PERTH, Australia — When 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.
It wasn't until 2 1/2 years later that authorities decided to take Roche seriously and arrested him on terrorism charges. Last week he was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiring with Al Qaeda leaders to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Canberra.
While many Australians applaud the country's first conviction under new anti-terrorism laws, Roche's case is a tale of intelligence failures that illustrates how poorly Western security officials understood the threat posed by Islamic extremism.
According to evidence presented in court, Australian and U.S. authorities bungled at least six chances to learn what Roche knew, including the whereabouts of alleged terrorist mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who, it is said, was even then plotting the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. authorities had been trying to catch Mohammed since the mid-1990s.
"He had their phone numbers," said Hylton Quail, Roche's lawyer. "He had their e-mail addresses. He knew where they lived. He knew how they worked. He was like a spy who tried to come in from the cold and found the door was locked."
Roche, now 50, says he first telephoned the U.S. Embassy in Canberra to offer intelligence on Al Qaeda and was told to contact Australian authorities. An embassy official says Roche may have called, but the embassy has no record of it. Roche subsequently called the Australian Security Intelligence Organization three times to give information, but the agency never pursued his offer.
Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged last week that authorities had made a "very serious mistake" in turning Roche away. But he discounted suggestions that Roche's information could have helped prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, or the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
"There is no evidence that the material … might have had the value some have implied," Howard said in a television interview.
Australian Atty. Gen. Philip Ruddock said the Roche case prompted the intelligence agency to conduct an internal investigation and obtain passage of a law allowing it to record all incoming calls from the public.
Authorities said that when they finally questioned Roche after the Bali bombing, they were surprised that he gave them so much useful information.
"Basically, he was putting a noose around his own neck by participating in those long interviews," intelligence agent Michael Duthie said outside the court, according to the newspaper the Australian. "Certainly, from our perspective, the type of information that he was passing on was fairly unique."
Authorities have long been stymied in efforts to infiltrate Al Qaeda, a closed society bound by adherence to a radical interpretation of Islam and a strict code of secrecy. But that is precisely the kind of access Roche could have provided, his attorney said.
Bin Laden's organization was especially interested in Roche because he did not come from an Islamic country, and it would have been easier for him to plot attacks in Western countries without raising suspicion.
A former Australian security analyst said intelligence agencies could have taken advantage of Al Qaeda's desire to recruit white Australians and used Roche to send agents to Afghanistan to infiltrate the network.
Roche, who joined Jemaah Islamiah in 1996, traveled to Afghanistan in 2000, believing he would fight on the side of the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. Instead, he found himself meeting with a who's who of Al Qaeda leaders.
At a camp outside Kandahar, he had lunch with Bin Laden. He took a 10-day explosives course that ended with him using 15 pounds of TNT to blow up 27 wooden crates. He discussed possible Australian bombing and assassination targets with Mohammed Atef, then Al Qaeda's second-in-command, and Saif Adel, Al Qaeda's top military commander.
In Pakistan, Roche says, he met twice with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 1996 for his alleged role in major terrorist attacks, including a foiled plot to hijack a dozen U.S. airliners in Asia and blow them up over the Pacific. Among the plans they discussed was attacking U.S. jets flying in and out of Australia. Mohammed gave Roche $4,500 to begin surveillance of the Israeli Embassy and other targets.
In Malaysia, Roche met four times with Hambali, a top operative of both Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah who allegedly was behind the Bali bombing. They discussed targets, including the Sydney Olympics, and Hambali gave Roche $3,500.
In Indonesia, Roche visited radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiah. Bashir did not want to know any details, Roche said, but told him to follow Hambali's instructions.
Roche, who wears a full beard but no mustache, is described by people who know him as intelligent with a dry, self-deprecating sense of humor and an apparent streak of naivete.
Born Paul George Holland in Hull, England, he legally changed his name to Jack Roche in 2001, in part because he hated his father. Roche was the maiden name of his mother, who died of cancer when he was 13. He left home at 17 and drifted from Britain to Germany to Australia, finding work as a laborer and taxi driver. He became an Australian citizen in 1978.
Roche says he was persuaded by Muslim co-workers in Sydney in 1992 to convert to Islam to overcome a drinking problem, and for the first time found a sense of belonging.
Among his earliest friends in the Muslim community were Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abdur Rahman Ayub, twin brothers from Indonesia who allegedly became the leaders of the Australian branch of Jemaah Islamiah. Roche adopted the name Khalid Sayfullah, Arabic for "Eternal Sword of God."
Roche moved to Indonesia in 1993 and married an Indonesian, returning to Australia in 1995. In Australia, he met many times with Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar, the alleged founders of Jemaah Islamiah, and embraced their extremist views.
Roche's entree into the wider world of terrorism came in February 2000, when the Ayub brothers sent him to Malaysia to meet Hambali. Roche's journey demonstrated the close alliance between Jemaah Islamiah and Al Qaeda and the pivotal role Hambali, an Indonesian, played in linking the two.
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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.
It wasn't until 2 1/2 years later that authorities decided to take Roche seriously and arrested him on terrorism charges. Last week he was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiring with Al Qaeda leaders to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Canberra.
While many Australians applaud the country's first conviction under new anti-terrorism laws, Roche's case is a tale of intelligence failures that illustrates how poorly Western security officials understood the threat posed by Islamic extremism.
According to evidence presented in court, Australian and U.S. authorities bungled at least six chances to learn what Roche knew, including the whereabouts of alleged terrorist mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who, it is said, was even then plotting the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. authorities had been trying to catch Mohammed since the mid-1990s.
"He had their phone numbers," said Hylton Quail, Roche's lawyer. "He had their e-mail addresses. He knew where they lived. He knew how they worked. He was like a spy who tried to come in from the cold and found the door was locked."
Roche, now 50, says he first telephoned the U.S. Embassy in Canberra to offer intelligence on Al Qaeda and was told to contact Australian authorities. An embassy official says Roche may have called, but the embassy has no record of it. Roche subsequently called the Australian Security Intelligence Organization three times to give information, but the agency never pursued his offer.
Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged last week that authorities had made a "very serious mistake" in turning Roche away. But he discounted suggestions that Roche's information could have helped prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, or the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
"There is no evidence that the material … might have had the value some have implied," Howard said in a television interview.
Australian Atty. Gen. Philip Ruddock said the Roche case prompted the intelligence agency to conduct an internal investigation and obtain passage of a law allowing it to record all incoming calls from the public.
Authorities said that when they finally questioned Roche after the Bali bombing, they were surprised that he gave them so much useful information.
"Basically, he was putting a noose around his own neck by participating in those long interviews," intelligence agent Michael Duthie said outside the court, according to the newspaper the Australian. "Certainly, from our perspective, the type of information that he was passing on was fairly unique."
Authorities have long been stymied in efforts to infiltrate Al Qaeda, a closed society bound by adherence to a radical interpretation of Islam and a strict code of secrecy. But that is precisely the kind of access Roche could have provided, his attorney said.
Bin Laden's organization was especially interested in Roche because he did not come from an Islamic country, and it would have been easier for him to plot attacks in Western countries without raising suspicion.
A former Australian security analyst said intelligence agencies could have taken advantage of Al Qaeda's desire to recruit white Australians and used Roche to send agents to Afghanistan to infiltrate the network.
Roche, who joined Jemaah Islamiah in 1996, traveled to Afghanistan in 2000, believing he would fight on the side of the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. Instead, he found himself meeting with a who's who of Al Qaeda leaders.
At a camp outside Kandahar, he had lunch with Bin Laden. He took a 10-day explosives course that ended with him using 15 pounds of TNT to blow up 27 wooden crates. He discussed possible Australian bombing and assassination targets with Mohammed Atef, then Al Qaeda's second-in-command, and Saif Adel, Al Qaeda's top military commander.
In Pakistan, Roche says, he met twice with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 1996 for his alleged role in major terrorist attacks, including a foiled plot to hijack a dozen U.S. airliners in Asia and blow them up over the Pacific. Among the plans they discussed was attacking U.S. jets flying in and out of Australia. Mohammed gave Roche $4,500 to begin surveillance of the Israeli Embassy and other targets.
In Malaysia, Roche met four times with Hambali, a top operative of both Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah who allegedly was behind the Bali bombing. They discussed targets, including the Sydney Olympics, and Hambali gave Roche $3,500.
In Indonesia, Roche visited radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiah. Bashir did not want to know any details, Roche said, but told him to follow Hambali's instructions.
Roche, who wears a full beard but no mustache, is described by people who know him as intelligent with a dry, self-deprecating sense of humor and an apparent streak of naivete.
Born Paul George Holland in Hull, England, he legally changed his name to Jack Roche in 2001, in part because he hated his father. Roche was the maiden name of his mother, who died of cancer when he was 13. He left home at 17 and drifted from Britain to Germany to Australia, finding work as a laborer and taxi driver. He became an Australian citizen in 1978.
Roche says he was persuaded by Muslim co-workers in Sydney in 1992 to convert to Islam to overcome a drinking problem, and for the first time found a sense of belonging.
Among his earliest friends in the Muslim community were Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abdur Rahman Ayub, twin brothers from Indonesia who allegedly became the leaders of the Australian branch of Jemaah Islamiah. Roche adopted the name Khalid Sayfullah, Arabic for "Eternal Sword of God."
Roche moved to Indonesia in 1993 and married an Indonesian, returning to Australia in 1995. In Australia, he met many times with Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar, the alleged founders of Jemaah Islamiah, and embraced their extremist views.
Roche's entree into the wider world of terrorism came in February 2000, when the Ayub brothers sent him to Malaysia to meet Hambali. Roche's journey demonstrated the close alliance between Jemaah Islamiah and Al Qaeda and the pivotal role Hambali, an Indonesian, played in linking the two.
Continued