jack roche aka khalid sayfullah--the eternal sword of god
an australian named jack roche might have helped prevent both the 9/11 attack on the world trade center...and the bali bombing of 2002. instead of being lauded as a hero by both his government and ours, roche is serving a 9 year sentence...a self-confessed attempted bomber who once had lunch with osama bin laden but was unable to get us or australian intelligence officials to take his calls.
its a very strange story that underscores just how little the west knew about al-quaida and its allies and how that ignorance put us all at risk. on six different occasions--when roche could have told authorities the whereabouts of khalid shaikh mohammed, who, it is said, was even then plotting the sept. 11 attacks--roche contacted both the us or australian governments who dismissed him out of hand..
as reported in monday's la times:
"Jack Roche telephoned Australia's intelligence agency in July 2000, he offered a tantalizing story: He had been to Afghanistan and ate lunch with Osama bin Laden. He had received training in explosives and plotted with Al Qaeda leaders to carry out a bombing in Australia.
A Muslim convert, Roche was prepared to become an informant, his attorney says, and provide information about Al Qaeda; its Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah; and their goal of staging an attack in a Western country.
But at the time — 14 months before the Sept. 11 attacks — no one was interested"
roche was born in hull, england and became an australian citizen in 1978. he become a muslim in 1992 and was soon friends with abdul rahim ayub and abdur rahman ayub, indonesian twin brothers who became the leaders of the australian branch of jemaah islamiah. it was at this time roche adopted yet another name: "eternal sword of god." or khalid sayfullah
over the next 7 years, he was sent to indonesia, back to australia where he met abu bakar bashir and abdullah sungkar, the alleged founders of jemaah islamiah, and then onto malaysia in february 2000 where he met with hambali (a top operative in both al-quaida and jemaah islamiah) who invited him to pakistan. roche was introduced to khalid shaikh mohammed in karachi.
mohammed--who is alleged to have been involved every islamic terrorism plot during the 10 year period before his arrest in 2003--recognized roche's unique potential and sent him on to afghanistan. roche thought he was there for training prior to joining the taliban's war against the northern alliance. arriving at a camp in afghanistan,roche was invited to join a group of men for lunch, and was surprised when he recognized bin laden.
"i sat down for a meal and i just started eating," roche said, "i looked across and i said, 'whoa, that's like the bloke on the telly.' … i nodded, he nodded."
as it would turn out, al-quaida had bigger plans for roche. they recognized the value of an operative who lived in a non-islamic country and could easily operate under cover. western authorities who've bemoaned the difficulties of infiltrating al-quaida werent nearly as perceptive
he was ordered to return to australia to form a caucasian muslim cell, send two white australians back to afghanistan for training and scout the israeli embassy in canberra. he was given several thousand dollars to finance his mission. back in australia, he checked an fbi website and realized that 5 or 6 of the people hed met during his travels were among the most wanted terrorists in the world.
he was unsuccessful as far as recruiting goes. he did scout the embassy and bought some explosives from another muslim who also attempted withou success to contact australian authorities.
roche was arrested during a roundup of muslims in australia after the bali bombing and began talking willingly to authorities. on the basis of his own statements he was tried and pled guitly to attempted terrorist acts against the israeli embassy.
in letters to journalist colleen egan written before the trial, roche said that he was a "small fish" but feared he would be severely punished because of the bali bombing. he accused prosecutors of engaging in "amateur theatrics" by having him handcuffed and shackled when bringing him to court.
"they flatter themselves with the minnow they have," he wrote