WIRE: 11/26/2001 6:48 pm ET

FBI agent describes suspect's alleged links to plotters of Sept. 11 attacks

The Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) Suspected terrorist ringleader Mohammed Atta blamed the United States for most of the world's wars, an FBI agent testified Monday as he began describing a document-fraud suspect's alleged links to Sept. 11 conspirators.

"Atta felt that the U.S. was responsible for most of the wars being fought in the world," FBI Special Agent Jesus Gomez said during an abbreviated preliminary hearing for Agus Budiman, an Indonesian man whom prosecutors believe is a close associate of Atta.

The testimony marked the first time the government has suggested a possible motive for Atta's alleged involvement in the attacks.

Prosecutors had just begun to detail their case against Budiman in U.S. District Court when his court appointed attorney, Gregory English, asked to leave the case. English said he could not represent anyone possibly connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.

U.S. Magistrate Theresa Carroll Buchanan ended the hearing after 10 minutes, before Gomez could complete his testimony. She removed English from the case and rescheduled the hearing for Thursday.

Budiman is charged with helping another man, Mohammad Bin Nasser Belfas, obtain a false Virginia driver's license. The charge itself is apparently unconnected to the attacks, but both men are mentioned on an FBI list of people sought for questioning in the investigation.

Belfas is identified on the list as a contact person for Osama bin Laden, the prime U.S. suspect in the attacks.

Budiman, 31, was also an associate of Ramsi Binalshibh, a Muslim cleric from Hamburg, Germany, Gomez testified. FBI Director Robert Mueller has identified Binalshibh as "the 20th hijacker" who was supposed to have participated in the Sept. 11 attacks but was unable to gain entry into the United States. Binalshibh is now the subject of a worldwide manhunt.

At Monday's detention hearing, Gomez began to detail Budiman's contacts with Atta, Binalshibh, and another hijacker, Marwan al-Shehhi. Gomez said Binalshibh twice tried unsuccessfully to use his association with Budiman as a means to enter the United States.

He also said that Binalshibh told Budiman of his desire to fight an Islamic holy war in Bosnia.

Ivan Yacub, Budiman's immigration lawyer, said Budiman only knew Atta casually, because they attended the same mosque in Hamburg several years ago.

Budiman, who knew Atta by the alias Mohammed Al-Amir, has not seen Atta since he came to the United States in October 2000, Yacub said.

English, a retired Army officer who was appointed to the case Friday, said he had friends who died Sept. 11 when hijackers crashed an American Airlines jet into the Pentagon.

"On the surface of the papers, it appeared to be a run-of-the-mill immigration fraud case," English said after the hearing. "I particularly couldn't represent anyone for anything regarding the Sept. 11 attacks."

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2001