The road to September 11 may have been mapped by the al Qaeda Class of '98. Those who trained at Afghanistan camps that year include suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Samir Jarrah.

Al Qaeda was infused with an electric mix of raw ambition and the taste of conquest in 1998. Early in the year, Osama bin Laden declared war on the West and the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa followed. The millennium was on the horizon, along with the desire to launch an attack of stunning proportions.

Some of the most telling information about al Qaeda has been provided by convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam, who trained at a camp in Khalden during 1998. He has told investigators that he saw alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui during his six-month stay at the camp.

Ressam was stopped by a suspicious customs agent as he tried to enter the United States aboard a ferry from British Columbia as the millennium approached. His rental car was packed with a massive quantity of bomb-making materials.

Ressam, a former Montreal resident, was convicted in a U.S. federal court last year and faces a maximum penalty of 130 years in prison. The Algerian has agreed to provide information in exchange for a lighter sentence yet to be determined.

His small cell moved between Algeria, Europe, Canada, and Afghanistan. He testified the original millennium plan was to target multiple sites in the United States at the same time. His failure was avenged by the dark brilliance of Atta, who led the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A Spanish newspaper says that Ressam and Atta met in the Alicante region in 1999, but it is unclear whether the men trained at the same camp while they were in Afghanistan. During court testimony, Ressam outlined how the camps were organized.

"It had people form all nationalities who were getting training there, and each group stayed together, those who will have some work to do together later on," he told a U.S. District Court. "Each group was formed depending on the nation they came from."

Ressam said he was trained to attack electrical power grids, airports, railroads, and large corporations in Afghanistan. He also said assassination techniques were taught at the al Qaeda camps and described being trained in the use of cyanide gas.

Sleeping with the enemy

Ressam has revealed other aspects of al Qaeda's world in court testimony including the role of a high-ranking al Qaeda lieutenant captured in Pakistan earlier this year. He said Abu Zubaydah asked him to supply forged passports when he was preparing to return to Canada.

"He [Abu Zubaydah] asked me to send him some passports, some original passports...that he could use to give to other people who come [to the camps] to carry out operations in the U.S.," Ressam said of the man who approved and covered his expenses for training in Afghanistan.

Ressam was testifying in the trial of his co-conspirator Mokhtar Haouari, an Algerian and former Montrealer, who was convicted last summer.

Zubaydah is believed to know the identities of thousands of trainees who have passed through training camps in Afghanistan. American intelligence also believes that he was at bin Laden's side in the weeks immediately following the September 11 attacks.

The 30-year-old Saudi-born Palestinian is being held at an undisclosed location and it appears he's talking. U.S. officials say information provided by Zubaydah led to the arrest of Jose Padilla for the role he played in an alleged "dirty bomb" plot earlier this year.

Another name Ressam has passed along to investigators is that of Mouhamedou Ould Slahi. The foiled bomber met with Slahi several times in December 1999 and it's been suggested that his arrival in Canada was aimed at activating Ressam's Montreal cell.

Slahi abruptly left the country when Ressam was arrested, and he returned to Germany where he had once attended university with the ever-present Atta. Published reports allege the electrical engineer supplied Ressam's accomplice Haouari with money and false documents.

Slahi is reported to be the brother-in-law of Zubaydah. He was questioned following the suicide hijackings in Mauritania as authorities tried to determine whether he helped finance the September 11 attacks.

Atta, who piloted the first jet into the World Trade Center, played a key role in receiving and wiring funds for the suicide hijackers. But while Ressam continues to bargain with investigators, he denies knowing any of the suicide hijackers.

Al Qaeda's urban mujahedeen

The ranks of al Qaeda's mujahedeen seem far away from the urban streets of Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver. But a dragnet unleashed in the days following the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon uncovered remnants of al Qaeda's holy war here at home.

The Ressam case has also provided a series of leads and Samir Ait Mohamed was arrested due to testimony given by his former friend. Mohamed was taken into custody as he tried to cross the border from British Columbia into the United States in July 2001. Officials have shrouded his case in secrecy.

In court testimony, Ressam told authorities Mohamed was given to discussions of armed jihads when the two men lived in Montreal. He said Mohamed was an explosive expert trained in Afghanistan who talked of a plot to bomb a Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal.

The United States has accused Mohamed of several terrorist-related charges and is trying to extradite him after a federal grand jury indicted him last year. The indictment charges Mohamed with two counts of conspiring to commit international terrorism and he could receive life in prison if convicted.

Mohamed is also accused of working with Mokhtar Haouari to obtain a credit card in an alias for Ressam's use in connection with terrorist activities. Documents unsealed in New York last year said he agreed to help Ressam acquire guns and hand grenades.

A pistol was recovered by RCMP in Ressam's Montreal apartment following his arrest in December 1999. An FBI affidavit said Ressam was to use the weapons "in connection with his planned terrorist operation and jihad work."

How much more Ressam can reveal to authorities has yet to be seen. Since cells are usually small and members of one cell may not know members of another, there could be a ceiling to his knowledge. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, continues to threaten and actively promote a clash between civilizations.

"And to America, I say to it and to its people: I swear by Allah the Great, America will never dream nor those who live in America will ever taste security and safety again unless we feel security and safety in our land and in Palestine," bin Laden warned after the suicide hijackings.