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Prosecutor says embassy bombings 'a long, complicated and chilling' story

By CNN Producer Phil Hirschkorn

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The trial of four men, accused in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, began Monday with the judge telling jurors that the trial would require "patience, attentiveness and discipline."

Opening statements before a jury of 12 people, and six alternates, with U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand presiding, got under way just before 10 a.m. ET.

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In his welcoming remarks, Sand told the jurors that "great pains were taken in your selection," and urged them to ignore media reports on the case.

In his opening statement for the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Butler outlined the prosecution's case, which includes 308 counts of conspiracy, murder and other charges.

"The story that is about to unfold before you is long, complicated and chilling," Butler said.

Defense attorney Sam Schmidt was delivering his opening statement Monday afternoon.

Butler spent the first few of the 50 minutes he spoke setting the scene at the downtown Nairobi, Kenya embassy the day of the bombing -- August 7, 1998.

"It's business as usual at the American embassy, which means busy," Butler told the court. "Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed."

Two men face the death penalty if convicted. Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, 24, a Saudi, is accused of participating in the Nairobi, Kenya bombing that killed 213 people and injured thousands more. Kahlfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a Tanzanian, is accused of participating in the bombing at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in which 11 people died.

Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 35, a Jordanian accused of participating in the Kenya bombing and Wadih el Hage, 40, a naturalized American from Lebanon, accused of organizing the Kenyan terrorist cell, but not of direct participation in the bombings both face life in prison if convicted.

All four men have said they are innocent.

Butler described how the bomb truck entered the embassy's rear parking lot, shattering the embassy and adjacent buildings when it exploded.

Butler said al-'Owhali was actually in the bomb truck and got out to throw handmade grenades to distract the embassy guards. "At the last minute, Mohamed al-'Owhali ran away from that bomb truck, leaving those 213 men, women and children slaughtered behind him," butler said.

Mohamed, Butler said, "was in a bomb truck, too," referring to truck used in the bombing in Dar es Salaam. Butler said Mohamed rented the house where the Tanzania bomb was built and stayed behind to clean it after the bombing.

Prosecutors allege all four defendants are linked to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, 43, who is charged with leading a decade-long worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans and destroy U.S. government property. He is accused of ordering the embassy bombings, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 4,000 others.

Butler called el Hage "a trusted associate of bin Laden, who carried out his order to militarize his Kenyan terrorist cell." He accused Odeh of supporting that cell by establishing a fishing business in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombassa.

Bin Laden is one of 13 indicted fugitives in the case.

The amount of evidence is staggering. The prosecution's case includes crime scene photographs, videotapes and forensic evidence such as chemical bomb residue. More than 100 witnesses from six countries are expected to testify, including FBI agents, medical examiners and people who actually saw the bombs explode.

The trial could last until the end of the year.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Links to United States Embassies and Consulates Worldwide
Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1999
FBI Websites Document Evidence Against Bin Laden
Dept of State/International Information Programs:
Ussamah Bin Laden
US District Court, Southern District of New York
U.S. State Department - Counterterrorism
Terrorism Research Center
Africa News on the World Wide Web

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