U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL IN GERMANY WERE PRIME TARGETS, IJU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSSELDORF 000030

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/CE, EUR/PGI, S/CT, IO/PSC AND EEB/ESC/TFS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL KISL KCRM PK UZ GM
SUBJECT: U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL IN GERMANY WERE PRIME TARGETS, IJU
TERRORIST LEADER CONFESSES

REF: A. A) DUSSELDORF 10

B. B) BERLIN 696

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1. (U) Summary: The leader of the "Islamic Jihad Union" (IJU)
Sauerland cell, Fritz Gelowicz (29),made a full confession in
the ongoing terrorist trial at the Duesseldorf Higher Regional
Court (reftels) on August 10, confirming that U.S. military
personnel in Germany were the primary target for the group's
planned terrorist attacks in 2007. Other prospective targets
included U.S. Consulates in Germany, the Uzbek Embassy in
Berlin, and parking garages at German airports as a "warning
signal" to the German public and parliament to end the German
military involvement in Afghanistan. Presiding Judge Ottmar
Breidling was impressed with the comprehensiveness and openness
of the group's confessions (which are ongoing),indicating that
their actions would shorten the trial and could mitigate their
sentences. A verdict is expected by early next year. End
summary.



Full Confessions Impress Court

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2. (U) After an eight-week hiatus, during which the defendants
were questioned separately and individually by the German
Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) to verify their
confessions, the sixth criminal division of the Duesseldorf
Higher Regional Court under Presiding Judge Breidling resumed
its hearings in this case on August 10 (a Consulate
representative was present at the court hearing). Referring to
the 1200-plus pages of testimony that resulted from the BKA
questioning, Breidling, Germany's leading judge in terrorist
cases, said he was "impressed by the comprehensiveness and
openness" of the unprecedented confessions. Breidling confirmed
the confessions would shorten the trial, but above all would
provide a chance for "unveiling in great detail the true facts
and background" of Islamic terrorist tendencies in Germany.
Mentioning section 46 of the German criminal code, he also
indicated that a confession at this stage in the trial could
result in more lenient sentences for the defendants.



A Joint Decision to Participate in the Jihad

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3. (U) For more than four hours, Gelowicz, flanked by his
defense lawyers, gave a detailed account of how he and his
co-defendants developed the idea of participating in the Jihad,
went through terrorist training in Pakistan, and ended up
preparing terrorist attacks in Germany before they were arrested
by German police in the Sauerland region of North
Rhine-Westphalia in September 2007. The idea was born in
January 2005 when Gelowicz, a convert to Islam, and his friend
Attila Selek, a Turkish-German dual national and a member of the
fundamentalist Milli Goerues group, were in Mecca for the Hajj.
In Mecca, they met with Adem Yilmaz, a Turkish national living
near Frankfurt, and found they had similar plans to join the
Jihad by taking up arms against the infidels. The fourth member
of the cell, Daniel Schneider, also a convert to Islam, joined
the group later.




4. (U) After returning to Germany from Mecca and Medina, they
stayed in close contact, looking for possibilities to enter Iraq
to fight against U.S. forces. This turned out to be difficult,
and in August 2005 they went to Syria to learn Arabic, while
they continued their ultimately futile attempts to enter Iraq.
After trying unsuccessfully to join fighting in Chechnya, they
went to Waziristan, Pakistan, via Turkey and Iran in January
2006 with the goal of being trained by the Mujahideen and later

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joining the Jihad either in Iraq or Afghanistan.



Oath of Allegiance to the IJU

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5. (U) During their 5-month terrorist training in Waziristan
the group got in contact with the IJU, which convinced them that
it would be more practical and would also receive more public
attention if the group were to attack the "head of the snake"
(i.e. the U.S.) in Europe, in particular Germany, instead of in
the Middle East. Before the group returned to Germany in the
summer of 2006, they swore an oath of allegiance to the IJU
leadership that committed them to carry out terrorist attacks in
Germany under the IJU's authority, while Gelowicz was designated
as operations leader for Germany. During the first eight
months of 2007, the group was engaged in getting the material
together for building the bombs, only interrupted by a police
search of their apartments in February 2007, which, however, did
not lead the police to the garage where Gelowicz had started to
store hydrogen peroxide for the bomb construction. A mosque in
Mannheim was repeatedly used as a meeting place to organize the
illegal procurement of detonators via Turkey.



U.S. Military Personnel as Primary Targets

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6. (U) Gelowicz confirmed that the primary target for the
planned terrorist attacks by the group were U.S. military
personnel stationed in Germany. "We wanted to kill as many as
possible, not just one or two," Gelowicz confessed. The method
to be used was to plant bombs in discos and pubs frequented by
U.S. soldiers. Asked by Breidling if the group was prepared to
also accept the loss of civilian lives, Gelowicz answered in the
affirmative, qualifying it as "collateral damage" in a military
operation. The second most important targets were what Gelowicz
called "U.S. targets in Germany with a political significance,
such as consulates." He explicitly mentioned that no attack was
planned on the U.S. Embassy in Berlin as it was considered by
the group as well protected and thus not vulnerable. Thirdly, a
"symbolic attack" (i.e. with a smaller explosive device causing
only material damage) was planned on the Uzbek Embassy in Berlin
(as the IJU originated in Uzbekistan),Gelowicz said. Finally,
parking garages at German airports were also chosen as targets
with the intention of interrupting air service in Germany for at
least a day. These bomb attacks at German airports were to be
meant as a "warning signal" to the German public and parliament
to end the German military involvement in Afghanistan, Gelowicz
said. He had already searched the internet to find out when the
next Bundestag vote on the continuation of the Afghanistan
mission was scheduled so the bombs would go off the night
before.



Comment

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7. (SBU) As Judge Breidling pointed out, a confession like
Gelowicz's has never been heard in a German court room during a
terrorist trial. It provides deep insights into the thinking,
motives and training methods of Islamic terrorists. In a
distanced, sober tone Gelowicz described in great detail how
daily prayers, the study of the Koran, and learning the
techniques for mass murder were all part of the same daily
routine at an Islamist training camp in Pakistan, or how a place

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of worship, a mosque in Germany, was used as a hidden meeting
place for a terrorist plot. Although Gelowicz, when asked by
Breidling, if he regretted his actions responded that "in
retrospective I would not do it again" (to preserve chances for
a more lenient sentence),he also left no doubt that he does not
regret anything, and that he holds firm to his fundamentalist
convictions, saying that all his actions were and will continue
to be guided by the overriding goal of "alleviating the
sufferings of Muslims" afflicted upon them by western culture.
End comment.




8. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin.
GROSSMAN