Is He Osama's Best Friend?

More important, Salim acknowledged to his German interrogators that he had opened an account at Deutsche Bank and that he gave signature power over the account to Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian businessman who had settled in Hamburg in the 1980s and who has told reporters that he knew some of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Darkazanli attended the wedding of Said Bahaji, an alleged member of the cell that included suspects Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi. Bahaji's wedding album includes pictures of Atta and Al-Shehhi. Darkazanli's name is now on a list of 39 terrorists and organizations whose assets have been blocked by the U.S. Treasury Department. He remains, however, free to roam about Hamburg.

If Salim had been on trial for conspiracy in the embassy bombings, the U.S. would potentially have been able to establish his intimacy with the highest levels of al-Qaeda. In that case, the Darkazanli connection might be more than a tantalizing possibility: a clear link between a "best friend" of bin Laden's and someone in contact with the Sept. 11 hijackers.

In the past five years, al-Qaeda officials have shown deep concern over the secrets held by its high-ranking members. When their finance chief was nabbed by the Saudis in 1997, there were discussions about assassinating him before he could turn information over to Riyadh and the U.S. When the head of the military committee drowned in a ferry accident in Lake Victoria in Kenya in the spring of 1996, al-Qaeda agents were sent to verify that he was indeed dead and that no secrets had filtered out. But if Salim is a big shot who knows too much, al-Qaeda doesn't have to worry about him for a while. His trial for the attempted murder of Pepe was scheduled to begin the week of Sept. 17 and has been put off until early next year because of the logistical and bureaucratic chaos in lower Manhattan, where the court system is located. His conspiracy trial has not even been scheduled. The planes that devastated lower Manhattan have made sure that whatever secrets he holds will take their time coming to light.