Associate: al-Qaida **RF1**
Al-Ridi, a naturalized American born in Egypt in 1958, testified for the prosecution in the Southern District Court of New York on February 14, 2001. Al-Ridi, a flight instructor, was a veteran of the Afghanistan conflict where he first met bin Laden and el Hage in 1983. **RF2** During the 1980s, Al-Ridi shipped night vision goggles and rifles to the mujahadeen. In 1993, Al-Ridi purchased a used jet for bin Laden with el Hage as the go-between. The jet was to be used to transport Stinger antiaircraft missiles to Khartoum, but the missiles were never shipped. Al-Ridi did shuttle al-Qaida members to Nairobi using the plane, at the same time that al-Qaida established the Nairobi cell. In 1994, he crashed the plane and fled, ending his association with al-Qaida. Al-Ridi testified that he grew disillusioned with bin Laden and al-Qaida, stating that he was opposed to a "rich man with no military experience trying to be a decision maker." **RF3**
REFERENCES:
**RF1** United States v. Usama bin Laden et al., S (7) 98 Cr. 1023 (LBS), p. 34.
**RF2** Sworn testimony of Essam Al-Ridi at the Southern District Court of New York, February 14, 2001.
**RF3** Deborah Feyerick and Phil Hirschkorn, "Witness Says He Bought Plane, Made Shipments for bin Laden," CNN, February 14, 2001.
SOURCE:
Excerpted from Usama Bin Laden's al-Qaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, by Yonah Alexander and Michael S. Swetnam. NY: Transnational Publishers, 2001.