Headley testimony ends with many hints and confessions

David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American convicted terrorist, had once said that he was “proud” of the Mumbai terror attacks. On the fourth day of testifying in the Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s trial in a Chicago court, Headley said he no longer felt the same way. But little did we know that Headley had bigger plans: a dream called ‘Mickey Mouse Project’. Watch the video shot by Headley in Denmark: According to his testimony on Thursday, he wanted to avenge Islam by blowing up the Denmark office of Jyllands Posten (a danish newspaper), that had printed controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2005. He says, he had told Rana of the plot as well. [caption id=“attachment_16540” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“David Headley. Screen grab from IBN Live”]  [/caption]Headley has pleaded guilty to several terrorist offences, but has not yet been sentenced. As a week of testimony concludes against his “best friend” Rana, who Headley met almost forty years ago at military school, it seems as though more questions have been raised about Pakistan’s global terrorism network than answered. Responding to questions from Defence Attorney Patrick W Belgan, Headley said he felt that the Mumbai attacks were a retaliation of the alleged killing of people by the Indian Army in Kashmir. According to court documents, Headley wanted to go to Kashmir after he received the 50-intensive courses in surveillance and counter surveillance from LeT, however, his handlers in Pakistan had other operations like 26/11 lined up for him. Headley also told the court that he gave more than $100,000 to co-conspirator Tahawwur Rana, indicating that he kept all his illegal money with his long-time friend and perhaps was an investor in his business. In his defence, Headley told the court that he had access to Rana’s account, which even Rana’s wife did not have. He added that Rana threw cold water on his plans to hold a fund raiser for Shiv Sena, as the latter being a devout Muslim was against such a move for a Hindu outfit. Meanwhile Headley made fresh disclosure on the role of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence handler Major Iqbal and other non-commissioned officers of ISI, who trained and conditioned him for espionage ahead of the Mumbai terror strikes. As Economic Times reported, the decisive evidence of ISI’s role in the Mumbai attacks  is being seen by the Indian security establishment as a vindication of their claims about the Pakistani state agencies’ involvement in the 26/11 conspiracy. While the FBI has enabled Headley to give a full, no-holds barred statement, whether they will do anything about those he has named in Pakistan, is yet to be seen. According to the report Meera Shankar, the Indian ambassador to the US  called on Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to discuss the agenda  for his meeting with US Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano on Friday . She said: “The Rana trial is going on and Headley is the key witness. The revelations coming out from the trial are shedding new light on the full details of the (26/11) conspiracy.” Headley has admitted that his greatest asset is being trained to be a manipulator and a liar. As The 12 jurors, who will sit next week to decide the outcome of this trial, will have a tough time sieving the truth from the narration of the self-proclaimed “manipulator and liar”.