Bomb suspect linked to bin Laden aide

WASHINGTON -- The man accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a "dirty bomb" inside the United States was a protege of a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, traveling at his mentor's request to meet with other terrorists and using the Internet to research how to build a radioactive weapon, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Jose Padilla, 31, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to meet with top al-Qaida leaders after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and surfed the Internet at a home in Lahore, Pakistan, to study ways to build a "dirty bomb" that could spread radioactive material over dozens of city blocks, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But Padilla's alleged association with Abu Zubaydah, the top lieutenant to bin Laden who was captured in March, was his apparent undoing.

Information leading to Padilla's arrest came in part from Zubaydah himself. In April, weeks after Zubaydah's arrest, he told interrogators of a plot to use radiological weapons, but he did not provide details. The CIA investigated and came up with Padilla's name and other details.

Lost his passport

That information -- including Padilla's name -- was taken to Zubaydah, who confirmed it, according to a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. It's unclear whether Zubaydah volunteered the information or was tricked into giving it.

Padilla apparently lost his passport in Karachi in February and sought a new one, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday. The government complied in March but tipped off the FBI and CIA about Padilla's location and his request.

Padilla traveled to Chicago May 8 from Pakistan via Cairo and Zurich, Switzerland, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Swiss authorities confirmed Tuesday they were investigating Padilla's travels to their country.

Padilla had $10,000 in cash on him when he was arrested, a government official said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials suspect Padilla got the cash from al-Qaida, possibly while he was in Switzerland, the official said.

President Bush, who signed the order Sunday handing over Padilla to the Pentagon, described Padilla as one of many "would-be killers" in custody by the United States.

"There's just a full-scale manhunt on," Bush said Tuesday. "We will run down every lead, every hint. This guy Padilla's a bad guy and he is where he needs to be, detained."

Questions, not punishment

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the government was more interested in questioning Padilla exhaustively than punishing him.

"We're not interested in punishing him at the moment," Rumsfeld said, traveling in Qatar. "We're interested in finding out what in the world he knows. ... Our job as responsible government officials is to do everything possible to find out what that person knows and see if we can't help our country or other countries."

Dirty bombs combine traditional explosives with radioactive material. They would not create a nuclear explosion, but they could release small amounts of radiation over parts of a city. Experts believe the most devastating effect would be the ensuing panic.