Friend of 'shoe bomber' says his mom convinced him to quit suicide attack plan months after 9/11
Saajid Badat, a buddy of 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid, testified at the trial of Osama Bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is charged is charged with supporting terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans as a spokesman and recruiter for Al Qaeda.
By Daniel Beekman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
His mother knew best.
The wise mom of an Al Qaeda wannabe may have saved the United States from a horrific airplane attack just months after 9/11, the aspiring terrorist said Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court.
Saajid Badat, who plotted with "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to blow up American planes, quit the suicidal plan when his parents told him not to become a jihadist, he said in the trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama Bin Laden.
RELATED: 'SHOE BOMBER' SIDEKICK TESTIFIES AT TRIAL AT BIN LADEN'S SON-IN-LAW
Badat, 34, had just returned home from Afghanistan in December 2001 when his mother said she "wouldn't want my son to be one of those sleepers," he said, meaning terrorists.
Jane Rosenberg/New York Daily News
Ghaith (right) looks at Badat holding up a photo of 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid.
Abu Ghaith, 48, the highest-ranked Al Qaeda figure to be tried on U.S. soil since 9/11, is charged with supporting terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans as a spokesman and recruiter for the evil group. Prosecutors say he knew about the shoe bomb plot.
RELATED: UPSTATE NEW YORK MAN TESTIFIES AGAINST ACCCUSED AL QAEDA PROPAGANDIST
Reid tried unsuccessfully to set off shoes bombs on a Miami-bound flight and is now serving life in prison. Badat was arrested in 2005 and spent six years in prison.
Jane Rosenberg/New York Daily News
Badat holds up a photo of Reid's infamous shoes, which were packed with plastic explosives in hollowed-out bottoms.
RELATED: SULAIMAN ABU GHAITH HELPED BIN LADEN AFTER 9/11: PROSECUTOR
In his second day of testimony, Badat said he wore a shoe bomb aboard flights from Pakistan to the Netherlands and from the Netherlands to Britain. He waited to detonate the device because his instructions were to use it in an attack on a plane flying over the U.S.
Before flying to Britain, he said, he gave a second shoe bomb to Malaysian men who said they wanted to carry out their own attack.
Badat described training with Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan before 9/11. He said the terrorists used animals to experiment with poison.
Jane Rosenberg/New York Daily News
Ghayih (center) and his lawyers watch as Badat gives his testimony.
Defense lawyer Stanley Cohen asked the star prosecution witness how he felt when a rabbit and a dog "cried out and screamed until they died."
Cohen also grilled Badat about a disgusting joke. The witness admitted to laughing with other terrorists when 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed crossed out the World Trade Center twin tower in an almanac of the world's tallest buildings.
"Three thousand plus Americans dead was humorous to you?" Cohen asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," replied Badat, looking hangdog in a dark suit and black skinny tie.
The witness said he discussed his suicide mission with Bin Laden. "If you break one link, you'll bring down the American economy," the slain Al Qaeda boss said, according to Badat.
With News Wire Services
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