- WASHINGTON - The United States
spurned an offer from Iraq to turn over terror bombing suspect Abdul Rahman
Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, CBS News reported.
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- The news program 60 Minutes last night interviewed Iraqi
Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz who said Washington rejected his country's
offer to deliver Yasin, who is the US list of most-wanted terrorists for
his alleged role in the bombing.
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- A native of Bloomington, Indiana, Yasin, 42, grew up
in Iraq, where he fled after allegedly taking part in the bombing. He was
the only suspect in the case to avoid prosecution by US authorities.
-
- Yasin, who apologised in the interview for his role in
the bombing, said he was picked up a few days later by Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents in an apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, that he
was sharing with his mother.
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- He said he was so co-operative the agents later released
him and gave him a ride home, allowing him to flee the United States for
Iraq.
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- He was detained by Iraqi in 1994 according to the report.
The May 23 interview with Yasin took place at an Iraqi installation where
is being held.
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- "Twice we ask them to come and take him. They refused,"
Aziz said in an interview transcript.
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- "We wanted to show our goodwill to the American
people," Aziz said in the report.
-
- US officials did not comply with the network's requests
for a comment, CBS said.
-
- Washington has offered a $US25 million ($44 million)
reward for information leading to Yasin's capture.
-
- Interviewed in the same broadcast, Yasin told CBS that
the bombing plotters originally considered blowing up Jewish neighbourhoods
in New York, but changed their minds.
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- "Ramzi Yousef told us to go to the World Trade Centre
... 'I have an idea we should do one big explosion rather than do small
ones in Jewish neighbourhoods,'" Yasin told CBS, referring to the
man convicted of masterminding the bombing.
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- Yasin said Yousef figured the trade centre would be a
better target.
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- "The majority of people who work in the World Trade
Centre are Jews," Yasin said.
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- Yousef was convicted for his role in the bombing in 1998
and now is serving a life sentence in a US prison.
-
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- © 2002 [News.com.au]. This news item is distributed
via Middle East News Online (MiddleEastWire.com). For information about
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contact our syndication department.
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