Osama’s Thug

The president used Mobbs's report as the basis for this conclusion. But, as is indicated in court filings, Mobbs left out a striking detail in his report to the president: The government's two al-Qaeda sources told officials that Padilla was not interested in martyrdom. He had said he refused to die for his faith.

On November 22, 2005, Padilla was finally charged with a crime. Federal prosecutors in Miami alleged he and the other four men plotted to raise money to kill innocent civilians as part of a global terrorism campaign.

Despite his stature as the big-name defendant, Padilla is, in fact, a bit player in the government's case. He was transferred from South Carolina to South Florida on a military plane, with TV news fanfare awaiting him in the Magic City. The reason for his notoriety was obvious: Padilla's mug shot had been all over cable news for years; the tan man with short-cropped black hair was the new image of terror.

But documents filed in Miami don't even mention the most alarming allegation — that Padilla was intent on setting off a crude nuclear device. Although the FBI's Arena had alleged Padilla was in contact with top leaders of al-Qaeda and was planning an attack on the United States, those charges were never levied in federal court.

The federal government sold the public one version of Padilla, and now prosecutors will try to peddle a different one to a judge and jury in Miami.

Of course, none of this means Padilla isn't a terrorist. The wiretaps appear to prove that Padilla and Youssef traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, potentially meeting and training with al-Qaeda. Hassoun allegedly funded the operation.

The cryptic conversations between the defendants — including those discussing soccer in Somalia — portray Hassoun as a terrorist mastermind who moved his pawns around a global battlefield.

In one conversation on February 8, 1999, Hassoun refers to Padilla by his Muslim name and tells Youssef to keep cash on hand so that Padilla "is always comfortable" and that "some brothers who would like ... to follow Ibrahim's example" are given financial assistance for training.

During another conversation, on October 15, 2000, Youssef talks to Hassoun from Baku, Azerbaijan, southeast of Chechnya. Since the late Nineties, Muslim fighters have been traveling to Chechnya, a largely Sunni Muslim Russian province, to aid in its bloody separatist movement. Hassoun tells Youssef not to go to Chechnya and instead to meet up with Padilla in Afghanistan.

"I have already reached the front line," Youssef answers, seeming to refer to the war in Chechnya. "Why should I return?"

Although these types of conversations, generally excerpted without context, make up the bulk of the government's unsealed evidence against the five alleged terrorists, they aren't very convincing.

So far Hassoun has denied that his wiretapped conversations addressed anything other than promoting the fine sport of soccer. In a deposition, while being grilled by an unidentified federal official, Hassoun never wavers.

Federal Official: Did you ever speak with [Youssef] in code language?
Adham Hassoun: Never.
FO: Do you have any code languages with any —
AH: No, I don't....
FO: And, in 1998, it's alleged that you have a conversation, [that] you talk about [how] you have soccer equipment. Do you recall any conversation like that?
AH: No. I know he wanted — he wanted to open a business, you know, and he wants to get something from here, buy equipment and stuff like that....
FO: And your assertion is that he was directly speaking just of soccer equipment?
AH: Yes ...
FO: In your conversation in 1998 with Mr. Youssef, in which he discussed soccer equipment, did you or did you not talk to him about having enough equipment to engage an enemy?
AH: No.
FO: You did not? Did you discuss anti-armor tools?
AH: I don't recall.
FO: But you might have?
AH: What is that again?
FO: Anti-armor tools. Did you discuss tools with him?
AH: I don't recall what we spoke [about]. I know that we spoke, that he wants to trade, and that he wants to have a soccer team and stuff like that. Other than that, I don't recall.

Padilla's trial is scheduled to begin in January. Among those eagerly awaiting it is Stephen Vladeck. He has followed the alleged Dirty Bomber's case since federal officials detained Padilla at O'Hare International Airport in 2002. As a law student at Yale University, Vladeck worked on an amicus brief that questioned the legality of Padilla's detention at a navy brig. Now Vladeck is watching from the sideline as a law professor at the University of Miami.