VZCZCXRO0762
RR RUEHAG RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHDF #0030/01 2241544
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121544Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0223
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0003
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0004
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
REUHRL/USDAO BERLIN GE
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RUEPGDA/USEUCOM JIC VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0239

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 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000030  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶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 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000030  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
joining the Jihad either in Iraq or Afghanistan. 
 
 
 
Oath of Allegiance to the IJU 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000030  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
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