Colin Freeze's direct tweets from the Chicago courtroom on May 25, 2011

Day Three

1. Entering court now for #Ranatrial Day 3. Security-screening lines long.
2. Headley testimony begins with blow by blow of MMP, plot assassinate those "I felt to be directly responsible for the cartooons" #Ranatrial
3. Oct. 20-29 Headley in Copenhagen. Returns to Atlanta.Customs asks him purpose of visit."I said I was an immigration consultant." #Ranatrial
4. Headley duped LET handler Sajid Mir who told him "that (MMP)project was on hold he didn't want me to do it any longer." #Ranatrial
5. "Pasha's" full name is Abdurahman Hashim Syed -- Pak Army-turned-LET operative arrested briefly by ISI in 09. #Ranatrial

6. Headley testifying how LET's Sajid Mir coached Chabad House gunmen to resist Indian commandos trying to rescue hostages. #Ranatrial
7. Sajid, watching on TV,advised gunmen to use matress as cover and meet Indian forces in stairwell.The Indians "Scampered" H says. #Ranatrial
8. Headley says Sajid told him this personally and he relayed it to Rana. #Ranatrial
9. ana alleged to reply Sajid Mir was tactically a "KhalidbinWhalid" -- reference to prophet's general. #Ranatrial
10. (By the way I'm using phonetic / best guess spellings of tricky/unfamiliar names so feel free to correct me.) #Ranatrial
11. Sajid Mir was in Karachi with LET's Abu Qadafa on 26/11 coaching attackers by phone."He was watching what was going on in India."#Ranatrial
12. Jury has been handed book of 26/11 trancripted conversations to follow along. Headley being made to read from some of them. #Ranatrial
13. Guess this means that FBI/NSA was up on Headley's phones in Aug 09. H being made to read tscripts of his own (eliptical) convos. #Ranatrial
14. Gem of a coded msg from Headley. "They will never do business without Mr. Bala's company ... Mr. Bala's co. will beat them up." #Ranatrial
15. Bala = Maj. Iqbal Bala's Co. = ISI "They" = Lashkar e Taiba. #Ranatrial
16. In Summer 09 Headley frustrated with Lashkar for not approving plot to attack Denmark."Esprit de corps is screwed up" he writes. #Ranatrial
17. Headley can't get promised help from jihadis in Denmark/UK. Low funds. Doing recce on bicycle. #Ranatrial
18. Headley mulled scalin down Denmark ambitions. #Ranatrial
19. Instead of terrorists storming newspaper, Headley considers "Plan B" -- asassinating cartoonist/cultural editor. #Ranatrial
20. Plan B Headley wrote was "more economical, more effective since we were having trouble w/ manpower and weaponry." #Ranatrial
21. "I like option B. I can do it on my own. I can do it easily," Headley emails his Pakistani initimates. #Ranatrial
22. When prosecutor asked Headley why he wanted to do this, Headley said "I wanted a lot of reward from God." #Ranatrial
23. Headley's ISI handler, Major Iqbal,broke contact in March."I have yet to come across a coward like him,"Headley gripes in email.#Ranatrial
24. By Sept 09 police have bugged Rana's car in Chicago. Headley caught saying 2 men he met in England are missing amid drone strikes in Pak.
25. Sept09 No one seems to be able to get in touch with Illyas Kashmiri in Waziristan Headley tells Rana in car. #Ranatrial
26. Headley was overheard mulling list of targets. Temple in Gujarat. Shiv Sena. Bollywood. Copenhagen. #Ranatrial
27. It was also expressed that an attack on National Defence College in India would "kill more brigadiers" than in 4 Indo-Pak wars. #Ranatrial
28. [A separate tweet by @SpyScroll reteweeted by @ColinFreeze: Pakistan Spy Agency Denies Aiding Mumbai Attacks: A Pakistani intelligence official on Wednesday dismissed accus...http://bit.ly/mcHjk9]
29. It's Fall 09 and Headley and Rana are trying to get him a visa so he can get guidance from "Pasha" -- Pak Army/LET/AQ tied guy #Ranatrial
30. Wrinkle #1 is fear that AQ-tied Ilyas Kashmiri was dead due to CIA drone. But he turns up alive and Headley-Rana happy. #Ranatrial
31. Wrinkle #2 was Headley's Pak visa, but he gets it in Oct 09. And goes too Philly to fly out. #Ranatrial
32. Canadian admired Mumbai-massacre tactics, U.S. court hears http://t.co/ukcKdnB /via @globeandmail
33. ! Headley asked why he was arrested carrying book"How to Pray like a Jew.""I thought I might visit synagogues in Copenhagen." #Ranatrial
34. Cross examination has begun! Headley asked how he met his best friend in world, Dr. Rana. #Ranatrial
35. Headley-Rana met in schoolyard when Headley in a fight. Rana was surprised to learn a white boy could swear like that. #Ranatrial
36. In 1984 Headley visits Pak with intent to become heroin dealer. #Ranatrial
37. In 1984 Headley dupes Dr. Rana to coming to Pak frontiers with him. Felt latter's military ID useful in order to avoid searches. #Ranatrial
38. In 1990s US govt busts Headley or dealing drugs. Dr. Rana comes to rescue, pays bail. "He posted his house," Headley says. #Ranatrial
39. In 1999 Headley returns to Pakistan, this time as an undercover agent for the US Drug Enforcement Agency. #Ranatrial
40. In Pak, Headley starts gravitating to Lashkar-e-Taiba but doesn't tell DEA that. Stresses he wasn't working for DEA ALL the time.#Ranatrial
41. Headley says he stopped working for US DEA in 2002. Had already been involved with Lashkar for two years at that time. #Ranatrial
42. After 9/11 FBI questioned Headley after hearing he was talking about fighting jihad.Deflected scruitiny by saying he was US spy. #Ranatrial
43. Q. You said I'm going to mosques ,working for you? A. Yes. #Ranatrial (Guess it worked …)
44. Defense trying to paint Headley/Lashkar as Salafi Muslims and Rana as a Deobandi Muslim with incompatible world view re: Jihad #Ranatrial
45. In Jan 06 Headley was introduced to ISI Major Iqbal. Q. Did ISI provide you training? A. Yes. #Ranatrial
46. Major Iqbal "looked at my notes I had made from my LET training and expressed dissatisfaction," Headley testifies. #Ranatrial
47. Headley testifies ISI's Iqbal taught him cover authentification, surveillance, countersurveillance, dead drops, encryption, etc.#Ranatrial
48. Says he was trained at two storey white "safehouse" in residential neighbourhoood of Lahore. #Ranatrial
49. ISI drawn to Headley because he was a white-skinned American citizen who spoke Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, English. #Ranatrial
50. "It was lucky for them they caught me at that time," says Headley of ISI explaining he had just filed for new US passport in2006.#Ranatrial
51. Headley says he suggested to ISI handlers that he/they could use Rana's Chicago business for cover. #Ranatrial
52. If you want a synopis of all the Headley plot see PDF I've posted with this story.http://tgam.ca/C294 Richly detailed USDOJ doc.#Ranatrial
53. (Just skip the legalese up top.... Headley/ISI/LET/AQ/etc its all in the body of the doc.) #Ranatrial
54. In 2006 Headley told Rana ISI's Major Iqbal would underwrite new Mumbai branch of Chi office.Win-Win:patriotic + cost effective. #Ranatrial
55. If you want a synosis of all Headley plot see PDF I've posted with this story.http://tgam.ca/C294 Richly detailed USDOJ doc.#Ranatrial
56. Defense raised a good question: How did Headley know that ISI Major Iqbal was truly a Pak govt official?#Ranatrial
57. Headley says that Major Iqbal did drive in a miltary jeep and they were introduced in a compound affiliated with Khyber Rifles. #Ranatrial
58. Headley testifies that Maj. Iqbal didn't wear uniform, didn't carry military I.D., didn't meet in militar HQs. #Ranatrial
59. An 09 surveillance tape played had Headley-Rana laughing whilst talking plots. Rana visibly distraught when H testified re: boyhood meeting.