Topic: Padilla Terror Cell Trial Begins In Florida

USA Today
April 17, 2007
Pg. 3


Jury selection began for the trial of alleged al-Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and two co-defendants, with potential jurors questioned about their knowledge of Padilla's link to a purported "dirty bomb" plot. The allegations that Padilla, a U.S. citizen held as an "enemy combatant" for 3½ years, sought to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the USA are not part of the case.
The Bush administration initially accused Padilla of such a plot after he was arrested in May 2002. Padilla, 36, and the others are accused of being part of a cell that funneled fighters, money and supplies to extremists in Afghanistan and elsewhere.