Al-Qaeda training: poisoning dogs and rabbits, building shoe bombs

NEW YORK — Saajid Badat had been through all the training, from firing weapons while riding a motorcycle to watching dogs and rabbits, trapped under glass, die slow, agonizing deaths as he learned poisoning techniques.

He had laughed with other al-Qaeda members as the self-confessed mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, scanned a list of tall buildings and crossed out the World Trade Center towers weeks after hijackers had destroyed them.