War on Terrorism - Latest Developments

July 21, 2002

• John Walker Lindh is ready to cooperate with terrorism investigators, as he promised to do in return for a lighter sentence, but he may have little information to give, his lawyer James Brosnahan said Sunday. ''The fact is he doesn't know a whole lot, but he will cooperate with them fully. If he can save American lives, he will do it,'' Brosnahan said on CNN's Late Edition.

• A compromise $28.9 billion anti-terrorism bill could sail through Congress as early as next week and should get President Bush's signature, lawmakers and aides say. About half the measure is for the Pentagon, while the rest is for domestic security efforts like aviation safety; rebuilding assistance for New York; foreign aid; and assorted programs ranging from aid to Amtrak to Pell grants for low-income students.

• After declaring himself a member of Al-Qaeda, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged as a Sept. 11 conspirator, attempted to plead guilty Thursday to new federal charges that could bring him the death penalty. But U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema— in a rare bench ruling — insisted he take a week to think about it. Moussaoui said he wanted to fight the government's attempt to have him executed. The penalty phase normally would come after a guilty plea or conviction in a trial.

• An attorney for a Jordanian man who lived with two Sept. 11 hijackers asked a judge Thursday to release his client from Immigration and Naturalization Service custody. A ruling on the request wasn't immediately issued. Rasmi Al-Shannaq, 27, is charged with overstaying his visa. Al-Shannaq is also charged in federal court with obtaining a fake visa from the U.S. embassy in Qatar on July 2. He was ordered released on that charge last week and turned over to INS officials.

• The head of the FBI's counterterrorism effort thinks Osama bin Laden is dead. The statement by Dale Watson marks the first time a senior U.S. law enforcement official publicly has given an opinion on the al-Qaida leader's status. Watson emphasized that he had no evidence that the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks was dead.

• The attacks of Sept. 11 sparked an unprecedented surge in the number of people seeking to become U.S. citizens, but fears of further terrorism led the government to take longer in approving hopefuls. Larger numbers of immigrants are seeking citizenship to show their patriotism and avoid being caught in the federal dragnet for terrorists that has detained thousands on immigration technicalities since Sept. 11.

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