charges of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, and maim" people overseas and of providing support to terror groups. All three pleaded not guilty. They could face life in prison if convicted.

"It has had so many unbelievable twists and turns," said Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor who directs the school's Center for Health and Homeland Security. "It really will be the stuff of legend in terms of how we attempted to deal with terrorists in the war on terror."

The three are accused of being part of a North American support cell that funneled fighters, money and supplies to Islamic extremists fighting "jihad," or Muslim holy war, in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Tajikistan, and elsewhere around the world. The trial is expected to take at least four months.

Although there is no direct connection, the shadow of the September 11 attacks hangs over the case. Dozens of potential jurors mentioned the attacks when they filled out questionnaires meant to gauge their ability to be fair and impartial.

Yet there's little proof that the three were directly responsible for any specific acts of terrorism. In court papers, prosecutors listed generalized victims such as Serbian and Croat forces in the 1990s Bosnian war, the Russian army in Chechnya and "moderate" Muslim governments in Libya, Tunisia, and elsewhere.