In perhaps the most important terrorism trial ever to be held in Chicago, it is still expected that some new information regarding the nexus between al-Qaeda, ISI and LeT might emerge.
David Coleman Headley has revealed that al-Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri had plans to kill the CEO of Lockheed Martin to stop further drone attacks. Lockheed are makers of drone planes.
The trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, which led to several revelations of nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in carrying out the Mumbai terror attack, is all set to resume in Chicago with the testimony of co-conspirator David Coleman Headley.
In perhaps the most important terrorism trial ever to be held in Chicago, it is still expected that some new information regarding the nexus between al-Qaeda, ISI and LeT might emerge.
As the trial, which began last week, more links between ISI and LeT are emerging with Headley narrating his side of the story that he started straying away from the so-called "ISI Jihad" with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir toward a more "holy jihad" with Pasha or Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major from the Pakistani Army, who connected Headley with al-Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri.
It is expected that cross-questioning of Headley might finish by Wednesday.
After that FBI agents will be presented by the government at the trial that is being held in Chicago on the 19th floor of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
While Headley has pleaded guilty, Rana has maintained that he is not guilty in the charge of "support to terrorism".
The trial is expected to last till June 15. If convicted Rana faces a possible life sentence.
Headley has pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork in the three-day massacre that left more than 160 dead and paralysed business in India's largest city. The American-Pakistani agreed to testify against his longtime friend Rana to avoid the death penalty and extradition.
Rana is accused of providing Headley with cover as he conducted surveillance for the attacks. He has pleaded not guilty.
Defence attorneys for Rana wasted no time last week attacking the credibility of Headley, who spent days detailing for prosecutors how he took orders from the ISI and LeT, the militant group blamed in the 2008 attacks.
Cross-examination by Rana's lawyers was expected to continue on Tuesday.
"We're only just getting started," Rana attorney Patrick Blegen told US district court Judge Harry Leinenweber before the Memorial Day weekend. Proceedings are expected to last at least another week.
Though Rana is on trial, it is Headley's testimony that has been highly anticipated, especially in the wake of the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces outside Pakistan's capital city and suspicions that the country's government may have known or helped hide the former al-Qaeda leader.
The trial, which is under tight security, has also made headlines in India, which has long suspected that Pakistan was behind the attacks. Several Indian news outlets are covering the trial in Chicago.
Headley was the first witness called during the trial. Under defence questioning, Headley has talked about how he was an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration after a heroin conviction and also began his affiliation with the LeT. He also admitted that he initially lied to the FBI and said Rana wasn't involved in the attacks.
Defence attorneys have also brought Headley's multiple marriages, and noted some of Headley's wives didn't initially know about each other.
Still, experts say undermining Headley's credibility is a challenge. His testimony has involved numerous emails and transcripts of phone calls with others listed in the indictment.
"He's certainly an imperfect individual, but the fact that the US government put him up there and put him up there first, seems to suggest a reasonable level of confidence in what he has to say," said Stephen Tankel, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has written a book on Lashkar.
Besides Rana, six others are charged in absentia, including a man known only as "Major Iqbal," who Headley said was an ISI major, and Sajid Mir, Headley's Lashkar handler.
Headley said he started working with Lashkar in 2000. He testified that the group and the ISI operate under the same umbrella, though Pakistan has repeatedly denied the allegation. Headley said Lashkar and ISI coordinated in planning the attacks and that Rana was apprised of developments.
Rana and Headley, who are both 50, were schoolmates at a Pakistani military boarding school and have remained in touch.
Rana, who owns several businesses in the Chicago area, is also accused of helping Headley plan an attack on a Danish newspaper that in 2005 printed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, which angered many Muslims. The attack never happened.
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