Osama bin Laden [Archive] - It's Happening Forums

Petronas

03-16-2005, 12:50 AM

Usama's Niece Back in New York City
Tuesday, March 15, 2005

She walks down the street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, thin and stylish, just another well-heeled beauty chatting away on her cell phone. Except that she isn't — she's Usama bin Laden's niece. Wafah Binladin left the city in the months before her uncle's ghastly attack, but she's back now, living at a friend's posh pad off Park Avenue, pursuing her career as a pop star and living it up on the social scene at swanky Soho House. A former Columbia student who grew up in Geneva, she takes the subway around town, Elton John sheet music under her arm, trading on her connections and looking for a way into the music scene. But friends say Wafah is wearing out her welcome with her upscale pals.

"She wants to be a pop star, but no record company will have her," said one pal. "At first, we all had sympathy for her and thought she was a nice girl with an unfortunate family connection." But the pal said Wafah's "attitude" is alienating people. "She's this extremely wealthy girl who is used to getting what she wants and having people jump at her every word," the friend said. "She keeps saying, 'Poor me — I have no family because I left to pursue my dream.' She has no family because her uncle is a terrorist," the pal said. "And the way she treats people! Now she is trying to make money by giving French lessons. But if people don't want her French lessons, she'll hang up and scream, 'B----!' "

Wafah has also been known to scream at "friends" whose connections did not pan out for her: "You are of no use to me!" One pal said, "She called up my [connection] and screamed at them: 'You will meet with me! Now!' They were like, 'No way!' She's a spoiled rich girl, and it's wearing thin."

Wafah also has been known to use aliases — insisting one night her name was really Amanda, and once speculating she might change her name to Deborah, pals said. Wafah, who is living in an apartment owned by well-off friends, declined to be interviewed numerous times when approached by The Post. A friend in her building said she is avoiding media interviews and wants to maintain her privacy — despite the dark-haired beauty's bid to be a pop star.

Wafah's neighbors and local storekeepers were stunned to hear bin Laden's niece was living among them after moving from London. "It's weird, and it feels awkward that she's here," said Richard Gonzalez, 28, who lives and works nearby. But Marcus Hollingsworth, 42, manager of the Marché Madison gourmet store near the apartment building where Wafah lives, said she should not be blamed for her uncle's monstrous crimes. "She has nothing to do with her uncle, so what's the big deal?" he said.

Wafah's mother, Carmen, was married to Yeslam, one of Osama's 53 siblings, all born to patriarch Mohammed bin Laden's multiple wives. The Binladin family is one of the most prominent in Saudi Arabia — and many of the siblings have disavowed their black-sheep terrorist brother.

Wafah was born an American citizen while her father was studying at the University of California. She grew up in Switzerland in a multimillion-dollar mansion overlooking Lake Geneva, a child of European privilege, accustomed to high society and expensive shopping. She studied law at Geneva University before going on to Columbia for a three-year doctorate. An internship at law firm Schulte Roth and Zabel followed. But she had always wanted a career in music and she stepped up her singing, cutting tracks at a Manhattan recording studio.

She lived in a $6,000-a-month loft on Spring Street, and shopkeepers knew her as a big spender. A saleswoman at the clothing store Big Drop reported that she would spend thousands at a time on designer clothes. But in the months before the 9/11 attacks, she left town. Afterward, she told an interviewer she was horrified by the slaughter of innocents in the World Trade Center. "All I thought about was those people in those buildings," she said. "I couldn't get hold of my friends. Every night, I'd walk home looking up at the Twin Towers. I kept thinking, how could anyone do such a thing?" Wafah has only met her notorious uncle once and has rejected her Muslim heritage. She spells her surname — Binladin — differently, but many are surprised she has not changed it as she pursues a career in the music industry.

Until moving back to New York, Wafah was living in style in London. She was seen at various charity functions rubbing shoulders with boldface names like Natalie Imbruglia, Rod Stewart and Phil Collins as she pursued pop stardom and fame. Her friends in London reportedly included millionaire socialite Tim Jeffries, who has dated some of the most beautiful women in the world — Elle McPherson, Claudia Schiffer and Liz Hurley, among others. She attended the hottest clubs and was seen mixing it up at a trendy celebrity haunt with Jade Jagger and Jerry Hall. The sultry singer also reportedly began collaborating with Madonna's producer, Nellee Hooper, and her music style was described as "East meets West with a funky beat." "I love American movies and American music, like Destiny's Child and Mariah Carey," Wafah once said. "I love Madonna and Michael and Janet Jackson, too. I love Jennifer Lopez. She's the most beautiful woman in the world."

Wafah's mother, Carmen, said after 9/11, she was afraid her daughter would be forever tormented because of her link to bin Laden. "I can understand that when people see me, or see my daughter when she says, 'I am bin Laden,' will they believe her that she didn't know, that she didn't have contact with them [the terrorists]?" she said. She said her in-laws had even condemned Wafah and her two younger sisters because the girls were brought up in the West and developed Western values.

Still, most if not all of the family doesn't appear to shun Western money. Although the Saudi Binladen Group changed its name, at least when dealing with one U.S. firm after 9/11, at least a dozen Wall Street firms are still linked to the company, experts say.

The family's rich ties have prompted hundreds of relatives of 9/11 victims to sue the firm. In a complaint filed in U.S. court, the families charged, "While publicly denying a relationship with Usama, a number of the bin Laden brothers and brothers-in-law personally and privately support his cause and contribute to jihad."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150479,00.html

al-Canine

03-25-2005, 09:22 AM

Security entourage holds clues in hunt for bin Laden

In an interview, Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, a top Pakistani commander, talks of the hunt on Pakistan's northwestern border.

By Owais Tohid | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - After three years of poking around caves, raiding compounds, and getting the slip from motorbike mullahs, the intelligence communities chasing Osama bin Laden finally seem to know what they're on the lookout for.

To find the world's most wanted man, Pakistani forces are trying to spot signs of his elaborate security entourage. Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, Pakistan's top commander in the tribal region near the Afghan border, says Mr. bin Laden is guarded by some 50 men, divided into concentric circles of security.

Despite President Pervez Musharraf's recent statement that bin Laden's trail had gone cold, the hunt goes on.

"I am desperately looking for the signature of his security; because it is then I can declare victory.... Finding the signature means either I will get hold of him or I will kill him," General Hussain told the Monitor in an interview at his headquarters in Peshawar.

Last month, the US launched advertisements on Pakistani TV and radio highlighting rewards for information leading to the arrest of any of 14 suspects, starting with Bin Laden. If top Al Qaeda leaders are along the Pakistani-Afghan border, they are believed to be at a place where they can go to tribal areas in both countries.

Captured militants and intelligence gathered through members of breakaway factions indicate that several layers of security surround bin Laden at all times.

"There is a ring of very close guards, there is an outer guard, and then there is an inner guard, and also various circles. Everybody has a code to enter from the outer circle to the inner circle, then another to move from the inner circle to meeting him," says Hussain.

At night, the rings of security are indicated by flashlight signals.

When bin Laden's group moves, says Hussain, they go in caravans and dress in women's clothing to avoid detection by satellite.

"Now I have also given orders that when every vehicle is checked, the women are asked to say something so that you can make out whether it is a male voice or a female voice," he says.

Last year, thousands of military and paramilitary troops battled Al Qaeda militants and tribal supporters in south Waziristan. The 48 military operations resulted in more than 500 deaths, including 304 foreign and local militants and around 200 troops.

Pakistani forces captured 620 militants as well. The number of foreign militants - mostly Uzbek, Chechen, and Tajiks - in Waziristan is now estimated at between 80 and 100, a steep decline from the 600- to 700-person estimate of last year.

"In these 48 operations which were in the length and breadth of the whole South Waziristan agency, the possibility of this fellow [bin Laden] being in one of the target areas cannot be ruled out," says Hussain. "But I have nothing of this indication [of his security entourage] in my area."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0325/p07s01-wosc.html

The 801

03-28-2005, 07:30 AM

How a Lone Diplomat Compromised the Hunt for Bin Laden

BY RICHARD MINITER - Special to the Sun
March 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - A lone U.S. ambassador compromised America's hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan for more than two years, The New York Sun has learned.

Ambassador Nancy Powell, America's representative in Pakistan, refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America's $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Instead, thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material - printed at taxpayer expense and translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages - remained "impounded" on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004, according to Rep. Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois.

While the American government was engaged in a number of "black" or covert intelligence activities to locate Al Qaeda leaders, Mr. Kirk said, the "white" or public efforts - which have succeeded in the past in leading to the capture of wanted terrorists - were effectively shut down in the months following the September 11 attacks.

Mr. Kirk discovered Ms. Powell's unusual order in January 2004 and, over the past year, launched a series of behind-the-scenes moves that culminated in a blunt conversation with President Bush aboard Air Force One, the removal of the ambassador, and congressional approval for reinvigorating the hunt for Mr. bin Laden.

The full effect of Ms. Powell's impoundment order is difficult to measure. Pakistan is a key theater in the war on terror. Virtually every Al Qaeda leader captured to date has been apprehended in Pakistan, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the planner of the September 11 attacks. More than 600 Al Qaeda fighters have been killed or captured in Pakistan since 2001.

Mr. Kirk accidentally learned of Ms. Powell's impoundment policy as part of an official congressional delegation visiting Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, in January 2004.

During the course of his visit, Mr. Kirk met with several intelligence officers to discuss the hunt for Mr. bin Laden. Mr. Kirk, a moderate Republican from the North Shore of Chicago, also serves as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves.

Citing his experience in intelligence matters, Mr. Kirk asked embassy intelligence officials about the distribution of matchbooks in local languages. A single matchbook helped lead to the capture of Mir Amal Kansi, who gunned down several CIA employees at the front gates of the agency's Langley, Va., headquarters in 1993. Kansi was arrested in Pakistan in 1995 when a local fingered him for the $5 million reward. Mr. Kirk pointed out the similarities between the Kansi and bin Laden cases. "Both are cases gone cold in Pakistan," he said.

Embassy intelligence officials agreed with his assessment, Mr. Kirk said, but surprised the lawmaker by saying that the ambassador had ended the distribution of printed materials advertising the $25 million price on Mr. bin Laden's head.

Security personal were unhappy with the decision, according to the congressman. "There was a lot of discord among the staff," he said.

Mr. Kirk said that he raised the issue directly with the ambassador. According to the congressman, she replied that she had "six top priorities" and finding Mr. bin Laden was only one of them. She listed other priorities: securing supply lines for American and allied forces in Afghanistan, shutting down the network of nuclear proliferator A.Q. Khan, preventing a nuclear war between Pakistan and India, and forestalling a radical Islamic takeover of the government of Pakistan, a key American ally.

Ms. Powell, now serving at the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters in Washington D.C., declined to comment directly.

A senior State Department official confirmed that the meeting between Mr. Kirk and Ms. Powell did occur and that the ambassador did review the embassy's top six priorities, but the official said that "counterterrorism was the no. 1 priority."

The senior State Department official denied that Ms. Powell had restricted the distribution of materials touting the reward for Mr. bin Laden and other "high value targets." That program - known as Rewards for Justice - was discontinued in Pakistan prior to Ms. Powell's 2002 arrival because it was "ineffective," the senior official said. At the time, the Rewards for Justice program was widely used by other American embassies farther from the center of America's operations to kill or capture key Al Qaeda leaders.

A career State Department functionary, Ms. Powell was sworn in as American ambassador to Pakistan on August 9, 2002. A fluent Urdu speaker, she had previously served in posts on the subcontinent and across sub-Saharan Africa. She joined the State Department in 1977, following a six-year stint teaching high-school social studies in Dayton, Iowa.

Returning to Washington, D.C., Mr. Kirk began working to overturn Ms. Powell's order. As member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department, he was a force with which to be reckoned. He worked methodically, far from the public eye. He met with key congressional chairmen and then, gathering support, met with the speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. In February 2004, he met with then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Then, he began raising the issue with a growing array of White House officials.

When Mr. Bush asked the congressman to join him aboard Air Force One for a campaign stop in Mr. Kirk's suburban Chicago district in July 2004, the lawmaker saw his chance. He told the president about his ambassador impounding materials that could lead to the capture of Mr. bin Laden. "Bush was very cautious," Mr. Kirk recalled. The president did not betray an immediate response. "When one of his people is concerned, he likes to take his time and investigate."

Ms. Powell left her post as American ambassador in November 2004.

State Department spokesman Noel Clay declined to comment on the timing of ambassadorial rotations.

A senior State Department official disputed the notion that Ms. Powell was removed by the White House, adding, "if the president really wants an ambassador gone, the department can move a lot faster than three months."

The former schoolteacher was replaced by veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker in November 2004. The mood at the American Embassy lifted almost immediately. "He is a take-charge guy," said one official who knows the embassy's intelligence staff, "far more aggressive in pursuing the bin Laden account."

The American Embassy in Islamabad now boasts a 24-hour call center to receive tips. The center is manned by two locals, both of whom speak the three major languages of Pakistan, and supervised by a Diplomatic Security officer. Embassy staff recently launched a 12-week radio and television campaign alerting residents that, in the words of one 30-second Urdu-language radio spot, they "may be eligible for a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to the arrest of known international terrorists." About 25 calls were received in February 2005, the center's first full month of operation.

Congress recently passed legislation raising the reward for information on Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members to $50 million and revamping the Rewards for Justice Program. More than $57 million has been paid to 43 people who provided credible information about the whereabouts of known terrorists since the program's founding in 1984. But little has been paid since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Under legislation co-sponsored by Mr. Kirk and signed by Mr. Bush in December 2004, the top reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden has been raised to $50 million from $25 million. The Rewards for Justice program has also been extensively retuned. Embassies are now required to conduct focus groups of locals to discover precisely which radio stations they tune in to and which newspapers they read. Based on those reports, the American Embassy in Pakistan is now broadcasting advertisements on the radio programs most closely followed by the residents of Waziristan, a mountainous region of Pakistan that is believed to be a haven for Al Qaeda.

The American Embassy in Islamabad's Rewards for Justice program is now in high gear. Yet, if Mr. Kirk and some intelligence officials are correct, valuable time was lost.

http://www.nysun.com/article/11208

Casey

04-12-2005, 07:57 PM

Bin Laden 'bribed his way out'
12/04/2005 14:19 - (SA)

Berlin - Osama bin Laden bribed Afghan militias to give him free passage into hiding after the United States-led invasion in 2001, the head of Germany's spy agency was quoted on Tuesday as saying in remarks critical of the United States.

"The principal mistake was made already in 2001, when one wanted Bin Laden to be apprehended by the Afghan militias in Tora Bora," August Hanning told the Handelsblatt daily. "There, bin Laden could buy himself free with a lot of money."

The head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service did not explicitly blame the United States, whose forces used Afghans as their eyes and ears in the hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban after the war, but the context was clear.

Shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan the US commander, General Tommy Franks, acknowledged that some Afghans were probably accepting bribes to free al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters whom the US wished to interrogate - although he did not name Osama bin Laden himself.

Military experts warned at the time that many Afghan tribal leaders were working first to consolidate their own power, viewing the American goals of capturing al-Qaeda figures as secondary.

The failure to catch bin Laden quickly allowed the terrorist leader - blamed by the United States for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington - to slip away and insulate himself, Hanning said.

"Since then, he has been able to create his own infrastructure in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and has won many friends from the tribal groups there," he said.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1688676,00.html

1001

05-08-2005, 01:19 PM

Bin Laden's trail goes through Pakistan's autonomous border with Afghanistan

By S. AMJAD HUSSAIN
SPECIAL TO THE BLADE

On Wednesday, Pakistan announced it had captured Abu Farraj al-Libbi in the tribal town of Mardan in its North-West Frontier Province. The United States says al-Libbi is the No. 3 man in al-Qaeda and that he may have information on the whereabouts of its leader, Osama bin Laden. But where is bin Laden?

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Where in the world is Osama bin Laden hiding? This is the $25 million question that has baffled everyone since the man America sees as Public Enemy No. 1 went underground after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Neither the coalition forces in Afghanistan nor the Pakistani army on their side of the border know for sure. Despite the $25 million the United States has offered as a reward, even the best international bounty hunters have not been able to get a handle on his whereabouts.

One thing that seems sure, however, that is he is alive.

At one time, he was presumed to have died in
the relentless bombardment of the caves of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. Later, when bin Laden had not been heard from, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan speculated that he had died from kidney disease for which he had been receiving dialysis treatment.

Since then, however, he has been heard from, via video and audiotape, several times, most notably days before the U.S. presidential election in November. Yet the authorities never seem close to seizing him.

That is nothing new. Even before the occupation of Afghanistan, bin Laden was on the CIA radar screen, and attempts to nab him had been made for years before Sept. 11.

Now, bin Laden has become a legend in the Islamic world, though less for his terrorist activities than for his ability to elude his pursuers.

Bin Laden has, since his arrival in Afghanistan from Sudan in the summer of 1996, lived behind a ring of security provided by his loyal followers. Journalists who were allowed to meet him in those years before he became a household word were taken through circuitous routs to his mountain hideouts, traveling blindfolded much of the time.

One such person is veteran Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusafzai, invited by bin Laden after the U.S. missile attack on Osama's Afghan camp on Aug. 20, 1998, an attack which came when bin laden was not there.

Since the toppling of Taliban he has not given any interviews. He keeps surfacing, however, on video and cassette tapes that somehow make it to the Al-Jazeera TV network in the United Arab Emirates. Just the logistics of smuggling the tapes out of his hiding place must be daunting. But he has done it many times.

His current whereabouts are a matter of speculation. According to Gen. Safdar Hussain, the Pakistani general in charge of the frontier with Afghanistan, bin Laden is most likely deep in Afghanistan. Thanks to American pressure, the border areas of Pakistan can no longer offer a safe heaven for the founder of al-Qaeda and his retinue.

During my visit to Afghanistan in December, 2000, when the Taliban was still firmly in power, I asked if I could see bin Laden. The Taliban said permission for such a meeting would have to first come from Mullah Omar, the one-eyed head of the Taliban government who lived, not in the capital of Kabul, but in the southern city of Kandahar.

That permission never came.

Despite occasional differences between bin Laden and the Taliban leadership, the Taliban leadership was adamant in protecting the man they referred to as its honored guest.

When asked why, they invariably invoked Pushtunwali - the age-old ethical code that commits all members of that ethnic group to extend hospitality and asylum to strangers, to avenge insults, and to defend one's honor at all cost.

That alone would have been enough, since bin Laden was not only a guest in the true Pushtun sense, he was also Afghanistan's benefactor, having committed his vast assets to fight the Soviets.

Recent news from Afghanistan indicates that the remnants of the Taliban are forging alliances with their onetime enemies, the mujahedin, for a coordinated effort to resist the U.S. occupation. A Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, has joined forces with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar - the one-time darling of the Pakistani establishment during the Soviet occupation and an avowed enemy of the Taliban - to carry out missions against the coalition forces. According to Gen. Safdar Hussain, the man in charge of Pakistani forces in the tribal area, Mullah Omar is heavily involved in such efforts.

Bin Laden's close associate, Shaikh Khalid Muhammad, talked to investigators after he was arrested in Pakistan in March, 2003. He said he met bin Laden in December, 2000, through a complicated network involving telephone calls, runners, and intermediaries. He could not or would not divulge the exact location of their meeting.

Six other top al-Qaeda operatives arrested in different parts of the world have not divulged any useful clues to his location. Neither did one of his wives, Amal al-Saddah, who was arrested at her family home in Yemen.

Ilyas Khan, a respected investigative reporter working for Pakistan's Herald Magazine believes all leads to bin Laden have gone cold.

But bin Laden's success at eluding capture is no surprise to those familiar with the history of this region. In the 1930s, a village mullah, Mirza Ali Khan, popularly known as the Fakir of Ipi, got on the wrong side of the British. He eluded many efforts to catch him, and emerged to attack the garrisons of the occupiers almost at will.

Sometimes his enemies would arrive at a mountain hideout to find ashes of his fire still warm but the fugitive gone. The British also bombed the caves in the mountains of South Wazirstan but to no avail.

This made him a folk hero, and people chanted:

They sought him here, they sought him there

Those columns sought him everywhere.…

After the British left, the Fakir continued his opposition, now fighting Pakistani control of the tribal areas. He lived into his 70s and died in 1960 - of natural causes.

Will history repeat itself?

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050508/NEWS08/505080302/-1/NEWS

Petronas

05-14-2005, 01:46 AM

Ya'alon: Bin Laden's location known
May. 13, 2005 1:31

The IDF's chief of General Staff said in an interview published Wednesday that the location of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden is known, and he is in hiding on the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier. "I don't think that they don't known where he is. There are operational difficulties in putting your hands on him, for all sorts of reasons. But it is not true that they don't know where he is located," Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon told Maariv. Ya'alon, a former head of IDF Intelligence, said, "Ultimately, in order to get your hands on him you will need what we perfected and that is what we call 'targeted assassination.'"

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1115867641034&p=1078397702269

Petronas

05-16-2005, 02:33 AM

Mr Osama, are you OK?
May 11, 2005

... I was inclined to feel that the posting regarding your death might have been made by the US intelligence as part of its psychological warfare to create confusion and demoralization in the ranks of your followers. The rumors died down.

But doubts have again arisen after one received reports on the sermons delivered in some madrassas (seminaries) of the tribal region in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the last two Fridays. In the sermons, the mullahs have prayed to God for your good health and success against the US and Israel. There is nothing unusual in that. They were doing so even in the past.

But what is intriguing now is that their sermons also included prayers to God for the good health and success of your sons in the jihad against the US and Israel. Why suddenly these prayers for your sons? Are you dying, if not already dead? Is something seriously wrong with your health? ...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GE11Aa01.html

Petronas

05-16-2005, 02:39 AM

Back on Osama's trail
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
May 14, 2005

ISLAMABAD - Both Pakistani and US intelligence believe that they are hot on the heels of Osama bin Laden, after his trail went cold months ago. "Both the US and concerned Pakistani authorities are positive that in the coming days we shall be around Osama bin Laden," a senior Pakistani official told Asia Times Online in an exclusive interview, speaking on condition of anonymity. The potential breakthrough in the hunt for bin Laden follows the arrest of al-Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al-Libbi in Pakistan last week, and an important lead he divulged during interrogation. Abu Faraj was interrogated by various agencies, including Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Britain's MI6 and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This is according to the Pakistani official, who was assigned by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf - the target of two assassination attempts allegedly masterminded by Abu Faraj - to coordinate and oversee investigations involving recent al-Qaeda detainees in Pakistan. "The arrest of al-Libbi has only one significance for Pakistan, and that is that he was involved in assassination plots on Musharraf. Apparently there is no way that we will get Osama bin Laden through al-Libbi. MI6 also interrogated al-Libbi separately, and they are also of this opinion, that al-Libbi is little more than a foot soldier and no way eligible to be named as an operational chief. However, US interrogators have a different opinion and they call al-Libbi the catch of the year," the official said. "Nevertheless," said the official, "the arrest cannot be down-played as insignificant. During interrogation, al-Libbi pointed [out] Bajur Agency, a tribal area situated in North West Frontier Province, where we found an al-Qaeda sanctuary and arrested many important operatives, including an Uzbek."

Despite repeated questioning from Asia Times Online, the official refused to say whether the Uzbek was the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yaldevish, who has been widely reported to have been seen in Pakistan's tribal areas. "This is a state secret," the official said. "Neither will I tell you his name nor give you any hint, but it is true that there is big 'head money' on him, and as a result of interrogations so far we are quite sure that through him we will be getting Osama bin Laden, or at least we will be around his sanctuary and be able to track his area of rotation. At present, we are completely in the dark."

The official believes that a breakthrough will come soon, but this carries problems. "After that [bin Laden's apprehension] a new debate will start on whether Osama should be arrested in Pakistan's tribal areas or not," said the official. "I am not part of any strategic community, but my political acumen suggests that in the present drive we will find Osama bin Laden in our tribal areas, and I am sure we will soon ... we should try to push him to the other side of the border and then let US troops arrest him. He should not be arrested by or in Pakistan. Because if that happens, I tell you that the Pakistan army will lose its honor among the masses forever, and at the same time there would be retaliation against the government beyond our comprehension, and in that process anything is possible, real terrorism, bloodshed and even revolution," he continued.

Recalling his experience in dealing with the interrogation of the Uzbek, the official maintained that it had been "truly incredible". "You can differ in ideologies, but it is difficult not to be impressed by conviction. We are politicians - compromise, retreat and lies are part of our business, but believe me, I passed one hour with that Uzbek and I admitted to myself some guilt - his unbreakable conviction for his cause was the reason. He was blindfolded, and when an interrogator served him a glass of water, he said, 'Make sure that it is [served] with the right hand, and not the left hand.' [as per Muslim custom] He gave a full lecture on their cause, and said that he had no regrets that he had joined al-Qaeda. He even recognized me from my voice, as he said that he had often heard me on television, and advised that I should take care as soon everybody 'would be accountable before Allah'. I am the person who is monitoring things very closely, and I see the arrest of bin Laden not very far away, this is the same opinion of the US authorities following al-Libbi's arrest. But whether it will bury extremism once and for all, or spark it, is a different debate," the Pakistani functionary commented.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GE14Df04.html

Casey

05-23-2005, 09:47 PM

Bin Laden planning caliphate
23/05/2005 20:23 - (SA)

Amman - An alleged militant on trial for a terror conspiracy targeting the US and Israeli embassies claimed on Monday that terror masterminds Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would soon set up a Muslim caliphate state.

Abed al-Tahawi's made the statement in brief remarks to reporters before the military court convened to hear the prosecution sum up its case in his trial.

"Although they accuse them of being terrorists, the heroes Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi will come back to the scene soon to set up an Islamic caliphate state," he said.

Al-Tahawi, 50, and 15 other men - including one at large who being tried in absentia - are charged with conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks and possessing automatic rifles.

If convicted on both counts, the defendants could face the death penalty.

Saudi-born bin Laden has long advocated the creation of a caliphate, where Islam would be the source of the law and the state ruled by a religious leader, known as the caliph - a title taken by the successors of the prophet Muhammad.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, is al-Qaeda's top man in Iraq.

He is believed to be directing anti-US attacks and kidnappings in Iraq, and his group has beheaded several hostages.

He has been sentenced to death in Jordan for the 2002 killing of a US aid worker.

Edited by Elmarie Jack

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1709608,00.html

al-Canine

06-02-2005, 10:02 AM

Bin Laden's safe haven?

Ex-CIA officer: Bin Laden hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas

By Henry Schuster | CNN

Editor's Note: Henry Schuster, a senior producer in CNN's Investigative Unit and author of "Hunting Eric Rudolph," has been covering terrorism for more than a decade. Each week in "Tracking Terror," he reports on people and organizations driving international and domestic terrorism and efforts to combat those.

RENO, Nevada (CNN) -- Gary Schroen doesn't know exactly where Osama bin Laden is. But he thinks he knows who does.

He doesn't think Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, knows, even though Schroen believes bin Laden is somewhere inside Pakistan. Instead, he believes, someone at a more operational level inside Pakistan's army or its intelligence service, the ISI, knows.

"I can only speculate, but it is based on almost 20 years of dealing with the Pakistani military and ISI officers. I think at some level, probably the colonel level, there are officers probably in ISI who know where bin Laden is at."

Here's why it matters what Gary Schroen thinks.

A long-time Central Intelligence Agency operative, Schroen was dispatched to Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, to find bin Laden and to help overthrow the Taliban.

That mission marked the culmination of an extensive career that included some 35 years working in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

Now, after decades of avoiding the press, Schroen is talking.

Targeting bin Laden

Mostly, it's about his riveting new book, "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan." In it, he recounts how his boss, then-CIA director of counterterrorism Cofer Black, told him that he wanted "bin Laden's head shipped back in a box filled with dry ice."

That marked the first time in Schroen's career as an intelligence officer, he says, that he was ever told to kill someone, if necessary. And his team was ready to do so.

What made him especially qualified for that mission was that he had developed two plans to capture or kill bin Laden, once in 1998 and then again a year later. Both were turned down by higher-ups in the CIA and the White House.

"Everybody in the agency felt a sense of frustration that we hadn't taken a shot [in 1998 and 1999] -- especially the second time, which was after the bombings that al Qaeda conducted in Africa," he said. "But the decision was made based on policy considerations back in Washington, so we [soldiered] on."

The morning of September 11, the veteran CIA officer was on the glide path to retirement. He came in that day to work on his resume, knowing he had only a few weeks left at the agency.

Schroen soon found himself being evacuated from the CIA's headquarters in northern Virginia, as fear spread that the building was the hijackers' next target.

Days later, Black hand-picked him to lead a team inside Afghanistan, where he had close ties to many in the Northern Alliance -- the main opposition at the time to the ruling Taliban.

Schroen's team, code-named JAWBREAKER, had rapid success in helping to topple the Taliban using cash, contacts and air strikes coordinated by the CIA and U.S. Special Forces.

Finding bin Laden was another story. Schroen says the closest U.S. forces came was at the battle of Tora Bora in late November 2001. But bin Laden escaped across the border to Pakistan, aided, according to Schroen and others, by some of the same Afghans who promised the United States they were going to capture al Qaeda's leader.

Does Pakistan want to find bin Laden?

So where's bin Laden now?

"He's hiding in Pakistan in the northern tribal areas above Peshawar -- an area that is rugged, hilly, heavily forested," Schroen says. "The U.S. government and the U.S. military are not authorized by the Musharraf government to enter there unilaterally."

With much fanfare, the Pakistani army went into part of the tribal area last year, ostensibly hunting for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. (The move was significant because, from the time of Pakistan's independence in 1947 until that point, the area was autonomous, with local leaders governing its affairs.)

Schroen says Pakistani forces went into the wrong area. Instead of going into the area north of Peshawar, they went south of that city, into southern Waziristan.

The campaign was a failure.

"They did get clobbered heavily," Schroen said of the Pakistani forces. "I think they knew that bin Laden wasn't there, and therefore they would be able to arrest a few al Qaeda operatives and make us happy."

Schroen believes Musharraf not only doesn't know where bin Laden is, but he doesn't want to know, afraid of the internal political consequences of finding him. That's because, Schroen thinks, Pakistan's northern tribal areas would explode upon news of the death or capture of bin Laden.

"I think the philosophy of the Taliban, this fundamentalist view, is popular there. So bin Laden, I think, strikes them as heroic. He fought a jihad against the Russians, and he's bloodied America's nose time and again."

That strong sense of loyalty to bin Laden and al Qaeda is one reason reward money, be it $25 million or $50 million, won't work. The trick is to get bin Laden or al-Zawahiri to break cover and move from this heavily protected area, Schroen says.

"As long as he stays in place, it is going to be almost impossible to find him."

Another key job for the United States, Schroen says, is to figure out a way to find the right incentive for Musharraf to hunt harder for al Qaeda's leaders. One major step, in that regard, is for the Pakistani president to get more answers from inside his own military and intelligence establishment.

"A man of that caliber [bin Laden] could not be hidden out for that many years without word getting out in the community. So, I think some people probably know within ISI and the military."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/schuster.column

Casey

06-05-2005, 08:54 AM

June 05, 2005

Bin Laden ‘gave me licence to shoot him’
Nick Fielding
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/images/trans.gifNI_MPU('middle');

A FORMER personal bodyguard to Osama Bin Laden has revealed how the Al-Qaeda leader survived at least three assassination attempts during his time in Afghanistan and rejected several requests to return to his native Saudi Arabia — including one delivered in person by his mother.

Abu Jindal, 35, a Yemeni who claims to have worked for Bin Laden from 1995- 2000, said he was given the authority to kill the terrorist chief if he seemed about to be taken by his enemies.

“I was the only member of his bodyguard who was given this authority,” he said when interviewed in Yemen by al-Quds al-Arabi, the London-based Arabic newspaper.

“I took care to keep the two bullets in good condition and cleaned them every night ... If enemy forces surrounded Sheikh Osama and there was no possibility that he would escape, I was to kill him before they could catch him alive.”

Abu Jindal said there were at least three assassination attempts during his time with Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

The first was in 1998 by a young Uzbek, allegedly sent by the Saudis and offered a reward of 2m Saudi riyals — £300,000 at today’s rates — and Saudi nationality.

“He was only 18 and had been deceived. He was crying in a very pathetic manner and said, ‘I made a mistake’. Finally, Sheikh Osama said to release him.”

Following another failed assassination attempt in Jalalabad, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, convinced Bin Laden to move to the comparative safety of Kandahar in the south. Abu Jindal said Bin Laden and his family were guarded by 14-16 bodyguards who travelled with them at all times.

The Saudis tried many times to coax Bin Laden back to Saudi Arabia. “At one time the Saudi government sent his mother and his half-brother by a special Saudi plane that landed at Kandahar airport,” said Abu Jindal.

On another occasion, Prince Turki al-Faisal, now Saudi ambassador in London, arrived in a large aircraft intending to return with Bin Laden and his retinue. “The delegation left without him,” said Abu Jindal. The former bodyguard, whose real name is Nasir Ahmad Nasir al-Bahri, served a short prison term after returning home. He is now free, although closely watched by the intelligence services.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1641311,00.html

Casey

06-14-2005, 07:29 AM

I know bin Laden is still alive: Musharraf
(AFP)
14 June 2005

CANBERRA – Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is alive and probably living in the rugged mountains bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday.

Speaking during a three-day visit to Australia to promote counter-terrorism cooperation and increased trade, Musharraf said Pakistan had suffered 250 casualties in fighting bin Laden’s Al Qaeda and other militant groups in its western tribal regions.

It had also destroyed the logistics and communications hubs of the terror networks so that they no longer functioned coherently, he said.

However, the Saudi behind the September 11 attacks on the United States was proving elusive because of the difficulty of the terrain, Musharraf said.

“It’s very easy for a person to hide,” Musharraf told an Australian Press Club lunch in Canberra.

“I know that he is alive. Most likely he is alive, yes, because of our information and interrogation of various Al Qaeda operatives that we have apprehended.

“Maybe he is in the border region in hiding wherever he sees a vacuum.”

Musharraf said while his government had deployed around 70,000 troops to fight insurgents hiding in the tribal areas separating Afghanistan from Pakistan, the soldiers could not cover the entire region.

“It is not easy to get a person there,” the president said.

Musharraf is expected to sign an agreement on counter-terrorism cooperation during a meeting with Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday. He leaves Australia on Thursday to visit New Zealand.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/June/theworld_June374.xml&section=theworld

Casey

06-15-2005, 05:24 AM

Wednesday, June 15, 2005. 8:12am (AEST)
Bin Laden, Mullah Omar alive and healthy

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar are safe and healthy, a former Taliban commander said.

Three-and-half years after a US-led military offensive toppled the fundamentalist Taliban regime for sheltering bin Laden, the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks remains free as does Mullah Omar.

Commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani told private Geo TV in an interview at an undisclosed site that he cannot disclose their whereabouts.

"We hear his voice. I can vouch that Mullah Omar is alive and commanding the Taliban," he said.

As for bin Laden, the most wanted suspect in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the former Taliban commander said, "by the grace of God, he is in good health".

Mullah Omar in 2001 named Mullah Usmani as his successor in the event of his death.

Mullah Usmani taught in the same religious school as Mullah Omar and previously led the Taliban forces in five southern Afghan provinces.

Reports on his whereabouts vary but he is believed to be leading a faction that is fighting coalition forces.

Disappointed

Outgoing US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said he was "disappointed" that bin Laden remained at large but pledged the Al Qaeda leader would be captured.

The Afghan-born US diplomat who is preparing to leave Afghanistan as President George W Bush's special envoy and ambassador for a similar job in Iraq said the hunt for bin Laden continued.

"I'm disappointed that he has not been captured," he told reporters in Kabul at a ceremony where he handed over books to the Afghan Foreign Ministry as part of a drive to promote American culture.

"But our military and intelligence are working very hard on this issue - sooner or later he will be caught or he will be found dead," he said, without giving any dateline.

"You know looking for one person in a vast area is not easy but eventually he will be found," he said.

US ally

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in the war on terror, said during a visit to Australia that bin Laden was alive and probably hiding somewhere in the rugged border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

US military officials suspect that both men could be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border, using territory on both sides of the border to elude arrest.

Over 18,000 US-led soldiers are hunting militants from both groups in the restive south and east of Afghanistan.

Despite an arms-for-amnesty program offered by the Afghan Government to the remnants of the Taliban, an insurgency by the ousted militia still ongoing and hampered the reconstruction efforts in many parts of the war-torn country.

Mr Khalilzad renewed his calls for rank and file Taliban guerrillas to lay down their arms and join the peace process.

"The time has come for young Taliban to lay down their arms. Afghanistan needs reconciliation. Afghans should not let themselves be cannon fodder in the hands of the enemies," Mr Khalilzad said.

- AFP/Kyodo

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1392246.htm

Petronas

06-17-2005, 10:17 PM

I am not posting the whole article as it is long (14 printed pages). I recommend, however, that anyone intested in OBL read both parts, which can be found at the link below.

Osama's Road to Riches and Terror
June 6, 2005

The Bin Laden family disowned black sheep Osama in 1994. But have they really broken with the mega-terrorist? Recently revealed classified documents seem to suggest otherwise. Osama's violent career has been made possible in part by the generosity of his family -- and by his contacts with the Saudi royals.

In early spring 2002, American intelligence agents tipped off authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina that something wasn't quite right with the "Benevolence International Foundation." Their reaction was swift; special forces stormed eight offices of the Islamic foundation in Sarajevo and in Zenica. They found weapons and explosives, videos and flyers calling for holy war. More importantly, however, they discovered a computer with a mysterious file entitled "Tarich Osama" -- Arabic for "Osama's Story."

After printing out the file -- close to 10,000 pages worth -- the intelligence experts quickly realized they had stumbled upon a true goldmine. They were looking at nothing less than the carefully documented story of al-Qaida, complete with scanned letters, minutes of secret meetings, photos and notes -- some even written in Osama Bin Laden's handwriting. CIA experts secured the highly sensitive material, dubbed "Golden Chain," and took everything back to the United States. To this day, only fragments of the material have been published. Now, however, SPIEGEL magazine has been given complete access to the entire series of explosive documents dating from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

During that time, Osama bin Laden, known as "OBL" in CIA parlance, was primarily interested in "preserving the spirit of jihad" that had developed during the successful Afghanistan campaign -- a fight which saw an international group of Muslim fighters stand up to the mighty Soviet army. Bin Laden wanted to expand the group's activities to battle "the infidels" in the West. A full decade before the attacks on the Twin Towers, the documents make horrifyingly clear, bin Laden was already dreaming of "staging a major event for the mass media, to generate donations."

Finances are the focal point in these early al-Qaida documents. OBL, as one of the heirs of a large construction company, had a substantial fortune at his disposal, but it was still not enough to finance global jihad. The Saudi elite -- and his own family -- came to his assistance.

The evidence lies in the most valuable document investigators managed to acquire: a list of al-Qaida's key financial backers. The list, titled with a verse from the Koran, "Let us be generous when doing God's work," is a veritable who's who of the Middle Eastern monarchy, including the signatures of two former cabinet ministers, six bankers and twelve prominent businessmen. The list also mentions "the bin Laden brothers." Were these generous backers aware, at the time, that were not just donating money to support the aggressive expansion of the teaching of the Islamic faith, but were also financing acts of terror against non-believers? Did "the bin Laden brothers," who first pledged money to Al-Qaida and then, in 1994, issued a joint press statement declaring that they were ejecting Osama from the family as a "black sheep," truly break ties with their blood relatives -- or were they simply pulling the wool over the eyes of the world?

Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism for the CIA, says, "I tracked the bin Ladens for years. Many family members claimed that Osama was no longer one of them. It's an easy thing to say, but blood is usually thicker than water."

Carmen bin Laden, a sister-in-law of the terrorist, who lived with the extended family in Jeddah for years, says, "I absolutely do not believe that the bin Ladens disowned Osama. In this family, a brother is always a brother, no matter what he has done. I am convinced that the complex and tightly woven network between the bin Laden clan and the Saudi royal family is still in operation." ...

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,359690,00.html

Casey

06-25-2005, 10:07 AM

Where is bin Laden?

Pakistan president: If you know where Bin Laden is, tell us
Munir Ahmad, Associated Press
June 25, 2005 BINLADEN0626
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-11/1119705840273660.xml&storylist=international
[/url]

Cheney knows where bin Laden is hiding, but not exact 'address'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-25 17:16
[url="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/25/content_454570.htm"]http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/25/content_454570.htm (http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5475987.html)

1001

06-26-2005, 07:57 AM

Cheney on Osama and Gitmo

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/24/cheney/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Cheney: "We've got a pretty good idea of the general area that he's in, but I -- you know, I don't have the street address."
:add09:

Casey

06-27-2005, 08:08 AM

Musharraf Skeptical of Suggestions That Bin Laden Is in Pakistan
Patrick Goodenough
International Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf at the weekend expressed irritation with reports that senior U.S. officials know the whereabouts of fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- and with the implication that he is hiding out in Pakistan.

"Any talk about his whereabouts is mere speculation," Musharraf told reporters at a Pakistani airbase before leaving on a trip to Saudi Arabia.

"There are a lot of people who say that Osama bin Laden is here in Pakistan. All that I would like to tell them is 'please come and show us where he is or tell us where he is.'

"We will act on such information," he added.

Immediately after al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. on 9/11 and under pressure from Washington, Musharraf announced he was ending Pakistan's support for the Taliban, al-Qaeda's sponsors in Afghanistan, and would cooperate in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamist terrorism.

The U.S. considers Pakistan a crucial ally in the war, but although Pakistani forces have helped to capture hundreds of terror suspects, Islamabad's level of cooperation has been called into question.

India has long accused rival Pakistan of continued support for Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups fighting against Indian rule in divided Kashmir.

Violence has been building in south and east Afghanistan since March, and last week, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman told a press conference that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight terrorists.

Spokesman Jawed Ludin was speaking a day after three Pakistanis were arrested in Afghanistan, accused of plotting to assassinate the American ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The arrests prompted the U.S.-backed Karzai government's official media to allege that Pakistan's ISI intelligence service was behind the plot.

"Our people have now realized that the Pakistani intelligence agency is behind all the security problems in Afghanistan," said the state-run daily, Anis, in comments translated by the BBC.

The paper claimed that the suspects had admitted to the role of both the ISI and Pakistani terrorist groups in violence in Afghanistan.

U.S. envoy Khalilzad, too, has been critical of Pakistan.

After a Pakistani television network, Geo TV, earlier this month interviewed a Taliban commander who claimed he was in touch with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and bin Laden, the ambassador questioned how a television station could find men whom Pakistani intelligence services claimed to be unable to track down.

Pakistan's Foreign Office called Khalilzad's remarks irresponsible.

Khalilzad also stated that bin Laden was not in Afghanistan, an apparent shift from the position long voiced by U.S. officials that the al-Qaeda chief was thought to be hiding out somewhere in the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

Other senior U.S. officials have also suggested knowledge of bin Laden's whereabouts.

Vice President Cheney said last Thursday the U.S. government had "a pretty good idea" where bin Laden was hiding, but added: "I don't have the street address."

CIA director Porter Goss said in a recent interview with Time magazine that he had "an excellent idea" where bin Laden was located.

Goss sparked considerable speculation with his comment to the newsweekly that there were "some weak links" in the anti-terror campaign, and his reference to "the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states."

Regional security analysts said Goss was likely referring to Pakistan rather than Afghanistan, or other possible countries such as Iran.

"He did not mention Pakistan by name, but it was apparent that he was talking of Pakistan," said Bahukutumbi Raman, director of the Institute For Topical Studies in Chennai, India.

"On the Afghan side of the border, it is the 16,000-strong U.S. troops which have the responsibility for the hunt for bin Laden," Raman said. "If he was in Afghan territory, there was no reason why Goss should have talked of sanctuaries in sovereign states, weak links etc."

"If bin Laden was in Iranian territory, there was no reason why he should have refrained from naming Iran since the U.S. relations with Iran are already at the rock-bottom," he added.

In recent interviews, recently retired CIA officer Gary Schroen has said that he doesn't believe Musharraf himself knows where bin Laden is, but speculated that some ISI officers do.

Musharraf told reporters at the weekend that his government was working closely with Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and had taken steps to secure their shared border.

"There is a total and complete understanding between us," he said.

Last week, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington appreciated Pakistan's anti-terror contribution.

"We have good cooperation with Pakistan in the global war on terrorism," he said. "We appreciate all that they're doing to help us track down al-Qaeda leaders and Taliban remnants, particularly along that border region with Afghanistan."

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1337350.html

The 801

07-18-2005, 07:42 AM

Jun 7, 2005

Hot on the trail of al-Qaeda
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The high-profile arrests of al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, the most recent being Abu Faraj al-Libbi, have led to intense speculation that the really big names could be next: Tahir Yuldash of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the biggest catch of them all, Osama bin Laden.

But Asia Times Online investigations reveal that these top figures in the international struggle against the US are not together in one place, and remain a step ahead of their pursuers.

Pakistani intelligence agencies indicate that Shabkadar (a town near Peshawar in Pakistan's North West Frontier province), and Bajur and Mohmand agencies (two federally administered tribal areas) have been under close surveillance for more than a month as strong information emerged about bin Laden being in the vicinity, or in adjoining areas - Nanghar and Nooristan - across the border in Afghanistan.

In Shabkadar and Bajur especially, the Pakistani military increased its presence and conducted exhaustive search operations. These activities did not meet with any resistance as the local tribals, though sympathetic to Arab fighters, would not put themselves in a conflict situation with the Pakistani army. (This in stark contrast with the South and North Waziristan tribal areas, where similar military intervention has met with fierce and bloody resistance.) Al-Qaeda sympathizers, nevertheless, might have spread the word in advance of the operations.

According to analysis based on information extracted from detainees and ground checks in the Pakistani tribal areas, bin Laden was likely recently in Nooristan in Afghanistan for meetings with close aides. Nooristan is a rugged, remote mountainous region where the population is Salafi. The area was previously the stronghold of a famous commander of the anti-Soviet resistance of the 1980s, Abdul Aziz Nooristani, who later also fought in Bosnia. Veteran Afghan mujahideen leader and former Afghan premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also dwelled in Nooristan for some time after returning from exile in Iran in 2002.

Ever elusive
That al-Qaeda's top members remain on the loose can in some ways be attributed to the training cadres receive. They are well versed in withstanding interrogation and in engaging their interrogators by appealing to their religious sentiments - at least in the short term. This buys other members vital time to change their positions, an intelligence operator told Asia Times Online.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that Yuldash was sighted in the Afghan region of Birmal, where he is believed to have grouped dozens of guerrilla fighters of Chinese, Pakistani, Afghan, Uzbek, Chechen and Arab origin. They have been engaged in acts of sabotage in Paktika province, notably a recent attack on Argon in which two US soldiers were killed. US convoys and their military bases are constant targets.

Some of the world's most difficult terrain starts at Argon and continues to Birmal and then Shawal (part of which is in Afghanistan and part in Pakistan). It is wholly pro-Taliban. Guerrillas carry out attacks and then melt into the local population, either in Birmal or in the thick forests of North Waziristan across the border. Recent US bombing in North Waziristan followed guerrillas being chased by US gunships and fighter aircraft - some stray bombs and missiles landed in Pakistani territory.

Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, has also reportedly been seen in different places in the past few weeks, from Zabul (Afghanistan) to South Waziristan. Both foreign and Pakistani intelligence agencies conclude that the frequent sightings indicate that Zawahiri is acting as the main go-between among Arab, Uzbek, Chechen, Pakistani and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

These intelligence agencies believe that Khost, Paktika, Paktia and Zabul will emerge as the key hotbeds of the Afghan resistance. About a dozen murders in and around South Waziristan of pro-government tribal leaders indicate that the nerve center is again near South Waziristan.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GF07Df01.html

Gotta love Shahzad.....801

The 801

08-30-2005, 11:21 AM

Adelaide equipment 'saved bin Laden'
By Penelope Debelle
Adelaide
August 31, 2005

( Adelaide is in Australia, mate)
CODAN, an Adelaide company that supplies remote-area long-distance communications to Afghanistan, may inadvertently have helped al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escape a US missile strike.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a news agency that works closely with local people in war situations, reported in late 2001 that the al-Qaeda leader escaped from a house in Kabul three hours before it was hit. Quoting an al-Qaeda source, the report said terrorist spotters across Afghanistan had used the sophisticated Codan radio network to warn bin Laden of the approaching missile attack.

"Bin Laden's foreign legion is equipped with a sophisticated Codan radio network of the type used by the UN and aid workers in places such as Afghanistan," the report said.

The ABC reported yesterday that an al-Qaeda operative, Mohamedou Slahi, had ordered radio communications equipment from Codan earlier that year. Operating under the trading name BITS, Slahi paid Codan in May 2001 for unspecified goods and a detailed quote was prepared for more than $32,000 worth of equipment, according to the ABC.

Advertisement
AdvertisementIn Adelaide, Codan's chief finance and information officer, David Hughes, said the company would never knowingly sell its products for use in terrorist or criminal activity. Since September 11, it regularly checked US State Department and Australian Government websites that carried lists of known terrorist organisations.

"We take this pretty seriously," Mr Hughes said. "We do the best we reasonably can to make sure our products don't fall into the wrong hands.

"We sell through an extensive distribution network around the world and we routinely visit these customers and do what we can to ensure their bona fides are correct. Beyond that, without being a specialist security organisation it is difficult to do much more."

He said the company had no first-hand knowledge of its equipment being sold to or used by al-Qaeda. Following the ABC's disclosures, he said the company would work with Government security agencies to keep its equipment out of terrorists' hands.

Codan is a local success story that began in the 1950s and developed long-range communications equipment for use in the bush. Its products have become increasingly sophisticated and its communications and TV broadcast equipment — favoured by the UN and aid agencies — is sold in 150 countries.

It specialises in remote, high-frequency and microwave communications and its voice-encrypted transmitters can transfer signals over thousands of kilometres by bouncing off the ionosphere.

Two years ago, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Dr Robert Finn, announced that the US would pay for a Codan communications network across Afghanistan, linking Kabul with its 32 provincial governments.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/adelaide-equipment-saved-bin-laden/2005/08/30/1125302570157.html

The 801

08-30-2005, 11:25 AM

The Bin Laden Panama Connection

29 08 2005, by Okke Ornstein

While a US-led armada was playing games on the high seas and drowning three Panamanian navy seals during excercise "Panamax 2005" which purported to safeguard the Canal from terrorist attacks, the real connection between international terrorism and Panama can be found in the file cabinets of the local law firms.

Panama has a reputation in this area. Three years ago it was revealed that Syrian arms trafficker, drug smuggler and terrorist supplier Monzer Al Kassar (involved in such bloody events as the hijacking of the Achille Lauro) was a client of law firm Morgan & Morgan which handled incorporation for him. Arias Fabrega & Fabrega, another Panamanian powerhouse, turned out to have incorporated the corporate vehicle that served as a conduit for stolen funds in the UN oil for food scandal, and in the sixties the same law firm served another illustrious client: the Israeli Mossad.

Yet, as it turns out, the Bin Laden family's financial empire uses Panama as well for its corporate needs. In the public registry - miles away from the high seas and the Canal - we found the Saudi Investment Company Panama, registered by law firm Shirley & Diaz. On the board of directors we find Baudoin Dunand, a Swiss attorney who specializes in international financial structures and Swedish Kjell Carlsson.

The president of the Saudi Investment Company Panama is Sheik Yeslam M. Binladin. He is Osama Bin Laden's half-brother.

The company is part of a vast international network of corporate entities active in finance, construction and real estate in, among others, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Cayman Islands, the United States, Curaçao and Panama. The Bin Laden family claims to have disowned Osama Bin Laden in 1994, yet, in 2004, Osama Bin Laden's half brother Yeslam Binladin admitted that he and other Bin Laden family members shared a Swiss bank account with Osama bin Laden from 1990 until 1997. Yeslam had previously denied any financial dealings with Osama at this late date until evidence of this bank account was uncovered by French private investigator Jean-Charles Brisard, who was hired by families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

In December 2001, French authorities opened an investigation into the financial dealings of the Saudi Investment Company (SICO) run by Yeslam Binladin and in 2002 his house on the Cote d'Azur was raided by the French police. The French are investigating the Bin Laden empire for links with the financing of terrorism, i.e. Osama's group, and money laundering. French newspaper Le Monde and Reuters published that the investigators noted a 241 million euro transfer made to Pakistan in 2000 from an account belonging to a company called Cambridge, a SBG subsidiary, that was opened at Deutsche Bank in Geneva. According to Le Monde, U.S. authorities are aware of the existence of those funds, which they believe were transferred into an account belonging jointly to Osama Bin Laden and someone of Pakistani nationality.

Already in September 2001, the Spanish police started an investigation into Palwa Iberica S.A., another company of the Bin Laden family.

Yeslam Binladin - who deliberately spells his name differently from that of his half-brother - claims he's had no contact with Osama in 20 years. Yet, in 2004, when asked if he would turn in Osama if given the chance in an interview with MSNBC, he replies, “What do you think? Would you turn in your brother?” Interviewed on the Al-Arabiya TV network in July 2005 he added that he would happily pay for Osama's defense should he ever be caught.

Yeslam's ex-wife, in her book "Inside the Kingdom", writes about Osama: "He was admired. He was involved in a noble cause. Osama was a warrior -- a Saudi hero. (...) He was not strikingly different from the other brothers -- just younger, and more reserved."

And: "I simply can't see them depriving a brother of his annual dividend from their father's company, and sharing it among themselves. That would be unthinkable -- among the Bin Ladens, no matter what a brother does, he remains a brother."

The Panamanian company headed by Yeslam owns the Saudi Investment Company UK, which is a financial company according to information we found on the website of Wayne Madsen, formerly of the NSA.

From that same Wayne Madsen we learned that another company in the same Bin Laden corporate web, the U.S. construction and engineering firm Fluor Corp. has been awarded reconstruction contracts by the Pentagon in Iraq. "Fluor, which received the lucrative contracts because it was included by the Pentagon on an "invitation only" short list of eligible contractors, has contributed over $500,000 to Republican candidates since 2000. Kenneth Oscar, a Fluor Vice President, was the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement and was conveniently in charge of a $60 billion budget. One of Fluor's board members is retired Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, a former deputy director of the CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) director."

It is not clear if the Panamanian authorities are aware of the existence of the Bin Laden company or if it is being investigated.

http://www.noriegaville.com/view.php?subaction=showfull&id=1125329872&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2

1001

09-03-2005, 05:27 AM

Photographer Sues ABC Over Bin Laden Pics

DENVER — Rare photographs of Osama Bin Laden, including exclusive shots of the Al-Qaida leader on a battlefield, wer

e broadcast by ABC News without the Egyptian photographers' permission, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Thursday.

Essam Mohamed Aly Deraz is seeking $10 million in damages, alleging copyright infringement, and is asking a judge to prohibit the network or any of its affiliates from using the photographs.

ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said: "We have not been served with a lawsuit and don't have any comment."

In 1998, Deraz twice agreed to allow the network to use his photographs on a one-time only basis for which he was paid $7,000 and $8,000 respectively, the lawsuit states. But the lawsuit says the network continued to use the photographs without Deraz's authorization.

Deraz says the photos were taken between 1986 and 1992 when he was given "unprecedented access to photograph and film" the Al-Qaida leader.

Deraz's lawyer, David Weinstein, did not return a phone message Thursday. It was unclear why the lawsuit was filed in Denver.

___

September 2, 2005 - 4:41 a.m. Copyright 2005, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/enter/content/shared-gen/ap/TV/Bin_Laden_Photos.html

The 801

09-13-2005, 07:50 AM

September 11, 2005
Lost at Tora Bora
By MARY ANNE WEAVER
Well past midnight one morning in early December 2001, according to American intelligence officials, Osama bin Laden sat with a group of top aides - including members of his elite international 055 Brigade - in the mountainous redoubt of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. Outside, it was blustery and bitterly cold; many of the passes of the White Mountains, of which Tora Bora forms a part, were already blocked by snow. But inside the cave complex, where bin Laden had sought his final refuge from the American war in Afghanistan - a war in which Washington, that October, had struck back for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - bin Laden munched on olives and sipped sugary mint tea. He was dressed in his signature camouflage jacket, and a Kalashnikov rested by his side. Captured Qaeda fighters, interviewed separately, told American interrogators that they recalled an address that bin Laden had made to his followers shortly before dawn. It concerned martyrdom. American bombs, including a 15,000-pound "daisy cutter," were raining from the sky and pulverizing a number of the Tora Bora caves. And yet, one American intelligence official told me recently, if any one thing distinguished Osama bin Laden on that cold December day, it was the fact that the 44-year-old Saudi multimillionaire appeared to be supremely confident.

The first time bin Laden had seen the Tora Bora caves, he had been a young mujahedeen fighter and a recent university graduate with a degree in civil engineering. It had been some 20 years before, during Washington's first Afghan war, the decade-long, C.I.A.-financed jihad of the 1980's against the Soviet occupation. Rising to more than 13,000 feet, 35 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Jalalabad, Tora Bora was a fortress of snow-capped peaks, steep valleys and fortified caves. Its miles of tunnels, bunkers and base camps, dug deeply into the steep rock walls, had been part of a C.I.A.-financed complex built for the mujahedeen. Bin Laden had flown in dozens of bulldozers and other pieces of heavy equipment from his father's construction empire, the Saudi Binladin Group, one of the most prosperous construction companies in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Persian Gulf. According to one frequently told story, bin Laden would drive one of the bulldozers himself across the precipitous mountain peaks, constructing defensive tunnels and storage depots.

Indeed, by December 2001, when the final battle of Tora Bora took place, the cave complex had been so refined that it was said to have its own ventilation system and a power system created by a series of hydroelectric generators; bin Laden is believed to have designed the latter. Tora Bora's walls and the floors of its hundreds of rooms were finished and smooth and extended some 350 yards into the granite mountain that enveloped them.

Now, as the last major battle of the war in Afghanistan began, hidden from view inside the caves were an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 well-trained, well-armed men. A mile below, at the base of the caves, some three dozen U.S. Special Forces troops fanned out. They were the only ground forces that senior American military leaders had committed to the Tora Bora campaign.

Yunis Khalis long worried that such a moment would arrive. A theologian and warrior of considerable repute, Khalis knew the Americans well: he had fought for them two decades before. And if there was one thing that the octogenarian leader knew, it was that he really didn't like the Americans much at all. Nevertheless, as one head of the fratricidal alliance of Afghan resistance groups, he had accepted Washington's largess, and over the years, as the war against the Soviet occupiers progressed, Khalis, among the seven resistance leaders, would receive the third-largest share of the more than $3 billion of weapons and funds that the C.I.A. invested in the jihad. As the godfather of Jalalabad, the capital of the province of Nangarhar, Khalis controlled a vast territory, including Tora Bora. It had been a key operational center for his fighters during the anti-Soviet war. And it was a key operational center for Osama bin Laden now. The caves were so close that Khalis could see them from the verandah of his sprawling stucco home.

One evening earlier this summer, I asked Masood Farivar, a former Khalis officer who had fought in Tora Bora during the jihad, to tell me why the caves were so important. "They're rugged, formidable and isolated," he said. "If you know them, you can come and go with ease. But if you don't, they're a labyrinth that you can't penetrate. They rise in some places to 14,000 feet, and for 10 years the Soviets pummeled them with everything they had, but to absolutely no avail. Another reason they're so important is their proximity to the border and to Pakistan" - less than 20 miles away.

Bin Laden knew the caves as well as Farivar and Khalis did. He had fought in nearby Jaji and Ali Khel and in the 1989 battle of Jalalabad. He knew every ridge and mountain pass, every C.I.A. trail. For this was the area where bin Laden had spent more than a decade of his life.

It was also during the war years that bin Laden first met Khalis; the two men became very close friends. Indeed, when bin Laden returned to Afghanistan in May 1996 from his base in the Sudan (after the United States insisted that the Sudanese government expel him), it was Khalis, along with two of his key commanders - Hajji Abdul Qadir and Engineer Mahmoud - who first invited him. And it was also Khalis who, later that year, would introduce bin Laden to the one-eyed leader of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar, who had fought with Khalis - and would later become his protégé - during the jihad.

"Khalis had an avuncular interest in bin Laden," Michael Scheuer, the former head of the C.I.A.'s bin Laden unit and the author of "Imperial Hubris," told me recently when we met at a Washington coffeehouse. "Osama lost his father when he was young, and Khalis became a substitute father figure to him. As far as Khalis was concerned, he considered Osama the perfect Islamic youth."

Bin Laden, along with his four wives and 20-some children, moved into the well-fortified Khalis family compound nine years ago and then to a farm on the outskirts of Jalalabad. But shortly thereafter, Engineer Mahmoud was assassinated, and there were two assassination attempts against bin Laden, too. "They were both very crude," Scheuer said, "and they smacked of the Saudis" - who had earlier tried to assassinate bin Laden in Khartoum. "As a result, bin Laden wanted to move away from the main road. So Khalis gave him two of his fighting positions in the mountains - Tora Bora and Milawa. Bin Laden immediately began to customize and rebuild the two: Tora Bora for his family and his key aides; Milawa for his fighters and as a command center and logistics hub. By the time bin Laden moved to Kandahar" - then a Taliban stronghold - "in May of 1997, the two mountain redoubts had been completely refurbished and modernized: they were there, just waiting for him in 2001."

Some six weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks and nearly two weeks after the bombing of Afghanistan began on Oct. 7, American military leaders - who had no off-the-shelf invasion plans, not even an outline, for Afghanistan - finally succeeded in getting the first forces in: a 12-man Special Forces A-team helicoptered in from Uzbekistan to the Panjshir Valley. There they joined forces with the Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban militia that controlled only 10 percent of Afghanistan but to whom Washington delegated the ground war. The view prevailing among senior American military leaders was that overwhelming air power, suitcases full of cash and surrogate militias could win the war. The intricacies of Afghan tribal life appeared to elude everyone.

n late October or early November, according to Scheuer, American operatives went to see Khalis to seek his support. "Khalis said that he was retired and doing nothing now," Scheuer told me. "It was the last time" American intelligence officials saw him. "It was so bizarre! Didn't anybody know about Khalis's friendship with bin Laden? Or that Khalis was the only one of the seven mujahedeen leaders who remained neutral about, and sometimes even supported, the Taliban?" He shook his head and then went on: "And even after Sept. 11, indeed in spite of it, as soon as our bombing of Afghanistan began, Khalis issued a well-publicized call for jihad against U.S. forces in Afghanistan."

When Khalis turned the Americans down, Special Forces troops recruited two of his former commanders. They made an unlikely couple: Hazarat Ali and Hajji Zaman. The former, with just a fourth-grade education, was barely literate, a bully and unrefined; the other was a wealthy drug smuggler, fluent in English and French, and a polished raconteur who was lured back to Afghanistan from his exile in France by the United States. Both were schemers who had come of age on the battlefields of the anti-Soviet war, Ali as a teenager in Tora Bora and Zaman in Jalalabad. Ali had joined the Taliban for a time, then moved north and embraced the Northern Alliance; Zaman had supported neither, and when the Taliban came to power, he chose exile. Ali owed his rise largely to the Pentagon, which ultimately enlisted him to lead the ground battle in the Tora Bora caves; Zaman, a Pashtun leader and member of the Khugyani Tribe, had his own base of support, something that Ali, a member of a minor, non-Pashtun tribal grouping, lacked.

A third militia leader - less experienced but of more distinguished pedigree - who would bring his forces to Tora Bora was Hajji Zahir, the 27-year-old somewhat skittish son of Hajji Abdul Qadir, Yunis Khalis's former military commander and one of the three men who had welcomed bin Laden when he returned to Afghanistan. Indeed, as the Americans were recruiting his son, Hajji Abdul Qadir was about to reclaim the governorship of Nangarhar Province, a post he had relinquished when the Taliban arrived, in a power transfer Khalis and bin Laden would help to consummate.

Bin Laden had returned to Jalalabad on or about Nov. 10, a U.S. intelligence official told me recently, and that same afternoon, according to a March 4, 2002, report in The Christian Science Monitor, he gave a fiery speech at the Jalalabad Islamic studies center - as American bombs exploded nearby - to a thousand or so regional tribal leaders, vowing that if united they could teach the Americans "a lesson, the same one we taught the Russians" when many of the chieftains had fought in America's first Afghan war. Dressed in a gray shalwar kameez, the long shirt and bloused trousers favored in Afghanistan, and his camouflage jacket, bin Laden held a small Kalakov, a shorter version of the Kalashnikov, in his hand. As the crowd began to shout "Zindibad [Long live] Osama," the leader of Al Qaeda moved through the banquet hall dispensing white envelopes, some bulky, some thin, the thickness proportionate to the number of extended families under each leader's command. Lesser chieftains, according to those present, received the equivalent of $300 in Pakistani rupees; leaders of larger clans, up to $10,000.

Bin Laden really didn't have to buy the loyalty of the Pashtun tribal chiefs; they were already devoted to him. He was, after all, the only non-Afghan Muslim of any consequence in the past half-century who had stood with the Afghans. But on that November afternoon, and on the nights that followed it, as bin Laden began to lay the groundwork for his escape from the Tora Bora caves, the elusive Qaeda leader was determined to be absolutely sure.

The following evening, or the evening after, bin Laden, according to an Afghan intelligence official, dined in Jalalabad with other Pashtun tribal chiefs from Parachinar, Pakistan, an old military outpost I first visited nearly 20 years before. Parachinar had been a key staging area for the C.I.A. during the jihad, and its tribal leaders had profited immensely. A picturesque town in the Kurram Valley, Parachinar was also Pakistan's first line of defense against any Afghan incursion. Beyond it lie only the White Mountains - and the caves of Tora Bora - and desolate stretches of no man's land.

The last time bin Laden was seen in Jalalabad was the evening of Nov. 13, when he, along with Khalis's son, Mujahid Ullah, and other tribal leaders negotiated a peaceful hand-over of power from the Taliban to a caretaker government. Under its terms, Khalis would take temporary control of the city until the formation of a newly appointed U.S.-backed government. He, of course, made certain that the Eastern Shura, as the government is called, was stacked with men who owed their loyalty to him. Hajji Abdul Qadir, his former military commander, became Nangarhar Province's governor again.

Bin Laden's Arab fighters had used Jalalabad as a base and as a command center for a number of years, and now they dispersed, loading their weapons and their clothing, their children and their wives into the backs of several hundred lorries, armored vehicles and four-wheel-drive trucks. Some Taliban fighters followed suit. Others disappeared, removing their signature black turbans and returning to their villages and towns.

As the convoy was being readied, bin Laden said his goodbyes: to the Taliban governor; to Mujahid Ullah, Khalis's son; and to scores of the tribal leaders who had received his white envelopes three days before. He was dressed now as he had been dressed then and cradled his Kalakov, even though he was surrounded by some 60 armed guards.

Then he entered a custom-designed white Toyota Corolla, and the convoy sped away toward the mountains of Tora Bora, where he waited for the Americans to arrive.

y late November, Hazarat Ali, Hajji Zaman and Hajji Zahir had assembled a motley force of some 2,500 men - supplemented by a fleet of battered Russian tanks - at the base of Tora Bora. The Afghans were ill equipped and poorly trained. They also lacked the commitment that bin Laden's fighters had. Hidden from view at 5,000 feet and above in the scores of valleys, forests and caves, the Qaeda fighters not only had the tremendous advantage of the terrain; their redoubts were replete with generators, electricity and heat and copious stocks of provisions. Snow covered the mountain, and it was bitterly cold. The Afghan fighters at its base grumbled and quarreled endlessly. It was also the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, and some of the Afghans had the irritating tendency to leave their posts and return home to celebrate iftar, the evening meal that breaks the fast.

Perhaps more ominous was the growing antipathy between Hazarat Ali and Hajji Zaman: both ruthless, both greedy, both corrupt, both flashing fistfuls of new $100 bills - one a Pashtun, the other not. Their mutual loathing became so intense that on more than one occasion they and their fighters, instead of fighting Al Qaeda, shot each other's men.

The American bombardment of Tora Bora, which had been going on for a month, yielded to saturation airstrikes on Nov. 30 in anticipation of the ground war. Hundreds of civilians died that weekend, along with a number of Afghan fighters, according to Hajji Zaman, who had already dispatched tribal elders from the region to plead with bin Laden's commanders to abandon Tora Bora. Three days later, on Dec. 3, in one of the war's more shambolic moments, Hazarat Ali announced that the ground offensive would begin. Word quickly spread through the villages and towns, and hundreds of ill-prepared men rushed to the mountain's base. The timing of the call to war was so unexpected that Hajji Zahir, one of its three lead commanders, told journalists at the time that he nearly slept through it.

On a map, it was little more than a mile from the bottom of the White Mountains to the first tier of the Qaeda caves, but the snow was thick and the slopes were steep and, for the Afghan fighters, it was a three-hour climb. They were ambushed nearly as soon as they arrived. The battle lasted for only 10 minutes before bin Laden's fighters disappeared up the slope and the Afghans limped away. Over the coming days, a pattern would emerge: the Afghans would strike, then retreat. On some occasions, a cave would change hands twice in one day. It was only on the third day of the battle that the three dozen Special Forces troops arrived. But their mission was strictly limited to assisting and advising and calling in air strikes, according to the orders of Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, who was running the war from his headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

Even after the arrival of the Special Forces, the Afghan militias were making little headway in their efforts to assault the Qaeda caves - largely as a result of heavier resistance than they had expected - despite having launched simultaneous attacks from the east, west and north. They had sent none of their forces to the south, where the highest peaks of the White Mountains are bisected by the border with Pakistan. The commanders, according to news reports, argued vehemently among themselves on what the conditions on the southern side of the mountain were: some insisted it was uncrossable, closed in by snow; other commanders were far less sure.

By now, the Taliban's stronghold in Kandahar had fallen or, more correctly, had been abandoned by the soldiers of the regime. The Taliban retreat from Kandahar was emblematic of the war. None of Afghanistan's cities had been won by force alone. Taliban fighters, after intense bombing, had simply made strategic withdrawals. A number of American officers were now convinced that this was about to happen at Tora Bora, too.

One of them was Brig. Gen. James N. Mattis, the commander of some 4,000 marines who had arrived in the Afghan theater by now. Mattis, along with another officer with whom I spoke, was convinced that with these numbers he could have surrounded and sealed off bin Laden's lair, as well as deployed troops to the most sensitive portions of the largely unpatrolled border with Pakistan. He argued strongly that he should be permitted to proceed to the Tora Bora caves. The general was turned down. An American intelligence official told me that the Bush administration later concluded that the refusal of Centcom to dispatch the marines - along with their failure to commit U.S. ground forces to Afghanistan generally - was the gravest error of the war.

A week or so after General Mattis's request was denied, the turning point in the battle of Tora Bora came. It was Dec. 12. Hajji Zaman had by now realized that the Qaeda fighters were better armed than his men and that they were also prepared to die rather than surrender to him. He was also becoming increasingly irritated with Hazarat Ali and with the snow. And in a few days the feast of Eid al-Fitr, which ends Ramadan, would begin. The stalemate, the Americans' surrogate commander decided, simply had to end. So, through a series of intermediaries and then directly, Hajji Zaman made radio contact with some of bin Laden's commanders and offered a cease-fire. The Americans were furious. The negotiations - to which Hazarat Ali acquiesced since he, too, was now holding secret talks with Al Qaeda - continued for hours. By the time they came to an end, Hajji Zaman's interlocutor, hidden somewhere in the caves above, was probably bin Laden's son Salah Uddin. If the Qaeda forces surrendered, Hajji Zaman's contact said, it would be only to the United Nations. Then he requested additional time to meet with other commanders. He would be back in touch by 8 the following morning, the younger bin Laden said.

American intelligence officials now believe that some 800 Qaeda fighters escaped Tora Bora that night. Others had already left; still others stayed behind, including bin Laden. "You've got to give him credit," Gary Schroen, a former C.I.A. officer who led the first American paramilitary team into Afghanistan in 2001, told me. "He stayed in Tora Bora until the bitter end." By the time the Afghan militias advanced to the last of the Tora Bora caves, no one of any significance remained: about 20 bedraggled young men were taken prisoner that day, Dec. 17.

On or about Dec. 16, 2001, according to American intelligence estimates, bin Laden left Tora Bora for the last time, accompanied by bodyguards and aides. Other Qaeda leaders dispersed by different routes, but bin Laden and his men are believed to have journeyed on horseback directly south toward Pakistan, crossing through the same mountain passes and over the same little-known smugglers' trails through which the C.I.A.'s convoys passed during the jihad years. And all along the route, in the dozens of villages and towns on both sides of the frontier, the Pashtun tribes would have lighted campfires along the way to guide the horsemen as they slowly continued through the snow and on toward the old Pakistani military outpost of Parachinar.

Tora Bora was the one time after the 9/11 attacks when United States operatives were confident they knew precisely where Osama bin Laden was and could have captured or killed him. Some have argued that it was Washington's last chance; others say that although it will be considerably more difficult now, bin Laden is not beyond our reach. But the stakes are considerably higher than they were nearly four years ago, and terrain and political sensibilities are far more our natural enemies now.

There is no indication that bin Laden ever left Pakistan after he crossed the border that snowy December night; nor is there any indication that he ever left the country's Pashtun tribal lands, moving from Parachinar to Waziristan, then north into Mohmand and Bajaur, one American intelligence official told me. The areas are among the most remote and rugged on earth, and they are vast. Had bin Laden been surrounded at Tora Bora, he would have been confined to an area of several dozen square miles; now he could well be in an area that snakes across some 40,000 square miles.

Defending its decision not to commit forces to the Tora Bora campaign, members of the Bush administration - including the president, the vice president and Gen. Tommy Franks - have continued to insist, as recently as the last presidential campaign, that there was no definitive information that bin Laden was even in Tora Bora in December 2001. "We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora," Franks wrote in an Oct. 19, 2004, Op-Ed article in The New York Times. Intelligence assessments on the Qaeda leader's location varied, Franks continued, and bin Laden was "never within our grasp." It was not until this spring that the Pentagon, after a Freedom of Information Act request, released a document to The Associated Press that says Pentagon investigators believed that bin Laden was at Tora Bora and that he escaped.

The document's release came at a particularly delicate time for the United States. A newly resurgent Taliban was on the rise. Its attacks on American forces - launched from Pakistan, according to Afghan officials - were more lethal, better organized and more widespread than at any time since the war against terror began. And President Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler of Pakistan who is ostensibly our key ally in that war, had, to a growing extent, become an ally on his own terms. It was only in the last days of July that he once again committed himself to embark on a campaign against his country's Islamic militants. And this was only as a result of suggestions that there were Pakistani links to the bombings that month in London and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

At the same time, to Musharraf's irritation, reports surfaced again - from Indian and Afghan officials, Taliban prisoners and opposition politicians in Pakistan - of terrorist training camps in the Mansehra district of northern Pakistan and the restive southern province of Baluchistan. There, the provincial capital of Quetta had, for all intents and purposes, become a Taliban town. Black-turbaned Talibs swaggered through its bazaars, photographs of bin Laden and Taliban banners adorned its muddy lanes and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar was believed to be in residence.

I puzzled over whether Musharraf's new determination would include finally becoming serious about the hunt for bin Laden. No one to whom I spoke was at all convinced. A few weeks earlier, I had asked George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an expert on South Asian security issues, what he thought about Musharraf's commitment to the search generally. "For me, the outstanding question is, At the highest levels in Islamabad is there a conviction that capturing or killing bin Laden would be good for the leadership of Pakistan?" Perkovich replied. "And given the answer to that question, how hard are they willing to try? And can they afford to be seen as being solidly on America's side? I think Musharraf also worries about whether or not Washington will stay the course. Therefore, he's got to keep the Americans online: hold back something that they want. And, in that respect, Osama could be seen as an insurance policy for them."

According to Gary Schroen, the former C.I.A. officer, "We're never going to get bin Laden without the total cooperation of Pakistan, and there's a lot more they could do."

"Such as?" I asked.

"Winning over their military is imperative," he said. "We've got to convince them that it's in their interest to bring bin Laden in. And that means allowing us to send Special Forces and C.I.A. teams, in sufficient numbers, into the northern areas with the ability to move around, to establish networks on the ground. We've also got to refocus U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan in order to have coordinated military operations between the two sides of the frontier." He paused and said, "It's all up to the Pakistanis now."

"How would this affect Musharraf if he agreed?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, and then he replied, "If his hand was ever seen as the one that turned bin Laden over, he wouldn't be able to survive."

Dec. 16, 2001: Despite the Afghan and American assault on Tora Bora, Osama bin Laden escaped.

#photograph by erik de castro/reuters/corbis

Mary Anne Weaver, who has been a Guggenheim fellow and a Council on Foreign Relations fellow this year, is the author of "Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/11TORABORA.html?ei=5088&en=b2be68c2558e1937&ex=1284091200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

801 not happy....

The 801

09-13-2005, 08:40 AM

September 13, 2005
Prof publishes bin Laden’s words
by Orcun Unlu

PETER GEBHARD/THE CHRONICLE

Only days after the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, a Duke professor is trying to explain the motivations of the tragedy’s organizer—jihadist Osama bin Laden.

Bruce Lawrence, professor of religion, edited and wrote the forward to the book Messages to the World—The Statements of Osama bin Laden. The text, which goes into print today and will arrive in bookstores in the fall, is the first to include the translations of the Arabic writings of bin Laden.

The book features a collection of 22 speeches and interviews given by the leader of the terrorist organization al Qaeda between 1994 and 2004.

Verso Books, a British publishing company, approached Lawrence in March, asking him to write the introduction and analyze bin Laden’s writings.

“No one has ever looked at all of his writings,” Lawrence said, adding that most of the resources about bin Laden are not written down, existing primarily as audio-cassettes or videos from al-Jazeera, an Arabic-language news network.

Lawrence said the new book focuses on understanding what makes bin Laden tick.

“If you read him in his own words, he sounds like somebody who would be a very high-minded and welcome voice in global politics,” Lawrence said.

After analyzing his writings, Lawrence said he concluded bin Laden does not have an ultimate goal that he wants to achieve in his jihad but that he does have a specific target.

“He has no special bad language for Republican or Democratic presidents—they are all bad,” Lawrence said.

He added that if bin Laden were to name his own “axis of evil”—a phrase used by President George W. Bush in reference to Iraq, Iran and North Korea—it would include Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President Bill Clinton.

Lawrence noted that bin Laden is a persuasive speaker who can utilize the Arabic language for his purposes.

“A major purpose of this book is to show how he manipulates the Arabic language with an extraordinary awareness of past speakers: the prophet Muhammed and his companions, passages from the Qur’an, anecdotes from early Islamic history... and Islamic poetry,” Lawrence explained.

He said bin Laden echoes the language of early Islamic speakers, from a time when Islam was the world power.

“He does it such a way as to appeal to the sensibilities of people who are devout and dissatisfied,” Lawrence said.

He added that bin Laden is not just a good organizer and speaker but also a very clever agent and director of the information age.

“His whole career as a public figure on the world stage coincides with the Internet, satellite TV and the World Wide Web,” he said. “And he makes use of all three.”

Lawrence said he hopes the book will offer insight regarding the al Qaeda mastermind, as expressed through bin Laden’s own words.

http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/13/4326b40f29070

It seems that the professor has forgotten to mention that Bin laden also loves warm chocolate chip cookies and playing with puppy's. - The 801

Casey

09-13-2005, 10:29 PM

Revealed: Great Osama escape from Tora Bora
Wednesday September 14, 2005-- Shaaban 09, 1426 A.H.

Monitoring report

ISLAMABAD: The spokesman for Afghan Interior Ministry, Lutafullah Mashal, for the first time accepted that he entered Pakistani tribal areas of Parachinar and North Waziristan as a spy following Osama bin Laden in December 2001.

He revealed his role as an "Osama hunter" in Geo TV’s programme Capital Talk, hosted by Hamid Mir, on Tuesday night. Lutafullah Mashal is a Pashtun but he can speak Arabic and English fluently and he used his ability to speak Arabic to infiltrate al-Qaeda ranks. He was present in Tora Bora during the operation against Osama in November 2001.

He claimed during his first interview to a Pakistani TV channel that US forces committed a blunder by assigning the task of hunting bin Laden to a local warlord Hazrat Ali. He said Hazrat Ali got money from al-Qaeda and provided safe passage to Osama to escape, on the back of a horse, towards Pakistani tribal areas.

Lutafullah Mashal said that Osama entered Parachinar area and then returned to Khost where Jalaluddin Haqqani was present to look after him. He said he was following al-Qaeda in Pakistani areas of Shawal, Datta Khel and Miranshah. He said he saw some Uzbeks and Chechens, but not Arabs, in those areas .

Mashal criticised US forces saying that they visited Tora Bora in plain clothes and never participated in the hunt-Osama operation physically.

Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir investigated the great escape of al-Qaeda inside the mountains of Tora Bora one whole day. He spoke to the local people who confirmed that more than 800 al-Qaeda fighters broke the US-made net and ran to Pakistani areas.

Only a few dozen fighters lost their lives due to the B-52 bombers and all of them were buried with honor and respect by the local Pashtuns on the peaks of Tora Bora mountains. Geo TV team also visited Kunar province where a US military helicopter was downed by al-Qaeda.

Some Arabic speaking militants provided a film about one US marine who was killed by al-Qaeda men. His ID card was shown in the film according to which his name was Denney Philip from the US navy.

Al-Qaeda downloaded secret military information and maps from Denney’s laptop. Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir met Taliban leader Mulla Muhammad Anas in Andore district of Ghazni province.

Anas claimed that the Karzai government is limited only to some big cities and rest of the rural areas in south and east are controlled by the Taliban. Karzai is trying to struck a deal with the Taliban through Wakil Mutwakkal and Mulla Arsala Rehmani but there is no positive outcome of indirect talks between the Taliban and Karzai.

Geo TV travelled in more than a dozen provinces in the east and south of Afghanistan and observed that the security situation in those provinces is not improving. Hamid Mir also spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai who said that a lot of people in Afghanistan believe that the Taliban are coming from across the border.

However, Karzai praised President Pervez Musharraf for fighting against terrorism. He said the government of Pakistan is not involved in terrorism but definitely some elements in Pakistan are still supporting the Taliban.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2005-daily/14-09-2005/main/main6.htm

The 801

09-14-2005, 07:22 AM

'Bin Laden is trying to obtain medical attention'
Report: U.S. colonel says al-Qaida leader is in poor health
Updated: 6:37 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005
CAIRO - Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is in poor health and is seeking medical attention, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat said on Wednesday, quoting a U.S. officer in Afghanistan.

"Osama bin Laden is trying to obtain medical attention," Colonel Don McGraw, director of operations at the Combined Forces Command in Kabul, told a group of British reporters, including one from al-Hayat, it said.

"He (McGraw) refused to say what the al-Qaida leader is suffering from or whether it is the same kidney disease which Pakistani officials said in the past he was suffering from," the newspaper added.

Al-Hayat said it was not clear how the U.S. military had obtained its information or where it thought bin Laden might be.

The Saudi-born militant is believed to have taken refuge somewhere on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after escaping from U.S. troops and their Afghan allies who toppled the Taliban government that had hosted him in 2001.

The United States holds al-Qaida responsible for many attacks, including the suicide hijack assaults on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9336523/

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters - opps, 801

Vancouver

09-14-2005, 07:35 AM

A good piece on Hazrat Ali, from the Washington Post, back in Feb. 2002:
www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/ali.htm
No doubt Lutafullah Mashal has his own political reasons for running down Ali, and the Geo TV reporter is obviously just another Yankee-basher:

Only a few dozen fighters lost their lives due to the B-52 bombers and all of them were buried with honor and respect by the local Pashtuns on the peaks of Tora Bora mountains.

etc. Notice that Ali is not a Pashtun.

He said Hazrat Ali got money from al-Qaeda and provided safe passage to Osama to escape ...

I doubt it, in view of the American reward offer on Osama :)

experiencediz

09-25-2005, 06:58 AM

Osama bin Laden Arrives at the Pearly Gates :)
Sunday, September 25, 2005

When Osama bin Laden died, he was met at the Pearly Gates by George Washington, who slapped him across the face and yelled, "How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped conceive!"

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, "You wanted to end our liberties but you failed." James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, "This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!"

Thomas Jefferson was next, beat Osama with a long cane and snarled, "It was evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of
Independence."

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe, and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the terrorist leader.

As Osama lay bleeding and in pain, an angel appeared. Bin Laden wept and said, "This is not what you promised me."

The angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in heaven. What did you think I said?''

•Osama bin Laden Arrives at the Pearly Gates (http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=16972)

The 801

10-05-2005, 11:59 AM

US back to the drawing board in Afghanistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Top Pakistani and US officials are to develop a new consensus strategy to combat the renewed al-Qaeda and Taliban threat as US-led coalition intelligence is convinced that this nexus has consolidated in Afghanistan to such an extent that it is using the country as a sanctuary from which to direct global operations.

It was for this very reason that the US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 as the Taliban had allowed Osama bin Laden to take up residence in the country, set up jihadi training camps and, among other things, plan for September 11.

Since the Taliban's almost overnight retreat in face of that invasion, they have slowly reestablished themselves in parts of

Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistani territory in remote border areas.

Against this backdrop, US and Pakistan officials are expected to meet in Islamabad in the near future. "The date of the meeting is yet to be determined and so far Washington has conveyed to Islamabad a message on the extraordinary nature of the meeting," a senior security contact told Asia Times Online.

High on the agenda will be the issue of drawing up a new roadmap to combat terror in Afghanistan. According to the contact, who is familiar with the preparations, the meeting is the first of its kind since the immediate post-September 11 period and officials will brief one another on sensitive intelligence issues, and share ideas.

Although Pakistan has supported the US's "war on terror" since September 11, the US has frequently accused Islamabad of being less than whole-hearted and forthcoming in rooting out al-Qaeda-linked people from its territory, this despite several arrests of such characters.

Many in the Pakistani military and intelligence establishments are also known to still be sympathetic to the Taliban as they helped put the extremists in power in Kabul in the first place, in 1996.

Amid these concerns, Pakistani security forces announced on Tuesday the arrest of Abdul Latif Hakimi, the purported chief spokesman for the Taliban. Interior Minister Aftab Shir Pao confirmed Hakimi's arrest, but did not disclose details. Some reports said he had been apprehended in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office welcomed the news and thanked Pakistan for the arrest. Hakimi has often spoken on behalf of the Taliban, mostly claiming responsibility for attacks against US-led coalition forces.

Hakimi began giving telephone interviews, beginning with Pakistan-based news organizations and then to other outlets, including Western and Kabul-based media. He seemed to have no fear of being found through his telephone number and gave almost daily and lengthy interviews, much to the public annoyance of officials in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US.

The Pakistan Army is currently engaged in a military operation in the North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan to flush out foreign fighters. Over the past few years it has launched several such operations, including in South Waziristan, with limited results, apart from inflaming local passions in the volatile area.

Resistance takes new shape
With an intensification in the Afghan resistance, a new phenomenon has become apparent in recent guerrilla activities: the attackers included Chechen, Uzbek and Arabs fighters. This in itself is not entirely new, foreign fighters have for a long time been a part of the resistance.

What is new is that while previously the foreign fighters were involved in raids close to the Pakistan border (across which they could return), the latest attacks were carried out in provinces such as Logar and Ghazni, well inside Afghan territory, where foreign fighters targeted US conveys or bases and then melted into the local population.

"The US and coalition troops only stay in their bases and only carry out special search operations. The responsibility of routine patrolling and local intelligence-gathering lies with the Afghan National Army and police. However, there are frequent signs in recent months that local forces are looking the other way. The trend is so frequent that it cannot be named as ignorance. Apparently it is deliberate and points to a more dangerous trend for the coalition forces. In the near future, more foreign ground troops will be inevitable to more closely monitor the performance of the Afghan troops and increase its coordination in search operations," a security source told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity.

Apparently, a picture is emerging in which foreign fighters and their Afghan comrades have established pockets around various strategic centers, on which they launch sporadic attacks.

These developments are clearly unsatisfactory for the coalition forces, as it appears that after four years they have still to stamp their control on the country. The al-Qaeda presence in the country is nothing like it was, but the mere fact that it is gaining calls for a new approach.

To start with, and this is expected to be discussed at the highest level, is the loyalty of the Afghan security forces. Various warlords and their followers were given administrative positions in the army, police and intelligence as a part of a reconciliation program. They are already suspects. They include former Taliban, but mostly former mujahideen from the days of the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s.

They could be expected to have a strong influence on people active in the field, which would explain recent concerns of soldiers looking the other way during resistance attacks.

Even Afghanistan's chief of army staff, General Bismillah Khan, is under discussion. He is a warlord from the days of the former Northern Alliance, which fought against the Taliban during the US invasion after September 11, but he was in negotiations with the Taliban to change sides. Khan was talking to no other than Tahir Yaldevish, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who is currently fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Similar cases exist at all levels within the resistance, as well as in the administration throughout Afghanistan. Many of these people have been elected to Afghanistan's new parliament (official results are due this month).

One could say that the same politics and ideology that govern Afghanistan, also drive the resistance.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GJ06Ag01.html

The 801

10-06-2005, 08:05 AM

Here is an artical that quotes one of those guys who will not be even reprimanded for 9/11, so take it for what it is worth.

Bin Laden to surface after new attack on US soil: ex-CIA expertOct 05 9:34 PM US/Eastern

Osama bin laden is expected to remain in hiding until he stages another attack on the United States, an ex-CIA expert ( Read: an ex-CIA agent who was an "expert" on Bin laden who didn't see 911 comming, and left the agency while the getting was good - 801) who had tracked the terror mastermind for two decades warned in an interview.

"As soon as he hits us in the United States again we'll see how important he is in the Islamic world," Michael Scheuer, the former head of the "bin Laden unit" at the CIA, told AFP in an interview. ( Wow, this guy is really tuned it to Bin laden, ain't he? For crying out loud, a high schooler could have said that - 801)

Despite his low profile, bin Laden remains powerful, Scheuer said, shrugging off reports that the Al-Qaeda chief was isolated and his communication network shattered due to a relentless hunt for him.

"We mistake quiet for defeat or irrelevance. And all quiet is disquiet," said Scheuer, a fierce critic of the Bush administration and its "War on Terror" policy since he left the CIA in November last year.

Scheuer said that bin Laden's right-hand-man Ayman al-Zawahiri, who last appeared on a video aired 10 days before the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, seemed to have temporarily taken over the Al-Qaeda leadership apparently for the boss to prepare for another US strike. ( please realize that this is speculation, not fact - 801)

Bin Laden last surfaced in a video footage aired on the eve of the US presidential elections in November last year. In the tape, declared authentic by the authorities, the Saudi-born radical directly admitted he ordered the September 11 attacks.

Asked why he thought the al-Qaeda leader had not resurfaced since then, Scheuer said: "I don't think we are going to hear from him until he attacks us again.

"His feature on the eve of the election was simply to say that: This is it, I have warned you four times. I punched my ticket in the Islamic world, I've given you all the warning that the religion requires me.

"I think that's why Zawahiri is taking the lead at the moment," said Scheuer, the author of the best-selling book "Imperial Hubris," which was originally published anonymously as required by the CIA.

The United States has offered rewards of up to 25 million dollars each for bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri.

Pakistan said last month that bin Laden was now isolated as his communication network had been shattered.

One key Al-Qaeda suspect revealed under interrogation that bin Laden was using couriers travelling on foot or horseback instead of communicating by satellite telephone or the Internet to avoid being detected, according to Pakistan's chief military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan.

But Scheuer, currently an adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said, "I'm one that believes that we have not destroyed their (Al-Qaeda's) capability to attack us. ( Woo, professor, anything else we don't know by reading the news?-801)

"I think bin Laden still commands the international media at a moment's notice if he decides to make a media appearance. He is very important. So, I think again there is lot of whistling past the graveyard at the moment."

Scheuer earlier Wednesday told a forum organized by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, that Al-Qaeda would survive even without bin Laden, "who is a unique combination of a 12th century theologian and a 21st century CEO."

Ersel Aydinli, a former counter-terrorism expert with the Turkish police, said bin Laden failed in his bid to drum up support from Muslims to join his jihadist struggle.

"But even if he is captured or killed, probably we still have to deal with the legacy beyond him," he said, adding that the Al-Qaeda had broken up into various "splinter groups with potential for multiple attacks.

"The good news is that it looks like Osama bin laden and Al-Qaeda have really failed in terms of getting enough attention for their call for jihad in a violent way," he said.

Aydinli, who teaches at George Washington University, said field research he conducted last summer among Muslim communities in the Middle East and Europe revealed that there was still continuing debate over bin Laden's role.

"There is a huge debate whether he served or he really hindered the Muslim world's interests," he said

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/05/051006013432.k4e6rfb7.html

Sorry for the comments folks, i just can't take this "low hanging fruit analysis" from experts much longer. If this is the best that experts can generate, than I suggest they just interview Casey, and save a lot of money with the same amount of accuracy.

al-Canine

10-06-2005, 08:55 AM

"Imperial Hubris"

Amazon.com Sales Rank:
Today: #2,901 in Books
Yesterday: #9,894 in Books

Looks like he needs to sell some more books....

Vancouver

10-06-2005, 09:32 AM

One key Al-Qaeda suspect revealed under interrogation that bin Laden was using couriers travelling on foot or horseback...according to Pakistan's chief military spokesman...
He probably is, IMO. And if some courier has died or been captured, it could take quite a while to replace him, since any courier would be in a position to sell out UBL.

About the previous note, I haven't heard of any extraordinary forthcoming meeting between USA and Pakistan re terrorism. Pakistani newspapers sometimes make unfounded conjectures, citing nonexistent sources. But if a conference is really intended, then I expect the States will ask to put spy planes or armed drones over North Waziristan, at the least.

Bin Ladin has sympathizers in Pakistan, but on the other hand, the sour old Zawahiri has called for the elimination of Musharref.

As I've said a couple of times, I think Zawahiri is now in one of the Pak cities (best guess: Lahore) and Osama is still in the bush. If Zawahiri is taken alive (and I think he would rather surrender than be killed) then others now in Pak will need to consider scattering, in the expectation that Zawahiri will talk (as Khalid Sheikh and Fupi Ghailani and Faraj al-Liby all did, resulting in numerous arrests).

The 801

10-09-2005, 10:10 AM

Sudan ‘may still have bin Laden terror camps’ - Cardinal Wako
Thursday 6 October 2005 02:30.

Oct 1, 2005 (LONDON) — The London-based newspaper The Tablet reported that the Catholic Archbishop of Khartoum, Gabriel Zubeir Wako, said that nine years after Osama bin Laden was expelled from Sudan his al-Qaida network may still be operating terrorist training camps in the east part of the country.
Former rebel leader John Garang greets Cardinal Zubair Wako head of the Sudanese Catholic Church, in Khartoum, Friday, July 8, 2005. (AP).
Saudi Arabia deported Bin Laden to Sudan in 1991 and in 1996, under pressure from the United States, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he was expelled to Af-ghanistan.

While under the protection of the Sudanese Government, bin Laden set up many agricultural and construction projects, particularly in central Gezira province, that were also used to provide facilities for terrorist training camps. Cardinal Wako said that after bin Laden left for Afghanistan, many of the structures that he created were left intact, and there had been no attempt to dismantle them.

The cardinal was speaking in London as the guest of Aid to the Church in Need about the situation in Sudan eight months after this January’s peace deal that ended 22 years of civil war between the Khartoum Government and the southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Cardinal Wako was made Archbishop of Khartoum in 1981 and much of his ministry has been to those one million who fled the war to live in camps and shanty towns around Khartoum. His tenure has also coincided with the years since the introduction of Sharia law by the Khartoum Government in 1983.

The cardinal’s response to that legislation has not been to engage in confrontation but to continue to insist on justice and peace, which he said was an ongoing challenge, and a cross that Sudanese Christians must bear on a daily basis. “Unfortunately, it is hard to address certain issues if there is a ’religious correctness’ around. If you said there was religious persecution, everyone would be on your neck,” Cardinal Wako said. “The Government has systematically transferred Muslim judges to the South.” As for the make-up of the Khartoum Government, the presence of a Christian second vice-president was “tokenism”. “A just settlement depends on the good will of those in power,” the Cardinal said. “If we don’t take that seriously we are always on the verge of war.”

Sudan should be an example of a place where Muslims and Christians can live together and understand one another, he insisted, but when he was asked whether Muslims in the Government wanted to reach out to the minority Christian population, he said that they did so only if it was in their political interests to be seen to be doing so.

The cardinal was sceptical about the usefulness of UN peacekeepers in the South. All reports of violations have to be filtered through the Government in Khartoum, he said, and since the peacekeepers are not allowed to intervene in any confrontation it was hard to see the point of their presence.

Sudan has experienced little peace since independence in 1956; an earlier civil war lasted from 1955 to 1972. Therefore, the cardinal said, ordinary people do not have any of the skills that are needed for peacetime conditions. “The ‘he is my enemy’ syndrome is very strong,” he said. “And people are seeking ‘compensation’ in the widest sense. That is, they are looking for vengeance.”

http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=11940

al-Canine

10-12-2005, 08:44 AM

Quake prompts questions on bin Laden

By Katherine Shrader, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON --Did Osama bin Laden's secret lair crumble in the earthquake that devastated northwest Pakistan? So far, U.S. government officials and terrorism experts caution against too much speculation about whether the al-Qaida chief may have been killed, injured or forced from hiding.

"There's a lot of people who know that that's an obvious question" was the most Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita would say Tuesday about U.S. thinking on bin Laden's fate.

Federal officials who track terrorism for a living said there's no evidence yet to suggest that bin Laden or his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, was injured or killed in the quake.

Yet the quake has caused many in and out of government to ask, "What if?"

Bin Laden has managed to avoid capture for nearly a decade, including a feverish manhunt since he ordered the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The United States is offering up to $25 million for information leading to his killing or capture.

He has been rumored to be taking cover anywhere from urban areas of Pakistan to remote cave structures winding along the Afghan-Pakistani border to villages in western Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

Any of these possible hideouts could have been at least shaken by Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake, forcing bin Laden to move.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp. in Washington, noted that some also theorize that he may be hiding in the disputed region of Kashmir, controlled by the Pakistani military, which was devastated by the temblor.

The region is difficult to move in and out of, Hoffman said, and Islamic extremist groups friendly to bin Laden have camps and operations there.

"It's enormously tempting to speculate" about bin Laden's situation, Hoffman said. But "without knowing where he is, it's impossible to say."

Rumors that bin Laden is suffering from kidney failure and requires regular medical care have persisted, but never been confirmed. His deteriorating appearance in videotapes released shortly after U.S. bombing began in Afghanistan in October 2001 fueled that speculation.

Yet, in 2002, a prominent Pakistani doctor admitted treating bin Laden before and after Sept. 11. The doctor said the terrorist leader was in excellent health and showed no signs of kidney disease or dialysis.

Bolstering that case, bin Laden appeared healthy in a video released in 2004 before the November U.S. elections.

The United States is probably using satellite imagery and eavesdropping technology to search for clues to bin Laden's whereabouts. But most terrorists are apprehended after a tip from a source on the ground, which has proven elusive in bin Laden's case.

When asked whether additional efforts were now going toward detecting bin Laden's movements, Di Rita said: "We're not trying any harder or less to find bin Laden than we've been doing since 9/11. It's a tough problem, and we have a lot or resources dedicated to it."

Many U.S. resources are going toward humanitarian relief. Di Rita said that within the next couple of days there probably would be 25 to 30 U.S. military helicopters sent to Pakistan from Afghanistan, Bahrain and other countries in the region.

The Pakistani government has asked the U.S. military for heavy equipment like earth movers, forklifts, bulldozers and trucks, in addition to tents, blankets and food. The U.S. military also is flying aerial reconnaissance missions to help pinpoint areas for emergency supply deliveries, Di Rita said.

Milt Bearden, who spent three decades at the CIA and was the agency's top official in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, said that if bin Laden survived the quake, the thousands of Pakistani forces that have been pursuing him in the tribal areas will be pulled out to deal with rescue operations, hampering efforts to go after him.

Bearden said the U.S. could ask Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for permission to conduct discreet operations in Pakistan.

But "my gut is that he says no, for the simple reason that as good as our Special Operations people are, nobody ever has been good enough to operate in there without getting into trouble," dating back to Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C., Bearden said.

If bin Laden died, the world may never know. Bearden said his fate might be anyone's guess: "A dead guy squashed, he just disappears -- or someone drags out a body and says ... 'That's bin Laden.'"

--------

AP Military Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/11/quake_prompts_questions_on_bin_laden/

Vancouver

10-12-2005, 08:59 PM

The U.S. military also is flying aerial reconnaissance missions to help pinpoint areas for emergency supply deliveries ...
http://www.af.mil/media/photodb/web/web_030313-F-1644L-019.jpg

The 801

10-14-2005, 07:24 AM

Song and dance on the terror trail
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - After spending billions of dollars and devoting thousands of people to the task, hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives have been arrested in the past four years in the US-led "war on terror".

Yet any assessment of al-Qaeda is still largely based on guesswork rather than concrete facts, and US policymakers are still very much in the dark about Osama bin Laden, his deputy Aiman al-Zawahiri, and the exact structure of al-Qaeda, its financial arteries, and even its real ideological paradigms.

Having recently spent 21 days in the US as a State Department guest, with al-Qaeda and the "war on terror" as the central topics during the stay, this correspondent's views largely stand

vindicated, that the "war on terror" is still far from any logical conclusion.

The US failure started with its inability to penetrate bin Laden's inner circle once he came onto the radar screen following the attacks on US embassies in Africa in 1998 and his subsequent retreat to Afghanistan as a guest of the Taliban.

What information the US had came from a few Afghans who were not closely connected with the al-Qaeda leader or his organization. Thus, much of the information that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) received and passed on to policymakers was based on conjecture or out-of-date information.

This failing became evident after September 11, when the US set its sights on Afghanistan and bin Laden. It badly wanted his head, yet had no idea where he was - the US's information varied almost daily. One day he was said to be in Kabul or Jalalabad, the next he was placed in Kandahar, or somewhere in between.

This situation was further complicated when the US attacked Afghanistan in late 2001. In the turmoil of the Taliban's hasty retreat, the US intelligence network in the country still didn't have a clue where bin Laden was. And when it was eventually thought that he was cornered in Tora Bora, based on information gleaned from informants who had had their palms greased, he had long fled the scene.

At this stage the US realized that Pakistan was an essential player. Having nurtured the Taliban, it was logical that its territory would become a backyard for the Afghan resistance, as well as a safe haven for al-Qaeda.

Hence the pressure on President General Pervez Musharraf to renounce the Taliban and throw in Pakistan's lot with the US in the "war on terror", even though there was strong resistance from many in the Pakistani security establishment who still had sympathies for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

After the fall of the Taliban, the US-sponsored Northern Alliance approached from the north, and US-supported former mujahideen of Pashtun origin entered from Pakistan into Afghanistan and captured much of the country, along with US forces. This left little space for foreigners, especially of Arab origin, to stay on in Afghanistan. Many of them had been involved in al-Qaeda jihadi training camps.

Hundreds of Arabs and their families thus entered into Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. Local tribesmen opened their houses, mosques and land to accommodate the families. The tribes collected funds and arranged for the departure of many Arab families who wanted to leave Pakistan. Local authorities turned a blind eye and let the foreigners go wherever they wanted.

A number of Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and others chose to stay in the Pakistan tribal areas to fight a guerrilla war against US forces in Afghanistan. Local pro-Taliban tribes arranged for their accommodation. Within a few months, these foreign fighters not only received residential status in the tribal areas, but in places such as South Waziristan they established proper bases to not only fight in Afghanistan but also to restore their communications for global operations. By mid-2002, displaced foreigners had largely revived themselves and were ready for global operations.

The US proxy networks failed to penetrate the ranks or closer circles of the al-Qaeda elements among these foreigners. Therefore, information only started trickling out in early 2003, suggesting an al-Qaeda presence in South Waziristan. The full extent of its presence, and how it had reorganized itself and restored many of its global operations, only emerged a year later.

It was at this time that Pakistan, under intense US pressure, sent the military into the region in an attempt to flush out the foreigners. This caused an intense armed backlash from fiercely independent tribespeople, and opposition across the country.

The reason for the US's inaccurate or inefficient access to information was its failure to find the right sources. Their sources were still Afghans or Pakistani tribals who often concocted facts based on personal feuds, or gave incorrect information in return for a reward (shades of Tora Bora).

The best source of information would have been the Pakistani intelligence apparatus, which had excellent contacts among the Pakistani tribals and Afghans in the bordering areas, but the US believed, perhaps correctly, that the Pakistanis hid everything from them.

Despite his support for the US, Musharraf, the chief of army staff, does not necessarily have the full support of senior officials in his key agencies, including nine corps commanders, the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the chief of general staff. Thus, despite reshuffles, Musharraf is at times forced to deviate from US interests.

During and after the invasion of Afghanistan, US-backed Afghan commanders were asked to provide reports on any weapons and money supplied by Pakistan. But this was only a part of the picture - the US had no way of knowing just how much support Pakistan was in fact giving.

Initially, some Pakistani police and civilians, including journalists, were hired by the US to report on the level of Pakistan's cooperation in the "war on terror". However, this failed to generate first-hand information, just as attempts to monitor bin Laden had failed.

However, by 2003 the US had established a proxy network among some retired Pakistani Army officials who were close to Musharraf. Either they were his college mates from military academy days or acquainted because of their past military background and current affiliations with strategic publications or institutions.

In this way a woman who was once affiliated with civil aviation in the US and close to the US establishment penetrated Musharraf's circle of acquaintances. However, she was soon exposed by Musharraf's military intelligence and she disappeared from the scene.

Subsequently, the US establishment did manage, through a civilian cousin of Musharraf, to recruit an army brigadier. He took early retirement and joined a US think tank, and then traveled frequently between the US and Pakistan to stay in touch with important decision-makers in the army. But this channel was only acquired in 2004, when most key post-September 11 developments in the region had already matured.

On the basis of such flawed intelligence, the US's "war on terror" could not go anywhere.

Hollow victories
Kate Martin has served as director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil liberties organization in Washington DC, since 1992. She is a graduate of Pomona College and the University of Virginia law school. She has taught strategic intelligence and public policy at Georgetown University law school and also served on the general council of the National Security Archives from 1995 to 2002.

Talking to Asia Times Online, she termed the US strategy in the "war on terror" as "hollow". According to her research, none of the people arrested since September 11 has been of any real substance in the sense of coming to terms with al-Qaeda (this despite frequent statements to the contrary by the Bush administration, as well as Pakistani authorities).

In a paper, "Secret Arrests and Preventive Detention", she recorded that in the four months following September 11, the US government secretly arrested and jailed nearly 1,200 individuals, both citizens and non-citizens. More than 600 people were charged with immigration violations, most of whom probably had no lawyer and were subjected to secret hearings from which the government excluded family and friends.

"These people were victims of the USA Patriot Act, which included the most controversial provisions sought by the Bush administration and provided for the preventive detention of non-citizens who had not been charged with anything, on the sole say of the attorney general," said Martin.

As many of the people were picked up on flawed intelligence, it only resulted in the victimization of innocents, while the real suspects remained out of reach. Antagonism toward the US in the Muslim world grew, which in turn translated into local al-Qaeda "franchises" springing up.

They hunt him here .....
Pentagon officials claim they know where bin Laden is. "We know exactly where he lives, in tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, a direct operation in that area would certainly disturb the US relationship with Pakistan as part of it is Pakistani territory," Robert R Reilly, senior advisor for information strategies in the office of the US Secretary of Defense, has said.

This of course might just be bravado, although most (Western) media reports suggest that this is indeed where bin Laden might be ensconced.

Other Pentagon staffers are less open in their assessments. Off the record, some admit that the US had really expected that with the arrest of a number of al-Qaeda operators (including those linked to September 11) that the organization would be exposed, and that they would be led to bin Laden and Zawahiri. But all they got their hands on were spent forces.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a case in point. He was arrested in March 2003, and is said to have been the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. But Pakistani officials had known about his presence in the country (in Karachi) for a long time, as well as that of his children.

He had been in constant touch with the owner of a publication that was once considered an ISI proxy publication. Through the same person, Khalid communicated with some Afghans. By the time he was arrested, he was of little value beyond shedding light on past events as al-Qaeda had cut all ties with him.

Pentagon insiders complain that huge sums of money were allocated in the hunt for al-Qaeda bigwigs, including for the payment of informers. The US delivered the money to the government of Pakistan, but much of it went straight into the treasury. Informers only received small sums, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000, despite the multi-million dollar rewards offered.

This seriously undermined the whole reward program and the efforts to find bin Laden.

Follow the money
Efforts to track bin Laden's financial network suffered from the same flawed intelligence that dogged the "war on terror". Just as al-Qaeda regrouped in South Waziristan, so the money followed it to South Waziristan's local banks.

As a general rule, accounts in this region don't exceed a few thousand dollars. However, a financial team found that after 2002 some accounts had rocketed to hold as much as a million dollars. A similar trend was found in banks in Lahore and Karachi. Eventually, the State Bank of Pakistan directed all bank branches to reveal their clients and sources of money. Once serious investigations started, many accounts went unclaimed.

By this time, millions of dollars had already been moved around, showing how quickly al-Qaeda was able to reorganize its financial arteries.

Thousands of dollars were also found on smaller al-Qaeda operators arrested in Pakistan. They confirmed that they had acquired the money through the hawala system, a non-banking financial channel through which money is transferred between countries - often with Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a hub. African countries also use the system.

US intelligence also claims that Muslim charities and funds are used as a front for funding al-Qaeda activities. This might be true to an extent, but al-Qaeda does invest in other areas.

Douglas Farah has made this his area of expertise, now as a consultant and freelance writer on terror finance and national security matters. In the Meridian Center, Washington DC, he was very comfortable in his shorts while having a light lunch with this correspondent.

"Most of al-Qaeda's investments are in non-traditional areas. Stones and diamonds are just one area where al-Qaeda invested a lot, and this is mostly in West Africa," Farah maintained.

As West Africa bureau chief for the Washington Post, Farah traveled extensively in the region and became so close to the story of "conflict" diamonds and gems and arms smuggling that he had to leave after receiving threats to his life.

Farah insists that gems are the major component of al-Qaeda's financing. The CIA rejects this on the grounds that since Shi'ite and Jewish hegemonies control this trade, they would not allow al-Qaeda to penetrate their domain.

This fixed mindset is an endless source of frustration for many in US intelligence.

In the past 12 months, US intelligence has found an unholy nexus between some pro-Taliban warlords in the south of Afghanistan and Tajik and Uzbek warlords in the north involved in the narcotics trade. This is a marriage of convenience, as the groups have been at loggerheads for decades, but it is a billion-dollar source of funds. (See Opium gold unites US friends and foes Asia Times Online, September 3.)

Which way to turn?
During a recent speech, President George W Bush claimed that no act on the part of the US had inspired a reaction from terrorists, and he said that "complete victory" was the only acceptable answer in the "war on terror".

But what he failed to explain was how victory would be achieved in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wade Y Ishimoto is a senior advisor in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense in the US, with emphasis on special operations and low-intensity conflicts. He is from Hawaii and has been involved in the field of US-supported insurgencies since the Vietnam War.

Wade believes that the US has deviated from traditional methods of dealing with insurgencies. "Libraries in this section are full of books on how to handle insurgencies," Wade lifted a book. "This one was written in 1969, and is the [standard] manual for handling insurgencies. These are the old, known ways to handle insurgencies; even if somebody [an insurgent] tries to adopt other ways, the result will not be different, as [it is] in Iraq and in Afghanistan," Wade said.

"So now things are beyond control. Especially in Iraq, where even if Saddam Hussein is brought back, he would not be able to handle the situation," said Wade.

In a recent article in National Defense, Wade was quoted as saying, "One of the biggest lessons the United States has learned from fighting al-Qaeda is that we cannot do it all ourselves. Special operations forces, for example, need other countries' assistance in collecting intelligence and recruiting agents. When we can rely on a foreign liaison, it decreases our need for linguists, and increases our productivity."

After four years, the US still has much to think about on the direction that the "war on terror" is taking.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GJ14Df03.html

The 801

10-20-2005, 07:33 AM

Thursday, October 20, 2005

US, UK teams search quake rubble for Osama Bin Laden

* MI6/SAS team joins US Special Forces sifting through Balakot

PESHAWAR: An MI6/SAS team has joined US Special Forces in earthquake-devastated Balakot to search for Osama Bin Laden among thousands of victims still buried, British newspaper the Sunday Express reports.

US President George W Bush approved a full-scale surveillance operation along the remote Afghan-Pakistan border where extremists have training camps. The team, flown in from a high-security base in Afghanistan, is equipped with imagery and eavesdropping technology, high-tech weapons systems and MI6 linguists to try to locate the most wanted “terrorist” in the world.

Bin Laden has a $20 million bounty on his head. Security officers in London and Washington are anxious not to discuss whether Bin Laden is dead or has escaped the devastation from the 7.6-magnitude earthquake. But days before it struck, an American satellite had spotted an Al Qaeda training camp in a remote area and obtained high-resolution close-ups.

A senior intelligence officer in Washington told the Sunday Express: “One of those photos bore a remarkable resemblance to Bin Laden. His face looked thinner, which is in keeping with our reports that his kidney condition has worsened.”

In recent weeks, both MI6 and the CIA have established that Bin Laden has received a portable kidney dialysis machine from China but it requires electricity to power it. Drones, unmanned aircraft that US Special Forces launched from Afghanistan last week, have reported that the area along the border has lost all power supplies. President Bush, who has said he wants Bin Laden ‘dead or alive’, is closely monitoring the operation.

While American aid – Black Hawk helicopters and heavy lifting equipment – has been flown into Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf has agreed to keep the other rescue teams working to locate survivors away from the border area where the search for Bin Laden is concentrated.

One Washington terrorism expert, Bruce Hoffman at the Rand Corporation, said that if Bin Laden had managed to escape the earthquake, he might have made his way to the disputed Kashmir region. There is also the possibility that he could have made his way back to the Toba Kakar Range in Afghanistan. But veteran CIA officer Milt Bearden said: “If Bin Laden is dead, the world will never know. We just have to wait until somebody drags out his body and says; This is Bin Laden. My bet is that won’t happen.” nni

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C10%5C20%5Cstory_20-10-2005_pg7_7

I don't know for who's consumption this is for. No name on byline (nni ?) Lots of vague information, the kidney machine is baack...now it is from china, photos of Bin Laden from drones, this report has everything but veracity. - what a mess of a report this is.- The "Just posts it for your edification" 801

Vancouver

10-20-2005, 10:15 AM

"nni" seems to be this:
http://www.newsnetworkinternational.com/contact.asp
in England. Looks bugus as hell. For more on the Sunday Express claim:
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000684.php
The Sunday Express is an English weekly.

The 801

10-20-2005, 03:39 PM

Thanks Vancouver, I appologize for even posting that crap. - The repentant 801

The 801

10-25-2005, 10:14 AM

He's dead. No he's not. Dialysis again, escapes, and other things you have read before. - The " if the US Federal government really doesn't know here he is, then they are incompetent" 801

Pakistani News Reports Osama bin Laden Died Four Months Ago

By Staff
Oct 24, 2005, 11:24

The Pakistani newspaper 'Ausaf' which is based in the city of Multan in the Punjab Province is reporting that Osama bin Laden died last June in a village near Kandahar in Afghanistan.

According to the newspaper report, Bin Laden was campaigning at Bamiyan, fell very ill, returned to Kandahar where he died and was buried in the Shada graveyard in the shadow of a mountain.

The controversy continues to surround Osama bin Laden and while the United States and Pakistan officials have often been quoted by the media as saying that his mortal status was just a matter of detail, the hunt is still on and the issue remains a topic of great interest for the media and governments alike. The $25 million reward for the capture of bin Laden remains in effect.

Rumours of bin Laden's death have been circulating for years but have never been substantiated. The Al-Qaeda leader suffers from kidney disease which requires dialysis treatment several times each week. Without dialysis, bin Laden would die within a few days.

http://www.halifaxlive.com/artman/publish/pakistani_241005_339.shtml

Then again, he is not....

TERRORISM: DOUBTS OVER BIN LADEN'S FATE, ONE YEAR AFTER LAST VIDEO

Dubai, 25 Oct. (AKI) - One year since the broadcast of Osama bin Laden's last video message, in which he addressed the American people shortly before their presidential elections, the al-Qaeda leader's absence has raised questions over his fate. In December an audio message appeared, attributed to the Saudi terrorist leader, in which he talked about the attack on the US consulate in Jeddah ten days earlier, but since October 2004, all other video messages have featured bin Laden's deputy, Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Bin Laden's absence has increased the doubts of anti-terrorism experts over the possible fate of the founder of al-Qaeda. According to the latest theory, put forward recently by the Indian media, bin Laden was killed in the devastating earthquake that struck Pakistan-administered Kashmir on 8 October, after seeking refuge in that area at the beginning of the month to avoid the military offensive in Waziristan.

However, this version has been denied by Kamal Habib, a former leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group. During an interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, he claimed the Saudi terror leader's absence is part of a strategy, in which only al-Zawahiri appears for security reasons.

Abdel Rahim Ali, an Arab journalist and expert on Islamic movements, also rules out the death of bin Laden. "If that had happened, certainly al-Qaeda would have released the news by making an official announcement," he explains. Instead, Ali believes it is very likely that the founder of the terror organisation is seriously ill and is unable to receive the medical treatment he needs in the tribal areas where he is currently believed to be hiding.

The third and final hypothesis being considered by anti-terrorism experts is that bin Laden has fled, abandoning Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to receive medical treatment in a neighbouring country. It is thought that bin Laden may have left Afghanistan with the help of various Islamic cells spread throughout Central Asia.

All these theories suggest that al-Zawahiri has now effectively become the leader of al-Qaeda on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Jordanian militant and leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been given the task of exporting the Jihad, or holy war, to the Middle East and Europe, as many intelligence reports claim, as well as intercepted correspondence between the two terror leaders.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.222510259&par=0

Casey

10-26-2005, 02:06 PM

Oct 26 2005 8:00PM Pakistani premier denies bin Laden rumors

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has described as speculative assumptions that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden might be hiding in an area adjacent to the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"These are only speculations. Had he been hiding at the border, he would have been found by now," Aziz said in an interview with Interfax in Moscow on Wednesday.
"Nobody has any idea where this man is," Aziz said. "If anyone knew that, he would have been arrested," he said.

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?menu=1&id_issue=11412537

Casey

10-26-2005, 02:07 PM

Iran sheltering bin Laden sons and Al Qaeda members: report
(AFP)

26 October 2005

BERLIN - Iran is providing refuge to around 25 leading members of the Al Qaeda terror group including three of Osama bin Laden’s sons, a German magazine reported on Wednesday.
Cicero magazine said Saad, Mohammed and Othman bin Laden as well as other Al Qaeda members from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, north Africa and Europe were living in and around Tehran under the protection of Iran’s Republican Guard.
The magazine quoted a “top-ranking Western secret service agent” as saying the Al Qaeda members were free to move around.
“They are not under arrest or house arrest,” the unnamed source told the respected monthly Cicero. “They can do what they like.”
Saad bin Laden, who is around 25, is thought to have played a key financial and logistical role in several Al Qaeda attacks and is on a US most-wanted list.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/October/middleeast_October648.xml&section=middleeast&col=

The 801

11-01-2005, 07:23 AM

Here is a review of the standard speculation. I think he has just retired, too much pressure on him, so he has gotten out of the limelight.

What's become of bin Laden since he gave us all the slip?By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 01/11/2005)

Some think he is dead, others that he is hiding because he is scared of being killed.

Whatever the reason for the strange disappearance of Osama bin Laden, not seen alive since his last mocking video statement a year ago, he is no longer the face of the global "jihad" against the West.

The face of al-Qa'eda: Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Iraq, has become the hero of the hour on militant Islamist websites.

Western intelligence sources believe that he now receives most of the donations and recruits for the "jihad" against America and its allies. And they fear that he is already planning to expand his attacks to the Arab world and Europe.

"Zarqawi is the world's number one terrorist. There is every indication that he thinks he has outgrown Iraq," said one western source familiar with intelligence reports. "It is bound to happen sooner or later."

And while bin Laden performs his vanishing act, his "deputy", Ayman al-Zawahiri, also performs ever more frequently as al-Qa'eda's chief television propagandist.

The Egyptian doctor, regarded by many as the real ideological force of al-Qa'eda, has made at least six video and audio broadcasts this year - discussing everything from Iraq's elections, the London bombings and, most recently, the Kashmir earthquake.

This has puzzled the professional al-Qa'eda watchers. "There are three main theories," said one western security source.

"Perhaps bin Laden is acting as president, who only speaks on big 'state' occasions, while Zawahiri is the prime minister who deals with day-to-day business.

"Perhaps bin Laden is alive, but too ill to show on television without demoralising his supporters.

"Or perhaps he is dead. But this is unlikely - if he had died we would have heard about it."

Bin Laden was last seen alive in a video recording addressed to the American people ahead of last November's presidential election.

Then he taunted President George W Bush, saying: "It was easy for us to provoke this administration and pour it into perdition." He also boasted of "the success of our plan to bleed America to the point of bankruptcy".

A letter in the name of bin Laden did appear on the internet last December, urging Arabs to overthrow "apostate" Arab rulers.

Bin Laden has previously been out of public view for months at a time. But speculation about his fate is once again swirling.

One senior Arab intelligence source argued months ago that bin Laden was probably dead. A Pakistani newspaper reported recently that bin Laden had died last summer and was buried in the Afghan city of Kandahar.

An Indian paper claimed that he might have died in the Kashmir earthquake.

At the weekend Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, attributed bin Laden's low profile to his fears for his safety as American and Pakistani forces hunt down al-Qa'eda members.

"Osama bin Laden hasn't been seen in a video for a hellishly long time," Mr Rumsfeld said in Berlin. "That could be because he's become shy - but wasn't before."

Whether or not bin Laden is dead, his network has been permanently changed. "There is no al-Qa'eda," argues one western security source. "It is now an ideology rather than an organisation."

By this analysis, members of the old Afghan-based "core" of leaders around bin Laden and Zawahiri have been killed, captured or scattered to the point where they find it difficult to mount a major attack on the West.

Instead they focus on spreading the ideology that inspires others to carry out attacks from Bali to Baghdad.

"Think of it as a McDonald's franchise," said the security source. "Bin Laden and Zawahiri own the copyright to the golden arches, but Zarqawi is the one selling the hamburgers - and very successfully."

The shift is most visible from a recent letter from Zawahiri to Zarqawi, intercepted by the US and released to the public. If genuine, the al-Qa'eda franchise-owners are both awed and appalled by the Zarqawi product.

Zawahiri pleaded for money, bemoaned the danger posed by the Pakistani army and gave the impression of being partly cut off from events.

However, he knew enough about Iraq to rebuke Zarqawi for the wholesale murder of Shias and the grisly beheadings of hostages broadcast on the internet.

Such actions were not acceptable to the "masses", he said, and their support was essential if the militants were to achieve the dream of restoring the Islamic Caliphate.

Recalling that he personally "tasted the bitterness of American brutality" when his wives and children were killed in a US bomb attack in Afghanistan, Zawahiri argued: "Despite all of this, I say to you: we are in a battle, and more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media."

Denied a physical base in Afghanistan, al-Qa'eda now uses the internet as a virtual base from which to proselytise and provide training.

The problem for western counter-terrorist officials is that regardless of what happens to bin Laden, Zawahiri or Zarqawi, it may now be impossible to eradicate their ideology.

"The virus of al-Qa'eda is already out there in the population," said one security source.

Or, as bin Laden once put it:"This will be nothing to do with the poor slave bin Laden, whether dead or alive. With God's grace, the awakening has begun."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/01/wladen01.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/01/ixworld.html

Casey

11-04-2005, 09:26 AM

Duke professor translates Bin Laden; Calls him a master poet?

06:17 PM EST on Thursday, November 3, 2005

By JOHN ROMERO / 6NEWS

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/D_IMAGE.10732e55909.93.88.fa.7c.25841c2f.jpg
6NEWS
Duke professor Bruce Lawrence is the first to translate Osama Bin Laden's speeches.

Murderer, thug and terrorist are some of the words used to describe Osama Bin Laden. For the first time a person has translated all of Bin Laden's writings into English.

The professor at Duke University said once Bin Laden’s words are read in English, people may never look at him the same way.

There're two reasons this poetry is worth reading. One, it happens to be good.

“I really hate to say it, but I have to say it, he's a master of Arabic,” Bruce Lawrence said.

Two, it happens to be written by Osama Bin Laden.

“The first reaction almost everyone has is that I never knew Bin Laden wrote poetry,” Lawrence said.

After all we've seen and all we've heard about America's face of evil, the man who brought down the twin towers, there's something that's been missing.

“One big gap, which is Bin Laden in his own words,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence spent a year and a half collecting all of Bin Laden’s sermons and speeches and publishing them complete for the first time in English.

“I think it's a pretty nice book,” Lawrence said. “I read him and said this isn't the guy I've been reading about in the newspaper, he's rational.”

It’s the Osama most people have seen, Osama as a literary talent not just a thug.

“Instead of being the mad Mullah, you'd understand him as kind of the cool terrorist,” Lawrence said. He's really smart and that's what scary.

“If you read and listen to some of the things he says and you don't focus on the message, which is full of hate, it's really significantly awesome.” “You have to say, wow, this guy is one skilled communicator.”

Try not to get Lawrence wrong. He's no fan. The more you read he says the more you love the poetry and the hate the poet.

“We have to be as effective in our use of media and communication to counter his message,” Lawrence said.

Turns out, there's a third reason to read Osama. You have to know your enemy to defeat him.

“I don't think you conquer the devil by ignoring him,” said Lawrence. “One has to respect Bin Laden for being a very worthwhile opponent."

Online at: http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/110305-ad-wcnc-osama.24e8e782.html (http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/110305-ad-wcnc-osama.24e8e782.html)

Jake

11-04-2005, 08:52 PM

Vancouver

11-05-2005, 12:32 AM

And while bin Laden performs his vanishing act, his "deputy", Ayman al-Zawahiri, ... has made at least six video and audio broadcasts this year...Suppose Usama is in the lawless hills somewhere in Pakistan. To get a tape or video to al-Jazeera's desk in Islamabad, he needs a courier who will not betray his location for US$25 million. The number of people he can trust, and who are not themselves being sought in Pakistan, must be very small. If one courier got captured or killed or just had an accident, it could explain UBL's silence of more than a year.
I'm sure Zawahiri is not with bin Ladin (they have not appeared together for more than two years) and I'm pretty sure that AZ is in a city, for a number of reasons, the most obvious being his frequent contact with that Gulf rag al-Jazeera.
More on Zawahiri: The Khan suicide video, which went to al-Jazeera (and only them), and which was probably made in Pakistan, is said to be part of a larger piece in which Zawahiri appears. See e.g.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/04/nkhan04.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/04/ixhome.html
That rumour comes from Qatar, home of al-Jazeera. In this missing video clip, Zawahiri (the rumour goes) says that Muslims in England are imitating the Queen. That's an odd thing for AZ to say, out of the blue, and it could well mean that AZ had been listening to accounts of England from Khan or from the other bomber Shehzad Tanweer.

diamondgypsy

11-05-2005, 01:44 PM

Jake

11-06-2005, 03:16 AM

As with Ted Bundy and some of the other masterminds of hate, terror, and killing, ie. - Zodiac Killer, Jack the Ripper, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Ruby Ridge, McVeigh, etc. - Osama's intelligence must be acknowledged and even admired as indicative by the translations of his speeches that Professor Bruce Lawrence did - genius, no matter what caliber or from what person that walks this earth is - genius - plain and simple. Just because he is a terrorist of the highest caliber does not mean that his brain should not be recognized.

Osama, in my mind - is filth and the scourge of the earth - as his terroristic means to control have made him worse than any evil that exists in this world. But...it does not alter the fact that - he is a man that possesses...genius...diabloical genius...that masterminded the devastation and destruction of human beings and those left behind. I often wonder...

How can evil be so beautiful?
How can evil be so intelligent?
Why does evil exist?

Well...as with all things and beings...
There cannot be, in my mind - good with evil.

Well written and welcome to IH!!

.

diamondgypsy

11-06-2005, 07:31 AM

Well written and welcome to IH!!

.

Thank you very much, Jake.
Nice to meet you.

Casey

11-17-2005, 09:47 PM

ابشركم بخطاب شيخنا اسامة

وصلنا ان الشيخ اسامة رضى الله عنه ..

سيوجه خطاب خلال هذا الشهر الى الامة..

نسئل الله ان يثبتنا جميعا وان يحمى شيخنا ويطمئننا عليه انه سميع مجيب .. وان يرزقنا شهادة فى سبيله .

صورة الى اعضاء تنظيم القاعدة.
ابها 16-101426هـ

8

__________________

I bode you by the letter of our sheikh Osama

He maintained close relations with us that the sheikh Osama Reda is Allah about him ..

He will direct a letter during this month to the nation ..

We ask Allah that it is proved

And he reassures us about it that it is hearer and responsive .. And if he grants us a certificate in its sake .

A picture to the Al-Qaeda network members .
A caring 16-101426 H

8

-----------------------------------------------------

additional translation:

Bring good news you in our speech of sheikh Osama

Arrived that Sheikh of Osama accepted Allah about him.

Speech during this month to the nation will direct.

[nsy'l] Allah to fixs us all and to our sheikh protects and reassures us on him that he [smye'] replying. To bestows us testimony [fY] his way.

Image to members organization of Al-Qaeda.
Abha 16 - 101426[h]

8

Vancouver

11-18-2005, 06:22 AM

ابشركم بخطاب شيخنا اسامة
وصلنا ان الشيخ اسامة رضى الله عنه ..
سيوجه خطاب خلال هذا الشهر الى الامة..
نسئل الله ان يثبتنا جميعا وان يحمى شيخنا ويطمئننا عليه انه سميع مجيب .. وان يرزقنا شهادة فى سبيله .
صورة الى اعضاء تنظيم القاعدة.
ابها 16-10 1426هـ

The original is
http://www.tajdeed.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?threadid=40146
Signed by
محمد ابن عياف
Muhammad ibn Ayef
purportedly the son of the poster, "Ayef", who is a moderator of that forum. It claims to have been written in Abha (SW Saudi Arabia), but I doubt one can just email London from that town.
Compare this slightly older one:
http://www.tajdeed.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?threadid=40138
Same sender and same forum user. (The Faris Zahrani mentioned there was captured at Abha some time back; he was some sort of ideologue of AQAP.) Ayef has been mentioned by CentCom:
"
On 3 October, "Ayaf" posted a message to the Islamic Renewal Organization's forum in which he stated that "orders to destroy a nuclear reactor in the US " have been assigned to the al-Qa'ida division in the US , which is led by Abu Azzam al-Amriki. The message also included the geographic area of responsibility for the al-Qa'ida leadership. "Ayaf" stated that he came about this information via a conversation with "brother Abu-Jandal," who he said is "close to al-Qa'ida leadership." "Ayaf" signs all his postings to the forum as "Al-Zarqawi's aide," and includes his email addresses: "cade7722 at yahoo dot com and boda_8899 at hotmail dot com." The poster also included a photo of an individual in his signature. The individual sits before a background of Mecca . It is unclear whether this photo is of the author himself or someone else. Jihadist forum participants frequently include photos of "mujahidin martyrs" in their postings.
"

Petronas

11-25-2005, 06:44 PM

Don't hold your breath... I just post here what I see reported.

Reid thinks Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan earthquake
Nov 25, 2005, 06:45 AM PST Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version

Nevada Senator Harry Reid thinks Osama Bin Laden was killed in last month's earthquake in Pakistan. Speaking Wednesday on News 4's Nevada News Makers, Reid says he was informed today that Bin Laden may have died in the October temblor.

"I heard today that he may have died in the earthquake that they had in Pakistan, seriously." Reid says that if that is the case, "that's good for the world." When asked about Bin Laden during an exclusive News 4 interview, Reid said, "I'm not sure he is alive anymore. I think perhaps the earthquake took him down. I certainly hope so."

http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4159840&nav=8faO

rectar

11-26-2005, 06:56 PM

exitwound

11-26-2005, 07:02 PM

It's important to acknowledge the intelligence of your enemy if you hope to defeat him.

Hitler also had a genius for communication. The world paid a terrible price for underestimating him.

.

Damn straight. Those who forget the lessons of history, are doomed to get their asses handed to them on a silver platter.

1001

11-29-2005, 01:49 PM

CIA boss: 'We know more' on bin Laden, others

But Goss admits agency is struggling to infiltrate foreign terror sanctuaries

AP Updated: 10:37 a.m. ET Nov. 29, 2005

WASHINGTON - CIA Director Porter Goss, saying his agency struggles to penetrate terrorist sanctuaries overseas, insists that “we know more than we’re able to say publicly” about Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In a rare television interview, Goss defended the CIA’s track record, which has been tarnished by allegations ranging from erroneous or hyped intelligence leading to the war in Iraq to reports the agency runs secret prisons abroad for terrorism suspects and uses harsh interrogation techniques amounting to torture.

“What we do does not come close to torture,” Goss said, though he declined to elaborate on the agency’s interrogation techniques.

Al Qaida leaders Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi haven’t been found “primarily because they don’t want us to find them and they’re going to great lengths to make sure we don’t find them,” Goss said in the interview broadcast Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We’re applying a lot of efforts to find out where they are.” He insisted the CIA knows “a good deal more” about the men “than we’re able to say publicly.”

Goss said one of the hardest parts of the CIA’s mission is to “penetrate into some of the sanctuary areas” — whether harsh terrain or “at the heart of a city, in a ghetto or slum area where people don’t regularly go.”

“Knowing how to find those places and getting to penetrate them is going to be the hardest part of this business,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10250860/from/RSS/

lol :happy_07:

Shipwrx

11-29-2005, 02:02 PM

I'm not quite ready to reveal it yet, However My spidey senses are tingling and I'm getting the feeling a new highly controversial individual is soon to surface as O'samma's or AQ's spokesman.

There is in fact no Link to point to. Sorry thats the breaks, I'm refering to instincts of my own on the matter.

This has been mentioned to some close aquaintances of mine herein, and I suspect it surprised them as well.
This is the discussionary thread. I ask this question of the readers herein.
If there were a worldly well known individual with a bone to pick with the United States, And angry enough to join AQ and thier cause .... Who would it be?
This is traditionally a serious thread respectfully I'd like the answers to remain so.. Thanks

The 801

12-02-2005, 08:45 AM

Umm, Spidey Sense, I like it.
OK, my guess is, someone from Iran.

The "will he please give up on this topic" 801

diamondgypsy

12-02-2005, 12:10 PM

The 801

12-05-2005, 07:21 AM

Bin Laden may have traveled to US a young man: report
Monday Dec 5 13:26 AEDT
Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden may have visited the United States as a young man, long before declaring jihad against America and its allies, the New Yorker magazine has reported.

The weekly, in its December 13 edition set to hit US newsstands today, reported that according a longtime acquaintance from his native Saudi Arabia, bin Laden made at least one trip to the United States, in about 1978, with his wife and oldest son, who needed medical treatment.

The friend Khaled Batarfi, a Saudi journalist who lived down the street from bin Laden in the 1970's, told the magazine that one aspect of his trip that made a strong impression on bin Laden was the curious stares by airline passengers at his wife, an observant Muslim who was dressed in a draping gown and full head covering — attire unfamiliar to many Americans at the time.

Some passengers even went so far as to snap pictures Batarfi told the New Yorker, adding that when bin Laden returned to Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he told people that the experience was like "being in a show".

The visit took place before he traveled to Afghanistan to participate in violent jihad, and about ten years before he founded al-Qaeda.

Spokesmen at several government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, told the New Yorker they they had no knowledge of a visit by bin Laden to the United States, while a State Department official said its consular section had no record of having issued a visa to bin Laden, although it no longer keeps complete data from that time.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=75930

Not surprising.

The 801

12-06-2005, 11:22 PM

Bin Laden had a bullet ready-in case he was caught
Tue Dec 6, 2005 7:22 PM ET167

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden has vowed never to be taken alive and once gave his bodyguard a pistol with two bullets to shoot him if it appeared that he might be caught, according to a new book of interviews with people who know the al Qaeda leader.

The book excerpted in the new issue of Vanity Fair, "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History" by CNN security expert Peter Bergen, also says bin Laden intensely dislikes deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

After the 2001 attacks on the United States carried out by al Qaeda the Bush administration made much of what it said were links between Saddam and bin Laden's organization, citing this as one justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Bush said in a speech in October 2002 that "we've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and gases."

Bin Laden's Pakistani biographer, Hamid Mir, told Bergen that when he interviewed bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader "condemned Saddam Hussein ... He gave such kind of abuses that it was very difficult for me to write," he said.

In an interview with Bergen, bin Laden's former chief bodyguard said, "Sheikh Osama gave me a pistol and made me his personal bodyguard. The pistol had only two bullets, for me to kill Shiekh Osama with in case we were surrounded or he was about to fall into the enemy's hands, so that he would not be caught alive."

Bergen, who met bin Laden in 1997, interviewed more than 50 people over eight years to produce the book which will be published next month.

In the Vanity Fair excerpt, Bergen said that contrary to claims from the Bush administration, bin Laden was in the mountainous eastern Afghanistan region of Tora Bora after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001.

Reports at the time said U.S.-backed Afghan forces scoured the area in a vain bid to catch bin Laden and his top lieutenants, although there has never been any U.S. confirmation that he was definitely there.

Abu Jaafar al-Kuwaiti, an eyewitness, posted an account about the morning of December 10, 2001, on al-Qaeda's main Web site, writing: "We received the horrifying news! The trench of Sheikh Osama had been destroyed; the trench where Sheikh used to come out every day to check the moujahedeen situation and follow the news of the battle. God kept Osama bin Laden alive, because he left the bunker only two nights to an area only 200 metres (650 feet) away."

The United States is still trying to catch bin Laden, who U.S. officials say they believe to be still somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-12-07T002208Z_01_KNE701261_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-BINLADEN.xml&archived=False

Old story here, curious what is new in this pending tome. Betcha it has a lot of stuff that you read here.....

The 801

12-06-2005, 11:27 PM

Al-Zawahri: Bin Laden still leads ‘holy war’
On video, al-Qaida deputy says group ‘spreading, expanding, strengthening’

DUBAI - Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is still alive and leading a holy war against the West, the group’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in an Internet video on Wednesday.

“Al-Qaida for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad (holy war). Its prince Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, is still leading its jihad,” Zawahri said in a video posted on a Web site frequently used by militants.

“I bring a message of joy to all Muslims and mujahideen that al Qaeda, thanks to God, is spreading and expanding and strengthening,” he said.

“(Al-Qaida) has transformed into a popular organization confronting a new crusader Zionist campaign, in defense of all violated Muslim lands,” said Zawahri, who was wearing a black turban and white robe.

He was speaking against a white background to an interviewer off-camera who said the interview was to mark the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities.

Bin Laden and his second-in-command, Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan and have eluded capture since the Sept. 11 attacks—carried out by al-Qaida.

Zawahri last appeared in October, when he urged Muslims in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television to help Pakistan’s earthquake victims even though its government was an “agent” of the United States.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10357325/

That Al Z, he is a reliable source of information, ain't he? - The " did this come from debka?" 801

Casey

12-07-2005, 10:24 AM

Tape on Bin Laden three months old: Al-Jazeera

Agence France-Presse
Dubai, December 7, 2005

Al-Jazeera television said a videotape it aired on Wednesday showing Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri claiming that his leader Osama bin Laden was still alive dates back to September.

"We got the videotape in September, and back then we aired what we thought were the important parts," Al-Jazeera editor-in-chief Ahmad Sheikh said.

"There was a misunderstanding today, and we aired these extracts today by mistake."

Sheikh was referring to a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera in September in which Zawahiri claiming that Al-Qaeda was behind the deadly bombings in London in July.

The clips shown on Wednesday showed Zawahiri saying that bin Laden was still alive and leading the "jihad" or holy war against the West.

US officials believe that bin Laden, the Western world's most wanted terror mastermind, and other key Qaeda militants have been sheltering somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1567246,00050004.htm

Casey

12-07-2005, 05:00 PM

TERRORISM: AL-QAEDA LAUNCHES CD OF BIN LADEN'S SPEECHES
Karachi, 6 Dec.

(AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The al-Qaeda terrorist network has just launched a new CD compilation of Osama Bin Laden’s speeches from 2002 to December 2004, a copy of which has been exclusively obtained by Adnkronos International from sources in the tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to a senior Pakistani intelligence anlayst, the new CD, which is set to flood the markets, is "clearly aimed at connecting with the common masses all over the world."

"Previously, al-Qaeda used to spread propaganda material which would motivate people to join the Afghan resistance but this new CD does not aim for that," said a senior Pakistani intelligence analyst.

"The speeches selected for the CD are not simply propaganda material to instigate people for war but instead presented as in-depth analysis on al-Qaeda’s approach and a clarification of their various actions and their justifications,” the analyst added.

Each speech by the al-Qaeda leader addresses a specific audience; one targeting the Pakistani population (2002), another to the American public, on the eve of the US presidential elections in 2004, while others were tailored for a European or Saudi Arabian public. The CD also includes a speech, accompanied by images of war and destruction in Iraq, which is presented as a tribute to the Iraqi resistance.

Contrary to previous messages from the al-Qaeda leader, when most of the video CDs were usually based on images without any description either in Arabic or in Pashtu, the new video appears to be developed using highly professional techniques and probably in a well-equipped studio. It is believed that the studio may be in the tribal areas of North Waziristan, which lies on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The video offers high audio-visual quality and there are even English slides to accompany the speeches which are addressed to the non-Arabic nations. At the same time, a separate PDF-formatted file has been placed along with the video in the CD, with transcripts of the speeches available in various languages including Urdu, Persian, English and Arabic.

"This latest package showed clearly one thing - that al-Qaeda has strongly re-grouped and in an organized manner has spread its propaganda material to the whole of the Muslim world," commented a senior Pakistani security official.

The longest speech in the compilation is bin Laden’s December 2004 address to the people of Saudi Arabia - the last the world has heard from him. Outlining the differences between the people and the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the reasons behind these divergences, he presents an in-depth historical and political analysis. The speech in December 2004 came ten days after the 6 December attack by militants in Saudi Arabia on the US consulate in Jeddah.

In another of the speeches, bin Laden addressed the American people on October 29, 2004, just before the US presidential elections on 2 November. Two other speeches from last year are also included, one addressed to the Iraqis, another offering a 'truce' to Europe.

In 2003, he gave another message to the Iraqis, and yet another one where he addressed to American public after the US invasion in Iraq in March 2003.

(Syed Saleem Shahzad/Aki)

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.236767134&par=0

The 801

12-08-2005, 07:44 AM

Casey, thanks for the Syed Saleem Shahzad . Very interesting stuff.

Now...

New Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Turki al-Faisal confirms Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Al Qaeda is still capable of attacks as long as bin Laden and Zawahiri are not caught, he stressed

December 8, 2005, 10:27 AM (GMT+02:00)

Former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to UK, Turki saw signs of differences between bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and predicted the latter would succeed the former.

The Saudi ambassador reaffirmed concerns that Iran was exerting “undue influence in Iraq.” He added that Saudis are not going the nuclear way” of Iran because it would start a regional arms race, thereby indirectly confirming Iran’s goal of attaining a bomb. He urged Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to work together as the only way to achieve a stable and unified Iraq

Sorry, its Debka. But lets see how this pans out.

http://www.debka.com/

The 801

12-08-2005, 07:52 AM

Same news, better report...

Saudi envoy says al Qaeda still capable of attacks
08 Dec 2005 02:03:04 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Washington said on Wednesday the failure to capture Osama bin Laden only enhanced a sense of al Qaeda's invincibility and said that the group remained capable of launching attacks.

Although U.S. officials have described al Qaeda as diminished after U.S.-led assaults, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, said the group was "alive and well" and its leaders were "quite capable of issuing orders and having those orders followed."

In a wide-ranging first meeting with reporters, Turki insisted Saudi Arabia would not follow suit if rival Gulf power Iran develops nuclear weapons, which Washington believes it is trying to do.

Turki reaffirmed concerns that Iran was exerting "undue influence" in Iraq and expressed optimism that turmoil in Iraq would abate if a government due to be elected next week is able to prove its legitimacy to the Iraqi people.

Turki has been charged with improving Saudi relations with the United States which deteriorated after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by mostly Saudi-born hijackers.

His predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, left several months ago to head Saudi Arabia's national security council after serving in Washington for more than two decades. In recent years Bandar rarely spoke with reporters on the record.

Turki said it was crucial that bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahri be caught, adding, "the longer they stay unpunished, uncaptured, undetected, the more aura of invincibility they acquire."

Bin Laden has not been heard from publicly for a year but in a video interview posted on an Islamist Web site on Wednesday Zawahri said bin Laden still led al Qaeda's war on the West.

BIN LADEN STILL ALIVE

Turki said he was confident bin Laden was alive somewhere on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but may not be as "paramount as he used to be." There were signs there were differences between bin Laden and Zawahri and that Zawahri would succeed bin Laden, the envoy said.

The Bush administration is under attack by European allies and others over the U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects and allegations the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe.

Turki said prisoner abuse ran counter to "everything we hear about issues of human rights and democratic processes" and more importantly did not work as a tactic. Instead, the kingdom engaged militants in conversation and offered them alternatives to their ideological beliefs, Turki said.

Iran has set itself on a collision course with the West by insisting on plans to make enriched uranium, which could be used in nuclear weapons.

Many experts are worried that if Iran builds a bomb, other countries will follow. But the Saudis are "not going to go the nuclear way at all" because this would contribute to a regional arms race, Turki said.

He said Iran rejected charges of meddling in neighboring Iraq on behalf of fellow Shi'ite Muslims, but "the facts on the ground show there is undue influence on the part of our Iranian brethren."

One key to regional stability was a unified Iraq in which Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds worked together, the envoy said, adding: "The only way you can have a stable and unified Iraq is if the Iraqis decide things for themselves."

Iraqis have viewed two governments elected since U.S. occupation authorities turned over power nearly two years ago as illegitimate but it is hoped the government elected on Dec. 15 will have more standing and could undercut support for an ongoing insurgency, Turki said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07327936.htm

Lots to read between the lines here....801

The 801

12-08-2005, 03:34 PM

Bin Laden: Alive or dead -- and how would we know?
By Henry Schuster
CNN

Thursday, December 8, 2005 Posted: 1739 GMT (0139 HKT)

Editor's Note: Henry Schuster, a senior producer in CNN's Investigative Unit and author of "Hunting Eric Rudolph," has been covering terrorism for more than a decade. Each week in "Tracking Terror," he reports on people and organizations driving international and domestic terrorism and efforts to combat them.

So, where is he? Is he dead or alive? And, if alive, why can't anyone catch him?

These aren't exactly new questions, but they are certainly worth revisiting. It is now more than four years after 9/11. Four years after Tora Bora, the last place that the U.S. government can say with certainty where bin Laden was.

The last time we heard from bin Laden was late last December, in an audiotape praising Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and designating him as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Bin Laden had actually been quite prolific in his messages in that period - there was a message earlier that month praising the terrorists who had recently attacked the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Most interestingly, a videotape appeared right before the 2004 U.S. presidential election on which we could actually see bin Laden.

Dead or alive?
But that was last year. It has been so long since a bin Laden message (and we always look in those messages for date markers - does he make reference to a specific event, such as the election, which would tell us he was alive at a certain date?) that I keep getting the same question: how do we know Osama bin Laden is still alive?

We don't have proof of life. Not since that last audiotape.

But the evidence suggests the world's most wanted man is not dead.

First, there is a statement from his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has appeared on videotapes. His frequent messages make it clear that al Qaeda's number two, at least, is alive and mocking the United States.

Al-Zawahiri's remarks come from a videotape that was done in September, though some parts just showed up on the Internet in the past week.

"Al Qaeda for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad. Its prince Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, still leads the jihad," al-Zawahiri said.

Then there are the recent remarks by CIA Director Porter Goss to ABC's "Good Morning America." He was asked why his agency couldn't find bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.

"They don't want us to find them and they're going to great lengths to make sure we don't find them. And I assure you we're applying a lot of efforts to find out where they are. And I don't want to get into the depth and the details, but we know a good deal more about bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri than we are able to say publicly," Goss said.

The commander of US forces in Afghanistan was even more explicit about bin Laden Thursday. "Our working assumption is that he is alive today," Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told Pentagon reporters.

So where are the al Qaeda leaders? The best guess remains that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are hiding somewhere in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Will we ever know?
There were a number of conspiracy theories before the 2004 election that the United States had somehow captured bin Laden and was keeping him on ice until right before the election so President Bush could take political advantage.

If he died, everybody will know.
-- Jamal Khalifa, former close associate of Osama bin LadenIt was obvious nonsense, which bin Laden himself proved with his election eve video. If the United States knew bin Laden was dead, or had been captured, it would be hard to imagine such news remaining secret for long (think about Saddam Hussein's capture).

This paranoia plays on the notion that somehow we won't know. Nonsense, says bin Laden's brother-in-law.

"If he died, everybody will know," was the e-mail answer I got from Jamal Khalifa. He was perhaps bin Laden's closest friend for a decade before the two men parted ways in the late 1980s. Khalifa now lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where many of the bin Laden clan also reside, including bin Laden's mother.

"We don't have any news," he added, except for the video from Ayman al-Zawahiri.

When al-Zawahiri's wife and children were killed in Afghanistan by U.S. bombs, word made it back, apparently via jihadi circles, to Cairo, where his relatives live. Funeral notices appeared in at least one Cairo newspaper and the family observed a period of mourning.

Most of bin Laden's relatives have publicly disavowed him, but his mother has not. As a devout Muslim, she would likely observe the same sort of mourning period if somehow she got the news in some non-public fashion.

Which might be one way we find out.

The al-Zawahiri letter revisited

Ayman al-Zawahiri, from a videotape released in September.On the subject of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the issue of that alleged letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi won't go away. (Read the letter in English or in Arabic.)

The United States government believes the letter - in which al-Zawahiri lays out a blueprint for jihad that works outward from Iraq, but also criticizes al-Zarqawi for beheadings - is real.

But Jordanian security sources -- who don't want to be identified -- told me recently they believe the letter is a forgery.

Paul Eedle, a London journalist who has studied al Qaeda's various messages for the last several years, has studied the Arabic version of the letter carefully and also has second thoughts about its validity.

He initially believed the letter was legitimate. Now, however, "I'm not convinced this is genuine. I think it could be a forgery by someone who is extremely fluent in Arabic but is not a native Arab educated to a high level in traditional Arabic literature and Muslim texts."

An interesting twist is that this may not matter. Mohanad Hage Ali of the London-based Arabic al-Hayat newspaper says that the jihadis he's spoken to believe the letter is real. They don't seem to have the same doubts.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/08/schuster.column/

1001

12-11-2005, 12:06 PM

Duke professor translates Bin Laden; Calls him a master poet?

Words are key to bin Laden puzzle, professor contends

Understanding how Osama Bin Laden speaks and writes, says the editor of a new translation, is essential to understanding what he represents.

By Drake Bennett
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Sunday, December 11, 2005

Last month, Verso, a left-leaning scholarly press, published what it called the first English translation of the collected works of Osama bin Laden: the interviews, written statements, recordings, and videotaped speeches and sermons, from 1994 to 2004, that make up bin Laden's oeuvre.

As it turns out, "Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden" is not the first such compilation. In August, a California attorney named Randall Hamud, publishing through a company he founded, got a set of translations into print before Verso. But because the new collection is translated by James Howarth, who worked on the recent Oxford edition of the Quran, and because of its introduction and notes by Bruce Lawrence, a professor of religion at Duke University, Verso's is likely to be the definitive version.

Much of what's in "Messages to the World" is unsurprising: the 9/11 hijackers extolled as "heroes, true men"; Israel's founding called "a crime which must be erased"; the United States as "the leader of terrorism and crime in the world."

But there are also plenty of images — vivid, ironic or just odd — that rise above run-of-the-mill propaganda: jihadis "with disheveled hair and dusty feet, who had been chased all over the world"; George W. Bush "embroiled in the quagmires of Iraq" like "the grumpy goat who dug out of the ground the very knife with which he would be killed."

For Lawrence, turns of phrase such as these evince the "powerful lyricism" and considerable "literary gifts" that help explain bin Laden's continued popularity in much of the Islamic world, even as most Muslims reject his methods. "Bin Laden," Lawrence writes in the introduction, "has earned many labels by now — fanatic, nihilist, fundamentalist, terrorist — but what actually distinguishes him, among a host of those described in these ways, is that he is first and foremost a polemicist."

Understanding how bin Laden speaks and writes, Lawrence argues, is central to understanding how he matters.

The Boston Globe: What's the point of publishing Osama bin Laden's words in book form?

Bruce Lawrence: It's the only time you've got between two covers in English not only what Osama bin Laden says but also the context in which he says it. This is a fresh translation with annotations about what bin Laden uses as his sources and how he misuses sources, especially scriptural ones. And you have my introduction where I say what he thinks he's doing, and what he didn't do.

What didn't he do?

He didn't provide any sequel to war or jihad. . . . If you read the whole of the Quran . . . the message is not, as bin Laden argues, about warfare. It's a message about how you bring a just order, how the world is improved through people taking responsibility for their conduct and not abusing the rights of others. . . . Bin Laden, though, doesn't say, after war, what makes for a just order.

You were quoted in the Duke University student newspaper as saying of bin Laden: "If you read him in his own words, he sounds like somebody who would be a very high-minded and welcome voice in global politics." What did you mean by that?

What preceded that quote was I said, "If you ignore his actions . . . " The writer left that part out. If you look at what this guy has done in the world, he's a terrorist and there's no way that one could sanction it, but if you look only at his words, it's one of the strongest anti-imperialist arguments from a Muslim perspective that you can find. So if that were the total bin Laden legacy — in the introduction I compare him to Che Guevara — I was saying, you'd have somebody who for a certain segment of humanity would be a rallying point. It's a dissident voice, but it's still a voice that has enormous range and a certain appeal because of its rhetorical strength.

But there is also — in these same public statements — a lot of vicious anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories, and bin Laden doesn't profess to be particularly bothered by the killing of innocent civilians.

I wouldn't say that he's not bothered by the killings. What he says is, "I'm not really happy that we have to kill innocents, but our innocents have been killed, and so it's like in the time of the Crusades or the time of the Mongols." In other words, he paints the most extreme circumstances as the ones now facing Muslims and says these circumstances justify doing these terrible things.

You argue that bin Laden sees himself not primarily as an anti-imperialist but as someone fighting "global unbelief." Does that suggest that he wouldn't be satisfied by political concessions such as withdrawing U.S. troops from the Middle East or handing the occupied territories back to the Palestinians?

Some people have asked me, "Don't you think if we just conceded some of the things bin Laden wanted, we would have, if not an outright love affair, at least a truce?" . . . I think no. My reading of it is that precisely because it's wrapped in such religious rhetoric, it's not a short-term war. As (bin Laden) defines it, it's an open-ended war going back to the time of the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, exacerbated by the Crusades in the 12th century, renewed in the 19th and 20th centuries by colonialism, and now brought up to a new level in the 21st century with the war on terror. So I don't see there being accommodation to al Qaeda or bin Laden.

Bin Laden doesn't seem to be particularly admiring of Saddam Hussein.

He calls Hussein "a thief and an apostate." And a hypocrite. He's a thief because he's stolen what should have been for his people. He's a hypocrite because after the American sanctions he claimed to have found Islam and even went on the pilgrimage (to Mecca). Of course, for bin Laden it is the ultimate form of hypocrisy that Saddam Hussein, who is an apostate ruler, could be allowed to go on the pilgrimage.

http://www.statesman.com/hp/content/editorial/stories/insight/12/11lawrence.html

The 801

12-12-2005, 09:57 PM

Bin Laden 'does not run al-Qaeda'
By Rob Watson
BBC Defence and security correspondent

Osama Bin Laden reportedly escaped capture in Afghanistan in 2001
A senior US diplomat has said Osama bin Laden is no longer the operational head of al-Qaeda.

The US ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, also told reporters he thought al-Qaeda was in serious trouble.

Mr Crocker said he did not think Bin Laden still ran al-Qaeda because his remote mountain hideaway prevented contact with other al-Qaeda members.

US officials do not often talk now about Bin Laden, so the comments are interesting for their rarity value.

Mr Crocker's interpretation is not a radical departure from previous analysis by the Bush administration.

US officials have long argued that the war on terrorism has disrupted communications between the main al-Qaeda leadership and the rest of its scattered members.

Widely admired

Certainly, the sketchy evidence that exists suggests that Osama bin Laden has not had the same hands-on role in plotting al-Qaeda attacks since the Americans forced him into exile.

But that is not to say either he or the organisation he founded are a spent force.

Even if he no longer plays the same planning role he once did, he is still an inspirational figure to jihadis around the world.

They admire his teachings and, as importantly, his lifestyle as a man of wealth turned mujahideen.

As for al-Qaeda, it has claimed responsibility for many attacks since the war on terrorism and its ideology and methodology of suicidal attacks still find many willing new recruits.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4522956.stm

Petronas

12-13-2005, 02:12 AM

TERRORISM: NEW BIN LADEN MESSAGE SOON, SAYS NEWSPAPER
12-Dec-05 16:44

Rome, 12 Dec. (AKI) - A Palestinian newspaper has reported that after a year of silence, Osama bin Laden will soon release a new audio message to be broadcast on television. The weekly al-Manar newspaper also says the al-Qaeda leader has decided "along with his aides, to carry out attacks in the New Year," and may strike Afghanistan, North Africa and countries from the former Soviet Union in particular.

The long article in the Jerusalem-based publication cites a source it describes as "well-informed and close to the Islamic terror organisation," and claims that when the US attacked Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden moved to a state in the Central Asia area, where he has been taken care of without the knowledge of the government. The source also says the Saudi terror leader receives regular reports from his collaborators in different countries around the world and is in contact with some of them, but never uses email or the Internet.

The source also reveals that al-Qaeda is re-establishing its cells in Afghanistan and has delegated its leadership to three people. "One of the members of this triumvirate is Afghan," al-Manar writes, "and has been given the task of looking after relations with the Taliban so that the two movements can coordinate over which targets to strike and the funding to raise."

However, according to the Palestinian weekly, funding is not a problem for al-Qaeda. "There are actually companies and businessmen who continually give the organisation economic support," the source said. "Al-Qaeda is part of several commercial companies who use frontmen." He also told al-Manar that bin Laden's group has formed cells within the security services of several countries, asking them to await further instructions. Secret armed groups also appear to have emerged in many other countries, but these do not use the name al-Qaeda and rely on the help of people who sell weapons on the black market.

The last message attributed to bin Laden appeared on 16 December last year. In it, he spoke about the militant attack on the US consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah some ten days earlier, in which five non-American members of the consulate staff were killed and all the attackers were either killed or captured. Two weeks later militants launched a relatively unsuccessful attack on the interior ministry in the Saudi capital Riyadh, but al-Qaeda later admitted in a message that the aim had been to kill the interior minister and his son. Instead, police killed seven militants they said were involved immediately after the attack when they raided a house in the city.

The Palestinian newspaper reports that al-Qaeda recognises its failure in several of the attacks it has tried to carry out in Saudi Arabia. "Their bosses claim that so far they have not managed to strike Riyadh as successfully as they had planned," it says.

It goes on to cite the source as saying that in an internal reorganisation of the network, bin Laden has chosen eight of his aides to coordinate. Four of them are currently in different countries, two are by his side, while the other two operate as the links between bin Laden and his other aides.

Supporting theories that his long absence is just the prelude to a series of new attacks and that it has been caused by differences with his deputy, the Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri, is the current Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faysal. In an interview several days ago for the Saudi newspaper al-Riyadh, the former head of the Saudi secret services said he believes bin Laden is still alive and is hiding near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but "There are several indications of differences between bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri," he said.

He also said he believes al-Qaeda is still capable of carrying out attacks though, and its members are still taking orders from bin Laden. However, his view is in sharp contrast to that of the US ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, who said on Monday that he does not believe bin Laden still has operational control of the network. "I don't know if Zawahiri is heading al-Qaeda or not; what I do know is that al-Qaeda is in serious trouble these days," he said.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.238930878&par=

Mike

12-13-2005, 02:13 PM

Oh good, no mention of attacking the United States!
:happy_01:

I was wondering, has there been any claim of responsibility for the London fuel depot blasts yet?

Kind of odd that it happened shortly after the Zawahiri video..........

The 801

12-13-2005, 11:19 PM

Mike,
Is that you? Good Goddess Man, great to hear from you. Please return to the fold.

No responsibility yet taken, but a specific threat was issued against British oil industry shortly before AZ's video. Does seem suspicious.

Keep in touch.
The "same old" 801

Mike

12-14-2005, 09:05 AM

Yes, it's me.
I'm not doing any forum browsing though. There's no money in it.
I hardly even watch the news anymore.

Mike

12-14-2005, 11:35 AM

:eek:
"I can't believe he said that!"

I was joking about the money thing, although it is true.
I'm just not into the forum thing anymore.
I tried it a little bit, but got bored almost instantly.

The 801

12-14-2005, 12:45 PM

Mike,
just stop by every once and a while. It's just good to hear from you.
Thanks for all you inspiration.
801

Casey

12-15-2005, 07:53 PM

December 15, 2005

Afghan news site claims to have obtained new tape showing bin Laden

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials are treating skeptically a report on an Afghan news site about a new video showing Osama bin Laden.

The story from Pajhwok Afghan News, dated Tuesday, describes a new 30-minute tape with a message from Taliban commander Mullah Dodallah and the al-Qaida leader, according to the IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor that does work for intelligence agencies.

A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity in compliance with office policy, said the government could not confirm the tape's existence, but added officials were aware of the media report. U.S. authorities are viewing it skeptically, the official said.

Bin Laden has not been heard from since a December 2004 audio statement. That is the longest stretch the terror leader has been publicly quiet since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the United States.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/12/15/pf-1354721.html

Here is the link to Pajhwok Afghan News
http://www.pajhwak.com/

I believe this is the article Taliban claim receiving sophisticated arms as Osama urges jihad

You must be a subscriber to read the article.

1001

12-17-2005, 05:23 PM

The E-mail message - ''Long live Osama bin Laden''

Dec. 16, 2005

There will be explosions at 11.46 a.m. in Parliament House and American Consulates today, warned a terse e-mail sent to the US Mission in Chennai that led to a security alert in both the Houses here. "If you can stop, try and stop," the e-mail, excerpts of which were made available here, said. "Long live Osama bin Laden", it said, adding "cut all your relations with the US", sources said quoting from the e-mail message. The e-mail had come through Sify domain.

http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/53479.asp

The 801

12-22-2005, 05:44 PM

File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths'

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 22, 2005; Page A02

President Bush asserted this week that the news media published a U.S. government leak in 1998 about Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone, alerting the al Qaeda leader to government monitoring and prompting him to abandon the device.

The story of the vicious leak that destroyed a valuable intelligence operation was first reported by a best-selling book, validated by the Sept. 11 commission and then repeated by the president.

A leak alerted Osama bin Laden to telephone surveillance, according to President Bush and others.

But it appears to be an urban myth.

The al Qaeda leader's communication to aides via satellite phone had already been reported in 1996 -- and the source of the information was another government, the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan at the time.

The second time a news organization reported on the satellite phone, the source was bin Laden himself.

Causal effects are hard to prove, but other factors could have persuaded bin Laden to turn off his satellite phone in August 1998. A day earlier, the United States had fired dozens of cruise missiles at his training camps, missing him by hours.

Bush made his assertion at a news conference Monday, in which he defended his authorization of warrantless monitoring of communications between some U.S. citizens and suspected terrorists overseas. He fumed that "the fact that we were following Osama bin Laden because he was using a certain type of telephone made it into the press as the result of a leak." He berated the media for "revealing sources, methods and what we use the information for" and thus helping "the enemy" change its operations.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that the president was referring to an article that appeared in the Washington Times on Aug. 21, 1998, the day after the cruise missile attack, which was launched in retaliation for the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa two weeks earlier. The Sept. 11 commission also cited the article as "a leak" that prompted bin Laden to stop using his satellite phone, though it noted that he had added more bodyguards and began moving his sleeping place "frequently and unpredictably" after the missile attack.

Two former Clinton administration officials first fingered the Times article in a 2002 book, "The Age of Sacred Terror." Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote that after the "unabashed right-wing newspaper" published the story, bin Laden "stopped using the satellite phone instantly" and "the United States lost its best chance to find him."

The article, a profile of bin Laden, buried the information about his satellite phone in the 21st paragraph. It never said that the United States was listening in on bin Laden, as the president alleged. The writer, Martin Sieff, said yesterday that the information about the phone was "already in the public domain" when he wrote the story.

A search of media databases shows that Time magazine had first reported on Dec. 16, 1996, that bin Laden "uses satellite phones to contact fellow Islamic militants in Europe, the Middle East and Africa." Taliban officials provided the information, with one official -- security chief Mulla Abdul Mannan Niazi -- telling Time, "He's in high spirits."

The day before the Washington Times article was published -- and the day of the attacks -- CNN producer Peter Bergen appeared on the network to talk about an interview he had with bin Laden in 1997.

"He communicates by satellite phone, even though Afghanistan in some levels is back in the Middle Ages and a country that barely functions," Bergen said.

Bergen noted that as early as 1997, bin Laden's men were very concerned about electronic surveillance. "They scanned us electronically," he said, because they were worried that anyone meeting with bin Laden "might have some tracking device from some intelligence agency." In 1996, the Chechen insurgent leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed by a Russian missile that locked in to his satellite phone signal.

That same day, CBS reported that bin Laden used a satellite phone to give a television interview. USA Today ran a profile of bin Laden on the same day as the Washington Times's article, quoting a former U.S. official about his "fondness for his cell phone."

It was not until Sept. 7, 1998 -- after bin Laden apparently stopped using his phone -- that a newspaper reported that the United States had intercepted his phone calls and obtained his voiceprint. U.S. authorities "used their communications intercept capacity to pick up calls placed by bin Laden on his Inmarsat satellite phone, despite his apparent use of electronic 'scramblers,' " the Los Angeles Times reported.

Officials could not explain yesterday why they focused on the Washington Times story when other news organizations at the same time reported on the satellite phone -- and that the information was not particularly newsworthy.

"You got me," said Benjamin, who was director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council staff at the time. "That was the understanding in the White House and the intelligence community. The story ran and the lights went out."

Lee H. Hamilton, vice chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, gave a speech in October in which he said the leak "was terribly damaging." Yesterday, he said the commission relied on the testimony of three "very responsible, very senior intelligence officers," who he said "linked the Times story to the cessation of the use of the phone." He said they described it as a very serious leak.

But Hamilton said he did not recall any discussion about other news outlets' reports. "I cannot conceive we would have singled out the Washington Times if we knew about all of the reporting," he said.

A White House official said last night the administration was confident that press reports changed bin Laden's behavior. CIA spokesman Tom Crispell declined to comment, saying the question involves intelligence sources and methods.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101994.html

facts are powerful things....

1001

01-01-2006, 12:12 PM

The Real bin Laden, an Oral History

By PETER L. BERGEN

Vanity Fair excerpt of the book
"The Osama bin Laden I Know"
Osama bin Laden has been seen largely as a symbol, rather than as a man. Now an unprecedented portrait emerges from interviews with bin Laden's family and inner circle. In an excerpt from his new book, the author reveals the influences that led a privileged young Saudi to form his own army and eventually take advantage of what he saw as inevitable:
The U.S. invasion of Iraq

Excerpted from The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader, by Peter L. Bergen, to be published this month by Free Press; © 2006 by the author.
http://nlmedia.brinkster.net/Bergen/articles/details.aspx?id=233#

The article is too long to post it here! I guess the book is as interesting as the former one by Peter Bergen (Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden).
This man met Osama in Afghanistan (before 9/11) !

The 801

01-03-2006, 03:11 PM

Here, for your edification, is a piece that appears to be for local consumption only and has no reality in fact. This is the sort of news that the Arab press is full of. I suggest you speculate on what you would think if you read this and were a Palestinian who hated Israel.

So....

Bin Laden in Israel?

Posted: 03-01-2006 , 13:37 GMT

While US intelligence systems are frantically searching for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, it seems he might be within the borders of none other than Washington's closest Middle East ally - Israel.

According to official records, cited by the Tel Aviv-based Maariv newspaper, a man named Osama bin Laden entered Israel from Jordan on September 14, 2002, exactly one year and three days after the series of coordinated suicide attacks on the US which were claimed by Al Qaeda network.

According to the Israeli paper, Osama bin Laden was identified by monitors at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge border crossing as an Afghan citizen. He was allowed to enter Israel with a two month tourist visa.

However, his departure from Israel was never recorded, and Maariv reported that Israeli security forces have been searching for him ever since. In addition, according to Israeli reports, another man named Osama bin Laden tried to enter the country in January 2005 as well. This time, Israeli authorities rejected entry of the man, who held Iraqi citizenship.

Osama bin Laden currently tops the US government's most wanted list.

The US Department of State is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of the Al Qaeda leader. An additional $2 million is being offered through a program developed and funded by the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association due to the 9/11 attacks.

Israeli records indicate that in 2005, some 45 Saudi citizens and 78 Iraqis were allowed to enter Israel for medical and "security" reasons.

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Palestine/193299

See, See, The Isreali's really had something to do with 9/11! That is why they let him in, to protect him. They did it to harm the arab cause.. I knew it all along.

The " Believes everything he reads" 801

1001

01-09-2006, 07:33 AM

Zarqawi Issues Revealing Statement Titled "But Allah Will Suffice You Against Them"

Jan 09, 2006
By Ashraf Al-Iraqi, JUS

Sheikh Abu Mesab al-Zarqawi has released the most telling statement yet in a brand new audio that reveals the magnitude of American losses in Iraq, the hurdles caused by the so-called Islamic Party and that the attack on the "Jewish State" was order by Osama bin Laden himself ....

To read the article look here:
http://wincoast.com/forum/showpost.php?p=496654&postcount=79

1001

01-09-2006, 08:06 AM

Rockets against Israel 'ordered by Bin Laden'

Habib Trabelsi
AFP
January 9, 2006

PARIS -- Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, said in an audio tape put onto the Internet on Sunday that rockets had been fired at Israel from Lebanon last month "on the instructions" of the network's overall chief Osama Bin Laden.

"The rocket firing at the ancestors of monkeys and pigs from the south of Lebanon was only the start of a blessed in-depth strike against the Zionist enemy (...). All that was on the instructions of the sheikh of the mujahideen, Osama Bin laden, may God preserve him," said the voice attributed to the Jordanian extremist.

The tape was placed on the site normally used by his group, the Organization of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which had claimed responsibility for the rockets in an on-line statement on December 29.

"This commendable feat came in application by the mujahideen of the oath by fighter sheikh Osama Bin Laden, emir of the Al Qaeda network, may God preserve him," added the recording referring to repeated statements by Bin Laden that the Israelis should not enjoy security as long as Muslims were not safe.

Israel the previous day had carried out an air strike against a base of a Syrian-backed Palestinian group on the southern outskirts of Beirut in retaliation for cross-border Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel.

Zarqawi also said the guerrillas had carried out nearly 800 operations against "the crusader forces" since the occupation of Iraq, putting "crusader" casualties at around 40,000 soldiers.

"Since the start of mujahideen operations after the fall of the Baathist regime and until today, nearly 800 martyr operations aimed at crusader targets and military convoys have been carried out (...). We estimate casualties among the adorers of the Cross in Iraq at no less than 40,000 soldiers," he declared.

"That's why they [the Americans] asked for help from the Arab League, represented by its secretary-general Amr Moussa, and called for the Cairo meeting," said Zarqawi, hitting out at member countries that took part in the November meeting dedicated to Iraq under Arab League auspices.

The Iraqi leaders who participated in the Cairo meeting agreed on a road map for national conciliation, calling for a calendar for withdrawal of foreign forces and the release of detainees who had not been charged.

Zarqawi hit out at the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Islamic Party for having taken part in the December 15 general elections, and called on it to renounce such actions.

"We call on the Islamic Party to abandon the road to perdition on which it has embarked and which threatened to cause the loss of the Sunni community," Zarqawi said, adding that the party "should have called the people to jihad [holy war]".

The Iraqi Al Qaeda leader then laid down two conditions for giving up the jihad.

"First, chase out the invaders from our territory in Palestine, in Iraq and everywhere in Islamic land. "Second, instal Sharia [Islamic law] on the entire Earth and spread Islamic justice there (...). The attacks will not cease until after the victory of Islam and the setting up of Sharia," he swore.

Zarqawi concluded: "O young Muslims everywhere in the world, and in particular in the neighbouring countries [of Iraq] and in Yemen, I recommend jihad to you (...). O nation of Islam, America is today drawing its last breath."

http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060109-122414-2095r

The 801

01-15-2006, 05:14 PM

Umm, a definite maybe here....

Bin Laden could be dead: terrorism expert

An Australian terrorism expert says he has been given evidence, which could show Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is either seriously ill or dead.

Professor Clive Williams from Macquarie University says he has been provided with evidence, by an Indian colleague, to support the theory that bin Laden died of massive organ failure in April last year.

Professor Williams says Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, has been making all statements on behalf of Al Qaeda for around a year.

Al Zawahiri is believed to have been the target of a strike in Pakistan last week

But Professor Williams says it may be impossible to ever prove if the Al Qaeda leader is alive or dead and says it would not make a big difference if Bin Laden was dead.

"It's hard to prove or disprove these things because there hasn't really been anything that allows you to make a judgement one way or the other," he said.

"But it does seem strange that Dr Zawahiri has been making all of the statements since then, and nothing's been heard from Bin Laden since I think the December of the year before.

"I suppose there's a degree of satisfaction from a counter-terrorism point of view that he's no longer around," he said.

"But the things he said and the things he stood for are probably the more important legacy and will motivate people to engage in jihad fighting into the future."

Professor Williams says even if Bin Laden was dead, it would not make that much difference as people would continue to fight for the things they believe he stood for.

He has also recommended against confirming his death or otherwise.

"It could be an embarrassment, particularly for an intelligence agency that said you know, we believe his dead, and then, you know a month later he pops up again," he said.

"But it does seem reasonably convincing based on the evidence that I've been provided with that he's certainly either severely incapacitated or dead at this stage."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1547926.htm

How much do they pay these guys, anyway? - 801

Vancouver

01-15-2006, 08:27 PM

If UBL looks ill and sounds ill, maybe that would be enough to explain his recent silence. But I don't know, of course. If I knew... :)

Mike

01-20-2006, 08:17 AM

Mike

01-20-2006, 09:10 AM

Hello all.
Something is bugging me. When I used to follow this stuff and track the Jihadi forums I came across a post that I can't seem to find on this board anymore. It was one of those very long winded "visions".
I know it said something about two attacks in Europe prior to an attack within the United States. From what I recall some of the other things mentioned in that "vision" have come to pass.

I'm gonna keep looking for it........

P.S. I think it was in the warning thread, no, maybe the vision thread on the old board.

FOUND IT:

One of passages Oo clarifies the coming events ..Through the views an oO

The In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful

An introduction

The praise of Allah the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds and the prayer and the greeting on our prophet Mohammad peace be upon him ..And after :

A beginning I like from who the views do not please it and do not see it and do not love the rejoicing at it and sees that it played not to he tires himself and completes the reading .. And I beg it the getting out of the subject .

These are views she succeeded at one of the sheikhs of the passages the confidences, its less is 15 views .. I wanted its situation after the seeking permission from the sheikh for the announcement and the warning .

And I do not want the placement of the legitimate consolidation of the views because a triumphant who spoke about it they have consolidated for it, then we are not with need for the repetition .. And I say that some of the events that succeeded in it are the views and she did not happen in its time most probably that is because of the diligence in the timing and the mistake, then the people is injured by the frustration .. Therefore I will avoid the mention of the timing the ability amount .

A notification

Views repulsed that points that the crusaders count then he did not photograph the arrest of the sheikh Osama - Allah kept it - as photographed the arrest of Saddam, and will grieve the Muslims a lot they were affected with their media charm, then I warn the Muslims of the delusion by their lies .

Prevalent questions

Why do the views was not fulfilled in the last Ramadan despite its abundance ? !!

I asked the sheikh about the last Ramadan and how that it in it visions succeeded and hopefully a more famous is the vision that the sheikh Bashir presented - Allah kept it -, and its summary ( that the beholder saw the savior sheikh in the television he says : in Ramadan this year the great event ) and a quality it a big grilling did not happen in that month then he said :
From known that it in Ramadan the Night of Revelation that she is good than thousand month, and named the fates night because it estimates in it events next year, then its expression and Allah are more knowledgeable ( in Ramadan this year - he estimates - the great event ) .
And the events that expressed fought that it will happen in the last Ramadan he is crossing it that it is in Ramadan that Allah appreciated - Glorified and Exalted be He - that in these years 1425 happens å .And Allah is more knowledgeable

Also a vision ( a month and becomes the powers scale ) why does she was not fulfilled ? !!

Also one of the views came before Ramadan by the month of its summary that the beholder saw the sheikh Osama that Allah kept he says ( a month and the powers scales turn ) .. Then crossed the sheikh is that it is a month after the coming hitting and the international scales turn that ask Allah that he hastens that .

Matta the zero hour¿

The sheikh and all of the passages confirmed are about to they agree with it on that the zero hour she ( the hitting of sheikh Osama coming to the disbelief top ) we ask Allah that he hastens it .. And he clarified that it is very close .. And he clarified that the events will come in succession its count like the stop of the rosary, and many matters will change as will become clear later .. We ask Allah that he saves us from the temptations what appeared from it and what was hidden .

Why the triumphant of the events concerns the two Holy Mosques countries¿

Because the triumphant of the views that to the two passages at us she comes from the two Holy Mosques countries, then each region sees sorry he happens at them .

To who this subject¿

1-To the Muslims entirely and the region people related and AlJazeera people in particular :

By that they get ready and they themselves with the belief first prepare, and with the preparation of the equipment a second, and that they accustom souls to the difficult endurance and on the readiness for the sacrifice and the giving for God sake .
A Foallh it is to coming days bitterer than the patience, grasping its religion as the recipient on the embers, and an escape from that until only a belief and a disbelief remain, and an escape from the examination of the nation that was used to the life of luxury and bliss, until she deserves the support and the honour .. And the return of caliphate and glory .
Yes there promising a many, but there are also painful events it is a must from it .. We ask Allah that he is kind to its believing slaves .

2-To the ÇáÑÈÇäííä scientists and the nation men :

They bewared Allah that was above, and they got ready for taking your natural role in the command of the nation, and comply by sheikh Osama 's advice that Allah kept in the establishment of a council for the solution and the holding, then he means totally what says .
Then if you turned away then Allah will replace you with other than you people, and the history will throw you .

3-To young man an entirely and the jihad young man specially :

To young man you are the hope of the nation and how much the support is fulfilled and if you turn away, he replaces a people other than you then no they are your as .. Then they were used to the life of the seriousness .. They said goodbye to the life of luxury and bliss .
And he is secure that were wishing the jihad there he coming to you and in your land then they prepared the equipment psychological and moral, and the matters do not surprise you and you did not get ready to it . He said that was above : ( and if they wanted the departure they prepared for it equipment but Allah hated their emission then frustrated them and saying they seated with the laggards ) .
And the militants they did not leave to you the excuse with their issuing of a bulletin ( the sharp camp ) then Allah rewarded them a good the reward .

The expectation of the events through the views

These events by it the views succeeded as the sheikh that Allah kept informed me .. And as for the order then he is a diligence from the sheikh .. And not necessarily he is right .. And she has avoided the specification of the timing the ability amount .. And as for the specification of the months some of the views that define that have come, but Allah is more knowledgeable in any year, but the expected that it is close .. Also for to Saddam many views have come that reports that there is for it a return .. And the arrest play on it she is nothing but a media imposture .

The beginning :

- the strong the hitting of sheikh Osama very .. He kept off it by a month that the powers scales are disturbed .

- the collapse of the most of currencies except the Euro .
( and advises the Muslims an entirely and the merchants specially by that they hurry into the exchange of the papers for the gold and the silver and she the right currency, then a relative the papers will lose its value )

- hitting in two European countries, and a formation strong .

- another hitting in America .

- the setting of the whole of the hitting load on Saudi Arabia, and its accusation is that it is the terrorism source .

- a big jihad work in Riyadh .

- Saudi Arabia starts with the presentation of the martyrs sacrifices to America .
( and this in it the views succeeded that the regime the agent will execute some of the militants in the capture in an attempt of the satisfaction of America ..But it will regret a lot its doing )

- in a month of 3 he is perpendicular 4 celestial bodies on a single axis .

- the beginning of probability space body appearance from a Rabi I, all of the peoples see it .

- Saddam 's return in Iraq .

- the assassination of a big personality in Egypt .

- the kidnapping of a remarkable personality in Saudi Arabia .

- the lowering of 15 thousand Americans in the eastern and Al Jubayl .. And the refusing allied with them .. And the defence of the hypocrites and the system the customer about them .
( therefore the sheikh warns the people of these regions from the refusing and from the external danger coming to them and advises them on the complete readiness therefore, also the strange that it views came she reports that the regime will try the defence for the crusade invasion by each rudeness, and he and its customers try the justification therefore, hopefully these events are in it that in public they and their customers exposed )

- the return of the aircraft carrier ( Kitty Hawk ) to the region .
( hopefully you heard also about the arrival of some aircraft carriers to the Gulf, for the war on the terrorism, hopefully they feel near the hitting, and premeditate to the sanctuaries countries an evil ..Allah kept it from their scheme )

- he gathers the militants in Riyadh ( from all of the regions and from outside the two Holy Mosques countries and from Iraq ) by number 70 thousand militants arrive to the resistance of the crusaders attack and the regime tries the defence for them and the justification of them .. But he does not can the resistance of the militants .

- the arrival of the black flags and the sheikh Osama Allah kept it from the east to the sanctuaries countries and the participation in the fight of the crusaders .

- the jihad works continue on rules and the crusaders complexes in Riyadh and another .

- the entrance of commitment and guidance is each house in the two Holy Mosques countries .
( blessings ..Then a house will not remain except and he is found in it committed to the Allah's religion, and these events will scrutinize the people )

- Pervez and Arafat assassination in a single month .

- victories in Iraq over the crusaders and massacres happen for them .. And treasons of the militants result from the Baath Party, and picks the fruit of their fight .
( it is known that there are sectors from the army participating in the fight in Iraq, then he is not the militants alone who fight, and a cooperation might have happened between them that therefore the sheikh advises the militants the non-cooperation with the dispatch except in the narrowest limits, until he does not recognize their secrets and the eradication of them facilitates so that I allow Allah, and will not save a caution from a fate ) .

- the victory of the militants over the crusaders in the eastern and the ruin of Al Jubayl until he will not live in it one of, and the ruin of the oil refineries . And the destruction of the American aircraft carrier ( Kitty Hawk ), after fierce battles .

- double America, and its disintegration is to 7 countries .

- Saddam 's march and the dispatch on Jordan and Palestine and a war with Syria, and the Hashemi killing and he enters Palestine and treads the Jewish and makes the massacres to them .

- a kidnapping in Saudi Arabia against the release of the prisoners, but he refuses the system, and he kills the kidnapped .

- the abundance of the rains in AlJazeera .

- the entrance of Kuwait clash and in north of Saudi Arabia, and the extermination of two battalions from the Saudi army, and he rips the women abdomens in Kuwait and another .
( therefore we advise the people of these regions on the readiness therefore, and to the sheikh the vision of a woman from Kuwait has come, and she is pregnant, then the sheikh crossed that the woman rips its abdomen and do not live the child, and the woman is pregnant in the second month )

- thousands of emigrants from Kuwait and in north of Saudi Arabia because of the war head to Najd and Hejaz .. And its family shares the houses with them .. Also the emigrants and the Supporters did May Allah be pleased with him them .

- more knowledgeable Fahd 's death in Ramadan and Allah .
( and have mentioned the sheikh according to one of the passages that it in the year of 1405 å he saw the king that it is sitting and torn with it the kingdom map and on its right Gorbachev the Soviet Allathad president and its clothes then a look at the map, then he turned about its left then saw Bush and its clothes torn also ..Then through it with the end of Soviet Union in its time then the end of America and its disintegration, then he dies its count )

- the liberation of the prisoners whole in the two Holy Mosques countries in Ramadan .
( and they will free in spite of the regime because they will need them in Harb Saddam and Allah is more knowledgeable ) .

- a painful ÑÈÇäí punishment on America in Ramadan destroys it more knowledgeable destruction and Allah . [ he may be a volcano and the fall of a meteor and a great eclipsed ] .
( and will be a memorable day God willing and at that time the believers rejoice over the support of Allah, and with destruction this arrogant unjust country, say might if he is soon ) .

- the end of the electricity until she does not return after it .
( and from it that a woman saw that it sees the stars in the city, and this no he is except with the end of the electricity, but how ¿ Allah is more knowledgeable !!)

- the division of the Saudi Arabia to 3 regions, to the regime and for the dispatch and gray regions .

- battles between the militants and the dispatch .

- tribal wars in the big cities specially .

- she starts the disagreements that appears in the ruling family and a firing happens between them .

- the death enters each house in Jiddah .

- a big earthquake in the United Arab Emirates .

- the descent of the ices on all two Holy Mosques countries .

- Abd Allah 's assassination by sultan hand, and the accusation of the militants .

- she fights the hajjis in Mina .

- the nuclear war beginning between Europe and Russia .

- a discovery tiring to the killer of its father, and he establishes the war on its uncles .

- a severe fight in the Muharram .

- the entrance of the dispatch to the prophetic city and its sabotage .
( have is he is the ruin mentioned in the talk, and Allah is more knowledgeable )

- he arrives the dispatch till before Riyadh by 200 kilos, and he enters Qatar and the United Arab Emirates .

- the war of China and India nuclear .. And the destruction of India at the end .

- the appearance of Allah successor is Al-Mahdi in Hejaz and the homage of the people of it .

The end

An end .. Not mention these events except for the notification of the inattentive .. And for warning the Muslims of what he is coming .. And for the announcement of the believers that the support is close, but it is a must from the examination and the affliction .
Then he not was from a right then from Allah and what was who discredited then bestowed myself and the devil .

And love that I end by these verses that came in a bulletin ( the sharp camp ), and she suits the subject :

O the right youth you do not wait * * * from the enemies fleets a mercy

The hell arrived to your homelands * * * you will see today that the oppressors oppressed

They gathered in the water their arsenal * * * so that they displease you by a fire that was destroyed

O the reign victims you do not be deceived * * * by kings that made us a Mltma

But your rulers are brains * * * empties, and aged bodies

A group is an Arzana the time by it * * * the more dangerous doing from them are a word

The satisfaction of America mumbled then if * * * a heat started, the governor shed its blood

They are the war lions in our screens * * * and ostriches in the dark small mosques

The Islam did not see in their authority * * * he changed the killing of the Muslim souls

Our oil as the Albhre from its abundance * * * and believe in the pull of the belts

They tired the Islam from inside it * * * by arts from the sparkle of the globalization

America considered lawful that was inhabited it * * * and the sultans considered lawful its values

You do not die O my companions an assassination * * * and get ready you to the vague áÑøÒÇíÇ

There he is the marshal in a Mrbakm * * * he sharpens the sword and sharpens its pen

The army brought to he brings you * * * for the prophecies of the Jewish the group

You the riders come round you, but * * * the hitting moment is the start of the epic

You make from a body a bomb * * * it is the more elevated kinds of the medals

They filled your breaths and began * * * a camel driver the Al-Mahdi and greeted its flag

All brave shows us lines * * * from a jihad in the greatness book

A walking the walk of a quiet lion * * * he converted its sides he hides for its grief

You make that am pleased the protecting a grave * * * to the áÃÚÇÏí O the noble deed defenders

And you observe with the death America then in * * * its death will the systems die

* finally : I beg the righteous supervisor the stabilization of the subject .

And peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you it .
^
^
^

24-02-2004 12:36

http://www.afghanistanwar.com/showthread.php?t=15409&page=34&pp=15

Mike

01-20-2006, 09:13 AM

Original of previous:

Ooأحد المعبرين يبين الأحداث القادمة.. من خلال الرؤىoO

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

مقدمة

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم.. وبعد:

بداية أود من مَن لاتعجبه الرؤى ولايراها ولايحب الاستبشار بها ويرى أنه عبث أن لايتعب نفسه ويكمل القراءة.. وأرجو منه الخروج من الموضوع.

هذه رؤى تواترت عند أحد المشائخ المعبرين الثقات، أقلها 15 رؤية.. أردت وضعها بعد الاستئذان من الشيخ للتبشير والتحذير.

ولا أريد وضع التأصيل الشرعي للرؤى لأن غالب من تكلم فيها قد أصلوا لها، فلسنا بحاجة إلى التكرار.. وأقول أن بعض الأحداث التي تواترت فيها الرؤى ولم تحصل فيً وقتها غالبا مايكون بسبب الاجتهاد في التوقيت والخطأ، فيصاب الناس بالإحباط.. لذلك سأتجنب ذكر التوقيت قدر الإمكان.

تنـبـيه

وردت رؤى تشير إلى أن الصليبيين يُعدون فلم يُصور القبض على الشيخ أسامة -حفظه الله- كما صوروا القبض على صدام، وسيحزن المسلمين كثيرا تأثرا بسحرهم الإعلامي، فأحذر المسلمين من الإنخداع بأكاذيبهم.

أسئــلة شــائعـة

لماذا لم تتحقق الرؤى في رمضان الماضي رغم كثرتها؟!!

سألت الشيخ عن رمضان الماضي وكيف أنه تواترت فيه رؤى ولعل اشهرها الرؤيا التي طرحها الشيخ بشير -حفظه الله-، وملخصها ( أن الرآئي رأى الشيخ المنجد في التلفاز يقول: في رمضان هذا العام الحدث الأكبر) وكيف أنه لم يحدث شي كبير في ذلك الشهر فقال:
من المعروف أنه في شهر رمضان ليلة القدر التي هي خير من ألف شهر، وسميت ليلة الأقدار لأنها يُقدر فيها أحداث السنة القادمة، فيكون تعبيرها والله أعلم (في رمضان هذا العام -يُقََدر- الحدث الأكبر).
وغالب الأحداث التي عُبرت على أنها ستحدث في رمضان الفائت يكون تعبريها أنه في رمضان قدرها الله -عزوجل- أن تحدث في هذه السنة 1425هـ. والله أعلم

كذلك رؤيا (شهر وتنقلب ميزان القوى) لماذا لم تتحقق؟!!

أيضا وردت إحدى الرؤى قبل رمضان بشهر ملخصها أن الرائي رأى الشيخ أسامة حفظه الله يقول ( شهر وتنقلب موازين القوى).. فعبرها الشيخ أنه شهر بعد الضربة القادمة وتنقلب الموازين الدولية نسأل الله أن يُعجل بذلك.

متى سـاعـة الصفر؟

أكد الشيخ وجميع المعبرين يكادون يتفقون معه على أن ساعة الصفر هي (ضربة الشيخ أسامة القادمة لرأس الكفر) نسأل الله أن يعجل بها.. وأوضح أنها قريبة جداً.. وبين أن الأحداث ستتوالى بعدها مثل إنقطاع المسبحة، وستتغير أمور كثيرة كما سيتبين لاحقاً.. نسأل الله أن ينجينا من الفتن ماظهر منها ومابطن.

لماذا غالب الأحداث تخص بلاد الحرمين؟

لأن غالب الرؤى التي تأتي للمعبرين عندنا هي من بلاد الحرمين، فكل منطقة يرون ماسوف يحصل عندهم.

لمن هذا الموضوع؟

1- إلي المسلمين عامة وأهل المنطقة خاصة وأهل الجزيرة بشكل أخص:

بأن يستعدوا ويعدوا أنفسهم بالإيمان أولاً، وبإعداد العدة ثانيا، وأن يوطنوا أنفسهم على تحمل الصعاب وعلى الاستعداد للتضحية والبذل في سبيل الله.
فوالله إنها لأيام قادمة أمَر من الصبر، القابض على دينه كالقابض على الجمر، ولابد من ذلك حتى لايبقى إلا إيمان وكفر، ولابد من تمحيص الأمة التي إعتادت على حياة الترف والنعيم، حتى تستحق النصر والعزة.. وعودة الخلافة والمجد.
نعم هناك مُبشرات كثيرة، ولكن هناك كذلك أحداث مؤلمة لابد منها.. نسأل الله أن يلطف بعباده المؤمنين.

2- إلى العلماء الربانيين ورجال الأمة:

اتقوا الله تعالى، واستعدوا لأخذ دوركم الطبيعي في قيادة الأمة، واعملوا بنصيحة الشيخ أسامة حفظه الله، في إنشاء مجلس للحل والعقد، فهو يعني تماماً ما يقول.
فإن توليتم فسيستبدلكم الله بقوم غيركم، وسيرميكم التاريخ.

3- إلى الشباب عامة وشباب الجهاد خاصة:

الى الشباب أنتم أمل الأمة وبكم يتحقق النصر وإن تتولوا يستبدل قوما غيركم ثم لايكونوا أمثالكم.. فتعودوا على حياة الجد.. ودعوا حياة الترف والنعيم.
ويامن كنتم تتمنون الجهاد هاهو قادم إليكم وفي أرضكم فأعدوا العدة نفسياً ومعنوياً، ولاتُُفاجئكم الخطوب وأنتم لم تستعدوا لها. قال تعالى: (ولو أرادوا الخروج لأعدوا له عدة ولكن كره الله إنبعاثهم فثبطهم وقيل أقعدوا مع القاعدين).
والمجاهدين لم يتركوا لكم عذر بإصدارهم نشرة (معسكر البتار) فجزاهم الله خير الجزاء.

توقع الأحداث من خلال الرؤى

هذه الأحداث تواترت بها الرؤى كما أخبرني الشيخ حفظه الله.. وأما الترتيب فهو إجتهاد من الشيخ.. وليس بالضرورة يكون صحيح.. وقد تجنبت تحديد التوقيت قدر الإمكان.. وأما تحديد الأشهر فقد وردت بعض الرؤى تحدد ذلك ولكن الله أعلم في أي عام، ولكن المُتوقع أنها قريبة.. كذلك بالنسبة لصدام فقد وردت رؤى كثيرة تُفيد بأن له عودة.. وأن مسرحية القبض عليه ماهي إلا دجل إعلامي.

البــدايــة:

- ضربة الشيخ أسامة القوية جدا.. بعدها بشهر تختل موازين القوى.

- انهيار أغلب العملات ماعدا اليورو.
(ويُنصح المسلمين عامة والتجار خاصة بأن يسارعوا باستبدال الورق بالذهب والفضة وهي العملة الصحيحة، فقريباً سيفقد الورق قيمته)

- ضربة في دولتين أوربيتين، وتكون قوية.

- ضربة أخرى في أمريكا.

- وضع كامل حمل الضربات على السعودية، واتهامها بأنها مصدر الإرهاب.

- عمل جهادي كبير في الرياض.

- تبدأ السعودية بتقديم قرابين الشهداء لأمريكا.
(وهذه تواترت فيها الرؤى ان النظام العميل سيعدم بعض المجاهدين في الأسر في محاولة لأرضاء أمريكا.. ولكنه سيندم كثيرا إن فعلها)

- في شهر 3 يتعامد 4 أجرام سماوية على محور واحد.

- بداية احتمال ظهور جرم فضائي من شهر ربيع الأول، يراه كل الناس.

- عودة صدام في العراق.

- اغتيال شخصية كبيرة في مصر.

- اختطاف شخصية مرموقة في السعودية.

- إنزال 15 ألف أمريكي في الشرقية والجبيل.. وتحالف الرافضة معهم.. ودفاع المنافقين والنظام العميل عنهم.
(لذلك يحذر الشيخ أهل هذه المناطق من الرافضة، ومن الخطر الخارجي القادم لهم وينصحهم بالإستعداد التام لذلك، كذلك العجيب أنه وردت رؤى تفيد بأن النظام سيحاول الدفاع عن الغزو الصليبي بكل وقاحة، ويحاول هو وعملائه التبرير لذلك، ولعل هذه الأحداث يكون فيها فضحهم على رؤوس الأشهاد هم وعملائهم)

- رجوع حاملة الطائرات (كيتي هوك) للمنطقة.
(لعلكم سمعتم كذلك بقدوم بعض حاملات الطائرات للخليج، للحرب على الإرهاب، ولعلهم يشعرون بقرب الضربة، ويبيتون لبلاد الحرمين شرا.. حفظها الله من كيدهم)

- يتجمع المجاهدين في الرياض (من كافة المناطق ومن خارج بلاد الحرمين ومن العراق) بعدد يصل 70 ألف مجاهد لصد هجمة الصليبيين ويحاول النظام الدفاع عنهم والتبرير لهم.. ولكن لا يستطيع صد المجاهدين.

- قدوم الرايات السود والشيخ أسامة حفظه الله من المشرق لبلاد الحرمين والمشاركة في قتال الصليبيين.

- تستمر الأعمال الجهادية على قواعد ومجمعات الصليبيين في الرياض وغيرها.

- دخول الالتزام والهداية كل بيت في بلاد الحرمين.
(نعم.. فلن يبقى بيت إلا ويوجد فيه ملتزم بدين الله، وستمحص هذه الأحداث الناس)

- اغتيال برويز وعرفات في شهر واحد.

- انتصارات في العراق على الصليبيين وتحصل مذابح لهم.. وتحصل خيانات للمجاهدين من حزب البعث، ويقطف ثمرة جهادهم.
(من المعلوم أن هناك قطاعات من الجيش تشارك في القتال في العراق، فليس المجاهدين وحدهم الذين يقاتلون، وربما حصل تعاون فيما بينهم، لذلك ينصح الشيخ المجاهدين بعدم التعاون مع البعث إلا في أضيق الحدود، حتى لايتعرف على أسرارهم ويسهل القضاء عليهم لاسمح الله، ولن ينجي حذر من قدر).

- انتصار المجاهدين على الصليبيين في الشرقية وخراب الجبيل حتى لن يسكنها أحد، وخراب مصافي النفط. وتدمير حاملة الطائرات الأمريكية (كيتي هوك)، بعد معارك طاحنة.

- ضعف أمريكا، وتفككها إلى 7 دول.

- زحف صدام والبعث على الأردن وفلسطين وحرب مع سوريا، وقتل الهاشمي ويدخل فلسطين ويدوس اليهود ويقيم المذابح لهم.

- اختطاف في السعودية مقابل فكاك الأسرى، ولكن يرفض النظام، ويُُقتل المُخطوف.

- كثرة الأمطار في الجزيرة.

- دخول صدام الكويت وشمال السعودية، وإبادة كتيبتين من الجيش السعودي، ويبقر بطون النساء في الكويت وغيرها.
(لذلك ننصح أهل هذه المناطق بالإستعداد لذلك، وقد وردت للشيخ رؤيا إمرأه من الكويت، وهي حامل، فعبرها الشيخ بأن المرأه يُبقر بطنها ولا يعيش الطفل، والمرأه حامل في الشهر الثاني)

- الآف المهاجرين من الكويت وشمال السعودية بسبب الحرب يتجهون إلى نجد والحجاز.. ويتقاسم أهلها البيوت معهم.. كما فعل المهاجرون والأنصار، رضوان الله عليهم.

- وفاة فهد في رمضان والله أعلم.
(وقد ذكر الشيخ نقلاً عن أحد المعبرين أنه في عام 1405هـ رأى الملك أنه جالس ومعه خريطة المملكة وعلى يمينه جورباتشوف رئيس اللاتحاد السوفيتي وملابسه ممزقة، ثم نظر إلى الخريطة، ثم التفت عن يساره فرأى بوش وملابسه ممزقة كذلك.. فعبرها بزوال الاتحاد السوفيتي في عهده، ثم زوال أمريكا وتفككها، ثم يموت بعدها)

- تحرير كامل الأسرى في بلاد الحرمين في رمضان.
( وسيُحررون رغما عن النظام، لأنهم سيحتاجونهم في حرب صدام والله أعلم).

- عقاب رباني أليم على أمريكا في رمضان يدمرها تدميرا والله أعلم. [قد يكون بركان وسقوط نيزك وخسف عظيم].
(وسيكون يوماً مشهوداً بإذن الله، ويومئذ يفرح المؤمنون بنصر الله، وبدمار هذه الدولة الظالمة المتغطرسة، قل عسى أن يكون قريباً).

- زوال الكهرباء حتى لا تعود بعدها.
(ومنها أن امرأه رأت أنها ترى النجوم في المدينة، وهذا لايكون إلا بزوال الكهرباء، ولكن كيف؟ الله أعلم!!)

- تقسيم السعودية إلى 3 مناطق، للنظام وللبعث ومناطق رمادية.

- معارك بين المجاهدين والبعث.

- حروب قبلية في المدن الكبيرة خاصة.

- تبدأ الخلافات تظهر في العائلة الحاكمة ويحصل إطلاق نار بينهم.

- يدخل الموت كل بيت في جدة.

- زلزال كبير في الإمارات.

- نزول الثلوج على كافة بلاد الحرمين.

- إغتيال عبدالله بيد سلطان، وإتهام المجاهدين.

- تقاتل الحجيج في منى.

- بداية الحرب النووية بين أوربا وروسيا.

- إكتشاف متعب لقاتل أبيه، ويُقيم الحرب على أعمامه.

- قتال شديد في المُحرم.

- دخول البعث للمدينة النبوية وتخريبها.
(قد يكون هو الخراب الوارد في الحديث، والله أعلم)

- يصل البعث إلى ماقبل الرياض بـ 200 كلم، ويدخل قطر والإمارات.

- حرب الصين والهند النووية.. وتدمير الهند في النهاية.

- ظهور خليفة الله المهدي في الحجاز ومبايعة الناس له.

الخاتــمة

ختاما.. لم أذكر هذه الأحداث إلا لتنبيه الغافل.. ولتحذير المسلمين مما هو قادم.. ولتبشير المؤمنين بأن النصر قريب، ولكن لابد من التمحيص والبلاء.
فما كان من صواب فمن الله وما كان من خطأ فمن نفسي والشيطان.

وأحب أن أختم بهذه الأبيات التي وردت في نشرة (معسكر البتار)، وتناسب الموضوع:

يا شَبابَ الحقّ لا تنتظِروا*** من أساطيل الأعادي مَرحَمَة

وصلَ الويلُ إلى أوطانكم*** سترون اليومَ بَطش الظّلَمَة

حَشدُوا في الماء ترسانتهم*** لِيسوءُوكُم بِنَارٍ حُطَمَة

يا ضحَايا المُلْكِ لا تنخدعوا*** بِمُلوكٍ جَعَلُونا مَلطَمة

إنما حكّامكم أدمغةٌ*** خاوياتٌ ، وجسومٌ هرمة

زُمْرةٌ أرزَأنَا الدّهرُ بِهِا***أخطر الأفعال منهم كلمة

هَمهم إِرضَاءُ أمريكا فلو*** قامَ حرٌ ، سفك الوالي دَمَهَ

هُم أسُود الحربِ في شَاشَاتِنا*** ونعامٌ في الزَّوايا المُعتِمة

لم يرَ الإسلامُ في سُلطـتِهم*** غيرَ إزهاقِ النّفُوسِ المُسْلِمَة

نفطُنا كالبحرِ من وَفرَتهِ*** وَيَقُولُون بشدِّ الأحزِمة

أرهقُوا الإسلامَ من دَاخِـلِهِ*** بِفنونٍ من بريقِ العَولمة

استباحت أمريكا أهلَهُ*** والسّلاطينُ اسْتباحُوا قِيَمَه

لا تموتوا يا رفاقي غِيلَةً*** واسْتَعِدّوا للرّزايا المبهمَة

ها هو المارشالُ في مَربَعِكُم*** يَشحَذُ السيفَ ويبرِي قَلَمَه

أحضرَ الجيش لكي يُحضِرَكُم *** لِِنُبوءات اليهودِ الشِّرذِمة

أيها الركب أفيقوا ، إنما *** لحظةُ الضّربة بَدْءُ الملْحَمَة

اصنعوا من جَسَدٍ قُنْبُلَةً*** إنها أرقى صُنوفِ الأوسِمَة

عَـبّـئوا أنفاسكم وابتدروا*** حاديَ المهدي وحيوا عَلَمَه

كلُّ صنديدٍ يُرينا أسطراً*** من جهادٍ في كتاب ِالعَظَمة

ماشياً مشيةَ ليثٍ هادىءٍ*** حولَ جنبيه يُواري لَغَمَه

اجعَلوا أرضَ الحِمى مقبرةً*** للأعادي يا حُماةَ المَكرُمة

وارصدوا بالموت ِأمريكا فَفِي*** موتها سَوفَ تموتُ الأنظِمَة

* أخيرا: أرجو من المشرف الفاضل تثبيت الموضوع.

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته.
^
^
^

Mike

01-20-2006, 09:45 AM

Never mind, there is no order or timing to the events listed.
I had thought that the attack on Amerikka was gonna be after the European attacks.

uchiuke123

01-20-2006, 10:47 AM

To who this subject¿

1-To the Muslims entirely and the region people related and AlJazeera people in particular :

You may not be too far off in your reflection on that post.

In the post, could the mention of the "Al Jazeera people" have something to do with this:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16397937&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=exclusive--bush-plot-to-bomb-his-arab-ally-name_page.html

22 November 2005
EXCLUSIVE: BUSH PLOT TO BOMB HIS ARAB ALLY
Madness of war memo
By Kevin Maguire And Andy Lines

PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals.

But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

A source said last night: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush.

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"He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been "humorous, not serious".

But another source declared: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."

Yesterday former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the five-page transcript of the two leaders' conversation. He said: "It's frightening to think that such a powerful man as Bush can propose such cavalier actions.

"I hope the Prime Minister insists this memo be published. It gives an insight into the mindset of those who were the architects of war."

Bush disclosed his plan to target al-Jazeera, a civilian station with a huge Mid-East following, at a White House face-to-face with Mr Blair on April 16 last year.

At the time, the US was launching an all-out assault on insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims.

The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten the West.

Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's capital, Doha.

Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors.

In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad centre.

The memo, which also included details of troop deployments, turned up in May last year at the Northampton constituency office of then Labour MP Tony Clarke.

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused under the Official Secrets Act of passing it to Leo O'Connor, 42, who used to work for Mr Clarke. Both are bailed to appear at Bow Street court next week.

Mr Clarke, who lost at the election, returned the memo to No 10.

He said Mr O'Connor had behaved "perfectly correctly".

Neither Mr O'Connor or Mr Keogh were available. No 10 did not comment.

uchiuke123

Mike

01-20-2006, 10:53 AM

Hi uchiuke123.
"AlJazeera people" in machine translated posts usually means the people of the Arab peninsula.

1001

01-20-2006, 02:15 PM

The Full Transcrpit of His New Audio

http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=105896&list=/home.php&

Gawzi

01-20-2006, 05:48 PM

deleted

Mike

01-21-2006, 06:46 AM

Vancouver

01-21-2006, 05:31 PM

I wonder where the entire Zawahiri poem is?
~Mike~The poetaster's name in Arabic is
محب الله القندهاري
This seems to be it:

دموع في مآقي الزمن
"Tears in the Eyes of Time"

(قصيدة رثاء لشهداء الحرب الصليبية في أفغانستان)

مولوي/ محب الله القندهاري

ولا يقبــــل الإذلال في دينــــه حـــر
فليســت تطيـــق الضيـــم نفــس أبية

وفي المـــوت منــأى عنه إن لزم الأمــــر
ففـــي الأرض منأى للكـريم عـــن الأذى

ولو طال ذاك العيش ما بقـــــي الــــدهر
فما عاش من عـــــاش الحيـــاة بذلــة

حيــــاتهم مــــن حيثمـــا ينتهي العمر
ومــا مــات من في الله ماتــوا ، فمبتــدا

بهـــا منهـــم ذكــر ، وفي ثغــرها قـبر
أولئـــك إخـــواني مَن كـــل جبــهة

يباعــــد منهــا السهــل والجبــل الوعر
قــبورهم بــين الثغـــور غــريبـــة

وفي المــلإ الأعـــلي لـــه الشـأن والذكر
وكـــم مـــن غــريب في بــلاد غريبة

وفي أرضـــهم باكــون – لو علموا – كثـر
تقـــل هنــاك الباكيـــات علـــيهم

وأوطـانهــــم منهــم مرابعهــا قفـــر
تعمــر آفـــاق الثغــور قبورهـــــم

حيـــا مستمـــرا ، لا بطــيء ولا نــزر
سقاهــــم إلـــه العــرش من بحرجـوده

بمثلـــهم يستـــنزل النــصر والقـــطر
أولئـــك إخـــواني فمــــن لي بمثلهم؟

فصحبتــــهم فخــر لمـــن همــه الفخر
رفـــاق بـــدرب العـــز والمجـد والعلا

وديــن بــه في الله يلتمــــس الأجـــر
وعـــز بـه يثــنى علــى الــرء في الدنا

فطابت بها الدنيـــا وطـــاب بهــا العمـر
وكانت بها الأيــــام أحـــلى من المــنى

فإن لكـــم ذكــرا سيفــنى بــه الـدهر
لئـــن كــان أفنــاكم من الدهر صـرفه

ومــا مـــات مــن في ذكـره للعلى ذكر
لـــدى ذكـــركم تحـــيى المحامد والعلى

فثـــم خصــال لـــيس يسترهــا قـبر
فــإن ستــرت تـــلك القبـور جسومكم

وصـــدق اللقـــا يـــوم الكريهة والطهر
فثــم التقـــى والجـــود والحلــم والنقا

بكـــم في ليــالي الكــرب يستطلـع الفجر
مغـــاوير في الهيــجا مصــابيح في الدجـى

ومـا تستــوى الأرواح في البـــذل والوفــر
تجـــودون بالأرواح إن ضـــن غـــيركم

يقــــودكم عــزم ويــدفعكم صـــبر
من المجـــد نلتـــم غايــة بعد غايـــة

إذا حـــل عسر بينهـــم ، أو أتى يســـر
ونلتـــم خصـــالا لا يغــير أهلـــها

وإشـــراقها في ليلنـــا الأنجـــم الزهــر
وثم خصـــال دونهـــا في علـــــوها

لأحصــــر ثم الحصــر وانقطــع الشعـر
ولــــو رام شعـــر حصر كل خصـالكم

لأنجـــاكم ممـــا أصـــابكم الــــبر
لــوَ ان امـــرأً أنجـــاه بــر من الردى

فمـــا لامـــرئ بــــر يقيـه ولا بحـر
ولكنــــها الآجـــال إن حـــان حَينها

مـــرارا ، ومـا في ذاك عــــار ولا نـكر
شـــربتـم بكـــأس قــد سقيتـم بمثلها

ومــــا فاق حـــتى الآن من هو لها الكفـر
ففتكتــكم في الكفــــر لم ُيـــر مثلـها

كـــأن به سكــرا ، ولـــيس بــه سكر
ولا زال مصعــوقا بهـــا متــــرنحــا

ومنــه الـــذي يــأتي بــه الذعر لا الخمر
مــن السكــر مــا تـــاتي به الخمر غالبا

ولله صــبر مـــا رآى مثلــه الصــــُّبر
فلله عـــزم مـــن أولي العـــزم صـادق

ولا سمعـــت عنـــه الردينيـــة السمــر
ولله ضــــرب لم تـــر البيـــض مثلـه

ولا فتكــــة فيـــه عـــوان ولا بكــر
ولا فعلــة في الكفـــر كـــانت كفعـله

تهشـــم منـــها الـرأس ، وانقصم الظهــر
نطحتـــم بعـــزم هـــامة الكفـر نطحة

تبخـــر منـــه الشطــر واشتعــل الشطر
فخـــرت قـــلاع الكفر للأرض بعــدما

تحـــير في أوصـــافها الفكـــر والشعـر
فقامـــت مــن الهـــول الــرهيب قيامة

وكـــان حمـــى حظـــرا وما نفع الحظر
وأضـــحى حمـى الأعـــداء للنـار مرتعـا

من الذعر فئــــران تملكهــــا الذعـــر
ففروا فــــرارا ، يجمحـــون كأنــهم

بثــــأر كهـــذا الثـــأر فاليـدرك الثأر
فأدركتـــم ثـــأرا من الكفـــر ضائعـا

وعـــل ولم يعجلـــه عـن علــه صــدر
فأنهــلتم منـــه الــــردى ثََــم فارتوى

ألا بعــد طـــول الغيـــظ قد شفي الصدر
شفيـــتم صــــدورا ملـؤها الغيظ قبلكم

فقـــــد نهضت حطين ، واستيقظـــت بدر
وأيقظتــــم التـــــاريخ بعــد سباتـه

تغــــني بــه الدنيـــا وينشـــده الدهر
كتبتــم نشيـــدا خالــــدا بصنيعــكم

غــــزاة بنـــا يشقـــى وقد شقي الكفر
سنبقـــى كمـــا كنـــا على العهد بيننا

و بالصـــبر للأعـــدا إذا جزع الصُّـــبر
نـــذلل سبــــل المجـــد بالبذل والعطا

إلى أن يحـــين الحَــــين أو يسعــف النصر
عـــن الـــدرب ماحدنا ، على العهد لم نزل

تفشـــى هنـــاك المــــوت وانتشر الذعر
إذا مــا نزلنا ساحـــة الكفـــر في الوغى

فــــذاك ، وإلا كـــان في مـــوتنا عذر
فـــإن نحـــن نلنـــا ما نريــد ونبتغي

وكــــل ســـــرور لي بكـم عنده فكر
يــذكرنيكم كــــل حـــــزن يصيبني

وكــــل ســـــرور منه في جنسـه ذكر
ولا عــــجب ، إن الشجــى يبعث الشجى

وأذكـــركم ذكــــرا إذا طلــــع البدر
إذا طلـــعت شمـــس النهـــار ذكرتكم

وجـــدده فـــجري إذا طلــــع الفجـر
وإن جـــن جنـــح الليــل جدد ذكركم

لمـــا بلغــت في القـــدر مـا أوجب القدر
ففيكــم ولـــو سطـــرت كل قصائدي

وإن مـــد في الآجـــــال وانفسـح العمر
يعــــزي أخــــاكم أنه لاحـــق بكم

1001

01-22-2006, 07:01 AM

Al-Qaeda Leader Osama Bin Laden in New Audio-Recording Threatens New Attacks in the US
- subtitled in English
Clip No. 1002
http://www.memritv.org/

transcript:
http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1002
1/19/2006

Al-Qaeda Leader Osama Bin Laden in New Audio-Recording Threatens New Attacks in the US

Following are excerpts from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's latest audio recording, which was aired by Al-Jazeera TV on January 19, 2006.

Osama bin Laden: My message to you refers to the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and how to bring about its end. I did not intend to talk with you about this subject because for us, the matter has been decided. Only iron can defeat iron. Our situation, Allah be praised, is getting better and better, while it is the opposite with your situation.

But what has led me to speak is the repeated words of deception by your president Bush, in his interpretation of the results of public opinion polls among you, which showed that the overwhelming majority of your public wants to withdraw the forces from Iraq – but (Bush) opposed this and said that withdrawing the forces would convey the wrong message to the adversaries, and that it is preferable for us to fight them on their soil, rather than for them to fight us on our soil.

My answer to these words of deception is: The war in Iraq is raging without cessation, and the (military) operations in Afghanistan are constantly escalating - to our advantage, Allah be praised. The Pentagon figures indicate a rise in the number of your dead and wounded, in addition to the huge material damage.

[...]

I say that the poll results please the wise (among you), and that Bush's rejection of these results is a mistake, and that reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not remained limited to Iraq, as he claims, but rather, that Iraq has become a source of attraction and recruitment of qualified people.

On the other hand, Allah be praised, the mujahidun have managed repeatedly to break through all security measures taken by the oppressing coalition countries. Proof of this is the bombings you have witnessed in the capitals of the most important European countries that are members of this hostile coalition.

As for the delay in similar operations in America – this has not been due to any inability to break through your security measures. The operations are being prepared, and you will witness them, in your own land, as soon as the preparations are complete, Allah willing.

[...]

Based on what I've said, it can clearly be seen that Bush's words are false, but what he refrained from saying – and this is the essence of the poll results, which favor troop withdrawal - is that it is better that we do not fight the Muslims on their soil, and they will not fight us on our soil. We have no objection to responding to you, regarding a long-term cease fire under fair conditions, which we will uphold. We are a nation forbidden by Allah to betray and lie. Under such a cease fire, both sides will enjoy security and stability, and we will build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed by the war. There is nothing wrong with this solution, except that it will prevent the flow of hundreds of billions to people of influence and to the merchants of war in America, who supported Bush's elections campaign with billions of dollars.

[...]

In conclusion, I say to you that the war will be won either by us or by you. If it's the former, loss and disgrace will be your lot for all eternity, and, Allah be praised, this is the way the wind is blowing. If it is the latter, you should read the history (books). We are a nation that does not remain silent over injustice, and we seek blood vengeance all life long. Not (many) days and nights will pass before we take blood vengeance, like we did on 9/11 – Allah willing.

If your minds remain worn out and your lives remain miserable, things will progress towards that which you hate. As for us – we have nothing to lose. He who swims in the sea does not fear the rain. You have occupied our land and violated our honor. You have shed our blood and plundered our property. You have destroyed our homes and banished us. You have harmed our security, and we will pay you back in kind.

The 801

01-22-2006, 06:26 PM

Brian Ross Reports on "The Spider Cell"

Last night on "Charlie Rose," Brian Ross of ABC news gave a very interesting report on bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and offered some very interesting insight on Musharraf and Pakistan. Below is a summation of that interview.

First, the al-Zawahiri tape is "not new" and offers no new references to anything that's happened recently. It is simply an "old tape being passed off as new."

Al-Zawahiri did escape the Pakistan attack last week, is on the run, with bin Laden obviously alive.

The courier route of these types of tapes used to go from al Qaeda's production house to Waziristan to the al-Jazeera correspondent in Islamabad, Pakistan. This correspondent has been under 24 hour watch, so they had to find a new route. Now, there as many as 25 different couriers that take from 8-12 weeks for these couriers to make their way to al-Jazeera, and they go through an "intricate path" through Dubai to keep from being detected.

The U.S. believes al-Zawahiri was at the location the drones hit, which was a high level summit of al Qaeda. There were a series of strikes and on the third house in the compound, "before it was hit, but after the other two were hit, people ran from that house, took off and then the strike came." Some people got away, al-Zawahiri being one, but his son-in-law and chief bomb maker weren't so lucky.

As an aside, al-Zawahiri's son-in-law was in charge of making many of al Qaeda's tapes. Ross says his house was hit a year ago, where we found a "studio" of sorts for media production, though not as fancy as that description implies.

Ross says al-Zawahiri "was hurt bad" by this assault. He lost key people that aid him and help him move around. A man like al-Zawahiri doesn't make friends easily because he no longer can trust people. He needs the individuals who have come up through the ranks that are loyal.

Obviously, somebody provided the information that led to the CIA drone attack. al-Zawahiri has to be wondering, who talked and gave up our position?

A captured al Qaeda operative, al-Libbi, discussed meeting al-Zawahiri at this very place. Evidently, when it gets very cold, al-Zawahiri comes out of the mountains, traveling a known "circuit," which al-Libbi described. Methodically, the group tracking these terrorists have gathered information on their routes and means of travel until they came up with this compound designation.

Here's where I must make a comment. We must note that al-Libbi was the infamous al Qaeda captive who was tortured by the U.S., giving Colin Powell the erroneous information that led to our embarrassment at the U.N., which I've mentioned many times before. It's interesting to note that if Ross is right, you have to wonder how and when we got this information. Just something to think about. continuing with Ross' report...

President Musharraf did not employ the Pakistani army after the news of the recent hit on al-Zawahiri became known. There was absolutely no effort to get into the area on any type of "hot pursuit." Simply put, Musharraf can't order the army in. So, because he can't trust his own army, he's come up with another angle.

This is where it gets really interesting. Musharraf has created, inside his own intelligence agency, a minor intelligence agency. It is called "The Spider Group" made up of "trusted Pakistani intelligence agents, CIA agents, and a number of wealthy business men who have funded privately a group that is tracking bin Laden and al-al-Zawahiri." On a personal note, if this is true and this cell exists - we have no reason to doubt Ross - I could not have been more wrong about President Musharaff's sincere efforts to aid the U.S., which I'm happy to admit. moving on...

The Spider Group is spreading a lot of money around, developing relationships to try and find out the details of the comings and goings of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. The Spider Group is seen to be the key to catching these terrorists.

Al-Zawahiri's operation has obviously been penetrated.

The other fact is that the U.S. keeps picking off al Qaeda's #3 man, which Ross equated to Vietnam tactic of picking off the first lieutenants. It's damaging their organization badly.

In addition, we have evidently pulled some of our teams out of this area and Afghanistan to go after Zarqawi, who is now seen as "public enemy #1." A man who started out as a thug, but now has real power to do great damage through his actions in Iraq.

http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=1748

The 801

01-22-2006, 06:41 PM

It seems that this Spider group is older news than I thougth. Here is the expert Peter Bergen makes mention of him in this artical. Great reading by the way.

The Atlantic Monthly | October 2004

The Long Hunt for Osama

.....Information obtained from al-Qaeda detainees has proved important in the hunt for the group's leaders, as have the cell-phone numbers, documents, and computers recovered when al-Qaeda members are captured. U.S. intelligence services have apparently failed, however, to insert agents in al-Qaeda's inner circle—the only sure-fire way to get real-time intelligence about bin Laden's whereabouts. Colonel Patrick Lang, a fluent Arabic-speaker who ran Middle Eastern "humint" (human intelligence) for the Defense Intelligence Agency in the early 1990s, told me that the lack of humint remains a problem. "Everybody talks about effective humint," he said, "but nothing is happening. The people who do this kind of work are gifted eccentrics, who the bureaucrats don't like, or they are the criminal types, who the lawyers don't like. If only we were the ruthless bastards everyone thinks we are." According to the Pakistani terrorism analyst Amir Mir, however, the past year or so has produced one promising humint development: FBI officials have created what is known as the Spider Group—an elite team of retired Pakistani army and intelligence officers who are gathering information about the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200410/bergen

1001

01-24-2006, 05:14 AM

�Former CIA Michael Scheuer Says Bin Laden Is A Man Of His Word

Jan 23, 2006
Source: CBS News

Editors Note: While there has been a flood of analysis on the bin Laden tape, one of the most notable is that from Michael Scheuer, a former CIA officer who tracked bin Laden for 10 years and who seems to understand the Sheikhs message much better than George Bush and many Muslims for that matter. We are running this mainstream CBS report to emphasize his comments.

We remind our viewers that the opinions and points of view expressed in these statements are those of the author and shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of Jihad Unspun, the publisher, editor, writers, contributors or staff.

The CIA has determined that the voice on an audiotape warning of new al Qaeda attacks on the United States is indeed that of Osama bin Laden. The tape, aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera television, also offers conditions for a truce with the United States. It's the first public communication from bin Laden in more than a year.

An intelligence official tells CBS News correspondent Peter Maer "there is a high level of confidence" that the voice on the tape is bin Laden. The assessment follows a technical analysis at the CIA. The CIA, NSA and FBI are going over the substance of the comments at the National Counterterror Center.

"When you get down to the threat, this could be jihadist bravado but you don't ignore it," the official said. "It is being taken very seriously."

WJZ's Kimberly Houk spoke to Michael Greenberger, a local expert in homeland security.

"I don't think we can be relaxed about [the tape]. I think the country should have it's guard up and be watchful," Greenberger says.

Al-Jazeera said the new tape was recorded in the Islamic month that corresponds with December.

On the tape, bin Laden said insurgents were winning the conflict in Iraq and warned that security measures in the West and the United States could not prevent attacks there.

"The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are being prepared and you will see them in your own backyard as soon as they are ready with the leave of Allah," he said.

Along with the threats, bin Laden holds out the possibility of a truce, provided the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We have no objection to responding to a long-term truce according to equitable conditions which we would honor so that the two sides could enjoy security and stability under this truce, and so that we could rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which the war has destroyed," he said. "There are no flaws in this solution, which would prevent the flow of billions of dollars to the people of influence and the warmongers in America, those who supported the Bush electoral campaign with billions of dollars."

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA officer who tracked bin Laden for 10 years as part of a unit he created, told CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer that this latest threat should be taken "very seriously."

The important thing about bin Laden, Scheur says, "is that the coordination between what he says he's going to do and what he does is very nearly 100 percent over the past decade. He's a very deadly serious man."

Scheuer said the offer of a truce is "very similar to one he made to the Europeans about two years ago. They paid no attention to what he said and then, thereafter, al Qaeda did attack twice in London. I think it would be foolish not to take this as a very serious threat to the United States."

The White House quickly rejected any talk of a truce.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists," said White House press secretary Scott McCellan. "We put them out of business."

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card also dismissed the idea of a negotiating a truce with bin Laden.

In an interview with CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller, Card mocked the offer saying, "I'm inviting Osama bin Laden to come to Washington." With tongue in cheek, Card said he'd be "glad to welcome bin Laden" â€” a thinly veiled way of taking him into custody.

The release of the tape comes on the heels of air strikes in Pakistan that U.S. intelligence experts say were a major blow to al Qaeda leadership. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast, but there was a reference to bombings in European capitals last summer and to an alleged comment by President Bush about bombing the Qatar headquarters of Al-Jazeera, which was first reported in the British press Nov. 22.

On the tape, bin Laden said he was directing his message to the American people after polls showed that "an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq but (Bush) opposed that desire."

He said he "did not have the intention to speak to you about this issue ... However, what prompted me to speak is the repeated deceptions of your President Bush."

Despite the new tape, U.S. counterterrorism officials said they had seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an upcoming al Qaeda attack on the country. A Department of Homeland Security official said the agency has no immediate plans to raise the national terror alert.

Al-Jazeera Editor in Chief Ahmed al-Sheik would not comment on when or where the tape was received. He said the full tape was 10 minutes long. The station aired four excerpts with what it "considered newsworthy," he said, but would not say what was on the remainder.

The last audiotape purported to be from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004, also by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=105924&list=/home.php&

Vancouver

01-29-2006, 06:50 PM

From the Sunday Telegraph:

Pakistan 'delay let bin Laden escape US raid'
By Massoud Ansari in Karachi
(Filed: 29/01/2006)

Prevarication by the Pakistani government cost America the chance to kill Osama bin Laden in an airstrike near the Afghan border two years ago, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

A CIA lead that the al-Qaeda leader was hiding in a remote province was squandered because the Pakistani government delayed giving permission for the attack on its soil, according to a senior Western diplomat.

By the time US officials got the go-ahead, bin Laden had left the suspected hideout in Zhob, in the Baluchistan province of south-west Pakistan.

The near-miss was cited by the diplomat as the reason why America chose not to consult Islamabad before the US missile strike in Pakistan's Bajaur region two weeks ago. The January 13 attack, prompted by a tip that bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was hiding in a local village, killed 13 civilians.

Speaking of the Zhob attack, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, said: "For unknown reasons, Pakistani officials delayed in giving permission...which ultimately gave these militants time to move to an unknown location."

According to his account, which was backed by sources within Pakistani intelligence, the CIA picked up electronic traffic suggesting that bin Laden and his bodyguards had sought temporary shelter in Zhob, which is dominated by Pathan and Baloch tribesmen sympathetic to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Fearing that a commando raid would cause massive casualties to both sides, with no guarantee of success, the US decided to launch a strike by laser-guided missiles, fired from Predator drones.

The reason for the delay is not clear. While Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, has vowed to eliminate terrorists operating within his country, elements within Pakistan's ISI intelligence service may have sought to protect bin Laden.

If he was in Zhob at the time it would have been the first known occasion that he had been firmly in America's sights since his escape from Tora Bora in Afghanistan, where he slipped through a cordon of US troops in 2001.

Gen Musharraf last week described the strike against al-Zawahiri as a "violation of sovereignty", although he said other al-Qaeda figures had died in the raid.

Al-Zawahiri is thought to have cancelled his visit, possibly after spotting CIA drones in the area.

Casey

01-31-2006, 08:55 AM

Probably nothing but........

New Zawahiri tape has poem in it. Here's one part:
"The owner of the sword and pen,"

Now here's a line from the post below:
"he sharpens the sword and sharpens its pen"

I wonder where the entire Zawahiri poem is?

~Mike~
Hey Mike,

I still don't have access to my files from the past couple of years, do you by any chance have the bashir.zip file?

It was compiled and available primarily on the Repair forum shortly after the KSA attack in 2004.

I beleive that is where this comes from. Let me know if you have it, I'd like to look at it again.

TIA

Mike

01-31-2006, 09:59 AM

no I don't Casey.
Sorry.
I deleted all that stuff months ago

The 801

02-03-2006, 07:30 AM

Osama, Zawahiri calling shots from Pak: Report

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Friday, February 03, 2006 at 1206 hours IST
Updated: Friday, February 03, 2006 at 1235 hours IST

New Delhi, February 3: Al-Qaeda leadership is headquartered in two districts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province given the confluence of certain "unique ground conditions" in these tribal areas, a US strategic think tank has claimed.

"Both (Ayman) al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden are in the rural western areas of the NWFP and frequently attend tribal gatherings there, indicating that they feel secure with - and have influence over - the local Pashtuns, whose support they need if they are to remain secure," the strategic forecasting inc (Stratfor) claimed in its latest report.

It said the al-Qaeda leadership was headquartered in Dirand swat districts, and possibly, the Malakand area of NWFP.

Observing that global attention had been focussed on North and South Waziristan areas of the province due to the ongoing unrest there, it said Dir bordered the Bajaur agency of Pakistan, which in turn was close to Afghanistan's Kunar province, "a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity".

"Al-Zawhiri's reference to 'four brothers' present in Damadola village during the January 13 US air strike includes Abu Obaidah al-Masri, an Egyptian al-Qaeda operative... Al-Masri's presence in Bajaur underscores the region's importance as an al-Qaeda staging base for operations in Afghanistan".

The detailed Stratfor report said neither bin Laden nor al-Zawhiri would risk staying close to Afghan border in Fata "as it would leave them vulnerable to a US air strike from Afghan territory.

On the contrary, they would want to remain as deep within Pakistani territory as possible", where the US might not venture into and described the region as "the best hiding place then can find in all of Pakistan".

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=62366

1001

02-03-2006, 12:34 PM

Bergen: War on terror has shifted to Europe

by Adla Massoud in New York
Thursday 02 February 2006, 21:36 Makka Time, 18:36 GMT *

Peter Bergen, author of the book*The Osama*bin Laden I Know,*tells Aljazeera.net that Osama bin Laden's tapes are a sure way of tracking down the location of the elusive al-Qaida leader.

After five years on the run, theories on the whereabouts of Bin Laden are as common as speculation about his alleged health complications.

Some analysts say he is living in a cave, wired up to a dialysis machine, while others say he is dead.

Recently, he released his first audiotape in over a year confirming he is alive and active.

Bergen, a terrorism analyst and an expert on al-Qaida, who*interviewed Bin Laden in Afghanistan in March 1997, is among a handful of Western journalists to have ever spoken to him.

His latest book is based on a series of interviews with family members, former teachers, friends and al-Qaida members. Aljazeera.net interviewed him in New York.*

Aljazeera.net: What is the most significant thing about Osama bin Laden's latest audiotape and Ayman al-Zawahiri's video tape?

Peter Bergen: I don't think it's entirely surprising that they came up with a videotape sort of proving that Ayman al-Zawahiri is alive. Clearly they made the Zawahiri tape a day or two after the strike in Pakistan. I think the main message of both tapes is that they are alive.

Do you think Osama Bin Laden is capable of another attack on the US?

I think his ability to attack the US has been greatly diminished over time. If you look at the 9/11 attacks, it involved people in Germany, people in Afghanistan, it involved money from the United Arab Emirates to pay for the plot, and also recruiting people from around the Middle East. It all took place inside the United States. That kind of plan is currently too complicated for al-Qaida which is split into constituent parts.

Can they try and kill Pakistan's President Musharraf as they did twice in 2003? Yes.

Can they attempt to man an operation in London as they did in July 2005? Yes.

Can al-Qaida in Iraq recruit Europeans such as the Belgium female suicide bomber? These things, yes, but attacking the US is much harder than it used to be.

Basically the war on terrorism has shifted to Europe.

Why hasn't the US been able to catch the "world's most wanted man"? Did the Pentagon let him slip away in 2001 in Tora Bora?

It's a problem finding one person. I'm not remotely surprised that they have not found him yet. Tora Bora in 2001 was a missed opportunity. The Americans made a big mistake.

And that's the one time he was in there. Since then, why we haven't found him is that the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is 15,000 miles long. It's the same distance between New York and London. It's a big place. Plus he's obviously not making mistakes, not talking on his satellite phone, not talking on his cellphone.

The people around him are not motivated by money: the cash reward [$25 million for information leading to his capture] is not going to be picked up by somebody in his immediate circle.

So it could take four years or 14 years to find him. They will eventually catch him by the law of averages. He is a human being and human beings make mistakes.

He'll eventually make a mistake. He's in a very interesting Catch-22 right now. Every time either he or Zawahiri release a videotape or an audiotape, it means that it might help reveal their location. The most recent tape that was released was the 35th tape since 9/11. It's a lot of tapes, one every six weeks on average.

So if they release the tape they remain in the game because the tapes give broad ideological guidance to jihadists around the world. If they stop releasing the tapes, they will just fade into obscurity. So releasing the tapes opens them up to the possibility of detection. I think the reason Zawahiri was attacked a few weeks ago in that house was because he's been releasing so many tapes recently, that may have led to some information.

George Bush, the US president, wants Bin Laden "dead or alive". Do you believe it's in the West's best interest to try him?

They should try him although the Saddam Hussein trial turned out to be a complete farce. I don't think it will happen because Bin Laden repeatedly said "I am going to prepare to martyr myself for the struggle".

I take him completely at face value. He will martyr himself. At the back of my book, I have a quote from Abu Jandal, Bin Laden's bodyguard in the 2000 period. Abu Jandal was given a gun by Bin Laden with two bullets. He said to him "one is for you and the other is for me. I want to be a martyr. I don't want to be captured". It has all the ring of truth.

Many say that the CIA gave Bin Laden his start in Afghanistan in the 1980s jihad against the Soviets. Is Bin Laden an American creation that has come back to haunt them?

The real story is that the CIA did not know about Bin Laden until 1995. Often people say that Bin Laden was a CIA creation, but there's never been any evidence.

Was there ever a link between Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden?

No link.

Iraqi intelligence played footsie with al-Qaida in Sudan in the mid 1990s. At some point in the early 1990s there may have been some meetings. Bin Laden hated Saddam. He told his childhood friend Batarfi "this guy can never be trusted".

Is Bin Laden behind the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's attacks in Iraq?

Zarqawi is doing his own thing, but I think an indicator of Bin Laden's continued influence is that in 2004 Zarqawi, pledged his allegiance to al-Qaida's leader. So Bin Laden is behind the attacks from an ideological sense.

He's never been to Iraq. He's called for attacks on members of the coalition; we've had attacks in Madrid and London. He's called for attacks on Saudi and Iraqi oil facilities; we've seen a lot of those. From an operational perspective, he's not behind it but from an ideological perspective, he is.

Has the war in Iraq diminished in any way the threat of al-Qaida?

No, quite the reverse.

I mean there are two separate questions. Will the war on Iraq bring democratisation to Iraq and other countries? We don't know yet. It's brought some democratisation, like getting rid of Saddam and we've had some elections.

Has it helped the war on terrorism? The short answer is No. If you look at the terrorism figures of 2004, they are three times worse than 2003 and if you look at the terrorism figures for 2003, they are the worst yet significant attacks since 1982.

There's a lot of terrorism happening around the world and some of it has got to do with the Iraq war which has energised al-Qaida and its affiliates.

What is the extent of his grass-roots support in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan?

A worldwide opinion poll taken by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in 2004 found that 65% of people in Pakistan viewed Bin Laden favourably and 50% in Saudi Arabia. But interestingly when you ask people in Saudi Arabia if they want Bin Laden to run the country, only 5% say yes.

When you first met Osama Bin Laden in 1997, did you ever feel he would become the world's most feared terrorist?

No. He was intelligent, well informed, he was focused, he was very serious, pious and he did not have much of a sense of humour. He remained relentless on his message. He is like President Bush, he doesn't change his tune very much. He said the same things to us in 1997 and he hasn't really changed the reasons on why he is attacking us.

When I met him in 1997, he was going on about America's foreign policy in the Middle East. He told us that he wanted to attack the US but it was hard for me to fathom: we were sitting in a mud hut in the middle of the night in Afghanistan, part of me was saying that was very interesting, but how will he do it? And then the embassy attacks happened in Africa in 1998 and that's when it became clear that he was serious.

In your new book The Osama Bin Laden I Know, you say that Bin Laden is a "news junkie" who likes to watch Larry King Live. What does this say about his whereabouts?

I don't think he's in a cave cowering somewhere. And I am not surprised that Bin Laden is reading newspapers. He doesn't have to have an internet connection - somebody must be printing stories up for him. If you look at the most recent tape of Bin Laden, his clothes are well pressed.

But where do you think he is now?

In Pakistan.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/22286D30-97F2-4DF0-977A-E2123904A49D.htm

1001

02-03-2006, 01:00 PM

Osama, Zawahiri calling shots from Pak: Report
...

Intel Chief Says Osama Bin Laden Elusive

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The U.S. spy agencies have not known where Osama bin Laden is hiding for some time, the nation's top intelligence official said Friday in an Associated Press interview.

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said the general view is that the terror leader and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are still alive.

Yet "we are not certain where he is," Negroponte said of bin Laden during a rare interview at his office. "I think it's been a while since we had a fix on that. ... Every now and then they broadcast messages to their following and the world as a way of proving they are alive."

In the last two weeks, bin Laden and al-Zawahri have delivered recorded messages promising more attacks on the West. It was bin Laden's first public statement in more than a year.

But little is publicly known about where the two are thought to be hiding, and details on the manhunt remain closely guarded. The United States is offering $25 million rewards for information leading to the killing or capture of either terrorist leader.

U.S. and Afghan forces pursued bin Laden at the 2001 battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan, but he is believed to have escaped. U.S. officials do not believe he and al-Zawahri are now hiding together, and bin Laden many be in a more remote location.

"Clearly, they are operating in more difficult circumstances than before 9/11," Negroponte said. "The successes we had in going after bin Laden's top leadership over the past several years have definitely cramped his style."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_on_go_ot/spy_chief_interview_1

Casey

02-03-2006, 10:40 PM

Plea to bin Laden to retaliate
http://www.wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?p=534646#post534646

Palestinian Refugees Called on Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al Zarqawi to Protect the Islam
http://www.wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?p=534650#post534650

The 801

02-08-2006, 11:30 AM

Bosnia: Hague Judge Silences Bin Laden Bosnia Testimony, as NATO’s Claims Questioned
Posted on Wednesday, February 08 @ 08:00:00 EST by CDeliso

Judge Patrick Robinson immediately shut down a Western journalist on the Hague Tribunal witness stand last week, when she disclosed having seen Osama bin Laden waltz into the office of late Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in November 1994.

Just as veteran British journalist Eve-Ann Prentice, who covered the Yugoslav conflicts for the Guardian and the Times told of the famous OBL, Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice objected, and the judge “…cut off the testimony immediately declaring it ‘irrelevant,’” according to the defense’s recap of a devastating day of testimony.

However, considering that the defendant, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was trying to make a case that the Bosnian Serbs were fighting because Izetbegovic wanted to create an Islamic state that would not be particularly tolerant of Serbs, it would seem that this “explosive” mention of his connection with the world’s most wanted man would in fact be quite relevant.

According to the report, while Prentice was waiting in Izetbegovic's foyer for an interview she, and a journalist from Germany’s Der Speigel, “saw Osama bin Laden being escorted into Izetbegovic’s office… needless to say this evidence did not sit well with the tribunal.”

Prentice was by no means the first to make the bin Laden-Bosnia connection. Izetbegovic’s plans for making Bosnia an Islamic state were long known, and the fact that there was a strong foreign mujahedin presence in Bosnia, would both indicate that her squelched testimony was highly relevant indeed.

However, as in all the other tribunals designed to bolster the Official Truth established by government interests – not least of all the 9/11 Commission – evidence such as hers is blotted out immediately or blocked in advance.

And vitally, the mass media has lost interest too, now that the “good news” has stopped flowing in like it used to, when the prosecution against Milosevic had the momentum. Since the former Yugoslav president has taken the offensive, however, Western media coverage has stopped altogether, expect for the occasional report fearing that his various illnesses might interfere with “justice” being done...........

http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=624

The 801

02-08-2006, 04:04 PM

Sensational Brit Press, interesting stuff though. How many more places like this?

Bin Laden's British HQ
By SIMON HUGHES
Chief Investigative Reporter

HATE-filled Abu Hamza turned the mosque where he held court into Osama Bin Laden’s British HQ, The Sun can reveal.

The preacher — caged for seven years yesterday — was at the centre of a web of evil that stretched around the world.

Killers linked to his stomping ground — the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London — have claimed more than 3,100 lives. Among the maniacs are:

The FOUR London suicide bombers — led by the mastermind of the 7/7 atrocities Mohammed Siddique Khan and his cohort Shehzeed Tanweer.

9/11 HIJACK plotter Zacarias Moussaoui — currently on trial in America.

SHOE BOMBERS Richard Reid and Sajid Badat.

COP KILLER Kamel Bourgass — who murdered a detective as he tried to escape capture.

RICIN POISON PLOTTER Mohammed Meguerba.

Hamza’s fellow preacher of hate Abu Qatada, often referred to as Bin Laden’s European envoy — and currently in custody — also spewed out his venom at the mosque.

What jurors at Hamza’s Old Bailey trial were not told was that when police raided the mosque three years ago they found a chilling haul of terrorist gear.

The stash included nuclear, biological and chemical warfare suits, replica pistols, a stun gun and a CS canister. Detectives suspect the material was used in terror training camps in the UK.

The mosque was used for at least four camps — which attracted more than 100 volunteers.

Yesterday a cleric who stood up to Hamza said: “He was like a savage dog turned loose on society.”

Abdul Kardar Barkatulla, 53, told how he was beaten up after denouncing the self-styled sheik as a fake. He said: “Abu Hamza is not even his real name. If ever there was a false prophet he is one.

“I want to thank The Sun for telling the world the truth about this man. Your revelations have stopped many possibly impressionable young Muslims from following him.”

Mr Barkatulla known as Mufti because he is a genuine religious leader, was attacked by three Hamza-supporting thugs in West London’s Ladbroke Grove mosque.

His assailants were never caught. The dad of three — who has since received more threats — said: “I was smashed twice in the face and mouth. I was cut and bleeding and staggered back from the blows.

“It was very frightening to think that I could be attacked in a holy place like a mosque.

“That perhaps revealed more truth about Hamza and the type of people who support him.”

Mr Barkatulla was a trustee of the Finsbury Park Mosque for five years from 1997 to 2002.

He was at the forefront of the battle to regain control from Hamza.

He said: “When I heard him say from the pulpit of a suicide bombing in Israel, ‘We should welcome it’ I could not stomach that.”

Hamza virtually controlled the £50,000 annual income of Finsbury Park Mosque for four years.

When he was finally booted out it was discovered that £20,000 was owed for gas and electricity.

A mosque bank account to which he was the signatory, and which none of the trustees knew about, was also discovered with only £10 in it.

Last night a senior British security source confirmed the mosque was a common factor in “dozens” of terrorist investigations. The source added: “Hamza was an influential figure.”

London suicide bomber Mohammed Siddique Khan is believed to have stayed at the mosque.

Detectives still probing the July 7 horror — which killed 52 people — believe his fellow killers heard Hamza preach.

Would-be 9/11 hijacker Moussaoui — involved in the plot to attack New York and Washington that left more than 3,000 dead — frequented the mosque while in London.

His mother later claimed he was brainwashed by radicals. Shoe bombers Reid and Badat were also visitors. Cop killer Bourgass took refuge at the mosque after being despatched to Britain by his al—Qaeda masters.

His chief accomplice Meguerba was another regular visitor.

Videos of Hamza’s fellow preacher Abu Qatada railing against the West were found in the flat used by 9/11 hijack leader Mohammed Atta.

Hamza’s connections to Bin Laden’s high command were exposed by two al-Qaeda supergrasses currently in custody in the US.

The hook-handed hatemonger has always claimed he was maimed defusing a bomb in Afghanistan. But a court statement in America alleges he was ASSEMBLING a bomb.

The UN ordered the freezing of five bank accounts in different aliases used by Hamza to “prevent or suppress the financing of terrorism”.

His son Muhammad Mustafa Kamel and stepson Muhsin Ghalin were jailed in Yemen on terror charges. That prompted fanatics to take Western tourists, including Britons, as hostages.

Hamza is accused by the US of providing the kidnap leader with a satellite phone.

The menace posed by Hamza from his Finsbury Park fortress was summed up by a QC during a bid to boot him out of Britain.

Ian Burnett declared: “He has provided support and advice to terrorist groups, including the GIA, an Algerian group, the Yemeni IAA group, the Egyptian organisation called the EIJ, the Kashmiri group called the HUA and of course to al-Qaeda.

“He has encouraged and supported the participation in physical aspects of jihad, including fighting overseas and engaging in terrorist acts.

“He has provided through the Finsbury Park Mosque a centre for extremism and a safe haven for Islamist extremism enabling them to develop the contacts necessary for further acts of violence.”

In the late 1980s Hamza tried to seek control of the world famous Central London Mosque in Regent’s Park. He was foiled when the leadership discovered his plot — and banned him.

Hamza is also suspected of trying to oust the Muslim leaderships in Brighton and Luton.

Former Central London Mosque estates manager Fazli Ali, 66, said: “Our mosque has always been a peaceful, non-political place and Hamza wanted to turn it into a political arena.

“Hamza and his cronies threatened me several times. I was head of security but they even threatened to kill me.”

Mr Ali obtained a High Court injunction banning Hamza and six others from the mosque.

He said: “It was difficult to get rid of Hamza but we managed it.

“Hamza just wanted to make himself famous. He has ended up famous — and in jail.”

Terrorism expert Neil Doyle warned: “Abu Hamza may now be out of action but, in many ways, he’s already completed his mission.

“There’s a jihad army in this country and that’s thanks to Hamza and others like him.

“This country still faces the grim prospect of more suicide bombings carried out by people who have been inspired by his passion for violence.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006060390,00.html

1001

02-17-2006, 12:03 PM

Interview with Michael Scheuer
"Bin Laden´s game"

http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?p=554148#post554148

Casey

02-19-2006, 10:38 PM

Osama vows never to be caught
New Bin Laden audiotape

(Cairo, Egypt-AP, February 19, 2006) - Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the U.S. had resorted to the same "repressive" tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted Monday on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.
"I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," bin Laden said.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

"The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam."

With the implied criticism of Saddam, bin Laden appeared to be denying assertions by the Bush administration that the former Iraqi leader had ties to al-Qaida - ties that were given as one rationale for invading Iraq.

The tape's release in January came days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.

In the full tape that was posted Monday, bin Laden engaged in renewed propaganda, mocking President Bush's aircraft carrier declaration in April 2003 that major conflict in Iraq had ended.

Speaking directly to the American people, the speaker said:

"You can rescue whatever you can from this hell. The solution is in your hands, if their (U.S. troops') situation matters to you at all."

The initial excerpts had been the first tape from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year - the longest period without a message since the Sept. 11 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.

The CIA last month authenticated the voice on the initial recording as that of bin Laden, an agency official told The Associated Press at the time. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The last audiotape purported to be from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004 by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

Previously, the longest period without a message from the al-Qaida leader was from December 2001 to November 2002. He issued numerous tapes in 2003 and 2004, calling for Muslims to attack U.S. interests and threatening attacks against the United States.

Since December 2004, al-Zawahri, the al-Qaida Number 2, has issued a number of video and audiotapes, including one claiming responsibility for the July London subway bombings, which he said came after Europe rejected the terms of bin Laden's truce offer.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=nation_world&id=3922864

1001

02-20-2006, 10:36 AM

Osama vows never to be caught
New Bin Laden audiotape

Any idea where to find the whole audio??

By the way, in the JihadUnspoon transcript one could read that he swore
only to die free just after the release of the tape... so it´s not quite a new thing...
http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=105896&list=/home.php&

Casey

02-20-2006, 06:11 PM

Any idea where to find the whole audio??

By the way, in the JihadUnspoon transcript one could read that he swore
only to die free just after the release of the tape... so it´s not quite a new thing...
http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=105896&list=/home.php&
I'm certain it's out there. If the cyber wars ever settle down enough to pull up a page or 2, we'll see.

http://forums.winxpcentral.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

1001

02-21-2006, 08:53 AM

Today you can find the first part of the audio with english subtitles on JUS !

Osama Bin Laden To America, Part 1 (101 MB)

http://www.jihadunspun.net/home.php

1001

02-25-2006, 08:49 AM

Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Saudi Attacks In “Osama Bin Laden Expedition”

By Ubaidah Al-Saif , Translation © Jihad Unspun 2006

In what Saudi authorities tried to paint as a minor accident, yesterday’s attack on the Abqaiq oil facility was carried out by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in what was dubbed “The Osama Bin Laden Expedition”. Ramming cars packed with explosives into the gates of a vast processing plant, this latest attack signals a new phase to expel the Americans from the Arabian Peninsula.

Al-Qaeda released a written statement claiming responsibility in native Arabic that appears as the next news item on the front page. Following is the complete English translation, uncut and uncensored, as translated by JUS.

We remind our viewers that the opinions and points of view expressed in this article are those of the author and shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of Jihad Unspun, the publisher, editor, writers, contributors or staff.

Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula Takes Responsibility For Attacks On Saudi Oil Refineries, Calls It “Osama Ben Laden Expedition”

A statement regarding “Osama Ben Laden Expedition”, may Allah preserve him.

Praise be to Allah, the protector of the righteous, and no aggression except against those transgressors. Peace and prayers be upon the one who was sent with the sword as mercy to all creation, our prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and all of those who follow his footsteps until The Day of Judgment.

In the afternoon of today, the 26th of Muharram, 1427 A.H., the heroes Mujahideen in “Osama Ben Laden Unit”, may Allah preserve him, were able to storm the oil refineries in the city of Baqiq, in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, by the Grace of Allah.

The Mujahideen successfully brought two explosive laden vehicles which were driven by two martyrdom seeker brothers. The site of our attack was a symbol of the grand robbery of Muslim wealth. We will be back to you with details of the blessed operation and we will tell more about the heroes of the Osama Bin Laden Unit, insha’a Allah.

This operation comes as part of carefully crafted program in our war against the crusaders and the Jews to stop them from robbing Muslims of our wealth. This operation is also part of the wider program to expel all infidels from the Arabian Peninsula.

The heroes of this operation are a fine example of Muslim youths in the Arabian Peninsula, there are more here like them, alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah). All of them compete and cant wait to fight the enemies of Allah from the Jews, cross worshipers, and all of their allies and supporters in the region. Their hearts bleed constantly for the suffering of their Muslim brothers and sisters at the hands of the enemies of Allah in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Those youths will show you what pleases your eyes and heals your breasts, insha’a Allah.

O Allah! Destroy America and its allies and give us victory over them; you are full of strength, Exalted in might.

Al-Qaeda Organization In The Arabian Peninsula
26th of Muharram, 1427
February 24, 2006

English Translation © Jihad Unspun 2006
http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=106422&list=/home.php&

al-Canine

02-25-2006, 09:19 AM

Bin Laden By the Book

By Paul R. Pillar

As long as Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remain at large somewhere along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the hunt for them will be a major part of the al Qaeda story. Their mocking of the hunters, in their repeated audio- and videotapes, will keep them in the news regardless of any operational role they still play.

The nature of that role is an open question, but with bin Laden and Zawahiri on the run and many of the upper echelons of their organization dead or incarcerated, their direct connection with terrorist operations is almost certainly less than at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Other issues involving what remains of bin Laden's group in South Asia include how much assistance it receives from local Afghan and Pakistani populations (or from the still-active Taliban) and how much effort Pakistani security forces are putting into the hunt.

The most important questions about the international terrorist threat today involve not bin Laden's group but the larger radical Sunni Islamist movement of which it is the most familiar part -- and to which the term "al Qaeda" often is loosely applied. The latter usage of that name gives rise to questions about whether al Qaeda is best thought of as an organization or an ideology. In this looser, larger sense, it is more an ideology. But issues of power and organization still arise with, for example, the relationship that bin Laden and Zawahiri have with insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, who has adopted the al Qaeda brand name but has exerted operational autonomy.

As for ideology, there are questions about the extent to which al Qaeda's offshoots and emulators in Europe, East Asia and elsewhere will adhere to bin Laden's concept of a global jihad against a U.S.-led West or will be more focused on national and regional conflicts.

Books

Book-length profiles of al Qaeda include:

· " Through Our Enemies' Eyes" (Potomac Books) by former CIA bin Laden unit chief Michael Scheuer (writing as Anonymous) and Peter Bergen's "Holy War Inc." (Touchstone).

· Bruce Hoffman's "Inside Terrorism" (Columbia University Press) is still probably the best general treatment of terrorism.

· "The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West" (Harvard University Press), by Gilles Kepel, offers a leading European scholar's perspective on the evolving shape of jihadism.

· The first part of "The Age of Sacred Terror" (Random House) by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon traces the ideological roots and modern evolution of Sunni jihadism.

· "The Muslim World After 9/11," a new volume from Rand, is a useful compendium on how changed perspectives after that event have affected many issues throughout the Muslim world.

Articles

· Articles that raise questions about some of the conventional wisdom on al Qaeda include: Daniel Byman, "Al-Qaeda as an Adversary: Do We Understand Our Enemy?" (World Politics, October 2003) and Jason Burke, "Think Again: Al Qaeda" (Foreign Policy, May/June 2004).

· I raised some of the implications of a decentralized jihadist movement in "Counterterrorism After Al Qaeda" (Washington Quarterly, Summer 2004).

On the Web

· A concise factual summary about al Qaeda is at http://cfrterrorism.org/groups/alqaeda.html, part of the highly informative Web site on terrorism maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations.

· In a similar vein is a report released by the Congressional Research Service in August 2005, "Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment," available at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL33038.pdf.

Paul R. Pillar, who is on the faculty of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, served for 28 years in the CIA and recently retired as the National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/24/AR2006022402302.html

al-Canine

02-25-2006, 09:23 AM

A Guide To the Hunt

By Peter Bergen

When I visited Osama bin Laden's former base in Tora Bora little more than a year ago, I climbed steep, scree-covered slopes to reach his Afghan house, perched high above the snow line and commanding views of verdant valleys several thousand feet below. The hamlet, known as Milawa, comprised several lookout posts strung out along ridge lines, a bakery, bin Laden's two-bedroom house and even a crude swimming pool, all of which had been destroyed by U.S. air strikes in December 2001. It is a place where bin Laden seems to have been very happy. He once told Abdel Bari Atwan, a Palestinian journalist, "I really enjoy my life when I'm here. I feel secure in this place."

It is also the place from which bin Laden staged one of history's great disappearing acts. His escape from those air strikes during the battle of Tora Bora has become part of al Qaeda's mythology: In an audiotape aired on al-Jazeera in February 2003, bin Laden boasted: "We were only 300 fighters. We had already dug 100 trenches spread out in a space that didn't exceed one square mile . . . American forces were bombing us by smart bombs that weigh thousands of pounds."

Shortly after the release of that tape, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was asked why the United States had not been able to find the terrorist leader. "It's very hard to find a single individual in the world. It's a big place," Rumsfeld explained, adding: "He's either alive -- he's alive and injured badly -- or he's dead. Who knows?"

Today, bin Laden remains stubbornly alive, as demonstrated by another audiotape released in recent weeks in which he offered a truce to the United States, should it withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, and vowed never to be taken alive. Indeed, he has proved such a successful fugitive that it's worth asking some of the questions that underlie the continuing U.S. efforts to track down the al Qaeda leader: Does finding him really matter? What makes him so difficult to capture? And, if Osama bin Laden is finally located, would it be better to capture him or to kill him?

Why bother?

According to recent USA Today polls, seven out of eight Americans believe that it is important to capture or kill bin Laden, while 75 percent believe he is planning a significant attack on the United States. These numbers suggest that bringing bin Laden to justice would be a key psychological victory in the war on terrorism.

There is another reason that finding bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is important. Bin Laden may no longer be calling people on a satellite phone to order attacks, but he remains in broad ideological and strategic control of al Qaeda around the world. An indicator of this is that two years ago Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent commander in Iraq, renamed his organization al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers and publicly swore bayat , a religiously binding oath of allegiance, to bin Laden.

Moreover, the 35 video and audiotapes that bin Laden and Zawahiri have released since 9/11 have reached tens of millions of people worldwide through television, newspapers and the Internet, making them among the most widely distributed political statements in history. Those tapes have not only had the effect of pumping up al Qaeda's base, but some have also carried specific instructions that jihadists have acted upon. In 2004, for example, bin Laden offered a truce to European countries willing to pull out of the coalition in Iraq. Almost exactly a year after his offer expired, explosions on London's public transportation system killed 56 people. On a subsequent videotape, Zawahiri explained that the bombings came as a result of the British government ignoring bin Laden's offer.

Why is it so hard?

Rumsfeld has a point. It can be difficult to find any fugitive, even one who stands out as much as bin Laden (who is 6 foot 5). Think of Eric Rudolph, the object of one of the most intense manhunts in U.S. history, who remained on the run for five years after bombing Atlanta's Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics. Or the alleged Bosnian-Serb war criminal Gen. Ratko Mladic, whose arrest was reported and then denied by Serbian authorities last week -- more than a decade after he was indicted for genocide. Now imagine the challenge of capturing bin Laden, who is likely in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Afghanistan's border -- an area of 30,000 dauntingly inhospitable square miles.

The United States has had some success locating terrorists in Pakistan. Mir Aimal Kansi, who killed two CIA employees in 1993 outside the agency's Langley headquarters, was tracked down four years later in the obscure town of Dera Ismail Khan. His capture was the result of a carefully cultivated network of informants and the payment of a substantial reward to the person who dropped a dime on Kansi.

But those in bin Laden's immediate circle do not seem to be tempted by the promise of rewards. There were no takers for the $5 million bounty the State Department put on his head following the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa. And there seem to be no takers now for the payout which has risen to $27 million. (Throw in Zawahiri, and the total reaches $52 million.)

What's more, bin Laden seems to have long been preparing for life on the run, adopting a lifestyle of monk-like detachment from material comforts. One Palestinian journalist who interviewed him in Afghanistan in 1996 recalls that dinner for bin Laden and some of his inner circle consisted of salty cheese, a potato, five or six fried eggs and bread caked with sand. Noman Benotman, a Libyan who once fought with al Qaeda, told me that bin Laden used to instruct his followers, "You should learn to sacrifice everything from modern life like electricity, air conditioning, refrigerators, gasoline. If you are living the luxury life, it's very hard to evacuate and go to the mountains to fight."

Where exactly is he?

There doesn't seem to be much intelligence about bin Laden's exact whereabouts. The conventional wisdom is that he is somewhere in the tribal belt along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, but it is clear from the most recent videotapes of bin Laden and Zawahiri that they are not living in caves. Both men's clothes are clean and well-pressed, and the tapes that they have released are well-shot productions suggesting access either to electrical outlets or generators to run lights.

Their statements have also been notably well informed about what is going on around the world. In his most recent videotape bin Laden made a reference to the scene in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" where President Bush continued to read a story about a goat to a kindergarten class after he had been informed that passenger jets had crashed into the World Trade Center. Comments like that suggest that if bin Laden and Zawahiri are indeed in the tribal areas, they are in a compound either in, or near, one of the larger towns with access to modern amenities.

One U.S. military official familiar with the hunt told me he believes bin Laden "has been hunkered down in one place for a long time," making it harder to track him, whereas Zawahiri is "more operational and is moving more." That may explain the U.S. air strike aimed at killing Zawahiri last month in the village of Damadola, on Pakistan's Afghan border. It resulted in the death of five alleged terrorists, but about two weeks later Zawahiri released a videotape thumbing his nose at President Bush.

How to go about it?

Probably not by signals intelligence generated from phone calls. Bin Laden had been careful not to use satellite or cell phones since long before the 9/11 attacks. According to his media adviser, Khalid al-Fawaz, whom I met in London in 1997, bin Laden had already learned to avoid electronic communications. Bin Laden has released only one tape in the past 14 months, possibly because al Qaeda leaders are aware that every time they do so, they open themselves to detection as the chain of custody of these tapes is the one sure way of finding them.

One possible vulnerability is bin Laden's immediate family, with whom he may remain in contact. Three of bin Laden's wives, along with a dozen or so children, chose to remain with him when he adopted the jihadist life. After the fall of the Taliban they all disappeared. My hunch is that they are under the protection of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a formidable Taliban commander who has known bin Laden since the 1980s. Haqqani's forces are spread from Khost in eastern Afghanistan to Waziristan in western Pakistan, sites of some of the most intense recent fighting.

Are we getting the help we need?

Pakistanis certainly feel that they have done more than their share. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military dictator, has survived at least two assassination attempts engineered by al Qaeda and its affiliates in the past two years; hundreds of his security and army personnel have been killed, and Pakistani law enforcement has participated in the arrest of half a dozen key al Qaeda operatives. But the continuing presence of its leaders in Pakistan indicates that al Qaeda has found a congenial place to relocate itself, close to its former bases in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden has long enjoyed popularity among Pakistanis. In 2004 a Pew poll found al Qaeda's leader had a 65 percent favorability rating. However, in a poll released in mid-December by ACNeilsen Pakistan the number of Pakistanis expressing a positive view of bin Laden had fallen to 33 percent. This comes at the same time that Pakistanis are expressing more favorable views of the United States -- 46 percent -- as a result of American relief efforts following October's devastating earthquake.

Perhaps these more positive attitudes about the United States provide an opening that President Bush can exploit on his upcoming trip to Pakistan to advocate for some kind of role for U.S. forces on the ground in the tribal areas. Right now the key weakness in the U.S. hunt for bin Laden is that its soldiers are not allowed to operate openly on Pakistani territory. Granting such a request would entail political risks for Musharraf, who is widely seen as a stooge of the Bush administration (and often referred to as Busharraf).

Dead or alive?

Making bin Laden a martyr would not serve our interests. Instead he should be subjected to the same treatment that Saddam Hussein suffered when he was captured -- checked for head lice and publicly humiliated on camera. Bin Laden is now a mythic personality, and the best way to revert him to the status of an ordinary human being is to treat him like one. (One U.S. official told me, though, that if al Qaeda's leader were captured, it would likely produce a significant backlash -- Americans being taken hostage with the aim of freeing him.) It is, however, unlikely that he will be captured. Last year his former bodyguard, Abu Jandal, told the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, "Sheikh Osama gave me a pistol. The pistol had only two bullets, for me to kill Sheikh Osama with in case we were surrounded or he was about to fall into the enemy's hands so that he would not be caught alive."

Of course, bin Laden may make a mistake that reveals his location and makes him vulnerable to American Predator drones. If the United States felt it had intelligence about bin Laden's location, the pressure to launch a missile strike immediately would be intense, despite the risk of his ensuing martyrdom and a rash of anti-American attacks.

As bin Laden himself put it to Jandal, if he were killed, "his blood would become a beacon that arouses the zeal and determination of his followers." The man who once enjoyed a quiet rural life in the mountains of Tora Bora aims in death to ascend into the pantheon of Islamic heroes -- a Saladin for the 21st century "martyred" by those he calls "the Crusaders."

bergenpeter@aol.com

Peter Bergen is a fellow of the New America Foundation and the author of "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader" (Free Press).

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/24/AR2006022402330.html

1001

02-27-2006, 10:59 AM

Osama 'didn't mind hugs'

By Danny Rose
27feb06
THE former Melbourne taxi driver convicted this week of receiving cash from al-Qaeda has told of his meetings with Osama bin Laden, and how the world's most-wanted man had a softer side.

"You know, he didn't mind being hugged, but kisses he didn't like," says Jack Thomas, the 32-year-old Werribee father of three who trained under the al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan just months before the September 11, 2001, strike on the United States.

Thomas, who was also found guilty of passport fraud but acquitted of two other terrorism-related charges, was asked of his impression of bin Laden during an interview aired on ABC's Four Corners program.

The Muslim convert says bin Laden is "very polite, and humble and shy ... and he was just, seemed to float, really float across the floor".

Thomas also details his meeting with fellow Australian, Guantanamo Bay detainee and alleged terrorist David Hicks, whom he described as a "really good bloke".

He said the pair met in al-Qaeda's Camp Faruq training facility, but lost contact when they were dispatched to the frontline to join the Taliban in the fight against the Northern Alliance.

"He's a real, you know, blue singlet wearing Aussie," Thomas says of Hicks.

"He actually snuck through the trenches ... came down across the river, across the valley ... to the back of our tent.

"And he had these chocolates with him, that were like contraband at the time."

Thomas, who is awaiting sentence, is facing up to 25 years in prison after a jury this week found him guilty of receiving funds from the terrorist organisation and of making changes to his passport in a bid to disguise the fact he was in Afghanistan.

Thomas had told his parents he was in Pakistan. He agrees he went to Afghanistan to fight but says he sought to return to Australia when he'd had a "gutful" of the conditions and escalating tensions following September 11.

He says he accepted the offer of a return flight to Australia, paid for by al-Qaeda, but he denies he had any intention of setting up a sleeper cell in Australia.

"The money I took ... wasn't for terror work. The money I took was meted out (at) $1500 for a year's maintenance and $2000 for waiting for so long."

Thomas also tells how he was tortured by Pakistani authorities after his arrest over the passport falsification, and he says he was relieved to speak to ASIO and Australian Federal Police (AFP) because it signalled he could be returned to Australia.

Thomas was also found not guilty of two counts of intentionally providing resources to al-Qaeda, and his defence team said today an appeal would be launched once his sentence is handed down.

Lawyer Rob Stary said earlier in the day that the defence would assert Thomas's co-operation with AFP agents was exploited, and he was also refused the right to talk to a lawyer before his interview.

"We don't say he was threatened by Australian agents, but the whole process became contaminated after he was interrogated by Pakistani and American authorities," Mr Stary said.

Also today, leading human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, QC, said the $300 million in kickbacks allegedly paid by Australian wheat exporter AWB to Saddam Hussein's regime had done more to fuel terrorism.

Federal Labor also accused Attorney-General Philip Ruddock of breaching parliament's sub judice rules by talking about the Thomas case today.

Mr Ruddock used Parliament to respond to statements by Thomas's lawyers that the case was a "trophy trial" and it showed what could happen to Muslims who cooperated with authorities.

"What this case demonstrates very clearly is if you get involved with terrorists and their activities then you do so at your own peril," Mr Ruddock said today."

Thomas will face a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18286674%255E421,00.html

The 801

03-13-2006, 07:11 AM

INSIDE BIN LADEN'S BUNKER
EXCLUSIVE Secrets of Osama's mountain boltholeBy Chris Hughes In Afghanistan
THE huge, air-conditioned rooms, running hot and cold water, porcelain loos and the giant concrete arches reveal a surprising degree of comfort and luxury.

Then you see the grisly reminders of the terror that once lurked here, 100ft beneath the Afghan countryside.

A leg, an arm, fragments of bone and bits of cloth lying among the rubble.

This is the elaborate underground bunker Osama bin Laden built for his key aide, Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and his most trusted al-Qaeda fighters. And I am the first journalist to set foot here.

From a distance it appears to be just another of the hillsides, scarred by bomb craters, at the foot of the mountain range overlooking the country's second city Kandahar.

Only when you draw near do you notice the small opening and the steel door, the gateway to the labyrinth of tunnels beyond.

It still casts a pall of fear over Kandahar and far beyond.

Little wonder one shopkeeper told me: "That place has brought many deaths to Afghanistan. It is a place best forgotten."

The hideaway was bombed and stormed by US forces after 9/11. Yet a great deal of the structure, protected by 2ft of concrete, survives almost unscathed.

A gently sloping tunnel takes you into the pitch-black darkness of the bowels of the complex.

Steel supports are in the 7ft high arch, with barely enough room for bin Laden's 6ft 5in frame.

Fifty yards ahead is a T-junction as the tunnel splits off to the right and left.

You soon come across the cavernous rooms that had modern air-conditioning - powered by the cave's own electricity supply - that served as sleeping quarters.

One bomb-hit room is carpeted with rubble and has what appear to be the remnants of computers.

There are also porcelain, Middle- Eastern-style toilets built into the ground and a shower room with hot and cold water to make it a real home from home. An intricate plumbing system piped in fresh water from a nearby well.

Construction on the mountainside complex is thought to have begun in 1997, financed by wealthy Saudi bin Laden.

The terror mastermind even physically helped build the tunnels by hand. The bolthole was sited near Mullah Omar's home so he could flee there in a hurry.

Its solidity and complexity are testament to the skill of al-Qaeda engineers. They honed their tunnel-making skills as Mujahidin fighters who drove the Russians out of Afghanistan in the 80s.

Omar, hundreds of al-Qaeda men and possibly bin Laden himself fled the site just before it was blasted and overrun by the Americans. They left behind a band of diehard fighters whose rotting remains still lie there.

Now, in the gloomy darkness, one can hear the only guards left - killer Afghan pit vipers.

Taliban chief Omar and his men may have fled the bunker but they still bring fear to the region.

The shopkeeper added: "At night the Taliban rule this area. Not much has changed, except they are no longer underground hiding. They are among us and fear very little."

In summer, the 5,000-strong British 16th Airborne Assault brigade arrive in neighbouring Helmand province to take on the warlords. But news of their deployment has, if anything, made the region more volatile.

Kidnappings remain rife, with Taliban chiefs now offering bandits £600 for every Westerner they seize and £400 for each Afghan collaborator - and are prepared to execute anyone falling into their hands.

It is impossible for Westerners to walk freely around Kandahar, as we learnt.

We spent a week holed up in a compound surrounded by 10ft walls topped with razor wire, while guards with AK47s stood watch 24 hours a day.

But even they were powerless to stop two rockets exploding yards away.

Machine-gun fire echoes through the mountains as US and British special forces fight the insurgents. Closer to home, the noise of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire often shatters the night silence.

WE had to be smuggled into our guesthouse and could only leave in locals' vehicles while disguised beneath traditional scarves.

One Afghan in the room next door warned us: "The Taliban want to capture people like you.

"They wouldn't think twice about cutting your head off."

A Canadian security guard for a US firm added: "If you step outside and are spotted, within minutes someone could shop you to the bad guys.

"Being kidnapped is your worst nightmare as they'll sell you to the Taliban. Bandits see no point in keeping you while Special Forces search for you. It's too big a risk."

FOUR US troops died yesterday in a bomb in Afghanistan's Kunar province. And 44 people died and 200 were hurt in explosions at two Baghdad markets.

c.hughes@mirror.co.uk

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16807138&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=exclusive--inside-bin-laden-s-bunker-name_page.html

The 801

03-20-2006, 09:07 AM

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has claimed that Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are "all together" and "in Pakistan".

In an interview to CNN, Abdullah said that according to his country's intelligence, Laden was "outside Afghanistan and he might be in the same place where other members of Al Qaeda have been arrested".

He said Zawahiri too was with Laden, according to the Daily Times newspaper.

Asked if the Al-Qaeda leader was in Pakistan, the Afghanistan foreign minister replied that it was "more likely".

On the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, Abdullah said all these "friends" would be found together.

Security experts believe that Abdullah's word about their being "together" could be taken literally only if he was hinting at a conclave of the fugitive terrorists that takes place from time to time.

Analysts pointed out that going by the way these militants operated, their being "together" would entail a grave security risk to themselves.

Analysts said Abdullah's statements appeared to be more a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf have been engaged in an angry blame-game over who is responsible for skirmishes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and who is sheltering and arming the Taliban elements responsible for persistent internal turmoil in Afghanistan.

The assessment of the US state department, as also NATO that is doing peacekeeping in Afghanistan, is that the threat from the Taliban to the Karzai regime has been more serious than it has been in his last four years in office.

Abdullah called for greater cooperation between the two countries because they faced a common threat.

Asked to comment on Musharraf's harsh remarks about Karzai in an earlier interview to CNN, the Afghan minister replied that Pakistan and Afghanistan have to work things out and added that there were Taliban bases inside Pakistan.

On whether that meant Pakistan was not doing enough to deal with the Taliban and other such elements in the tribal areas of Pakistan, he replied: "Yes of course they know about this."

Asked "how bad" the relationship between the two countries was, the foreign minister said it was his hope that "we would put it behind us as soon as possible" and the two countries would deal with a common threat in a straightforward manner.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1456706,curpg-1.cms

Is this another mid level guy in a forign govement telling the americans what they want to hear? Who knows. Historic evidence usually is not on the side of these types of statements. Lets see. - the "seen it all before" 801

The 801

03-20-2006, 01:59 PM

PAKISTAN: FORMER PM NAWAZ SHARIF DID MEET BIN LADEN, SAYS EX-INTELLIGENCE AGENT

Karachi, 20 March (AKI) - (Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif did meet al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at least three times in order to get financial help, according to Khalid Khawaja, the former official with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Khawaja, once a close friend of Osama bin Laden, rejected the statements by a spokesperson for Sharif's political party, denying that Sharif had sought political cooperation from bin Laden in the past.

"Nawaz Sharif met Osama Bin Laden on at least three occasions and was desperately seeking his financial assistance," Khawaja told AKI in response to recent news reports regarding a possible meeting between the two.

In an interview with a national Urdu daily, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the leader of the largest Islamic party in Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and of the six party religious alliance MMA, said that Nawaz had repeatedly met Osama bin Laden who offered him money to buy the loyalties of parlimentarians in the late 1980s in order to topple the government of then prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Ahmad also said that bin Laden was a big supporter of Nawaz Sharif's bid to be prime minister in 1990.

Soon after the publication of the interview, the information secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Siddiqul Farooq, denied any contact between Nawaz Sharif and Osama bin Laden.

"Osama is above all this politicking," said Khawaja. "He is a great man and will remain great. Even if Nawaz Sharif’s party refuse to admit a contact between Osama and Nawaz, it will not change the facts which were witnessed by many people including Khayyam Qaisar (Nawaz Sharif’s personal staff officer) and myself," Khalid Khawaja maintained.

Khalid Khawaja is a retired squadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force who was an official in Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, in the mid 1980s. After he wrote a critical letter to General Zia ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1977 till 1988, in which he labeled Zia as hypocrite, he was removed from the ISI and forced to retire from the airforce.

He then went straight to Afghanistan in 1987 and fought against the Soviets along side with Osama Bin Laden, developing a relationship of firm friendship and trust.

Khalid Khawaja’s name resurfaced when US reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and subsequently killed. Pearl had come to Pakistan and met Khalid Khawaja in order to investigate the jihadi network of revered sufi, Syed Mubarak Ali Gailani.

"Actually the situation needs to be understood from very beginning as everybody has got the facts intermingled” Khawaja maintained.

“Soon after the plane crash of then President General Ziaul Haq in August 1988, I was fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The biggest challenge before us was to save Afghan Jihad as in the post-Zia period the victory of the secular Pakistan Peoples Party was like writing on the wall.”

“So initially a few Pakistanis, including myself, planned an alliance which would be dominated by Islamic parties and also include the moderate Pakistan Muslim League. We wanted clear domination of hardline religious parties so that moderate Muslim League would not deviate from the cause of Jihad,” Khawaja asserted.

“A businessman, Tanveer Sheikh, Dr Adil of Jamia Farooqia, Karachi and myself were the three person who initiated this task. Tanveer Sheikh provided the seed money and we established an office in a bungalow in an upmarket neighborhood of Karachi.

"At that time we had zero percent support from ISI. Though they knew of our plan and we both used to exchange notes as well" he said.

"We had meetings with all top religious figures ranging from Mufti Rafi Usmani to Maulana Fazlur Rehman and finally brought them together under the umbrella of Muttahida Ulema Council (United Islamic Scholars Council).”

"However, the irony of this situation was that when all there was a ground-swell for a broader Islamic alliance the ISI hijacked the whole plan and deviated partners into IJI (Islamic Democratic Alliance).

Even then, Khawaja said, they did not give up and tried to outwit Benazir Bhutto . We met Altaf Hussain of MQM and he agreed to vote against Benazir Bhutto, then we tried to cut a deal between Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz was ready to give a big share to Fazl in power but Fazl insisted on premiership. As a result of these differences, Benazir Bhutto prevailed and with a very simple majority formed her government in 1989" Khawaja recalled.

“Now after Benazir Bhutto formed her government and the opposition parties moved for a vote of no-confidence, Osama Bin Laden comes in a picture,” Khawaja recalled.

“However, let it be clear that Osama is Mujahid. His aim was not to manipulate Pakistani politics. His whole life revolves around the cause of Jihad” he said.

“I still remember that Osama bin Laden provided me with funds, which I handed over to Nawaz Sharif, then the chief minister of Punjab [and later premier], to dislodge Benazir Bhutto. Nawaz Sharif insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with the "Sheikh", which I did in Saudi Arabia. Nawaz met thrice with Osama in Saudi Arabia. "

The most historic was the meeting in the Green Palace Hotel in Medina between Nawaz Sharif, Osama and myself, Khayyam Qaiser is the witness for that meeting in which Khayyem, the personal staff officer tried to take a photograph but Osama’s friends there stopped him.

Osama asked Nawaz to devote himself to "jihad in Kashmir". Nawaz immediately said, "I love jihad." Osama smiled, and then stood up from his chair and went to a nearby pillar and said. "Yes, you may love jihad, but your love for jihad is this much." He then pointed to a small portion of the pillar. "Your love for children is this much," he said, pointing to a larger portion of the pillar. "And your love for your parents is this much," he continued, pointing towards the largest portion. "I agree that you love jihad, but this love is the smallest in proportion to your other affections in life."

These sorts of arguments were beyond Nawaz Sharif's comprehension and he kept asking me. "Manya key nai manya?" [Agreed or not?] He was looking for a grant of 500 million rupee [US 8.4 million dollars at today's rate]. Though Osama gave a comparatively smaller amount, the landmark thing he secured for Nawaz Sharif was a meeting with the [Saudi] royal family, which gave Nawaz Sharif a lot of political support, and it remained till he was dislodged [as premier] by General Pervez Musharraf [in a coup in 1999]. Saudi Arabia arranged for his release and his safe exit to Saudi Arabia,”

“Now with these immortal accounts secured in my memory I see the denials published in newspapers, that Nawaz had nothing to do with Osama, and I think "how can people forget their mentors?". Nawaz proudly said that he is friend of US president Bill Clinton and but denies his association with a revered holy figure like Osama Bin Laden,” Khalid Khawaja concluded

(Syed Saleem Shahzad/Aki)

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.277838622&par=0

1001

04-01-2006, 04:32 AM

Bin Laden Planning U.S. Attack -- Ex-Guard

by UPI Wire
Mar 31, 2006

SANAA, Yemen - March 31, 2006 (UPI) -- That Osama bin Laden is planning another attack on the United States is "certain," his former bodyguard told CBS' "60 Minutes."

Abu Jandal, who worked for the al-Qaida leader from 1996 to 2000, said in an interview to be broadcast April 2: "When Sheik Osama promises something, he does it. ... So I believe Osama bin Laden is planning a new attack inside the United States; this is certain."

He also said he believes that bin Laden is not hiding in Pakistan but in Afghanistan, and he claims that bin Laden will never be taken alive. "There was a special gun to be used if Sheik Osama bin Laden was attacked and we were unable to save him, in which case I would have to kill him," he said.

Abu Jandal revealed that bin Laden narrowly escaped being killed by a 1998 U.S. missile attack on al-Qaida training camps near Khost, Afghanistan, a retaliatory strike for the al-Qaida bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Still a faithful supporter of bin Laden's, he wishes he were still with the al-Qaida leader, and he hopes that his son will become a martyr for the cause.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21212543.shtml

1001

04-02-2006, 11:41 AM

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Dalai Lama warns against killing Osama Bin Laden

LONDON: If Osama Bin Laden were killed, that hatred would cause another 10 like him to spring up, the Dalai Lama said in an interview with a British newspaper published on Saturday. In a wide-ranging interview with the London-based Daily Telegraph, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said that terrorists should be treated humanely, revealed the workings of his relationship with US President George W Bush, repeated his opposition to homosexuality and said that westerners had become too self-absorbed. The Dalai Lama said modern terrorism was born out of jealousy of western lifestyles. “Fundamentalism is terrifying because it is based purely on emotion, rather than intelligence,” the 70-year-old monk said at the seat of his government-in-exile in the northern Indian hilltop town of Dharamsala. “It prevents followers from thinking as individuals and about the good of the world. “This new terrorism has been brewing for many years. Much of it is caused by jealousy and frustration at the West because it looks so highly developed and successful on television. Leaders in the East use religion to counter that, to bind these countries together.” He warned that terrorists must be treated humanely, “otherwise, the problem will escalate. If there is one Bin Laden killed today, soon there will be 10 Bin Ladens. Awesome. Ten Bin Ladens killed, the hatred is spread; 100 bombed, and 1,000 lose members of their families”. Although he appeared not to approve of the war in Iraq, he was admiring of Bush, calling him “very straightforward” and saying that he had an astonishing grasp of Buddhism. He told the broadsheet that westerners had become self-absorbed, burdened with too much choice. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5c04%5c02%5cstory_2-4-2006_pg7_18

1001

04-02-2006, 11:48 AM

Bin Laden Planning U.S. Attack -- Ex-Guard

Dire Prediction From Osama's Bodyguard

March 30, 2006

CBS)*A former personal bodyguard of Osama bin Laden says he is certain the al Qaeda leader is planning an attack on the United States.

In the first television interview since 9/11 with an al Qaeda member close to bin Laden, Abu Jandal tells 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon first-hand details about the world's most wanted man this Sunday, April 2, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Abu Jandal, who was with bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2000, says bin Laden's last tape, on which he threatened consequences to the United States, is not a threat, but a promise.

"When Sheik Osama promises something, he does it … So I believe Osama bin Laden is planning a new attack inside the United States, this is certain," he tells Simon in the interview conducted in Yemen earlier this month.

It's been long speculated that bin Laden is hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan, but Abu Jandal says Afghanistan is the place.

"Not Pakistan," he says. "I know the Pakistani tribe along the border very well. Yes, they can be very trustworthy and faithful to their religion and ideology, but they are also capable of selling information for nothing."

Even if found, bin Laden will not be captured, says Abu Jandal, who says the al Qaeda leader gave him the authority to kill him if he was surrounded.

"If he was going to be captured, Sheik Osama prefers to be killed than captured," he tells Simon. "There was a special gun to be used if Sheik Osama bin Laden was attacked and we were unable to save him, in which case I would have to kill him."

The closest the Americans came to getting bin Laden before 9/11, recounts Abu Jandal, was the U.S. missile attack on al-Qaeda training camps near Khost, Afghanistan, a retaliatory strike for the al-Qaeda bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. It was luck that saved him the night before the strike.

"There was a fork in the road," remembers Abu Jandal, "one road leading to Khost and the training camps and another one leading to Kabul. I was with Sheik Osama in the same vehicle with three guards ... he turned to us and said, 'Khost or Kabul?' We told him, 'Let’s just visit Kabul.' Sheik Osama said, 'OK, Kabul.' "

So the missile strike the next day failed to get bin Laden, but the man they think provided information that led to it was discovered.

"It was the Afghan cook," said Abu Jandal. He says he would have killed the man who betrayed bin Laden himself, but bin Laden forgave him and sent him home. "Sheik Osama even gave him money and told him, 'Go provide for your children.' "

Among the other things he remembers about bin Laden was the way the al Qaeda leader forbade cursing.

"I remember once I used the wrong word, so he suspended me from guard duty for three days," says Abu Jandal.

Abu Jandal says the rumor that bin Laden suffered from a kidney problem and needed dialysis was nonsense.

"Never. The only problem Sheik Osama suffered from is with his vocal chords," he tells Simon. "He was affected by missiles that contained some chemicals during the jihad against the Soviets. Only his vocal chords were affected."

He reveres bin Laden to this day and wishes he were still with him. Abu Jandal must stay in Yemen, however, under an agreement with the government, which detained him for almost two years after the al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole. But he has a son.

"I have great hopes for him and pray to God that he will finish what his father was unable to finish," Abu Jandal says. "Frankly, I hope that my son gets killed and becomes a martyr for the sake of God almighty."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/30/60minutes/main1457859.shtml

al-Canine

04-06-2006, 05:46 PM

Chief 9/11 Architect Critical of Bin Laden

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed told U.S. interrogators his boss' actions nearly derailed the terrorist mission.

By Josh Meyer
LA Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — To hear Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed tell it, Osama bin Laden was a meddling boss whose indiscretion and poor judgment threatened to derail the terrorist attacks.

He also saddled Mohammed with at least four would-be hijackers who the ringleader thought were ill-equipped for the job. And he carelessly dropped hints about the imminent attacks, violating Mohammed's cardinal rule against discussing the suicide hijacking plot.

The repeated conflicts between the two Al Qaeda leaders emerged last week during the penalty phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Jurors heard new details of the plot from the interrogation summaries of several captured Al Qaeda officials, including an extraordinary account of a series of interrogations of Mohammed.

Mohammed described Al Qaeda in a written statement for his U.S. interrogators as an almost mystically efficient corporation that operates in ways Americans would never understand.

The portly Kuwaiti, who had studied engineering in the U.S. and was captured in Pakistan in 2003, told his interrogators that they could learn a lot from Al Qaeda, the organization.

"You must study these matters to know the huge difference between the Western mentality in administration and the Eastern mentality, specifically at Al Qaeda."

The hallmark of the system, he said, was unquestioned control: Everyone up the chain of command did as they were told, didn't ask questions and never bucked authority — all for the common cause of the enterprise, which in this case was killing as many Americans as possible.

"I know that the materialistic Western mind cannot grasp the idea, and that it is difficult for them to believe," Mohammed wrote. "But in the end," he gloated, "the operation was a success."

Yet Mohammed describes a terrorist outfit fraught with the same conflicts and petty animosities that plague many American corporations. Mohammed describes himself in particular as having to fend off a chairman of the board who insists on micromanaging despite not knowing what he was doing.

"[Shaikh] Mohammed stated that he was usually compelled to do whatever Bin Laden wanted with respect to operatives for the September 11 operation," the interrogation summary states. "That said, [Shaikh] Mohammed noted that he disobeyed Bin Laden on several occasions by taking operatives assigned to him by Bin Laden and using them how he best saw fit."

His independence from Bin Laden had its limits, however, because it was Al Qaeda's money and operatives that enabled the plot to go forward.

Mohammed succeeded in rejecting three attempts by Bin Laden to accelerate the plot. But he said his boss canceled an entire overseas element of the hijacking scheme that he was orchestrating.

Bin Laden presumably would have his own version of events. But a former FBI agent who closely tracked Al Qaeda said the testy relationship described by Mohammed was consistent with the accounts of other terrorism suspects in custody.

"They couldn't stand each other," the former official said. "They both had huge egos."

The seeds of conflict were planted at the beginning, when Mohammed first presented his idea in 1996 to hijack U.S. planes and fly them into buildings. He specifically suggested "that they send [mujahedin] to study in the flight institutes and use large planes" rather than the smaller military ones that Al Qaeda operatives were trained in flying.

He was turned away, Mohammed said, because Bin Laden told him the plan was unworkable.

Three years later, Bin Laden summoned Mohammed to Afghanistan and gave him the green light. Soon he moved his family from Pakistan to an Al Qaeda base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, to proceed with the operation.

By October 2000, Mohammed had risen in the ranks and was in firm control of the Sept. 11 plot, showing an array of management skills.

It was Mohammed who decided to send two hijackers to San Diego after coming across San Diego phone books in a local market in Karachi, Pakistan, and determining that it had numerous flight schools and other important amenities.

Mohammed told the two to visit the zoo and other tourist sites so they would blend in while they were taking flight lessons and otherwise preparing for the suicide hijackings.

He told his interrogators he provided "personalized training" to an estimated 39 Al Qaeda operatives for deployment on missions.

And Mohammed revealed some of his management stratagems to his interrogators.

"Simplicity was the key to success," was one of them.

For instance, he told the plot's co-conspirators not to use codes, especially in routine messages or e-mails.

"He asked the operatives to be normal to the maximum extent possible in their dealings, to keep the tone of their letters educational, social or commercial, and to keep the calls short."

Mohammed also delegated tasks. He entrusted much of the communications and finance details to two underlings so he would not have to be in contact with the hijackers while they were in America. And he gave lead hijacker Mohamed Atta the authority over many operational details.

Mohammed said he was a stickler for security. He insisted on compartmentalizing the details of the plot, to such a degree that even some of Al Qaeda's top officials did not know them.

"When four people know the details of an operation, it is dangerous; when two people know, it is good; when just one person knows, it is better," Mohammed said, according to his interrogators.

Had Mohammed not insisted on such security measures, he suggested, Bin Laden might have endangered the whole mission. That's because Bin Laden, an exiled Saudi multimillionaire with a huge trust fund, apparently had a knack for forcing Mohammed to take operatives who couldn't follow directions or keep their mouths shut.

In the earliest stages, Bin Laden told Mohammed to use two of his favored young operatives as lead members of the hijacking team.

Mohammed had concerns from the outset about Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, believing the two men would stick out like sore thumbs while living in the United States. Other team members would ultimately be handpicked, he said, for their worldliness, street savvy and other applicable skills.

Alhazmi and Almihdhar had U.S. visas, which helped. But one hardly spoke English and the other spoke none.

"They barely knew how to function in U.S. society," Mohammed told his interrogators. "The only reason they were involved in the 9/11 plot was because they had visas and because Bin Laden … wanted the two to go on the operation."

By mid-2000, Mohammed moved to kick Almihdhar out of the group because he defied his orders and left the United States for Yemen, leaving Alhazmi alone in San Diego.

But Bin Laden interceded and instructed Mohammed to allow Almihdhar to return to the United States and the hijacking team, he said.

Mohammed also resented a purported 20th hijacker, Mohammed al-Qahtani, imposed on him by Bin Laden, describing him as "too much of an unsophisticated Bedouin to function in a modern society." Al-Qahtani was turned away by a suspicious customs agent in Orlando, Fla., and never joined the mission.

They had repeated disagreements over Moussaoui, whose run-ins with Al Qaeda operatives in Malaysia convinced Mohammed that he was not a "suitable operative," even with his valuable European credentials, which made him less suspicious to U.S. authorities.

Mohammed recalled Moussaoui to Pakistan and asked Bin Laden and top aide Mohammed Atef for permission to expel him from the organization. At the time, Mohammed says, Moussaoui was to be a participant in a second wave of planned attacks to follow Sept. 11.

"Despite [Shaikh] Mohammed's suggestion, Atef and Bin Laden insisted that Moussaoui remain in the program and instructed that the program should continue as planned," the interrogation report said.

Moussaoui was punished by being sent to a school in Kandahar, after which Al Qaeda leaders pronounced him "reformed," the interrogation summary states.

Mohammed, however, "was not convinced." He grudgingly complied with his orders and sent Moussaoui to the United States for flight training. But he purposely kept Moussaoui in the dark about plot details, and told him never to mention aircraft in any communications.

Soon after he reached the United States, Moussaoui violated the order, sending Mohammed an e-mail detailing his attempts to get flight training on various aircraft.

An "exasperated" Mohammed ordered aides to break off contact with Moussaoui for fear that his indiscretion would tip off authorities about Al Qaeda's presence in the U.S.

By then, it was too late. When arrested in mid-August in Minnesota, Moussaoui possessed enough incriminating information to alert authorities to the carefully orchestrated plot, law enforcement officials would later assert.

He also was found with the home address of a top Al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert in South Asia, which triggered a manhunt for the operative and raised scrutiny of travelers from Pakistan to Malaysia, a favorite Al Qaeda pipeline.

Meanwhile, to Mohammed's chagrin, Bin Laden was repeatedly dropping hints about what was soon to come.

In one case, Mohammed said, Bin Laden told visitors to his Afghanistan headquarters to expect a major near-term attack against U.S. interests. In another, he said, the boss asked trainees at the Al Farooq camp near Kandahar "to pray for the success of a major operation involving 20 martyrs."

Both Mohammed and Atef "were concerned about this lack of discretion and urged Bin Laden not to make additional comments about the plot," Mohammed told his interrogators.

The interrogation summary also said he had resisted taking a sworn oath of allegiance, or bayat, to Bin Laden for as long as possible, "to ensure that he remained free to plan operations however he chose."

After Sept. 11, Mohammed finally relented, he said. Even then, he did so grudgingly, after he was told "that the refusal of such a senior and accomplished Al Qaeda leader to swear bayat set a bad example for the group's rank and file."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ksm5apr05,1,807470.story

Vancouver

04-06-2006, 10:31 PM

Here is something from CBS / 60 Minutes about Abu Jandal:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/30/60minutes/main1457859.shtml

Casey

04-14-2006, 07:24 PM

A first-hand, Arab, Muslim take on Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda
Journalist Abdel Bari Atwan's new book seeks a practical understanding of the terrorist leader

By Daniella Matar
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, April 15, 2006

A first-hand, Arab, Muslim take on Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda

Interview

BEIRUT: "If you want to be a good journalist, a good writer, then you have to be courageous," says Abdel Bari Atwan, the Palestinian-born author of the controversial new book, "The Secret History of Al-Qa'ida." "If I'm scared of this, scared of that, then I wouldn't be doing what I do. I'd be a bank manager," he says, while taking time out from his work for an interview in London. "[I'd] work in an investment company or maybe be a teacher."

Atwan was born into an impoverished family living in a refugee camp. With his nine siblings, he grew up with his grandparents, his uncles and aunts, and his parents, who could neither read nor write. To help out, Atwan worked 12-hour days in a tomato-canning factory and as a driver in Amman.

It was his family's destitution that made him determined to escape it.

As Atwan tells it, it was "a very harsh life ... a real struggle from day one until I was 17. But I'm very proud of it. It managed to make me very ambitious and work very hard in order to make my name and to make it in journalism."

Riffing on that idea, he adds: "Journalism is the only profession which breaks the barriers between the classes ... So you can reach the top even if you're not belonging to a rich or upper class family. I've made it ... I'm writing books, being interviewed ... I'm proud that I'm not labeled as the son of such and such ... I came from nowhere ... Poverty can produce strong people, strong characters."

In his book, Atwan, who has been studying radical Islam for over ten years, seeks to explore, explain and analyze the double phenomena of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. He also attempts to bring a fresh perspective to their story and a cool assessment of their impact on Western civilization.

To be sure, the subject has already been explored at length in an onslaught of new books, including "Osama: The Making of a Terrorist" by Jonathan Randal; "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror" by Michael Scheuer; "The Osama bin Laden I Know" by Peter Bergen; and "Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror" by Mary Habeck. Joining these is bin Laden's own contribution to the burgeoning subgenre, "Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden," edited by Bruce Lawrence and translated by James Howarth.

Atwan manages to uncover new information, perhaps because he was one of the very few journalists to actually spend time with bin Laden.

"I spent three days with him and about eight days in Afghanistan," Atwan recalls. "I met Taliban people, I met ex-mujahidin and my escort was the right-hand man of bin Laden. So I managed to study Al-Qaeda - to live with them, to see how they eat, how they sleep. This is my asset," he adds. "The others, they don't have this. Also I'm an Arab and a Muslim. The others are not and so they're talking from a Western perspective. I'm talking from our perspective."

"The Secrets of Al-Qa'ida" is an immensely readable book. It is full of valuable insights and arguments, particularly Atwan's discussion of "cyber jihad" (delving into the war between Al-Qaeda and U.S. intelligence services as it is being carried out on the Internet) and
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

his prediction, made almost a year ago, that Al-Qaeda was working to instigate sectarian strife in Iraq for the purpose of dragging the entire Middle East region into the conflict. But where other authors rely solely on intelligence reports and secondary research, Atwan takes a far more personal approach.

Atwan opens his book with an interesting and highly informative account of his meeting with bin Laden in 1996, revealing the leader as a person rather than as a mythic, horrific figure.

Intentionally, Atwan strips away much of the mystery surrounding Al-Qaeda, dissecting the instantaneous association with terrorism and digging into the reasoning behind the group.

"Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are the product of the American humiliation of the Arabs and the Muslims," argues Atwan. "These people have been humiliated and feel they are degraded by the Americans or the American-supported dictatorships in the Middle East.

"Osama bin Laden is the product of this, and he decided to fight the Americans because he felt he was deceived by them when he was fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan side by side with them ... This bitterness pushed him to be radical and set up a radical organization like Al-Qaeda.

"The man himself," he continues, "never imagined himself as a hero, never worked to be the number-one most wanted man on earth. He is a very simple man, very humble, very modest. But the Americans made him a hero and made his organization very strong and made Muslim chaps go and join him. American foreign policy helped him enlarge his following. It worked as a recruiting officer, and that's why he's growing and not shrinking as [the Americans] predicted or planned for when they launched the war against terrorism."

Of course, a carefully reasoned study of Al-Qaeda could be potentially dangerous for a man who has already been threatened by right-wing organizations in Britain, the Klu Klux Klan in the U.S. and numerous Arab intelligence services.

"I was actually warned about possible repercussions," says Atwan, "because the book was very frank and I was not talking critically enough about Al-Qaeda. [People] said it could make trouble for me but I have to be truthful. I have to be scientific. If there is trouble I don't mind."

However, as Atwan reveals in his book, he did have to turn down a second opportunity to interview bin Laden in May 2001. And he had to repeat the same refusal just a month after September 11, 2001.

"Osama bin Laden asked for me," Atwan explains. "But I thought that if I went there [the U.S. intelligence services] would follow me and kill me or both of us, or if I survived ... well people are great believers of conspiracy theories and they would think that I was an FBI agent or CIA agent who led the Americans to Osama bin Laden.

"It was a hard decision to turn down, though. Imagine that - to have an opportunity to interview Osama bin Laden after September 11. It would have been the biggest scoop of my life. But it could have been fatal. It could have been my last scoop."

Abdel Bari Atwan's "The Secret History of Al-Qa'ida" is out now from Saqi Books

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=23742

Klaus

04-21-2006, 04:13 PM

www.stevequayle.com

http://stevequayle.com/News.alert/06_Nukes/060421.UBL.nukes.html

April 21, 2006
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Rumors of Osama bin Laden's death are greatly exaggerated and the al-Qaida leader is preparing his next video broadcast to be aired on al-Jazeera, reports an acclaimed Pakistani journalist who has interviewed him. In an exclusive interview with Paul L. Williams, author of the new book, “The Dunces of Doomsday,” and David Dastych in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, Hamid Mir says bin Laden is not only alive and well but in the process of preparing a video-taped appearance for al-Jazeera, the Qatari Arabian news network.

Bin Laden, according to Mir, has recently met with Mullah Omar in Afghanistan and will appear on al-Jazeera, the Arab news network, with "a very important message" for the American people within the immediate future.

During one of Mir's interviews, bin Laden announced that he had managed to acquire nuclear weapons for use in the great jihad against the United States.

"It is not difficult [to obtain tactical nukes]," the al-Qaida chieftain said, "not if you have contacts in Russia with other militant groups. They are available for $10 million and $20 million."

Casey

04-30-2006, 05:14 PM

Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Umm Mohammed: The Wife of Bin laden's Spiritual Mentor

al Qaeda / Middle East & Africa
Date: Apr 30, 2006 - 05:04 PM

30/04/2006

By Mohammed Al Shafey
Sheik Abdullah Azzam with the Afghan-Arabs
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Known as a central figure to the global Islamist movement, Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor and the spiritual leader of the Afghan Arabs, Dr. Abdullah Azzam joined the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1982 and took part in military operations. He traveled across many countries calling on young Arab and Muslim men to join the Mujahideen.

Living with other Afghan Arab fighters in Peshawar, Pakistan, he established 'Bait Al Ansar' (House of Helpers), which acted as the first nucleus for Al Qaeda, to provide aid within Afghanistan. His aim was to unite Arab Mujahideen in their different guises.

In November 1989, a car bomb killed Abdullah Azzam and two of his sons in Peshawar. Asharq Al Awsat met Umm Mohammed, his lifelong companion and wife who spoke about different stages of his life and how her husband urged Arabs to integrate into Afghan society.

Umm Mohammed answered the questions of our colleague Naheel Shahrouri in Jordan. She revealed the reasons behind the disagreement between Abdullah Azzam and his student Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda. She indicated that the biggest disgrace was Bin Laden's connection to the assassination of Ahmad Shah Masoud, the Lion of Panjshir, and the leader of Afghan jihad.

Q: How did you meet Sheikh Abdullah Azzam? How would you describe him as a husband, father and individual?

A: Our families are strongly connected. We are one of the many Palestinian families who became refugees after the 1948 war. Our families have intermarried and sought refuge in Jenin. I was born in the house of Sheikh Abdullah’s sister. He was eight-years-old at the time. We later left for Tulkarem and he happened to have been there studying. He visited us once, and three days later, his father asked for my hand in marriage and we got married.

Sheikh Abdullah was religious from an early age, around seven or eight years old. His religious feelings became stronger after he joined the Muslim Brotherhood. He traveled to Tulkaram to study and then to the Sharia college in Damascus. He asked to marry me when I was twelve years old.

He was a wonderfully kind husband and a caring father. Perhaps there are other men like him in this world but none share his unique humanity. He insisted on learning and was concerned about teaching me and training me to become a mother that would fill the gap during his absence.

He cared a lot about his children, if one of them fell ill, he would not sleep at night. He was very close to his son Ibrahim, who died with him.

What distinguished him most was that he put jihad at the forefront of his concerns.

Q: How was jihad reflected in the life of Sheikh Abdullah Al Azzam?

A: Since getting married and even prior to traveling to Pakistan, he was preparing himself for jihad and a hard life. During the cold winter days, he used to go out and pray the morning prayers and insisted on using cold water to perform his ablution. He would only eat one type of food, and sometimes only have one meal. Sometimes, he would only eat bread. He was getting himself used to life in the mountains and to becoming a Muhajid. Most times, he owned two pairs of trousers: he would wear one and wash the other. Nevertheless, he was always clean and well groomed. Jihad for him was like water for a fish.

Q: Did the Sheikh discuss affairs of jihad and the latest developments in this respect with you?

A: Arab women played an important role in recognizing and examining the problems of Afghan refugees who had fled the conflict because men and women did not mingle in the refugee camps. At the time, men spent most of their times in trenches on the frontlines fighting the Russians. We would often visit the camps and inform Sheikh Abdullah about the problems the families suffer from and their lack of foodstuff etc. As for matters concerning jihad or killing, Sheikh Abdullah did not discuss them with the family because of the sensitivity of such information.

Q: How do you evaluate the period you spent in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

A: I have never met a sister who was with us in Pakistan during the jihad that felt any unhappiness about those days.

Q: Ayman Al Zawahiri and Al Qaeda are accused of killing Ahmad Shah Masoud allegedly because of his stand against jihad in Afghanistan. What is your opinion on this?

A: Sheikh Abdullah was Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor. We cut off all contact with him a long time ago. However, there was a transformation in his character. Sheikh used to love him and described him as a good person. Osama used to live like other Mujahideen, if not in worst circumstances, despite financing most of them. I do not know Ayman Al Zawahiri personally and I do not know why Al Qaeda committed this mistake. The connection between Bin Laden and the assassination of Masoud tarnished his reputation.

As for Masoud, he is the symbol of jihad in Afghanistan. Sheikh Abdullah wrote a book about him after living with Masoud for a whole month, during which he had gotten to know him and observed him. He said, "I came to write about you because of the rumors that you are an agent for the French government." Masoud allowed him to sit in his office and examine all his files and videos. His book, entitled 'A Month Amongst Giants,' contains a number of truths about Masoud, his faith and personality.

Q: Did Sheikh Abdullah permit Arab Mujahideen fighters to become involved in inter-Afghan fighting?

A: He never allowed any Arab fighter to take sides in favor of any Afghan commander. His role was to reconcile fighters, and all the leaders of jihad in Afghanistan loved him and listened to him.

Q: Did Sheikh support incorporating civilians into the fight against the Soviet occupiers or did he believe it should be restricted to the trenches?

A: The leaders of the jihad in Afghanistan conferred amongst each other and decided to move families away from Afghanistan and to Pakistan when the fighting became fierce.

Q: During his presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, did Sheikh Abdullah establish an independent group baring his name or did he place his life in the service of Afghans?

A: He never even accepted to have bodyguards protect him despite the threats he received. He never built anything in his name. Even the charter of jihad in Afghanistan, which he wrote, was not published in his name. He announced it in the name of the then Afghan Prime Minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Even in Palestine, when Hamas sought to announce its charter, they contacted him to write the introduction and edit the document.

Q: How do you explain the transformation of Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri from symbols of jihad to the worlds most wanted?

A: This is to be expected because they declared war on all those fighting Islam.

Q: What was your relationship with Bin Laden’s wives and to Umm Mohammed, Al Zawahiri’s wife? What did you think of them?

A: I did not know Al Zawahiri’s wife but I knew Bin Laden’s wives before settling in Pakistan because we were living in Saudi Arabia where we used to meet them.

Q: What is your opinion on the rumors that Egyptian Islamic Jihad is responsible for planning to assassinate Sheikh Abdullah Al Azzam?

A: This is not true. In reality, there were many disagreements between the Egyptian Jihad and Sheikh Abdullah. However, I do not believe these disputes would have led to their involvement his murder.

Q: Is it true that Bin Laden was easily influenced and manipulated by those around him?

A: A few incidents took place but I do not like to deride anyone. We owe bin Laden our respect; he took part in jihad with his money, effort and sons. He sacrificed himself and his money. However, in truth, he is not a very educated man. He never studied at university. He holds a high school degree. He enrolled in university but soon left. It is true that he gave lectures to ulema and sheikhs but he was easy to persuade. Nevertheless, he did not oppose Sheikh Abdullah or desert him. Bin Laden became convinced of certain issues that Islamic Jihad in Egypt supported.

Q: Did your husband’s departure have an effect on you and your children?

A: Sometimes I used to tell him "you leave your children for too long." He would reply, "Why have I trained you [to take care of them]?" Dawaa (preaching) and jihad were his priorities.

Q: When did Sheikh Abdullah first embark on jihad?

A: He began in 1976 when the [Israelis] invaded the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He continued to fight until the border was shut. He believed jihad was the best approach for the victory of religion. This is why he searched for jihad until he was sent from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan to teach at the International Islamic University. He obtained a Masters degree and a PhD and returned to Jordan where he taught at university until he was dismissed. He traveled to King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia because of debts he had accumulated. Otherwise, he would not have left his country.

In Pakistan, he was entrusted with organizing the curricula at the Islamic University. However, jihad was always more important to him. He believed jihad was the pinnacle of Islam and used to tell me: “Those who live on the summit find it difficult to go down to the slope.”

During the years of jihad in Afghanistan, we used to feel as if there was a mini-state of Arabs in Pakistani territory. There were no fights between us and everyone was open to the others. All those I meet look back with fondness to these years.

Sheikh Abdullah taught young men in order to prepare them to perform jihad in the name of God. A whole generation of fighters grew up under his wings.

Q: Do you believe that Al Qaeda is currently following in the footsteps of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam?

A: According to their own admission and to what they broadcast occasionally of video and sound recordings, they are saying, “he is our sheikh and our mentor in jihad.” I saw a few interviews with Osama Bin Laden where he placed on the table in front of him the books of Sheikh Azzam and the cameras focused on that. In his televised speeches, Bin Laden has also repeated word for word the statements of Sheikh Abdullah.

Q: In your view, what caused the disagreements between Abdullah Azzam and Bin Laden? Were traitors sowing hatred between them?

A: I do not know if there were traitors or not. However, differences emerged concerning the scope of jihad and the distribution of military camps and other issues. They held different opinions and Bin Laden followed his own interpretation. In order to avoid a clash, Bin Laden sought to establish his own military training camps, under his banner, to receive Arabs that want to fight in Afghanistan. This caused the split because Bin Laden preferred camps especially for Arabs while Sheikh Abdullah Azzam believed that it was necessary for Arabs and Afghans to mix and for them to become one because the Arabs came to help the Afghans achieve victory. He also believed that it was wrong for Arabs to plot against Afghans in the latter’s own country. For his part, Bin Laden sought to pamper Arab fighters. Even their food was different from that of Afghan Mujahideen. Bin Laden used to bring them special foodstuff in containers from Saudi Arabia. This was the crux of the disagreement. The split happened as a result.

Sheikh Abdullah did not agree with Bin Laden and tried to stop him isolating himself in special training camps. He believed that Arabs should be included in all Afghan groups in order to teach them the Quran and give lectures about the jurisprudence of jihad, including how to deal with prisoners of war according to Islam.

The reason for this is that most of the ulema in Afghanistan had been martyred during the fight against the Russians. Afghanistan is a large country with 28 provinces and young men needed to be guided to the true path of Islam.

At the time, Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan included doctors, pilots, teachers and others who had left their jobs and futures in order to help the Afghan people. They were, without exception, living in difficult circumstances in trenches side by side with Afghan fighters. Sheikh Abdullah wanted Arabs to integrate into the fabric of Afghan society while Bin Laden believed the opposite.

Q: If Abdullah Azzam were alive today, would he have supported Al Qaeda’s operations and the September 11 attacks?

A: I do not believe he would have supported such an attack. In his lifetime, the Mujahideen were better equipped but they never discussed such a matter. It was easier at the time to travel between countries but he supported clear jihadist movements, which would face those hostile to Muslims and permitted their blood to be shed. Sheikh Abdullah preferred jihad with a clear objective and refused sending Arab fighters to Bosnia and Herzegovina because the scope for fighting there was not clear.

Q: What are Bin Laden’s most prominent mistakes in your opinion?

A: The biggest mistake in Bin Laden’s life had to do with his involvement in the assassination of the Lion of Panshjir, Ahmad Shah Masoud, because I consider Masoud a Muslim jihadist. If it is true [al Qaeda or its supporters killed him], this tarnishes Bin Laden's status.

Q: If Abdullah Azzam were alive today, where would he be, in Iraq or with Bin Laden?

A: Perhaps in Guantanamo Bay with other Al Qaeda leaders.

Q: Do you recall the wives of Arab Mujahideen fighters in Peshawar? What was your relationship with them? Are you still in contact with them?

A: Everyone who participated in the jihad in Afghanistan brought his wife with him. They would leave them behind in Peshawar and we all lived as one family. They used to consider me a mother figure. The wives of Mujahideen coordinated amongst themselves. I am still in contact with some families in Jordan.

http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=4757

The 801

05-01-2006, 05:30 PM

Very interesting read.

Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Umm Mohammed: The Wife of Bin laden's Spiritual Mentor

30/04/2006

By Mohammed Al Shafey
Sheik Abdullah Azzam with the Afghan-Arabs
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Known as a central figure to the global Islamist movement, Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor and the spiritual leader of the Afghan Arabs, Dr. Abdullah Azzam joined the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1982 and took part in military operations. He traveled across many countries calling on young Arab and Muslim men to join the Mujahideen.

Living with other Afghan Arab fighters in Peshawar, Pakistan, he established 'Bait Al Ansar' (House of Helpers), which acted as the first nucleus for Al Qaeda, to provide aid within Afghanistan. His aim was to unite Arab Mujahideen in their different guises.

In November 1989, a car bomb killed Abdullah Azzam and two of his sons in Peshawar. Asharq Al Awsat met Umm Mohammed, his lifelong companion and wife who spoke about different stages of his life and how her husband urged Arabs to integrate into Afghan society.

Umm Mohammed answered the questions of our colleague Naheel Shahrouri in Jordan. She revealed the reasons behind the disagreement between Abdullah Azzam and his student Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda. She indicated that the biggest disgrace was Bin Laden's connection to the assassination of Ahmad Shah Masoud, the Lion of Panjshir, and the leader of Afghan jihad.

Q: How did you meet Sheikh Abdullah Azzam? How would you describe him as a husband, father and individual?

A: Our families are strongly connected. We are one of the many Palestinian families who became refugees after the 1948 war. Our families have intermarried and sought refuge in Jenin. I was born in the house of Sheikh Abdullah’s sister. He was eight-years-old at the time. We later left for Tulkarem and he happened to have been there studying. He visited us once, and three days later, his father asked for my hand in marriage and we got married.

Sheikh Abdullah was religious from an early age, around seven or eight years old. His religious feelings became stronger after he joined the Muslim Brotherhood. He traveled to Tulkaram to study and then to the Sharia college in Damascus. He asked to marry me when I was twelve years old.

He was a wonderfully kind husband and a caring father. Perhaps there are other men like him in this world but none share his unique humanity. He insisted on learning and was concerned about teaching me and training me to become a mother that would fill the gap during his absence.

He cared a lot about his children, if one of them fell ill, he would not sleep at night. He was very close to his son Ibrahim, who died with him.

What distinguished him most was that he put jihad at the forefront of his concerns.

Q: How was jihad reflected in the life of Sheikh Abdullah Al Azzam?

A: Since getting married and even prior to traveling to Pakistan, he was preparing himself for jihad and a hard life. During the cold winter days, he used to go out and pray the morning prayers and insisted on using cold water to perform his ablution. He would only eat one type of food, and sometimes only have one meal. Sometimes, he would only eat bread. He was getting himself used to life in the mountains and to becoming a Muhajid. Most times, he owned two pairs of trousers: he would wear one and wash the other. Nevertheless, he was always clean and well groomed. Jihad for him was like water for a fish.

Q: Did the Sheikh discuss affairs of jihad and the latest developments in this respect with you?

A: Arab women played an important role in recognizing and examining the problems of Afghan refugees who had fled the conflict because men and women did not mingle in the refugee camps. At the time, men spent most of their times in trenches on the frontlines fighting the Russians. We would often visit the camps and inform Sheikh Abdullah about the problems the families suffer from and their lack of foodstuff etc. As for matters concerning jihad or killing, Sheikh Abdullah did not discuss them with the family because of the sensitivity of such information.

Q: How do you evaluate the period you spent in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

A: I have never met a sister who was with us in Pakistan during the jihad that felt any unhappiness about those days.

Q: Ayman Al Zawahiri and Al Qaeda are accused of killing Ahmad Shah Masoud allegedly because of his stand against jihad in Afghanistan. What is your opinion on this?

A: Sheikh Abdullah was Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor. We cut off all contact with him a long time ago. However, there was a transformation in his character. Sheikh used to love him and described him as a good person. Osama used to live like other Mujahideen, if not in worst circumstances, despite financing most of them. I do not know Ayman Al Zawahiri personally and I do not know why Al Qaeda committed this mistake. The connection between Bin Laden and the assassination of Masoud tarnished his reputation.

As for Masoud, he is the symbol of jihad in Afghanistan. Sheikh Abdullah wrote a book about him after living with Masoud for a whole month, during which he had gotten to know him and observed him. He said, "I came to write about you because of the rumors that you are an agent for the French government." Masoud allowed him to sit in his office and examine all his files and videos. His book, entitled 'A Month Amongst Giants,' contains a number of truths about Masoud, his faith and personality.

Q: Did Sheikh Abdullah permit Arab Mujahideen fighters to become involved in inter-Afghan fighting?

A: He never allowed any Arab fighter to take sides in favor of any Afghan commander. His role was to reconcile fighters, and all the leaders of jihad in Afghanistan loved him and listened to him.

Q: Did Sheikh support incorporating civilians into the fight against the Soviet occupiers or did he believe it should be restricted to the trenches?

A: The leaders of the jihad in Afghanistan conferred amongst each other and decided to move families away from Afghanistan and to Pakistan when the fighting became fierce.

Q: During his presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, did Sheikh Abdullah establish an independent group baring his name or did he place his life in the service of Afghans?

A: He never even accepted to have bodyguards protect him despite the threats he received. He never built anything in his name. Even the charter of jihad in Afghanistan, which he wrote, was not published in his name. He announced it in the name of the then Afghan Prime Minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Even in Palestine, when Hamas sought to announce its charter, they contacted him to write the introduction and edit the document.

Q: How do you explain the transformation of Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri from symbols of jihad to the worlds most wanted?

A: This is to be expected because they declared war on all those fighting Islam.

Q: What was your relationship with Bin Laden’s wives and to Umm Mohammed, Al Zawahiri’s wife? What did you think of them?

A: I did not know Al Zawahiri’s wife but I knew Bin Laden’s wives before settling in Pakistan because we were living in Saudi Arabia where we used to meet them.

Q: What is your opinion on the rumors that Egyptian Islamic Jihad is responsible for planning to assassinate Sheikh Abdullah Al Azzam?

A: This is not true. In reality, there were many disagreements between the Egyptian Jihad and Sheikh Abdullah. However, I do not believe these disputes would have led to their involvement his murder.

Q: Is it true that Bin Laden was easily influenced and manipulated by those around him?

A: A few incidents took place but I do not like to deride anyone. We owe bin Laden our respect; he took part in jihad with his money, effort and sons. He sacrificed himself and his money. However, in truth, he is not a very educated man. He never studied at university. He holds a high school degree. He enrolled in university but soon left. It is true that he gave lectures to ulema and sheikhs but he was easy to persuade. Nevertheless, he did not oppose Sheikh Abdullah or desert him. Bin Laden became convinced of certain issues that Islamic Jihad in Egypt supported.

Q: Did your husband’s departure have an effect on you and your children?

A: Sometimes I used to tell him "you leave your children for too long." He would reply, "Why have I trained you [to take care of them]?" Dawaa (preaching) and jihad were his priorities.

Q: When did Sheikh Abdullah first embark on jihad?

A: He began in 1976 when the [Israelis] invaded the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He continued to fight until the border was shut. He believed jihad was the best approach for the victory of religion. This is why he searched for jihad until he was sent from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan to teach at the International Islamic University. He obtained a Masters degree and a PhD and returned to Jordan where he taught at university until he was dismissed. He traveled to King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia because of debts he had accumulated. Otherwise, he would not have left his country.

In Pakistan, he was entrusted with organizing the curricula at the Islamic University. However, jihad was always more important to him. He believed jihad was the pinnacle of Islam and used to tell me: “Those who live on the summit find it difficult to go down to the slope.”

During the years of jihad in Afghanistan, we used to feel as if there was a mini-state of Arabs in Pakistani territory. There were no fights between us and everyone was open to the others. All those I meet look back with fondness to these years.

Sheikh Abdullah taught young men in order to prepare them to perform jihad in the name of God. A whole generation of fighters grew up under his wings.

Q: Do you believe that Al Qaeda is currently following in the footsteps of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam?

A: According to their own admission and to what they broadcast occasionally of video and sound recordings, they are saying, “he is our sheikh and our mentor in jihad.” I saw a few interviews with Osama Bin Laden where he placed on the table in front of him the books of Sheikh Azzam and the cameras focused on that. In his televised speeches, Bin Laden has also repeated word for word the statements of Sheikh Abdullah.

Q: In your view, what caused the disagreements between Abdullah Azzam and Bin Laden? Were traitors sowing hatred between them?

A: I do not know if there were traitors or not. However, differences emerged concerning the scope of jihad and the distribution of military camps and other issues. They held different opinions and Bin Laden followed his own interpretation. In order to avoid a clash, Bin Laden sought to establish his own military training camps, under his banner, to receive Arabs that want to fight in Afghanistan. This caused the split because Bin Laden preferred camps especially for Arabs while Sheikh Abdullah Azzam believed that it was necessary for Arabs and Afghans to mix and for them to become one because the Arabs came to help the Afghans achieve victory. He also believed that it was wrong for Arabs to plot against Afghans in the latter’s own country. For his part, Bin Laden sought to pamper Arab fighters. Even their food was different from that of Afghan Mujahideen. Bin Laden used to bring them special foodstuff in containers from Saudi Arabia. This was the crux of the disagreement. The split happened as a result.

Sheikh Abdullah did not agree with Bin Laden and tried to stop him isolating himself in special training camps. He believed that Arabs should be included in all Afghan groups in order to teach them the Quran and give lectures about the jurisprudence of jihad, including how to deal with prisoners of war according to Islam.

The reason for this is that most of the ulema in Afghanistan had been martyred during the fight against the Russians. Afghanistan is a large country with 28 provinces and young men needed to be guided to the true path of Islam.

At the time, Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan included doctors, pilots, teachers and others who had left their jobs and futures in order to help the Afghan people. They were, without exception, living in difficult circumstances in trenches side by side with Afghan fighters. Sheikh Abdullah wanted Arabs to integrate into the fabric of Afghan society while Bin Laden believed the opposite.

Q: If Abdullah Azzam were alive today, would he have supported Al Qaeda’s operations and the September 11 attacks?

A: I do not believe he would have supported such an attack. In his lifetime, the Mujahideen were better equipped but they never discussed such a matter. It was easier at the time to travel between countries but he supported clear jihadist movements, which would face those hostile to Muslims and permitted their blood to be shed. Sheikh Abdullah preferred jihad with a clear objective and refused sending Arab fighters to Bosnia and Herzegovina because the scope for fighting there was not clear.

Q: What are Bin Laden’s most prominent mistakes in your opinion?

A: The biggest mistake in Bin Laden’s life had to do with his involvement in the assassination of the Lion of Panshjir, Ahmad Shah Masoud, because I consider Masoud a Muslim jihadist. If it is true [al Qaeda or its supporters killed him], this tarnishes Bin Laden's status.

Q: If Abdullah Azzam were alive today, where would he be, in Iraq or with Bin Laden?

A: Perhaps in Guantanamo Bay with other Al Qaeda leaders.

Q: Do you recall the wives of Arab Mujahideen fighters in Peshawar? What was your relationship with them? Are you still in contact with them?

A: Everyone who participated in the jihad in Afghanistan brought his wife with him. They would leave them behind in Peshawar and we all lived as one family. They used to consider me a mother figure. The wives of Mujahideen coordinated amongst themselves. I am still in contact with some families in Jordan.

http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=4757

The 801

05-17-2006, 12:45 PM

Osama back in the US crosshairs
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

"According to everything we know, he [Osama bin Laden] really is living in Pakistan, near to the Afghan border. Our neighbor [Pakistan] could certainly catch him and put him in court. But to our knowledge, their efforts to do this have always been half-hearted."
- Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, May 14

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN border - The Pakistani government has dismissed Foreign Minister Spanta's accusations out of hand, saying that the problem lies with Afghanistan, which is where al-Qaeda leader bin Laden his actually hiding.

The Americans, for now at least, are keeping their options open in their quest to hunt down the world's most wanted man.

Asia Times Online investigations, after a harrowing journey to
some of the most inhospitable territory in the Hindu Kush mountains, confirm that US and Pakistan forces are now preparing for a large-scale operation to track down bin Laden, or other big fish, on whichever side of the border they might be.

The focal point in the "war on terror" has thus firmly shifted to the maze of mountains and rivers that stretches from remote Chitral in the northwest of Pakistan's North West Frontier province to Nuristan and Kunar provinces in Afghanistan.

The Durand Line, the border, dissects this region, but it is a barrier in name only: for those who know their way along tortuous passes, unrestricted passage between the countries is possible.

The FBI: Talk of the town
The presence of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in the Chitral Valley has been the subject of much discussion recently. From the chief minister of the province to the man in the street, the word is that the Americans have established a vigilance center in Chitral town after what is said to be a "credible" tip-off of al-Qaeda activity in the region.

There has been no official word from the United States on the speculation of a FBI presence, but feedback gathered by Asia Times Online from various quarters confirms frequent visits by Americans to the Chitral Valley recently. At the same time, there is an extraordinary large presence of Pakistani security forces all along the border area, especially near Arandu, armed with heavy weapons.

Local residents explain that the Pakistani military built many bunkers around Arandu during the 1980s when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan. They abandoned these after the Soviets pulled out in 1989, but now they have manned them with Chitral Scouts, a paramilitary force, along with heavy weapons.

All quiet on the eastern front?
"Compared with the southern region of Afghanistan, the eastern region is quiet. There is resistance in Kunar and Nuristan, but nothing on the pattern of southern Afghanistan. Perhaps the eastern zone is best suited to hide instead of carrying out regular combat operations," a person who only called himself a mujahid (Islamic fighter, singular of the Persian/Arabic term mujahideen) told Asia Times Online.

In support of this, the mujahid referred to persistent reports that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister and now leader of the anti-US movement, was hiding in the Kunar Valley.

There have also been any number of wild guesses about the presence of bin Laden in the area.

However, the mujahid dismissed this notion about bin Laden. "There is no doubt that in places like Nuristan and Kunar one can easily hide, compared with other parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but there is a special threat to Osama in this region as the local Afghan Salafis [80% of the population ] are dead against the Taliban.

"During the Taliban's rule [1996-2001] Osama played a role in persuading many of the Afghan Salafis to pledge their allegiance to [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar. That created a lot of bad blood between Afghan Salafis and Osama, and that is why Osama would not be safe in Nuristan," the mujahid elaborated.

Nevertheless, many middle-ranking veterans, such as Commander Faqirullah of the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan and Abu Ikhlas of al-Qaeda, are operative in the Nuristan and Kunar area and are well placed to orchestrate guerrilla operations against US-led allied forces.

At the same time, the Taliban-led resistance has steadily taken over control of some strategic areas. This indicates another trend, how the Taliban has blended in with local vested interests.

Fired by opium
The Pechdara region is a strategic part of the Kunar Valley, east of Jalalabad and touching Nuristan province. It has become a nucleus in the hands of the Taliban, notably the village of Korangal, where fighters of Chechen, Chinese, Arabic and Uzbek origin are entrenched and from where they carry out insurgency attacks.

The Kunar Valley, unlike many other parts of Afghanistan, is devoid of poppy fields, except for the Pechdara area. Buyers converge here every day to buy small quantities of poppy, ranging from 5-10 kilograms at a cost of about US$233 per kilo.

Although the Taliban have a strong foothold, some of the main players (warlords) in Pechdara are in fact non-Taliban, with ties to Kabul. These include Commander Najamuddin, once of Hekmatyar's Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan, Jahandad, a former governor of Kunar, and Malik Zarin Khan, who was an aide of slain Ahmad Shah Masoud, the legendary Tajik leader in northern Afghanistan.

These players initially helped allied forces carry out operations against the Taliban. However, subsequently they struck a deal with the Taliban, who in turn stopped harassing the warlords. Pechdara became relatively peaceful, with the warlords growing poppy and sharing the proceeds with the Taliban.

As mentioned above, though, relative to the south of Afghanistan, the Kunar Valley is quiet in terms of the insurgency.

During the Soviet occupation, the belt was a strategic high point and key supply line of the resistance up to the Panjshir Valley. Nuristan was a real tough nut as the mujahideen had seized complete control and never allowed the Soviets a foothold.

"This is not the case today. The Soviets were brutal. Every family in Kunar and Nuristan complains that at least one of their members was butchered by the Russians," another person associated with the Taliban-led resistance told Asia Times Online. He identified himself only as a "Servant of Allah".

"This is not the case with the Americans," he said. "They are not tyrants as the Russians were. On the contrary, the Americans have bribed locals and bought their cooperation. As a result, there is no open revolt-like situation.

"Nevertheless, the resistance is all over, up to Nuristan," the "Servant of Allah" said. "For instance, on September 18, 2005, we attacked an American convoy in Mudagal, Nuristan. We stormed the convoy with rockets and then surrounded it from all four sides and sprayed bullets. We witnessed eight bodies before we fled from the scene. The next day in the media, we heard of only two casualties," the person maintained.

"Similarly, in Bazgal near Nuristan, two vehicles were destroyed with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] in which 10 soldiers were confirmed dead. The incident happened in December 2005. The media only reported a few injuries," the "Servant of Allah" said.

Asia Times Online learned that local support, after being neutral for some time, is now in favor of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, which have comfortable places to hide and carry out random attacks at their convenience.

The blame for this, from the US perspective, lies largely with the Afghan National Army (ANA), which has turned out to be untrustworthy.

Two years ago, US forces received confirmed information, with photographs, of the presence of high-profile al-Qaeda and Afghan operatives in Bazgal near Nuristan. It was impossible for US troops to take the risk of going after them alone in the maze of jungle and mountains, so they asked the ANA for assistance.

After many hours, the forces reached the area, but all the suspects had fled. Ground inquiries showed that they had left immediately after the Americans shared information with the ANA.
To improve the situation, the US is developing a special "Peace Force" in which the benchmark for recruitment is not military aptitude but staunch anti-Taliban tendencies. Many of the news force's members are either former communists or local villains. Perhaps they are attracted by the extremely generous pay - US$500-$1,000 a month.

The situation on the east remains in this state of balance, with the Taliban and some al-Qaeda operatives well bedded with a sympathetic local population, but in essence lying low.

A massive operation, such as one in search of the elusive bin Laden, could ignite the tinder, and open up another front, as in the south of the country. All the pieces are already in place.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE17Df01.html

The 801

05-20-2006, 01:53 PM

Now what do you make of this? Syed Saleem Shahzad is the best, most acurate front line reporter on AQ in the world. Lots of implications here, too.

The new power behind Osama's throne
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN border - Whether he is viewed as a living legend for jihadis or as a reviled terrorist, the mere mention of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's name provokes strong reactions, and is an invaluable tool in the propaganda war between the two sides.

On the ground, though, at least in the rugged Hindu Kush mountains that span Pakistan and Afghanistan, the reality is that bin Laden, while remaining a source of inspiration in the anti-West struggle, is acknowledged as no longer being in command of al-Qaeda's operations.

In that role, he has been superseded by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, according to investigations and interviews conducted by
Asia Times Online in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Indeed, in the four years since the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, after years of financial blockades and arrests, has emerged more as a loose (and ideologically divergent) grouping of mujahideen waging open jihad - especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It would be absolutely wrong to say that al-Qaeda has evaporated into the air," a man from the Pakistani tribal areas of Waziristan told Asia Times Online. "The organization is very much active on the ground, but the sharp edges of circumstance have modified it into a new shape and it is now part of mainstream jihadi activity. The ultimate goal of the [jihadi] organization is to launch jihad from Khorasan [Afghanistan] to Jerusalem."

Calling himself Nasir ("supporter"), the man claimed to have intimate knowledge of Taliban and al-Qaeda activities in the region, where the Taliban have gained a strong foothold for their insurgency in Afghanistan and where al-Qaeda operatives are known to have taken shelter since being driven out of Afghanistan in 2001.

"It is true that Osama's activity has not been heard of for a long time, but Dr [Ayman] al-Zawahiri [al-Qaeda deputy leader] is active and moves all over and is now the main engine behind a lot of activity, even outside Afghanistan," Nasir asserted.

Another man, whom Asia Times Online had met in the northern mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and who just called himself a mujahid, said, "The al-Qaeda command structure, as it was known at the time of September 11, which carried out specific missions to target US interests, has largely been abandoned, but it has quickly been replaced.

"Nowadays, Arabs go straight into Afghanistan and join various Taliban commanders. At the same time, the Pakistani Taliban have formed bases in North and South Waziristan. All of them pledge their allegiance to Mullah Omar," the mujahid said.

"All global operations have been shunned for now. Sheikh [bin Laden] is inactive. Actually, Sheikh does not have any money left," a colleague of the mujahid said. Introducing himself as Abdullah ("Servant of Allah"), he was from the Afghan province of Nuristan and said he was part of the Taliban-led resistance. He also described himself as a "host", a term generally used for those who provide shelter to Arab-Afghans - those Arabs who have joined the insurgency and spent time in Afghanistan.

"He [bin Laden] kept changing his location; he spent a lot of money on his people and associates, and of course for his survival. The channels of money kept choking one by one and finally dried up," said Abdullah with a forlorn look on his face.

"This was a strange situation in which everybody [Arab-Afghan] was striving for survival, and once Osama's shelter [money] was off, they were scattered," Abdullah explained.

The most significant result of this was a sharp turn by al-Qaeda toward mainstream jihadist activity, mainly against allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The switch, though, carries with it inherent dangers, both for al-Qaeda and for some Muslim countries.

A visit from Iraq
The Taliban, and to a lesser extent al-Qaeda, have established a de facto Islamic state in the North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan. In effect it is beyond the control of Islamabad. This correspondent planned to travel there, but was warned that it would not be "fruitful", presumably in terms of life expectancy.

Instead, some contacts from North Waziristan traveled to the city of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, to speak to Asia Times Online, including Nasir.

They related that about two weeks ago, three men representing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in charge of Iraqi operations, were summoned from that country. The men met with Zawahiri in South Waziristan and were bluntly told to "immediately stop attacking Shi'ites in Iraq" and to "bring about [Sunni] reconciliation with Shi'ite groups" in Iraq. Further, they were ordered to "develop a common anti-US strategy along with the Shi'ites in Iraq".

This development is significant in the context of the vacuum that now exists within al-Qaeda, given bin Laden's reduced influence. In essence, three forces are in play: the jihadis in Pakistan and Afghanistan who answer to Mullah Omar; the jihadis centered in Iraq under Zarqawi; and the "traditional" al-Qaeda represented by Zawahiri (and bin Laden).

The first two forces are moving further away from the core of al-Qaeda, largely over the issue of takfiri (a belief that sects that are not Wahhabi-based are infidel and apostate).

Bin Laden has opposed this concept, arguing that al-Qaeda should not attack other Muslims, but takfiris see anyone beyond their beliefs as fair game, hence Zawahiri's advice to Zarqawi's men that they stop attacking Shi'ites in Iraq and concentrate on driving out the US-led forces, the "true" infidel.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, powerful figures such as Qari Tahir Yaldevish of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Sheikh Essa (an Egyptian) are very well respected among the al-Qaeda leadership, but they have been at the head of a successful drive to expand the influence of takfiris in Waziristan.

They have found comrades in the likes of Moulvi Sadiq Noor and Abdul Khaliq, who are committed to waging pitched battle against Pakistani military forces in what they call a "real" jihad as the troops represent the Pakistani administration, which they say has become a facilitator of the Americans.

From the wounded body of al-Qaeda, underground networks have largely been abandoned and replaced by open jihad. This jihad, though, has a deadly twist, especially for Pakistan: although Muslim, it's now a fair target.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE18Df04.html

al-Canine

05-23-2006, 05:07 PM

Bin Laden says Moussaoui not part of Sept 11: tape

DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden said Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a U.S. court for the September 11 attacks, had nothing to do with the operations, according to a Web site audiotape released on Tuesday.

Bin Laden said he had personally assigned tasks to the 19 hijackers who staged the attacks on U.S. cities which killed about 3,000 people.

"The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11. I am certain of what I say because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers ... with the raids," said the speaker who sounded like the leader of Al Qaeda.

The authenticity of the tape could not be verified. It was posted on a Web site often used by Al Qaeda.

Moussaoui was sentenced on May 4 to life in prison with no chance of release, ending 4-1/2 years of legal wrangling over his fate.

The 37-year-old French citizen of Moroccan descent pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy in connection with the attacks, in which hijacked airliners were flown into buildings in New York City and Washington D.C.

Some U.S. officials initially said they believed Moussaoui was to have taken part in the September 11 attacks as a 20th hijacker. Others later said he was supposed to have been part of a second wave of attacks that were not carried out.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-23T205410Z_01_L23145974_RTRUKOC_0_US-ATTACK-MOUSSAOUI.xml

The 801

05-24-2006, 11:33 PM

SOUND BYTES

Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Al Zawahiri or their allies this year. At least 35 messages have been broadcast since Al Jazeera aired the first statement by Bin Laden in 2001.

l January 6, 2006 - Zawahiri says in a video that US President George W Bush's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq meant Washington had been defeated by the Muslims. He also criticised Islamist groups for believing in Western-style democracy and taking part in elections.

l January 19 - Bin Laden warns that Al Qaeda is preparing new attacks inside the US but says the group is open to a conditional truce with Americans, according to an audiotape attributed to him and aired by Al Jazeera.

l January 30 - Zawahiri says in a videotape aired by Al Jazeera that he survived a US air strike targeting him in Pakistan earlier this month. The attack struck a village stronghold of pro-Taliban Islamists in Pakistan on January 13.

l April 23 - In an audiotape aired by Al Jazeera, Bin Laden says western efforts to isolate the Palestinian Hamas government and the Darfur crisis in Sudan are examples of the West's "crusader war" against Islam.

l April 25 - A unique, 34-minute video of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is posted on the Internet, the first known tape to show an unmasked Zarqawi delivering an extended rallying address. The video showed Zarqawi as both an operational figure and as a strategic leader.

l April 29 - Zawahri says in a video posted on the Internet that hundreds of suicide bombers had "broken America's back" in three years of war in Iraq. He also calls for the overthrow of Musharraf.

l May 23 - Bin Laden says in an audio tape posted on the Internet that Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the 9/11 operations.

The speaker said that he had personally assigned tasks to the 19 hijackers who staged the attacks.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=144460&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29066

Vancouver

05-26-2006, 09:05 PM

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

... the reality is that bin Laden, while remaining a source of inspiration in the anti-West struggle, is acknowledged as no longer being in command of al-Qaeda's operations. In that role, he has been superseded by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, according to investigations and interviews conducted by
Asia Times Online in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
...
"It is true that Osama's activity has not been heard of for a long time, but Dr [Ayman] al-Zawahiri [al-Qaeda deputy leader] is active and moves all over and is now the main engine behind a lot of activity, even outside Afghanistan," Nasir asserted.

These claims fit the general picture we have, such as it is. "Mullah" Omar is still in the field, on the Afghan side, and nobody really knows what he looks like. Six-foot-three bin Ladin would have a problem, and personally I don't think he wants to be anywhere any fighting anyway. Not long ago, Zawahiri referred to Omar as the Emir or some such name. According to my calculations, if someone were to ask Zawahiri who should be the first caliph of the imaginary coming global Sunni dictatorship, Zawahiri would nominate Omar.

But personally I try to keep track of not just who the bosses are, and who the figureheads are, but who the sponsors and recruiters and brainwashers are. By and large, I think those people are the same as they have been all along: certain senior clerics of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Pakistan.

Klaus

05-28-2006, 11:53 PM

Why do you suppose that after almost 5 years of SEARCHING, we are no closer to finding him than we were in 1999.

And now Brittany's baby is bigger news.

Osama has stated that his objective is to go out as a martyr
(QUOTE) " In the belly of the beast".

The reason the NSA is forced to resort to domestic spying, is because they KNOW nuclear weapons are already here, and they know Osama is planning to come here so he can go out like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.

AMERICAN HIROSHIMA

Casey

06-09-2006, 09:14 PM

@ bin Laden....

What say you?

Vancouver

06-12-2006, 06:03 AM

This is from CentCom, with some unimportant editing by yours truly:

A leaflet purporting to be a message from "Shaykh Usama Bin Laden" to "Muslims" in the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan was posted briefly on 15 May on the website news.yahoo.com.
The leaflet, reportedly distributed to tribesmen and militants at a three-day "religious" gathering in Miranshah in North Waziristan, urged Muslims to "give [US President George W.] Bush, [Pakistani President Gen.] Pervez [Musharraf] and their armies what they deserve" and specifically called for Musharraf's assassination.
The gathering at which the leaflet was distributed was reportedly organized by the global Islamic missionary movement, the Tablighi Jama'at.

A translation of the text follows:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Long Live Islam

Death to America

The Latest Message by Shaykh Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Laden to Muslims Regarding the Cruelty Inflicted Upon the Tribes of Waziristan by the Pakistani Army, including Murder, Butchery, and the Destruction of Homes.

"Pakistani Muslims wholeheartedly helped their brothers who were victimized by the devastation of the earthquake, may Allah greatly reward them for that.
In the same way, it is their duty to step forward and help the sons of these free Muslim Pashtun Tribes, whose homes in Waziristan were destroyed by the earthquake of the Pakistani Army and turned into ruins for the pleasure of America.
I pray to Allah that he would accept the martyrdom of their deceased, give health to their wounded, and bless their families and their property.

"I pray to the eternal God, the matchless one who is Allah, that he give Bush, Pervez, and their armies what they deserve.
And give one of the lions of Islam the opportunity to kill this slave of Bush in Pakistan.
No doubt this is possible for Allah and he is powerful.
Allah who is perfect and majestic said, "No doubt Pharaoh, Haman, and their army were at fault." (qura'an 28:8)

"It is requested of all Muslim brothers that whoever receives this message should make copies of it and distribute it on a mass scale."

(signed) MUJAHADEEN EMIRAT-E-ISLAMIA AFGHANISTAN

Casey

06-13-2006, 09:43 AM

@ bin Laden....

What say you?

Dear Osama,

Today would be a good day to release your Al-Zarqawi statement since I normally can't get to the forums during buisness hours.

TIA!

Casey

06-28-2006, 07:51 PM

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/6161/1rethaa2qareeba3ob.gif
قريبا من مؤسسة السحاب رثاء الشيخ أسامة بن لادن للشيخ أبومصعب الزرقاوي

Machine translation:

Shortly from the zipper institution a lamentation Sheikh Osama Bin Laden for the sheikh Abu Misaab Al-Zirkawi .

In other words,

Soon as-Sahab Media will present, Osama bin Laden lamenting Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

nancydrew

06-28-2006, 10:25 PM

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/new_bin_laden_a.html
New Bin Laden Audio Tape: Osama Speaks on the Death of Zarqawi

June 28, 2006 5:08 PM

Rhonda Schwartz and Maddy Sauer Report:

A new Osama bin Laden audio is expected to be released within three days. On the tape, bin Laden will talk about the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi. More details to come.

The audio is about 5 minutes in length. This is the fourth time we have heard an audio message from bin Laden this year. The last time we heard from him was following the sentencing of Zacarias Moussaoui for the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden claimed that he had not assigned Moussaoui to be a part of the attacks.

That tape came 19 days after the sentencing of Moussaoui and was considered a quick turnaround for one of his tapes, which are believed to pass through numerous couriers on their way to Al Jazeera network.

The news of Zarqawi's death came three weeks ago on June 8.*

June 28, 2006

Mike

06-29-2006, 08:27 AM

Does anyone recall Bin Laden saying something about dying in the belly of the eagle or something along those lines?

I was looking up recent Zawahiri statements about Palestine, wondering if his statements may have anything to do with what's going on over there now and came across this......

Jun 24 1:49 AM
The second-in-command of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in a videotape that the terrorist organisation's "holy war" would continue even if their leader Osama bin Laden is killed.

see a connection?

"holy war" would continue even if their leader Osama bin Laden is killed.

I'm not suggesting that Bin Laden is dead, just pointing out the fact that the words are all there.

Now we have what looks like we may have a major war starting between Israel and Palestine. Obviously Palestine can't defend itself, so who will come to their aid?

don't mind me, just babbling

Casey

06-29-2006, 09:44 PM

Does anyone recall Bin Laden saying something about dying in the belly of the eagle or something along those lines?

I was looking up recent Zawahiri statements about Palestine, wondering if his statements may have anything to do with what's going on over there now and came across this......

see a connection?

"holy war" would continue even if their leader Osama bin Laden is killed.

I'm not suggesting that Bin Laden is dead, just pointing out the fact that the words are all there.

Now we have what looks like we may have a major war starting between Israel and Palestine. Obviously Palestine can't defend itself, so who will come to their aid?

don't mind me, just babbling

I haven't forgotten that either, Mike.

Casey

06-29-2006, 09:45 PM

قريبا من مؤسسة السحاب رثاء الشيخ أسامة بن لادن للشيخ أبومصعب الزرقاوي

Machine translation:

Shortly from the zipper institution a lamentation Sheikh Osama Bin Laden for the sheikh Abu Misaab Al-Zirkawi .

In other words,

Soon as-Sahab Media will present, Osama bin Laden lamenting Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

As promised:

06.29.06 bin Laden's condolences for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35207)

http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?p=720098#post720098

Windy

06-29-2006, 10:18 PM

Casey... here is the BBC translation... is this a repeat of the "truce" tape...

****
My message to you is about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way to end it.

I had not intended to speak to you about this issue, because, for us, this issue is already decided on: diamonds cut diamonds.

Praise be to God, our conditions are always improving and becoming better, while your conditions are to the contrary of this.

However, what prompted me to speak are the repeated fallacies of your President Bush in his comment on the outcome of the US opinion polls, which indicated that the overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of the forces from Iraq, but he objected to this desire and said that the withdrawal of troops would send a wrong message to the enemy.

Bush said: It is better to fight them on their ground than they fighting us on our ground.

In my response to these fallacies, I say: The war in Iraq is raging, and the operations in Afghanistan are on the rise in our favour, praise be to God.

The Pentagon figures indicate the rise in the number of your dead and wounded, let alone the huge material losses, and let alone the collapse of the morale of the soldiers there and the increase in the suicide cases among them.

So, just imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts the soldier while collecting the remnants of his comrades' dead bodies after they hit mines, which torn them. Following such situation, the soldier becomes between two fires. If he refuses to go out of his military barracks for patrols, he will face the penalties of the Vietnam butcher, and if he goes out, he will face the danger of mines.

So, he is between two bitter situations, something which puts him under psychological pressure - fear, humiliation, and coercion. Moreover, his people are careless about him. So, he has no choice but to commit suicide.

What you hear about him and his suicide is a strong message to you, which he wrote with his blood and soul while pain and bitterness eat him up so that you would save what you can save from this hell. However, the solution is in your hand if you care about them.

The news of our brother mujahideen, however, is different from what is published by the Pentagon.

This news indicates that what is carried by the news media does not exceed what is actually taking place on the ground. What increases doubts on the information of the White House's administration is its targeting of the news media, which carry some facts about the real situation.

Documents have recently showed that the butcher of freedom in the world [US President Bush] had planned to bomb the head office of al-Jazeera Space Channel in the state of Qatar after he bombed its offices in Kabul and Baghdad, although despite its defects, it is [Al-Jazeera] one of your creations.

Jihad is continuing, praise be to God, despite all the repressive measures the US army and its agents take to the point where there is no significant difference between these crimes and those of Saddam.

These crimes include the raping of women and taking them hostage instead of their husbands. There is no power but in God.

The torturing of men has reached the point of using chemical acids and electric drills in their joints. If they become desperate with them, they put the drill on their heads until death.

If you like, read the humanitarian reports on the atrocities and crimes in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

I say that despite all the barbaric methods, they have failed to ease resistance, and the number of mujahideen, praise be to God, is increasing.

In fact, reports indicate that the defeat and devastating failure of the ill-omened plan of the four - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz - and the announcement of this defeat and working it out, is only a matter of time, which is to some extent linked to the awareness of the American people of the magnitude of this tragedy.

The wise ones know that Bush has no plan to achieve his alleged victory in Iraq.

If you compare the small number of the dead when Bush made that false and stupid show-like announcement from an aircraft carrier on the end of the major operations, to many times as much as this number of the killed and injured, who fell in the minor operations, you will know the truth in what I am saying, and that Bush and his administration do not have neither the desire nor the will to withdraw from Iraq for their own dubious reasons.

To go back to where I started, I say that the results of the poll satisfy sane people and that Bush's objection to them is false.

Reality testifies that the war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq, as he claims.

In fact, Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified resources.

On the other hand, the mujahideen, praise be to God, have managed to breach all the security measures adopted by the unjust nations of the coalition time and again.

The evidence of this is the bombings you have seen in the capitals of the most important European countries of this aggressive coalition.

As for the delay in carrying out similar operations in America, this was not due to failure to breach your security measures.

Operations are under preparation, and you will see them on your own ground once they are finished, God willing.

Based on the above, we see that Bush's argument is false. However, the argument that he avoided, which is the substance of the results of opinion polls on withdrawing the troops, is that it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land and for them not to fight us on our land.

We do not object to a long-term truce with you on the basis of fair conditions that we respect.

We are a nation, for which God has disallowed treachery and lying.

In this truce, both parties will enjoy security and stability and we will build Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the war.

There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars.

Hence, we can understand the insistence of Bush and his gang to continue the war.

If you have a genuine will to achieve security and peace, we have already answered you.

If Bush declines but to continue lying and practicing injustice [against us], it is useful for you to read the book of "The Rogue State", the introduction of which reads: If I were a president, I would halt the operations against the United States.

First, I will extend my apologies to the widows, orphans, and the persons who were tortured. Afterwards, I will announce that the US interference in the world's countries has ended for ever.

Finally, I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God's help.

If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever.

Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.

As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honour, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way.

You tried to deny us the decent life, but you cannot deny us a decent death. Refraining from performing jihad, which is sanctioned by our religion, is an appalling sin. The best way of death for us is under the shadows of swords.

Do not be deluded by your power and modern weapons. Although they win some battles, they lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are better than them. What is important is the outcome.

We have been tolerant for 10 years in fighting the Soviet Union with our few weapons and we managed to drain their economy.

They became history, with God's help.

You should learn lessons from that. We will remain patient in fighting you, God willing, until the one whose time has come dies first. We will not escape the fight as long as we hold our weapons in our hands.

I swear not to die but a free man even if I taste the bitterness of death. I fear to be humiliated or betrayed.

Peace be upon those who follow guidance.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad.

Casey

06-29-2006, 10:20 PM

I haven't even had a chance to read this yet Windy. I have some things going on tonight.

I'll get back to you.

Thanks

Casey

06-29-2006, 10:30 PM

Casey... here is the BBC translation... is this a repeat of the "truce" tape...

I don't think this is a repeat, Windy.

Searching specific strings in the message show no returns.

I am convinced it is bin Laden in the audio file.

I expect there will be an As Sahab English translation by morning, although I haven't checked the larger download files for sub title.

Windy

06-29-2006, 10:47 PM

I was just wondering as I thought he offered a truce before...

you're the expert however and I defer to your wisdom!!! :o)

Anna Lytic

06-29-2006, 11:43 PM

I was just wondering as I thought he offered a truce before...

you're the expert however and I defer to your wisdom!!! :o)

Windy,

That's the message from Jan. 19, 2006.
BBC got it wrong.

Windy

06-30-2006, 12:55 PM

Windy,

That's the message from Jan. 19, 2006.
BBC got it wrong.

I found that out this morning.... a bit embarrassed!

Casey

06-30-2006, 08:00 PM

Another message from bin Laden expected.

http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?p=721661#post721661

NFM

06-30-2006, 09:22 PM

http://up-p.net/uploads/27b78da9f8.gif

Vancouver

07-01-2006, 12:47 AM

I see this claim on the same forum and by the same poster as the previous UBL claim, which turned out to be accurate.

About Somalia, somebody is buying weapons for the Islamic Courts faction; they arrive in Mogadishu daily. But I'm not sure the backing comes from the same Arabs who back Usama, or those who funded e.g. the Madrid train bombings. I'm not sure Usama's speech will be welcome in Mogadishu. Usama brought disaster to the Taliban and he could easily do the same for the Sharia Courts. Looks to me like Usama will just use Somalia as something to boast about, although he's not involved.

The 801

07-04-2006, 12:42 AM

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 4, 2006

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.
The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

The decision to close the unit was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was.

Mr. Scheuer said that view was mistaken.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

In recent years, the war in Iraq has stretched the resources of the intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, generating new priorities for American officials. For instance, much of the military's counterterrorism units, like the Army's Delta Force, had been redirected from the hunt for Mr. bin Laden to the search for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed last month in Iraq.

An intelligence official who was granted anonymity to discuss classified information said the closing of the bin Laden unit reflected a greater grasp of the organization. "Our understanding of Al Qaeda has greatly evolved from where it was in the late 1990's," the official said, but added, "There are still people who wake up every day with the job of trying to find bin Laden."

Established in 1996, when Mr. bin Laden's calls for global jihad were a source of increasing concern for officials in Washington, Alec Station operated in a similar fashion to that of other agency stations around the globe.

The two dozen staff members who worked at the station, which was named after Mr. Scheuer's son and was housed in leased offices near agency headquarters in northern Virginia, issued regular cables to the agency about Mr. bin Laden's growing abilities and his desire to strike American targets throughout the world.

In his book "Ghost Wars," which chronicles the agency's efforts to hunt Mr. bin Laden in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks, Steve Coll wrote that some inside the agency likened Alec Station to a cult that became obsessed with Al Qaeda.

"The bin Laden unit's analysts were so intense about their work that they made some of their C.I.A. colleagues uncomfortable," Mr. Coll wrote. Members of Alec Station "called themselves 'the Manson Family' because they had acquired a reputation for crazed alarmism about the rising Al Qaeda threat."

Intelligence officials said Alec Station was disbanded after Robert Grenier, who until February was in charge of the Counterterrorist Center, decided the agency needed to reorganize to better address constant changes in terrorist organizations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html

Casey

07-05-2006, 08:24 AM

@ Future island with Sheikh Osama 1998 @

Channel Island lengthy interview with Sheikh Osama bin Laden in 1998. The consolidation that shred Sheikh in the description of medicine for our nation and also spoke about some of the policies Jihad Jihad Base

Size : 20 M
Duration : 1 hour and 25 minutes

Link load

Http://www.c5c6.com/File/1152096128.zip (Http://www.c5c6.com/File/1152096128.zip)

# # apologize double precision as well as provide sound slightly (3 chances) for the picture.

Casey

07-05-2006, 08:31 AM

05.07.2006 / 08:20 Law enforcers have no info on bin Laden's presence in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, July 5, 2006. KAZINFORM. - Kyrgyz law enforcers do not have information to confirm that notorious Osama bin Laden is staying on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, Security Council Secretary Miroslav Niyazov told on Tuesday.
He referred to former White House counter-terrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, who thinks that the No 1 terrorist might be hiding in Central Asia.

"We should take this statement very seriously. The United States must have grounds to say so," Niyazov said. He did not rule out the appearance of bin Laden in Central Asia, Kazinform quotes Itar-Tass.

"Central Asian republics must be vigilant," he said.

http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=143168

Casey

07-05-2006, 07:50 PM

Workshop initiative : (P. 8) : archive Whole words and letters to the Mujahedin-Release II -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Say Work co Allah and his messenger work, believers and to the world of the unknown. Strdon certificate Venbekm what you get) [repentance : 105]

Network is pleased Buraq Islamic / workshop initiative
Submit Project VIII -
Whole archive Words and letters to the Mujahideen
Sheikh Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden (God preserve)
It also published, in chronological order (Release II, the first edition)
7 Jumada II 1427 e 3 July 2006 m
And the archive contains : All words and letters and letters after Events of September 2001

ورشة عمل البراق:(م8):الأرشيف الجامع لكلمات و خطابات إمام المجاهدين-الإصدار الثاني

{وَقُلِ اعْمَلُواْ فَسَيَرَى اللّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ}[التوبة:105]

يســرّ شبكة البراق الإسلامية / ورشة عمل البراق

أن تقدم

المشروع الثامن-

الأرشيف الجامع
لكلمات و خطابات إمام المجاهدين

الشيخ أُسَامَة بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ لاَدِنْ
(حفِظَهُ الله)
كما نُشِرت و بالترتيب الزمني

(الإصدار الثاني،الطبعة الأولى)
7 جمادى الثاني1427 هـ
3 يوليو/تموز 2006 م
و يحوي الأرشيف:
جميع الكلمات و الرسائل و الخطابات بعد
أحداث سبتمبر/أيلول 2001

Casey

07-20-2006, 11:17 PM

Just some chatter on a forum.....

Urgent unofficial sources mentioned in the besieged area of Pakistan where bin Laden

Sources informally in Pakistan, The al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to monitor the area adjacent to the triangle in the Pakistani-Afghani border of China, in the extreme north of Pakistan.

The same sources to the evacuation of hundreds of foreign tourists, most of whom are Alaurubin. The area adjacent to the corridor Chlinji Wakhan corridor, linking Afghanistan, The Chinese border by Pakistani authorities and closed all roads leading into the area.

This happened after the receipt of information to Islamabad about the possibility of the presence of bin Laden or his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahri, or the number of senior followers in the region, and the possibility of the use of rugged and mountainous areas near the Chinese border as a safe haven for them, away from the eyes of the American forces.

It is noteworthy that the American forces would find it difficult to shell, and the prosecution of the leaders of Al Qaeda in those areas raises the sensitivity of its proximity to the borders of China.

But wouldn't that be sweet!

Casey

07-20-2006, 11:40 PM

So, maybe they are going to put an end to Binny's mountain climbing days.....

The map in the China thread clearly shows where Afghanistan meets China with Pakistan to the south and Tajikistan to the north.

http://wincoast.com/forum/showpost.php?p=744789&postcount=2

Chilinji Pass 5,247 m
http://www.karavanleaders.com/images/tours_images/Treks/chilinji-pass.jpg

http://www.karavanleaders.com/tours/treks/chlinji.htm

The Chilinji Pass leading from Chapursan in upper Hunza into Ishkoman, Boroghil & Wakhan corridor, has been a restricted trek for the recent centuries. It therefore remains one of Pakistan’s most remote treks. It takes trekkers from the Ishkoman Valley (near Gilgit) to the Chapursan Valley in the upper Hunza, a journey through richly contrasting landscapes. The route runs parallel to the Wakhan corridor near the Afghanistan and Tajikistan borders. Nomads from both these countries still make the journey to the Chapurson Valley, bringing their yaks, sheep and goats to trade for sugar, tea, cigarettes and other goods from Sost.

Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor & the Afghan Pamir

http://www.mockandoneil.com/kashchgoz2005.jpg

http://www.mockandoneil.com/irshadorange.jpg

http://www.mockandoneil.com/wakhan.htm

Shipwrx

07-21-2006, 11:51 PM

He's not there.

kotzi

07-22-2006, 12:17 AM

Klaus

07-22-2006, 12:27 AM

Or he wants to get caught, brought to the US, and "die in the belly of the eagle" during an atomic blust carried out by his sleeping agents and the nukes that are alledgedly already inside the country.

They would never bring bin Laden to the mainland US if he was caught.
He does want to come here on his own... to die in the belly of the Eagle as a Martyr - on his own terms. That is his stated objective. Can you imagine the recruiting strength of a video showing bin Laden INSIDE the US before the next 9/11? The fact that his next video is already being "reported" clearly shows we have NO FUCKING IDEA here he is.

Won't we be surprised when we see Waffle House in the background.

kotzi

07-22-2006, 09:52 AM

They would never bring bin Laden to the mainland US if he was caught.
He does want to come here on his own... to die in the belly of the Eagle as a Martyr - on his own terms. That is his stated objective. Can you imagine the recruiting strength of a video showing bin Laden INSIDE the US before the next 9/11? The fact that his next video is already being "reported" clearly shows we have NO FUCKING IDEA here he is.

Won't we be surprised when we see Waffle House in the background.
I was only thinking ... failing health, difficulty to live unnoticed inside the US (Osama in front of Waffle House is in my view not a realistic scenario), and who knows, I don't think he would be brought to Gitmo, the public would clearly demand the trial of the Century ... But yeah, we don't know shit, I agree.

Combine the report on his failing health with the ones that the American Hiroshima is in the making for more than 10 years, and the thought creeps up that it could actually be near for once, especially now with the Israel/Hisbollah conflict as excuse.

Casey

07-22-2006, 10:04 AM

I was only thinking ... failing health, difficulty to live unnoticed inside the US (Osama in front of Waffle House is in my view not a realistic scenario),

snip

I don't believe it's realistic either, currently.

And why come all the way to the U.S. when there is havoc already in place in the East?

al-Canine

07-22-2006, 02:15 PM

And why come all the way to the U.S. when there is havoc already in place in the East?

.... :)

Shipwrx

07-24-2006, 10:05 PM

:happy_09:
.... :)

Klaus

07-25-2006, 12:05 AM

He's coming to sight see, take some home movies, do the talk show circuit, visit a few old folks homes, and some kiddie photo ops, and then SNL.

Vancouver

07-25-2006, 07:57 AM

Could anybody actually live at an altitude of over 5,000 meters for very long? Not in winter, surely. For comparison, the summit of Mount Rainier is at 4,392 meters.

Mike

07-27-2006, 11:30 AM

NEED TRANSLATION PLEASE. OSAMA ARRESTED?:

عــاجل ..!! تم القبض على أسامة بن لادن ..!! خبر حقيقي

نعم القي القبض على زعيم القاعدة ( أسامه بن لادن ) هذا ما حدث فعلاً

بعد أن حوصر في احد الكهوف. وقتل جميع من كان يدافع عنه بعد معركة

شهدت أشرس المعارك التي خاضها وقد وصلت حتى التشابك بالسلاح الأبيض

وبعدها يسقط زعيم القاعدة أسيراً بيد المار ينز الأمريكي اللذين

يقتادونه إلى احد طائرات الهيلوكبتر التي كانت بانتظارهم لكي تنقله

إلى قاعدة غوانتانامو ليكون مقر إقامته الدائم ؛

وقد بدأت المهمة ليلاً بقيادة احد أطفال العرب المسلمين حيث كان

الدليل السياحي للهجوم بعد أن حدد موقع زعيم القاعدة في احد الكهوف

مع عدد من رفاقه وكان متحمساً جداً يسابق الزمن في إلقاء القبض عليه؛

فكان له ما أراد وأراد الغرب .

صدقوني فكنت احد المتابعين لهذا الحدث الكبير من بدايته إلى أن

تلقى عدد من الركلات من احد الجنود على الصدر والوجه وكان مقيد

اليدين على بعد أمتار من الطائرة التي بانتظاره؛؛؛؛

حيث بدأت مشاعر الارتياح على الدليل السياحي ( الطفل العربي ) واضحةً

على محياة وهو ينهي آخر مرحلة من مراحل القبض على أسامة في احد

أشرطة (البلايستيشن 2) بعد أن سمح بتداوله بأسواقنا 00وترويجه بين

أطفالنا 0

لم أورد ما رأيته لأكون مع أو ضد أسامه ولكن هل تقبل بأن ترى ماصو

ره انه إرهابي يكون بالزى العربي والإسلامي ويطارده الجندي الأمريكي

بقيادة ابنك ..!!

لست تربوياً ولكن اترك تفسيرها لأهل العلم ومالها من سلبيات

وايجابيات وهل يحاسب المسئول أياً كان عن سبب دخول مثل هذه

الألعاب .....

--------------

منقول .. وبكل حسرهـ ,, وبكل غُصــهـ ..!!

MACHINE TRANSLATION:
Urgent! Were arrested Osama Bin Laden! Real news

Yes arrested the leader of Al Qaeda (Osama bin Laden) is what actually happened

Having caught in a cave. And the killing of all the champions after battle

Witnessed the fiercest battles waged have arrived so interwoven knives

And after the fall, however, the leader of Al Qaeda prisoners passing by the American Wins

Taking him to a helicopter which was waiting for transportation

Guantanamo base to be permanent residence;

We have begun the task at night led by a Muslim Arab children in the

Tourist Guide to attack the site after the leader of Al Qaeda in one of the caves

With a number of his companions was very enthusiastic competes in the time of his arrest;

It is because he wanted the West.

Believe me I who have recently received one of this great event from its inception to

A number of soldiers from one kicked on the chest and face and was restricted

Handcuffs, a few meters away from the plane awaited;;;;

Where feelings of satisfaction began to guide tourism (Arab Child), and clear

Maheah on the end of another stage of the arrest of one of Osama

Tapes (Alblaistishn 2) having allowed Basoagna handling between 00 and promoted

Children 0

What I saw was not made with me or against Osama But do accept that view Maso

Rah terrorist be uniform Arab and Muslim American soldier ever

Hosted by!

I educationally, but leave the interpretation of science and fates of the people of the downside

The positives Is responsible held accountable for whatever reason the entry of such

Games ...

--------------

Movable. All went out, and everything bad!

Alli

07-27-2006, 11:52 AM

Mike, where did you see this?

Mike

07-27-2006, 12:55 PM

A friend pointed out that this message was posted on another forum on July 16th

Mike

07-27-2006, 01:07 PM

Just found another even older version dated 03-18-2006

damn!

Never mind, looks like a false alarm

Petronas

07-28-2006, 11:59 PM

Originally posted by Vancouver
Could anybody actually live at an altitude of over 5,000 meters for very long?
Individuals have lived for as long as 2 years at an altitude of 5950 meters. There was a miner's camp at 5300 meters for several years. The highest permanently inhabited town in the world currently appears to be a mining village in Peru at an altitude of about 5100 m. Now if someone with health problems, as OBL is reputed to have, could long survive at such an altitude is a different question. But the altitude would probably discourage most searchers, who would suffer from severe altitude sickness without prolonged acclimatization...

Casey

08-03-2006, 07:57 AM

In a thread about Saad bin Laden being released from Iran is this post:

Bin Laden in Iran
Zawahri, in Iran
The tapes are sent from Iran and the island directly Canal

The al-Zarqawi was in Iran ... It was sold to America .... For the deal secret
Khalid Mashaal ... All strugglers Hamas and Hezbollah ... Moving between (Lebanon, Syria and Iran)
Carlos was then moved to Iran, Lebanon and Syria ... Then Aden oriented to the Sudan ... Deliver France
All seemed ... Is a natural ... In a world governed ... Astekhbart devices ... Advanced very, very, very
Entered politics in religion ... And the income of religion in politics
Iran plays a major role in the world .... Greater than expected ... It is little consolation to entrepreneurs temporary

NFM

08-03-2006, 09:51 AM

Ono

08-03-2006, 09:40 PM

Just found another even older version dated 03-18-2006

damn!

Never mind, looks like a false alarm

Wouldn't it be nice....

kotzi

08-03-2006, 10:05 PM

Think they'd be welcomed after encouraging Sunnis to kill Shiites?
Remember, Hitler made a pact with Stalin only to break it later at a more convenient time.

Casey

08-18-2006, 10:37 PM

If you go back a page in this thread the first reports of bin Laden in the Wakhan corridor came out 4 weeks ago (July 20/06). Now India says they have information that bin Laden was seen in the same area 2 weeks ago.

al-Qaeda brass shifts base, sighted

Nandini R Iyer
New Delhi, August 19, 2006

Has Osama bin Laden been sighted? A report with the Government of India says Al-Qaeda's top leadership was recently spotted near Darkot, a Pakistani village near the border with Afghanistan's Wakhan corridor.

Sources say the report was made less than a fortnight ago.

Till now, Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri were thought to be in the rugged mountains of Pakistan, along Afghanistan's southeast border.

There is now the possibility that they have shifted to the Wakhan corridor. Sticking out of northeastern Afghanistan, the corridor (a strip of land) is wedged between Tajikistan, Pakistan and the part of PoK known as Northern Areas.

The latest sighting is significant in view of the recently thwarted terror plot in the UK. Since then, the US and UK have been investigating Al-Qaeda's role in the plot, and the Pakistani link.

Sources say there has been institutionalised exchange of information between western governments and India.

The main link to the UK terror plot is Rashid Rauf, recently arrested in Pakistan at the behest of Britain's MI5.

Rauf is said to be linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which, along with the LeT, has targeted India.

New Delhi believes that he could provide substantial leads in the hunt for Al-Qaeda's core leadership.

The last time a top Al-Qaeda terrorist was sighted, on January 15, the Americans had attacked. But Al-Zawahiri managed to escape the CIA's pre-dawn air strike on a village near Waziristan, Pakistan. Instead, 17 innocent people died.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1772087,0008.htm

The 801

08-26-2006, 01:50 AM

Casey

08-26-2006, 02:25 AM

U.S.: Suspected Bin Laden Location
August 25, 2006 15 11 GMT

U.S. intelligence suspects al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is hiding in Chitral, a region in northern Pakistan, the Pakistani Daily Times reported Aug. 25, citing anonymous intelligence officials. The sources based their conclusions on an examination of trees seen in bin Laden's video footage dating back to 2003 and the length of time it takes for audiotapes from bin Laden regarding recent events to reach the media. Bin Laden is believed to be living in house, possibly with a family, and to have only two bodyguards, the sources said.

http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=273589

Those trees give you away everytime.
Well why not?

He's on holiday, come down from the pass for a bit of a break.

It's tourist season in Chitral

Chitral district has Afghanistan (http://www.world66.com/asia/centralasia/afghanistan) on its North, South and West. A narrow strip of Afghan territory, Wakhan, separates it from Tajikistan. The tourist season in Chitral is from June to September.
http://www.world66.com/asia/southasia/pakistan/chitral
And look on the map.

2 post offices down the road from the airport. No problem getting messages in and out there.

Yup, mind those trees....

Casey

09-05-2006, 08:46 PM

Now, ‘nikah’ cleric’s ‘fatwa’ against Laden

HT Correspondent
Lucknow, September 5

Also asks for boycott of Naib Imam Eidgah

TAKING THE battle further into the camp of the Muslim Wahabi sect, Mufti Abdul Mannan Kalimi of Moradabad, who belongs to Sunni sect, today issued a ‘fawta’ (edict) against Osama bin Laden. Calling all Wahabis ‘non-Muslim’, Kalimi said if Laden was also a Wahabi he was not a Muslim. The mufti also gave the call for boycott of clerics of Firangi Mahal Lucknow, including Naib Imam Eidgah Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli.

Kalimi, who shot into limelight after his controversial ‘nikah fatwa’ for the villagers of Ahraula (Moradabad) last week, told newsmen here that since Wahabis had been excommunicated from Islam more than a century ago and “anybody, including Bin Laden, who believes in this sect is not follower of Islam”.

Kalimi said, “I have not met Bin Laden but if he is a Wahabi, he is out of the realm of Islam”.

Bin Laden’s belief in Wahabism is a well-know fact.

Kalimi also announced that Lucknow-based Nadwatul Uloom and seminary in Deoband had been working against the interest of Islam. “They are worst than Salman Rushdie,” Kalimi fumed. Referring to his ‘fatwa’ about fresh Nikah for the villagers of Ahraula, who had offered Namaz-e-Janaza (prayer after death) behind a Wahabi, Kalimi said it was not a new edict but reiteration of a century-old decree issued by Maulana Ahmad Raza Barielvi against Wahabis and Deobandis.

Delving into history of Sunni-Wahabi tussle in India, Kalimi said Maulana Raza had gathered the ‘ulema’ (clerics) on a platform against followers of Abdul Wahab, founder of Wahabi movement in Saudi Arabia.

Kalimi, calling upon the people to launch movement against Nadwa and Deoband schools, said they had subscribed a book ‘Taqviatul Emaan’ (firmness of faith) in their syllabus which was highly derogatory to Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

He said Sunnis believed that clerics of Firangi Mahal had faith in Barielvi maslak (sect) but Khalid Rashid’s reaction against last week edict had exposed him. Kalimi said Khalid Rashid had joined Deoband faith. Kalimi also accused Rashid of creating confusion in the community.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1787469,0015002500000005.htm

Chaos

09-05-2006, 10:49 PM

It would no doubt piss off Bin Ladin to no end if he knew they were using non-Koranic Arabic letters on their map...

:add09:

al-Canine

09-10-2006, 12:34 AM

Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'

U.S. Steps Up Efforts, But Good Intelligence On Ground is Lacking

By Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers

The clandestine U.S. commandos whose job is to capture or kill Osama bin Laden have not received a credible lead in more than two years. Nothing from the vast U.S. intelligence world -- no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image -- has led them anywhere near the al-Qaeda leader, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

"The handful of assets we have have given us nothing close to real-time intelligence" that could have led to his capture, said one counterterrorism official, who said the trail, despite the most extensive manhunt in U.S. history, has gone "stone cold."

But in the last three months, following a request from President Bush to "flood the zone," the CIA has sharply increased the number of intelligence officers and assets devoted to the pursuit of bin Laden. The intelligence officers will team with the military's secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and with more resources from the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies.

The problem, former and current counterterrorism officials say, is that no one is certain where the "zone" is.

"Here you've got a guy who's gone off the net and is hiding in some of the most formidable terrain in one of the most remote parts of the world surrounded by people he trusts implicitly," said T. McCreary, spokesman for the National Counterterrorism Center. "And he stays off the net and is probably not mobile. That's an extremely difficult problem."

Intelligence officials think that bin Laden is hiding in the northern reaches of the autonomous tribal region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. This calculation is based largely on a lack of activity elsewhere and on other intelligence, including a videotape, obtained exclusively by the CIA and not previously reported, that shows bin Laden walking on a trail toward Pakistan at the end of the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, when U.S. forces came close but failed to capture him.

Many factors have combined in the five years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to make the pursuit more difficult. They include the lack of CIA access to people close to al-Qaeda's inner circle; Pakistan's unwillingness to pursue him; the reemergence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan; the strength of the Iraqi insurgency, which has depleted U.S. military and intelligence resources; and the U.S. government's own disorganization.

But the underlying reality is that finding one person in hiding is difficult under any circumstances. Eric Rudolph, the confessed Olympics and abortion clinic bomber, evaded authorities for five years, only to be captured miles from where he was last seen in North Carolina.

It has been so long since there has been anything like a real close call that some operatives have given bin Laden a nickname: "Elvis," for all the wishful-thinking sightings that have substituted for anything real.

After playing down bin Laden's importance and barely mentioning him for several years, Bush last week repeatedly invoked his name and quoted from his writings and speeches to underscore what Bush said is the continuing threat of terrorism.

Many terrorism experts, however, say the importance of finding bin Laden has diminished since Bush first pledged to capture him "dead or alive" in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Terrorists worldwide have repeatedly shown they no longer need him to organize or carry out attacks, the experts say. Attacks in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were perpetrated by homegrown terrorists unaffiliated with al-Qaeda.

"Will his capture stop terrorism? No," Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a recent interview. "But in terms of a message to the world, it's a huge message."

Despite a lack of progress, at CIA headquarters bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are still the most wanted of the High Value Targets, referred to as "HVT 1 and 2." The CIA station in Kabul still offers a briefing to VIP visitors that declares: "We are here for the hunt!" -- a reminder that finding bin Laden is a top priority.

Gary Berntsen, the former CIA officer who led the first and last hunt for bin Laden at Tora Bora, in December 2001, says, "This could all end tomorrow." One unsolicited walk-in. One tribesman seeking to collect the $25 million reward. One courier who would rather his kids grow up in the United States. One dealmaker, "and this could all change," Berntsen said.

Bin Laden Still Alive

On the videotape obtained by the CIA, bin Laden is seen confidently instructing his party how to dig holes in the ground to lie in undetected at night. A bomb dropped by a U.S. aircraft can be seen exploding in the distance. "We were there last night," bin Laden says without much concern in his voice. He was in or headed toward Pakistan, counterterrorism officials think.

That was December 2001. Only two months later, Bush decided to pull out most of the special operations troops and their CIA counterparts in the paramilitary division that were leading the hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for war in Iraq, said Flynt L. Leverett, then an expert on the Middle East at the National Security Council.

"I was appalled when I learned about it," said Leverett, who has become an outspoken critic of the administration's counterterrorism policy. "I don't know of anyone who thought it was a good idea. It's very likely that bin Laden would be dead or in American custody if we hadn't done that."

Several officers confirmed that the number of special operations troops was reduced in March 2001.

White House spokeswoman Michele Davis said she would not comment on the specific allegation. "Military and intelligence units move routinely in and out," she said. "The intelligence and military community's hunt for bin Laden has been aggressive and constant since the attacks."

The Pakistani intelligence service, notoriously difficult to trust but also the service with the best access to al-Qaeda circles, is convinced bin Laden is alive because no one has ever intercepted or heard a message mourning his death. "Al-Qaeda will mourn his death and will retaliate in a big way. We are pretty sure Osama is alive," Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said in a recent interview with The Washington Post.

Pakistani intelligence officials also say they think bin Laden remains actively involved in al-Qaeda activities. They cite the interrogations of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a key planner of the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, and Abu-Faraj al-Libbi, who served as a communications conduit between bin Laden and senior al-Qaeda operatives until his capture last year.

Libbi and Ghailani, who was arrested in Pakistan in July 2004, were the last two people taken into custody to have met with and taken orders from Zawahiri and to hear directly from bin Laden. "Both Ghailani and Libbi were informed that Osama was well and alive and in the picture by none other than Zawahiri himself," one Pakistani intelligence official said.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials recently interviewed in Karachi said that the last time they received firsthand information on bin Laden was in April 2003, when an arrested al-Qaeda leader, Tawfiq bin Attash, disclosed having met him in the Khost province of Afghanistan three months earlier.

Attash, who helped plan the 2000 USS Cole bombing, told interrogators that the meeting took place in the Afghan mountains about two hours from the town of Khost.

By then, Pakistan was the United States' best bet for information after an infusion of funds from the U.S. intelligence community, particularly in the area of expensive NSA eavesdropping equipment.

"For technical intelligence ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) works hand in hand with the NSA," a senior Pakistani intelligence official said. "The U.S. assistance in building Pakistan's capabilities for technical intelligence since 9/11 is superb."

Since early 2002, the United States has stationed a small number of personnel from the NSA and the CIA near where bin Laden may be hiding. They are embedded with counterterrorism units of the Pakistan army's elite Special Services Group, according to senior Pakistani intelligence officials.

The NSA and other specialists collect imagery and electronic intercepts that their CIA counterparts then share with the Pakistani units in the tribal areas and with the province of Baluchistan to the south.

But even with sophisticated technology, the local geography presents formidable obstacles. In a land of dead-end valleys, high peaks and winding ridge lines, it is easy to hide within the miles of caves and deep ravines, or to live unnoticed in mud-walled compounds barely distinguishable from the surrounding terrain.

The Afghan-Pakistan border is about 1,500 miles. Pakistan deploys 70,000 troops there. Its army had never entered the area until October 2001, more than a half century after Pakistan's founding.

Pakistani Sources Lost

A Muslim country where many consider bin Laden a hero, Pakistan has grown increasingly reluctant to help the U.S. search. The army lost its best source of intelligence in 2004, after it began raids inside the tribal areas. Scouts with blood ties to the tribes ceased sharing information for fear of retaliation.

They had good reason. At least 23 senior anti-Taliban tribesmen have been assassinated in South and North Waziristan since May 2005. "Al-Qaeda footprints were found everywhere," Interior Minister Sherpao said in a recent interview. "They kidnapped and chopped off heads of at least seven of these pro-government tribesmen."

Pakistani and U.S. counterterrorism and military officials admit that Pakistan has now all but stopped looking for bin Laden. "The dirty little secret is, they have nothing, no operations, without the Paks," one former counterterrorism officer said.

Last week, Pakistan announced a truce with the Taliban that calls on the insurgent Afghan group to end armed attacks inside Pakistan and to stop crossing into Afghanistan to fight the government and international troops. The agreement also requires foreign militants to leave the tribal area of North Waziristan or take up a peaceable life there.

In Afghanistan, the hunt for bin Laden has been upstaged by the reemergence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and by Afghan infighting for control of territory and opium poppy cropland.

Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2003, said he thinks bin Laden kept close to the border, not wandering far into either country. That belief is still current among military and intelligence analysts.

"We believe that he held to a pretty narrow range of within 15 kilometers of the border," said Vines, who now commands the XVIII Airborne Corps, "so that if the Pakistanis, for whatever reason, chose to do something to him, he could cross into Afghanistan and vice versa."

He said he thinks bin Laden's protection force "had a series of outposts with radios that could alert each other" if helicopters were coming or other troop movements were evident.

Pakistani military officials in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, described bin Laden as having three rings of security, each ring unaware of the movements and identities of the other. Sometimes they communicated with specially marked flashlights. Sometimes they dressed as women to avoid detection by U.S. spy planes.

Pakistan will permit only small numbers of U.S. forces to operate with its troops at times and, because their role is so sensitive politically, it officially denies any U.S. presence. A frequent complaint from U.S. troops is that they have too little to do. The same complaint is also heard from U.S. forces in Afghanistan, where there were few targets to go after.

Although the hunt for bin Laden has depended to a large extent on technology, until recently unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were in short supply, especially when the war in Iraq became a priority in 2003.

In July 2003, Vines said that U.S. forces under his command thought they were close to striking bin Laden, but had only one drone to send over three possible routes he might take. "A UAV was positioned on the route that was most likely, but he didn't go that way," Vines said. "We believed that we were within a half-hour of possibly getting him, but nothing materialized."

Faced with the most sophisticated technology in the world, bin Laden has gone decidedly low-tech. His 23 video or audiotapes in the last five years are thought to have been hand-carried to news outlets or nearby mail drops by a series of couriers who know nothing about the contents of their deliveries or the real identity of the sender, a simple method used by spies and drug traffickers for centuries.

"They are really good at operational security," said Ben Venzke, chief executive officer of IntelCenter, a private company that analyzes terrorist information and has obtained, analyzed and published all bin Laden's communiques. "They are very good at having enough cut-outs" to move videos into circulation without detection. "It's some of the simplest things to do."

Uncertain Command Structure

Bureaucratic battles slowed down the hunt for bin Laden for the first two or three years, according to officials in several agencies, with both the Pentagon and the CIA accusing each other of withholding information. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's sense of territoriality has become legendary, according to these officials.

In early November 2002, for example, a CIA drone armed with a Hellfire missile killed a top al-Qaeda leader traveling through the Yemeni desert. About a week later, Rumsfeld expressed anger that it was the CIA, not the Defense Department, that had carried out the successful strike.

"How did they get the intel?" he demanded of the intelligence and other military personnel in a high-level meeting, recalled one person knowledgeable about the meeting.

Gen. Michael V. Hayden, then director of the National Security Agency and technically part of the Defense Department, said he had given it to them.

"Why aren't you giving it to us?" Rumsfeld wanted to know.

Hayden, according to this source, told Rumsfeld that the information-sharing mechanism with the CIA was working well. Rumsfeld said it would have to stop.

A CIA spokesman said Hayden, now the CIA director, does not recall this conversation. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, "The notion that the department would do anything that would jeopardize the success of an operation to kill or capture bin Laden is ridiculous." The NSA continues to share intelligence with the CIA and the Defense Department.

At that time, Rumsfeld was putting in place his own aggressive plan, led by the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), to dominate the hunt for bin Laden and other terrorists. The overall special operations budget has grown by 60 percent since 2003 to $8 billion in fiscal year 2007.

Rows and rows of temporary buildings sprang up on SOCOM's parking lots in Tampa as Rumsfeld refocused the mission of a small group of counterterrorism experts from long-term planning for the war on terrorism to manhunting. The group "went from 20 years to 24-hour crisis-mode operations," one former special operations officer said. "It went from planning to manhunting."

In 2004, Rumsfeld finally won the president's approval to put SOCOM in charge of the "Global War on Terrorism."

Today, however, no one person is in charge of the overall hunt for bin Laden with the authority to direct covert CIA operations to collect intelligence and to dispatch JSOC units. Some counterterrorism officials find this absurd. "There's nobody in the United States government whose job it is to find Osama bin Laden!" one frustrated counterterrorism official shouted. "Nobody!"

"We work by consensus," explained Brig. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., who recently stepped down as deputy director of counterterrorism under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "In order to find Osama bin Laden, certain departments will come together. . . . It's not that effective, or we'd find the guy, but in terms of advancing United States power for that mission, I think that process is effective."

But Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the JSOC commander since 2003, has become the de facto leader of the hunt for bin Laden and developed a good working relationship with the CIA to the extent that he recently was able to persuade the former station chief in Kabul to become his special assistant. He asks for targets from the CIA, and it tries to comply. "We serve the military," one intelligence officer said.

McChrystal's troops have shuttled between Afghanistan and Iraq, where they succeeded in killing al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and killed or captured dozens of his followers.

Under McChrystal, JSOC has improved its ability to quickly turn captured documents, computers and cellphones into leads and then to act upon them, while waiting for more analysis from CIA or SOCOM.

Industry experts and military officers say they are being aided by computer forensic field kits that let technicians retrieve information from surviving hard drives, cellphones and other electronic devices, as was the case in the Zarqawi strike.

McChrystal, who has commanded JSOC since 2003, now has the authority to go after bin Laden inside Pakistan without having to seek permission first, two U.S. officials said.

"The authority," one knowledgeable person said, "follows the target," meaning that if the target is bin Laden, the stakes are high enough for McChrystal to decide any action on his own. The understanding is that U.S. units will not enter Pakistan, except under extreme circumstances, and that Pakistan will deny giving them permission.

Such was the case in early January, when JSOC troops clandestinely entered the village of Saidgai, two officials familiar with the operation said, and Pakistan protested.

A week later, acting on what Pakistani intelligence officials said was information developed out of Libbi's interrogation, the CIA ordered a missile strike against a house in the village of Damadola, about 120 miles northwest of Islamabad, where Pakistani and American officials thought Zawahiri to be hiding.

The missile killed 13 civilians and several suspected terrorists. But Zawahiri was not among them. The strike "could have changed the destiny of the war on terror. Zawahiri was 100 percent sure to visit Damadola . . . but he disappeared at the last moment," one Pakistani intelligence official said.

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis staged an angry anti-American protest near Damadola, shouting, "Death to America!"

"Once again, we have lost track of Ayman al-Zawahiri," the Pakistani intelligence official said in a recent interview. "He keeps popping on television screens. It's miserable, but we don't know where he or his boss are hiding."

Contributing to this report were staff writers Bradley Graham, Thomas E. Ricks, Josh White, Griff Witte and Allan Lengel in Washington, Kamran Khan in Islamabad and John Lancaster in Wana, Pakistan, and staff researchers Julie Tate and Robert E. Thomason.

The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901105.html)

Vancouver

09-10-2006, 09:12 AM

Gary Berntsen, the former CIA officer who led the first and last hunt for bin Laden at Tora Bora, in December 2001, says, "This could all end tomorrow."Indeed it could. Now either the elimination of bin Ladin will be preceded by leaks in the press, or it will not be. My bet: it will not be. One moment "The trail is stone cold" and the next "Breaking news: Osama bin ..."

The 801

09-10-2006, 10:19 AM

Mismanagement by the administration. Creating the wrong war. Bravado backed up by nothing. Personal infighing taking precident over getting the job done. I say, pull the pensions of the NSA, CIA and FBI until they find this guy. Maybe the stick will work better than the carrot.

It is evident that these services are not motivated enough to get there job done, but seem to have plenty of excuses.

We have not served the memories of those killed on 9/11. We should not reward those who's job it is to get Bin Laden.

For crying out loud, Five Fucking years. They are laughing at us. I hope Bush is proud of himself.

freeman

09-10-2006, 10:20 AM

The "first" Fake OBL tape...watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk519bkcLjg

Vancouver

09-10-2006, 10:39 AM

My friends in low places tell me that a new Qaeda video will soon appear on the internet. A new video -- not that disarticulated old stuff that al-Jazeera took off the shelf a few days ago. And the new one will go to the net, not to AJ.
The claim at al-Quds al-Arabi, that al-Jazeera's 3-minute piece is part of a larger piece, is nothing but a fabrication by al-Quds al-Arabi as far as I can tell.

freeman

09-10-2006, 10:40 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk519bkcLjg

Casey

09-11-2006, 10:53 PM

From GIMF

Front media : Date : progress with Osama bin Laden : the latest :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date with Osama bin Laden

The latest

Ahmed confident in God

Apology : beginning readers brothers each apologized for being late in the publication of the latest and to the circumstances and reasons beyond my control, Thank God anyway, and compromise Allah Whom we trust him and whoever.

In this episode, which is the last I will try to avoid listing details

Note that this series have a message security ...

Arrived at Islamabad airport, after the necessary measures, which passed peacefully, hired a taxi to the hotel for myself down the most dangerous lower, installed car, of course, noted the curiosity of the driver known as of questions that he would like to know whether I am an Arab or not ...

Farhath reply brief, but I told him I am Muslim, and Islam includes Arabs and the Arabs.

Come to the hotel and I am sure that Pakistani intelligence following Thrkate since my arrival to the airport, because it is known in Pakistan and most Arab countries, the police follow any alien or foreign element, especially if the first visit him.

The hotel is a quiet place, not many inmates ... Spend most of my time (between reading and watching television)

. At times wandering Bakharjeh and sit some of the cafes drinking tea.

And go to a mosque prayer area located by the hotel.

Three days passed without any reference or phone or letter or anything worth mentioning ... I had a little bit concerned ...

But I asked God to eating the Sabra ...

And I felt that waiting Brother will be determined with God's help ...

On the fifth day of my arrival, and while I take lunch in the hotel restaurant and was one and a half ...

Wright, seeking my waiter and quickly stepped ...

He told me that there was a phone conversation Section reception ...

Benny between myself and I felt that the brother is the same as that Italbeni ... Actually, Brother is the same ...

I knew him through shaving certain agreed upon through coded correspondence ...

We agreed to meet on the same day after the afternoon prayers in the cafe side of the hotel ...

And after the performance PRAYER mosque headed to the cafe

While I was in a sitting known brother, who drinks the juice ...

Of course Sttsa'elon How do you know the person and know how to face?

The short answer is common methods agreed upon us to know if we were caught in severe among people ...

After Tjazbena some talk that the brother asked me Ashabh foot told me where we Senmshi distance of La Paz by the protracted half an hour and then carries us a car from the street ...

Mazhani brother told me you will, for the first time, the spirit of sports because we Senmshi long distances, and things would emerge Bzakkak and subdivision streets

Fajberth I am basically a person and athlete I am fine public good. By considering a smile, as if to say : I was getting ready good.

After cutting the distance and entry and exit in the alleys and streets of many subsidiaries and long - and short ...

We stood Ave relatively calm. After nearly two minutes and got us a car with a driver and a companion side.

And come to the region .... And, we entered an apartment fire case ...

We found two people in the waiting ... They knew from intelligence mujahideen ...

Welcomed me most welcome ... We exchanged the parties talking and we talked about the circumstances of the Internet ...

They expressed to me that they observers speculate of many Islamic sites and forums (advocacy, and cultural jihad) ...

They expressed their deep regret to stop the Jihad Online, which was owned and managed by brother Abdel Rahman Rashed. As well as the appeal, which was administered by Shahid Yusuf Abeiri ... Despite expressions of regret and sadness ...

They expressed happiness emergence of sites and forums is considered a pioneer in the field of Information and Islamic Jihad Kalakhlas popularis and some news sites with Islamic leanings.

, As well as media groups and the media win, which I belong to the group Ansar al-Jihad, the media and others.

And then talk about the Internet dealt with the subject of an interview that possible Sheikh Osama or Dr Al-Zawahri or other senior leaders of Al Qaeda ....

Of course, we showed them that we urgently meet with Sheikh Osama - with appreciation and knowledge Bzarovh and safe -

And that he lives in the event of chasing and hide ...

Despite this Sheikh Osama watching good information and retinues of the events and can broadcast messages from the place ...

Most of his letters show that funeral, watching what is happening and shared his positions and his view and that of the leadership of Al Qaeda ....

We know that there are significant global information and seek to meet or interview, Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri

But the attempts of these newspapers and the agencies and channels failed ...

She brothers to believe that we almost the first Islamic information center on the Internet asking to meet with Sheikh Osama or one of the top leaders of Al Qaeda ....

Answer brothers did not disappointing, but the indication that we might be almost impossible to meet Sheikh Osama

As someone said to me : It is not necessary to meet him personally ... That risk was first ... The danger to the well ...

So, the issue of the gravity ... The circumstances now are not allowed ...

He pointed out that we can write questions and sent him to answer ... He said this view, but we can not say for sure ...

Patience and asked me for a week or ten days to see the response of our brothers there.

Intended some security services surrounding the security of Sheikh Osama.

They asked me to wait ... And she returned to the hotel with brother ...

I am in the way of new distance Bakhiali

And I remembered that most of the pictures of Sheikh Osama, which I saw on the Internet and satellite channels ...

And I remembered his voice distinctive and the Pacific

... I remembered many things about Sheikh Al Qaeda and the mujahideen ... The distance is strange ...

I asked God if this is the best Vallahm easy and it was a disservice Vbaeidh also distanced between heaven and earth.

Suddenly, the voice Azagani Safir extremely strong, it was the most traumatic for me came out of this situation, which I did not talk to you, they train brakes and friction Baglath bars, The noise Izadad Everyone quickly ignored in the preparation to go and I smiled a smile light on the crazy idea that passed me in the portrayal of disabled so as not to Get out of this dream ...

The dream of daydreams, I have lived all their details, arranged all the things conceived and benefited all published Front and other lessons from the best

This dream was long ago, we had days with the site Jihad Online, the Iroadeni so we Front

Every day that passes the spectrum that dream, the fairest in its clauses. In its security ...

Every day I had to be approached

Valahlam turned into reality with diligence

Who would have dreamed that front become this size

It was dreamed that these films become Jihad quality

It was our dream at the beginning was published articles, and the slowly evolving ideas, and mature minds

And expanding the dream beyond what the

To meet that Sheikh Osama, may God preserve him and support him

In order to achieve any form ... To seek eliminated ... Can we achieve?

A question without an answer ... The dream of enough, but our answer is ...

Either Nltekaya or postpone or cancel the idea? All conjecture ...

We ask God every success ... As long as the facts show that our Islamic balanced way

Siofqana God for the good ... We are the messengers of the mujahideen and all want to be the best tool for all Muslims.

Your brother Ahmed \ confident in God

الجبهة الإعلامية تقدم :: موعد مع اسامة بن لادن :: الحلقة الأخيرة

(http://up.w6wup.com/up2/2006/07/17/w6w_2006071714341344c1fda4.gif)

موعد مع اسامة بن لادن

الحلقة الأخيرة

احمد الواثق بالله

(http://up-p.net/uploads/f263a5ce1c.jpg)

إعتذار: بداية أعتذر لكل اخواني القراء عن تأخري في نشر الحلقة الأخيرة وذلك لظروف وأسباب خارجة عن إرادتي, والحمد لله على كل حال, وما توفيقي إلا بالله عليه توكلت وإليه أنيب.

في هذه الحلقة والتي تعتبر الأخيرة سأحاول تجنب سرد التفاصيل

علما بان هذه السلسلة لها هدف ورسالة وأمنية......

وصلت الى مطار اسلام أباد , وبعد الإجراءات اللازمة والتي مرت بسلام , إستأجرت سيارة اجرة لتقلني الى الفندق , ركبت السيارة , طبعا لاحظت فضول سائق السيارة حيث عرفت من أسئلته انه يود ان يعرف هل انا عربي ام لا....

فأرحته بإجابة مختصرة وقلت له أنا مسلم والإسلام يشمل العرب والعجم.

وصلنا الى الفندق وانا على يقين ان المخابرات الباكستانية تتابع تحركاتي منذ وصولي للمطار, لأنه من المعروف في مثل باكستان واغلب الدول العربية البوليسية تتابع اي عنصر غريب أو أجنبي خصوصا لو كانت الزيارة الأولى له.

الفندق يعتبر هادئ وليس به نزلاء كثيرون.....أقضي معظم وقتي به(بين قراءة ومشاهدة التلفاز)

.في بعض الأوقات أتجول بخارجه وأجلس ببعض المقاهي لإحتساء الشاي..

وأذهب للصلاة باحد مساجد المنطقة التي يتواجد بها الفندق.

ثلاثة ايام مرت دون اي اشارة او مكالمة او رسالة أو اي شيء يذكر.....انتابني قليل من القلق...

ولكن سألت الله ان يفرغ علي صبرا...

وأحسست ان انتظار الأخ لن يطول بعون الله...

في اليوم الخامس من وصولي وبينما انا اتناول وجبة الغذاء في مطعم الفندق وكانت الساعة الواحدة والنصف...

رأيت النادل مقبلا ناحيتي ومسرعا في خطواته ....

واخبرني ان هناك مكالمة هاتفية بقسم الإستقبال ...

بيني و بين نفسي أحسست أن الأخ هو نفسه الذي يطلبني....وفعلا هو الأخ نفسه...

عرفته من خلال شفرات معينة اتفقنا عليها من خلال المراسلات المشفرة......

اتفقنا ان نلتقي في نفس اليوم بعد صلاة العصر في مقهى بجانب الفندق.....

وبعد أداء صلاة العصر بالمسجد اتجهت صوب المقهى

وبينما انا داخل عرفت الأخ وهو جالس يحتسي عصير ما ....

طبعا ستتسائلون كيف عرفت الشخص وكيف عرفت ملامح وجهه؟...

الإجابة وباختصار هناك أساليب مشتركة اتفقنا عليها لنعرف بعضنا ولو كنا في زحام شديد بين الناس....

بعد ان تجاذبنا بعض الحديث طلب مني الأخ أن اصحبه راجلا حيث اخبرني أننا سنمشي مسافة لابأس بها زمنها نصف ساعة تقريبا ثم تقلنا سيارة من شارع ما...

مازحني الأخ وقال لي ارجوا ان تكون عندك روح رياضية لأننا سنمشي مسافات طويلة وسندخل ونخرج بزقاق وشوارع متفرعة

فأخبرته أنني اساسا شخص رياضي وصحتي العامة جيده..فنظر الي بابتسامة وكأنه يقول لي : طيب استعد .

بعد قطع المسافة والدخول والخروج في ازقة وشوارع كثيرة ومتفرعة طويلة وقصيرة...

وقفنا بشارع هادئ نسبيا ..وبعد دقيقتين تقريبا وقفت امامنا سيارة بها سائق ومرافق له بجانبه.

وصلنا الى منطقة ما.....ودخلنا الى شقة متوسطة الحال.....

ووجدنا شخصين في انتظارنا...عرفت انهم من استخبارات المجاهدين...

رحبوا بي اشد الترحيب ....تبادلنا اطراف الحديث وتحدثنا عن ظروف الإنترنت ...

وعبروا لي انهم متابعون للعديد من المواقع الإسلامية والمنتديات (الدعوية والجهادية والثقافية) ....

وعبروا عن أسفهم الشديد لتوقف موقع الجهاد اون لاين الذي كان يديره ويملكه الأخ عبد الرحمن الراشد...وكذلك موقع النداء الذي كان يديره الشهيد يوسف العييري....ورغم تعابير الأسف والحزن ...

عبروا عن ابتهاجهم بظهور مواقع ومنتديات تعتبر رائدة في مجال الإعلام الإسلامي الجهادي كالإخلاص والحسبة وبعض المواقع الإخبارية ذات الميول الإسلامية ...

وكذلك المجموعات الإعلامية كالجبهة الإعلامية والتي انتمي إليها ومجموعة الأنصار وكتائب الجهاد الإعلامي وغيرها.

ثم بعد الحديث عن الإنترنت تطرقنا الى موضوع مقابلة الشيخ اسامة إن أمكن أو الدكتور الظواهري او غيره من كبار قادة تنظيم القاعدة ....

طبعا بينت لهم أننا نود وبإلحاح مقابلة الشيخ اسامة-مع تقديرنا ومعرفتنا بظروفه وأمنه-

وانه يعيش في حالة مطاردة وتخفي...

ورغم هذا فالشيخ اسامة متابع جيد للإعلام ومواكب للأحداث ويستطيع بث رسائله من مكانه.....

ومعظم رسائله تبين انه مواكب ومتابع لما يحدث ويشارك بمواقفه ورأيه ورأي قيادة القاعدة.....

ونعلم ان هناك جهات اعلامية عالمية وكبيرة تسعى لمقابلته او مقابلة الشيخ ايمن الظواهري

ولكن محاولات هذه الصحف والوكلات والقنوات باءت بالفشل...

وعبرت للإخوة عن اعتقادنا اننا تقريبا اول مركز اعلامي اسلامي على شبكة الإنترنت نطلب مقابلة الشيخ اسامة او احد كبار قادة القاعدة.....

جواب الإخوة لم يكن مخيبا ولكن فيه اشارة اننا لعله من شبه المستحيل مقابلة الشيخ اسامة

حيث قال لي احدهم: ليس من الضروري مقابلته شخصيا ...فهذا خطر عليه أولا....وخطر علي كذلك...

يعني مسألة فيها خطورة...والظرف حاليا لا يسمح ....

واشار انه يمكننا كتابة الأسئلة وارسالها له ليجيب عليها.....وقال هذا رأي ولكن لا نستطيع الجزم.....

وطلب مني الصبر لمدة اسبوع او عشرة ايام لنرى رد الإخوة هناك ...

يقصد بعض الدوائر الأمنية المحيطة بأمن الشيخ اسامة.

طلبوا مني الإنتظار ....ورجعت للفندق مع الأخ....

وانا في الطريق سرحت بخيالي من جديد

وتذكرت معظم صور الشيخ اسامة التي شاهدتها على الإنترنت وفي القنوات الفضائية ...

وتذكرت صوته المميز والهادئ

....تذكرت اشياء كثيرة عن الشيخ والقاعدة والمجاهدين....سرحت بشكل غريب ....

طلبت من الله إذا كان هذا الأمر فيه خير فاللهم سهل فيه وإن كان فيه شرا فباعده كما باعدت بين السماء والأرض.

وفجأة أزعجنى صوت صفير شديد للغاية , كان ذلك ما أحدث لى صدمة نفسية لما خرجت من هذه الحالة التى حكيت لكم عنها , إنها مكابح القطار واحتكاك القضبان بعجلاته , وبدا الضجيج يزاداد والكل يسارع فى تحضير حاجياته للنزول وأنا أبتسم ابتسامة خفيفة على الفكرة المجنونة التى مرت بى والتصق بمقعدى حتى لا اخرج من هذا الحلم ...

حلم من أحلام اليقظة , لقد عشتها بكل تفاصيلها , رتبت كل الأمور وتخيلتها استفدت بكل ما تنشره الجبهة وغيرها من دروس الأمنيات

هذا الحلم كان منذ زمن , ايام كنا مع فريق موقع الجهاد أون لاين , ظل يروادنى حتى أنشأنا الجبهة

كل يوم يمر على طيف هذا الحلم , أعدل فى بنوده .. فى شكله الأمنى ...

كل يوم اشعر وكأنه قد اقترب

فالأحلام تتحول إلى حقائق مع الإجتهاد

فمن كان يحلم أن الجبهة تصبح بهذا الحجم

ومن كان يحلم أن افلام الجهاد تصبح بهذه الجودة

لقد كان حلمنا فى بدايتها هى نشر المقالات , وشيئا فشيئا تتطور الأفكار , وتنضج العقول

ويتسع الحلم إلى أبعد ما يكون

إلى أن نلتقى بالشيخ أسامة حفظه الله وأيده بنصره

لكى نحققه بأي شكل.....لازلنا نسعى...فهل نحققه؟؟

سؤال بدون جواب.....الحلم لايكفي ولكن مساعينا هي التي ستجيب ....

إما ان نلتقيه او نؤجل او نلغي الفكرة؟؟ كلها تخمينات ......

نسأل اله التوفيق والسداد...مادام ان هدفنا اظهار الحقائق بمنهج اسلامي متزن

فالله سيوفقنا لما فيه الخير.....فنحن رسل المجاهدين كلهم ونريد ان نكون أداة خير لكل المسلمين.

اخوكم \ احمد الواثق بالله

Mike

09-12-2006, 07:54 AM

New news? Old news?
Fact? Fiction?

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Bushra Oh Muslims nuclear base in the United States now and the preparations for the invasion of new (particularly for lovers of Jihad)

A1 : - Old :
In times of setbacks, and when the rights in the Sea of Kgrik Ji fraught breaker of the above breaker of clouds above the rights of any hope, even if straw in the middle of this darkness
The importance of the transfer of these feelings, you lovers Al-Jihad and the Mujahideen to transfer you get new news on the struggling now preparing to
Asking God to take their eyes and supported him, in his own words, Bjend
You Proclamation
The acronym /

Al-Arabiya / Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, which is the first journalist met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the attacks of September 2001, Bin Laden plans for the new attack inside the United States even more devastating than the September attacks, and there are people running this operation inside America now.

Mir statements coincide with the revival of the United States, today, Monday,, the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that targeted the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon in the suburbs of Washington. On this occasion, said security officials, American and Pakistani team that pursued al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden two years ago did not receive any new indicator is assisted in his task, Whether through information from the laboratory or by tapping on the telephone or through satellites.

Also speaking Hamid Mir, in statements addressed to the "Arab. Net. " on his recent trip to Afghanistan and meeting with the elements with Al-Qaeda and some Taliban leaders who revealed him some of the "Badr new invasion" which aims to attack coalition forces in the next month of Ramadan, and the health of bin Laden, which appeared to have "good" during a meeting last Friday with the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Adnan Chakri Friday. Nuclear-Qaida?

He added Hamid Mir that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden allegedly assigned people Adnan Chakri Friday for the implementation of new attack inside the United States so that more attacks September 11, 2001, He pointed out that his information was that Adnan Jumaa made explosives and nuclear materials into the United States across the Mexican border over the past two years, He disappeared somewhere in the United States has not been able Office of the FBI, "FBI" from disclosing the place until now.

He continued speaking Mir Adnan Chakri Friday : Born in Saudi Arabia. Turning to live in the United States where he met with a group of Al Qaeda elements in Farouq mosque in New York. 2000 traveled to the Arab country and from there to Pakistan and then Afghanistan. since then returned two years later introduced nuclear material from Mexico to the United States. Mohamed Atta led the attacks of September Adnan Jumaa as Mohamed Atta 2, but as leader of a more aggressive attacks of 2001, Jumaa holds the title nuclear Qaeda. "

The American embassy in Pakistan has circulated a statement in the month of July last to arrest Adnan Chakri Friday, describing it as the most important in al-Qaeda. The embassy distributed boxes sulphate on the cover image Adnan is the successor states have a reward of five million dollars for those unable to arrest or reporting.

In March 2003 announced the "F. Bi. No, "that he is working on finding a relationship between Adnan and the other accused of terrorism including the planned" dirty bomb "Jose Padilla. He said high-ranking officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the names of Jose Padilla and Adnan Chakri Friday ", or perhaps one of their own multiple aliases" emerged in the last intelligence information gathered after the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The newspaper reports Western reported earlier that Adnan Jumaa is a Saudi pilot However, the security spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry Major General Mansour Turkish two months ago said in a statement to the nation that Saudi Adnan Shukri Gomaa-Saudi and was resident in the Kingdom before leaving with his parents and non-Saudis for 20 years and was then 11 years old.

The name is Adnan Chakri Gomaa Western press reports claimed the existence of nuclear technology base, has been trained by the latter and also the title of the "nuclear Qaeda." The American writer Paul Williams, in his book "association rule : international terrorism, organized crime, disaster assistance "to the nuclear arsenal of base comprises at least 20 nuclear briefcase bought bin Laden gunmen Chechnya compared with 30 million and $ 20 nuclear warhead obtained by the different ways of the former Soviet Union.

Says Williams, in Chapter XVIII, and the last, "Secretary of America" that bin Laden confirmed his intention killed four million dollars revenge for the victims of Muslims who have fallen victim to American positions in favor of Israel and the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. He said in his book that there were a number of Al Qaeda elements, including the Adnan Chakri Gomaa (chairman of the supposed nuclear), and Lance Libyan, and Jaber Al Banna, and Amer Railway were trained on nuclear technology.

Badr new invasion in Ramadan

On another topic, Hamid Mir spoke of the "Arab. Net "on his recent trip to Afghanistan and meeting with a leader of the Taliban called the" Khyber "in Zabul, which transferred to disturbing information that" 300 of the suicide bomber who infiltrated elements of the Taliban in Kabul and Jalalabad to carry out operations there, where the Taliban invasion Badr start against the coalition forces in the month of Ramadan next. "

Mir also said that he had obtained a meeting between Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar few weeks ago in the mountains of Zabul and planned further attacks, "this information has been drawn from one of the Taliban leaders who had attended the meeting had I met him recently in Afghanistan and told me that this meeting is the second of the two since last year and told me that the health of Bin Laden n looked good, which deals with food, Mullah Mohammed Omar. "

Also through the Pakistani journalist Hamid expressed surprise that the changing situation in Afghanistan, explained : It seemed to me a different scene than ever before in Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to the rule many areas and returned publish their own courts and departments of their own also, and even some police officials follow their orders.

Reviving the fifth anniversary of the attacks of September

The American President George W. Bush launched celebrations of the fifth anniversary of the revival of the attacks September 11 Baghtin placing of flowers on the memory of the victims who died in New York, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center five years ago.

And not far from the place of celebration, Dozens of demonstrators protesting against the policy pursued by President Bush against the war in Iraq in a reference to the division, which replaced the national unity that manifested itself five years ago with banners demanding the "end the occupation" in Iraq and the return of American soldiers. They also charged that "the Bush organized" attacks September 11.

And newspaper "Middle East" Monday 9-11-2006, Pakistani officials as saying that the team responsible for the prosecution of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden two years ago did not receive any new indicator values assisted in this task, and to several factors, "including the circumstances of hiding bin Laden, since it uses three workshops of the guards, who do not know the identities of some of them. lamps and communicate via Flash and especially dressed women to avoid tracking American spy planes. "

Experts indicate that the problem "is the inability to determine accurately the area" should intensify research. A spokesman for the National Center for Combating Terrorism T. McCreery to hunt for bin Laden is chasing people "hiding in the rugged terrain very, in one of the outlying areas, surrounded by people trust them greatly, "he said, adding," It is an extremely difficult problem. "

The American Senate decided Tuesday 9 - 5-2006 the unanimous adoption of the opening of $ 200 million to set up a unit devoted to the task of intelligence hunt for bin Laden.
The Al-Jihad lovers and fighters and prevent the entry and disincentives Almkhzlin
Unless we used to support your life and arbitration Chriattak

Original:
بشرى يا مسلمون نووي القاعدة في امريكا الان واستعدادات لغزوة جديدة ( خاص لمحبي الجهاد)

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في اوقات النكسات وعندما يكون الانسان كغريق في بحر لجي يغشاه موج من فوقه موج من فوقه سحاب يتعلق الانسان باي امل ولو كان قشة في وسط هذه الظلمات
ولشعوري باهمية نقل هذه البشارة لكم يا محبي الجهاد والمجاهدين لنقل اليكم انباء عن غزوة جديدة يستعد المجاهدون الان لها
سائلا الله تعالى ان ياخذ عنهم العيون ويؤيدهم بنصره وبجند من عنده
اليكم البشارة
لمختصر/

العربية نت / قال الصحافي الباكستاني حامد مير، الذي يعتبر أول صحافي التقى زعيم تنظيم القاعدة أسامة بن لادن بعد هجمات سبتمبر 2001، إن بن لادن خطط لهجوم جديد داخل الولايات المتحدة أكثر تدميرا من هجمات سبتمبر ، وأن هناك شخصا يدير هذه العملية داخل أمريكا الآن.

وتتزامن تصريحات مير مع إحياء الولايات المتحدة، اليوم الاثنين ، الذكرى الخامسة لاعتداءات 11 سبتمبر التي استهدفت مبنيي مركز التجارة العالمي في نيويورك ووزارة الدفاع في ضواحي واشنطن. وبهذه المناسبة قال مسؤولون أمنيون أمريكيون وباكستانيون بأن الفريق المكلف بملاحقة زعيم تنظيم القاعدة أسامة بن لادن لم يحصل منذ سنتين على أي مؤشر جديد يساعده في مهمته، سواء كان ذلك عبر معلومة من مخبر أو عبر التنصت على مكالمة هاتفية أو من خلال الأقمار الصناعية.

كما تحدث حامد مير، في تصريحات خصّ بها "العربية.نت"، عن رحلته الأخيرة إلى أفغانستان ولقائه مع عناصر مع القاعدة وبعض قادة طالبان الذين كشفوا له بعض جوانب "غزوة بدر الجديدة " التي تهدف لضرب قوات التحالف في شهر رمضان القادم، وصحة بن لادن التي بدت "جيدة" خلال لقاء أخير جمعه مع قائد طالبان الملا محمد عمر.

عدنان الشكري جمعة .. نووي القاعدة ؟

وأضاف حامد مير أن زعيم القاعدة أسامة بن لادن كلّف شخصا يدعى عدنان الشكري جمعة لتنفيذ هجوم جديد داخل الولايات المتحدة بحيث يكون أكبر من هجمات 11 سبتمبر 2001 ، مشيرا إلى أن معلوماته تفيد بأن عدنان جمعة أدخل متفجرات ومواد نووية إلى الولايات المتحدة عبر الحدود المكسيكية خلال العامين المنصرمين، وهو مختف في مكان ما داخل أمريكا ولم يتمكن مكتب المباحث الفيدرالية "إف بي أي" من الكشف عن مكانه حتى الآن.

وتابع مير متحدثا عن عدنان الشكري جمعة : ولد في السعودية، وانتقل للعيش في الولايات المتحدة حيث التقى هناك مع مجموعة من عناصر القاعدة في مسجد الفاروق في نيويورك. سنة 2000 سافر إلى دولة عربية ومن هناك إلى الباكستان ثم أفغانستان ، ثم عاد منها منذ سنتين وبعد ذلك أدخل مواد نووية من المكسيك إلى الولايات المتحدة. محمد عطا قاد هجمات سبتمبر وعدنان جمعة بمثابة محمد عطا 2 ولكن كقائد لهجوم أكثر قوة من هجمات 2001 وجمعة يحمل لقب نووي القاعدة".

وكانت السفارة الأمريكية لدى باكستان قامت بتوزيع بيان في شهر تموز/يوليو الماضي لإلقاء القبض على عدنان الشكري جمعة ووصفته بأنه الأهم في تنظيم القاعدة. ووزعت السفارة علب كبريت على غلافها صورة عدنان ومن الخلف تعميم ينص على مكافأة قدرها 5 ملايين دولار لمن يتمكن من القبض عليه أو الإبلاغ عنه.

وفي مارس/آذار 2003 أعلن الـ "إف. بي. آي" أنه يعمل على إيجاد علاقة بين عدنان ومتهمين آخرين بالإرهاب بمن فيهم مخطط "القنبلة القذرة" خوزيه باديا.وقال مسؤولون رفيعو المستوى في مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي إن أسماء خوزيه باديا وعدنان الشكري جمعة "أو ربما أحد أسمائه المستعارة المتعددة" ظهرت في المعلومات الاستخباراتية التي تم جمعها بعد اعتقال خالد شيخ محمد.

وكانت تقارير صحيفة غربية أفادت في وقت سابق أن عدنان جمعة هو طيار سعودي، إلا أن المتحدث الأمني باسم وزارة الداخلية السعودية اللواء منصور التركي قال منذ شهرين في تصريح للوطن السعودية إن عدنان شكري جمعة غير سعودي وكان مقيما في المملكة قبل مغادرتها مع والديه غير السعوديين منذ 20 عاما وكان عمره حينها 11 عاما.

ويرتبط اسم عدنان الشكري جمعة بتقارير صحفية غربية زعمت وجود تكنولوجيا نووية لدى القاعدة وقد تدرب عليها هذا الأخير ولقب أيضا بـ"نووي القاعدة". وكان الكاتب الأمريكي بول وليامز ذكر في كتابه " ارتباط القاعدة: الإرهاب الدولي، الجريمة المنظمة، الكارثة المقدمة" أن الترسانة النووية للقاعدة ضمت على الأقل 20 حقيبة نووية اشتراها بن لادن من المسلحين الشيشان مقابل 30 مليون دولار و 20 رأسا نووياً حصل عليها بطرق مختلفة من دول الاتحاد السوفيتي السابق.

ويقول ويليامز في الفصل الثامن عشر والأخير "آمين أمريكا" إن بن لادن أكد عزمه قتل أربعة ملايين أمريكي انتقاما للضحايا المسلمين الذين سقطوا ضحية مواقف أمريكا المؤيدة لإسرائيل وغزو أفغانستان والعراق والصومال. وأضاف في كتابه أن هناك عددا من عناصر القاعدة، بما في ذلك عدنان الشكري جمعة (رئيس المفترض للعملية النووية)، وأنس الليبي، وجابر البنا، وعامر المعاطي تم تدريبهم على التكنولوجيا النووية.

غزوة بدر جديدة في رمضان

وفي موضوع آخر، تحدث حامد مير لـ"العربية.نت" عن رحلته الأخيرة إلى افغانستان ولقائه هناك بقائد من طالبان اسمه "خيبر " في زابول والذي نقل إليه معلومات مثيرة مفادها أن " 300 انتحاري من عناصر طالبان تسللوا إلى كابول وجلال آباد لتنفيذ عمليات هناك حيث تبدأ طالبان غزوة بدر ضد قوات التحالف في شهر رمضان المقبل".

وقال مير أيضا إنه حصل اجتماع بين أسامة بن لادن والملا محمد عمر منذ أسابيع قليلة في منطقة جبال زابول وخططوا لمزيد من الهجمات "وقد استقيت هذه المعلومة من أحد قادة طالبان الذي حضر الاجتماع وقد التقيته مؤخرا في أفغانستان وأخبرني أن هذا اللقاء هو الثاني لهما منذ العام الماضي كما أخبرني أن صحة بن لادن بدت جيدة وهو يتناول الطعام مع الملا محمد عمر".

كما عبّر الصحافي الباكستاني حامد عن دهشته لتغير الأوضاع في افغانستان، وأوضح : لقد بدا لي المشهد مختلفا عما كان من قبل في أفغانستان حيث عاد طالبان لحكم العديد من المناطق وعادوا ينشرون المحاكم الخاصة بهم وإدارات خاصة بهم أيضا وحتى بعض مسؤولي الشرطة يتبعون أوامرهم .

إحياء الذكرى الخامسة لهجمات سبتمبر

وكان الرئيس الأمريكي جورج بوش اطلق احتفالات احياء الذكرى الخامسة لاعتداءات 11 سبتمبر/أيلول بوضعه باقتين من الزهر عن ذكرى الضحايا الذين سقطوا في نيويورك حيث كان مقر برجي مركز التجارة العالمية قبل خمسة أعوام.

وليس بعيدا عن مكان الاحتفال، كان عشرات المتظاهرين يحتجون على السياسة التي ينتهجها الرئيس بوش وضد الحرب في العراق في إشارة إلى الانقسام الذي حل محل الوحدة الوطنية التي تجلت قبل خمس سنوات رافعين يافطات تطالب بـ"انهاء الاحتلال" في العراق وعودة الجنود الأمريكيين. كما اتهموا "نظام بوش بتنظيم" اعتداءات 11 سبتمبر/أيلول.

و أوردت صحيفة "الشرق الأوسط" الاثنين 11-9-2006، عن مسؤولين باكستانيين قولهم إن الفريق المكلف بملاحقة زعيم تنظيم القاعدة أسامة بن لادن لم يحصل منذ سنتين على أي مؤشر جديد قيم يساعده في مهمته ، وذلك لعدة عوامل، "أبرزها ظروف اختباء بن لادن، إذ أنه يستخدم ثلاث حلقات من الحراس، لا يعرفون هويات بعضهم، ويتواصلون عبر مصابيح ومضية خاصة ويرتدون ملابس نساء لتجنب تعقب طائرات التجسس الأمريكية".

ويشير الخبراء إلى أن المشكلة "هي في عدم القدرة على وضع تحديد دقيق للمنطقة" ينبغي تكثيف البحث فيها. وصرح الناطق باسم المركز الوطني لمكافحة الإرهاب تي ماكريري أن ملاحقة بن لادن هي مطاردة شخص "مختبئ في أراض وعرة جدا، في واحدة من المناطق البعيدة، يحيط به أشخاص يثق بهم بشكل كبير"، مضيفا "أنها مشكلة في غاية الصعوبة".

وكان مجلس الشيوخ الأمريكي قرر الثلاثاء 5-9-2006، بالاجماع فتح اعتماد بقيمة 200 مليون دولار لإنشاء وحدة مخابراتية تتفرغ لمهمة ملاحقة بن لادن.
هذه البشارة لمحبي الجهاد والمجاهدين ويمنع دخول المخذلين والمثبطين
اللهم استعملنا لنصرة دينك وتحكيم شريعتك

Casey

09-12-2006, 08:27 AM

A1 : - Old :
In times of setbacks, and when the rights in the Sea of Kgrik Ji fraught breaker of the above breaker of clouds above the rights of any hope, even if straw in the middle of this darkness
The importance of the transfer of these feelings, you lovers Al-Jihad and the Mujahideen to transfer you get new news on the struggling now preparing to
Asking God to take their eyes and supported him, in his own words, Bjend
You Proclamation
The acronym /

Al-Arabiya / Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, which is the first journalist met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the attacks of September 2001, Bin Laden plans for the new attack inside the United States even more devastating than the September attacks, and there are people running this operation inside America now.

Mir statements coincide with the revival of the United States, today, Monday,, the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that targeted the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon in the suburbs of Washington. On this occasion, said security officials, American and Pakistani team that pursued al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden two years ago did not receive any new indicator is assisted in his task, Whether through information from the laboratory or by tapping on the telephone or through satellites.

Also speaking Hamid Mir, in statements addressed to the "Arab. Net. " on his recent trip to Afghanistan and meeting with the elements with Al-Qaeda and some Taliban leaders who revealed him some of the "Badr new invasion" which aims to attack coalition forces in the next month of Ramadan, and the health of bin Laden, which appeared to have "good" during a meeting last Friday with the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Just read quickly and on my way to work.

The rest of it seems to be quoting books and previous news articles.

I have to wonder how factual the attacks in the US statement is. I've noticed over the past several months the claims of nuclear attack in the US are being made mostly by book writers. Not to discredit them, I would just like to see some other sources.

From the videos released this weekend, they say Israel and Gulf counties would be the targets.

I notice the failed US embassy attack in Damascus last night.

U.S. Embassy Attacked in Syria
http://www.thestreet.com/tsc/c.gif

9/12/2006 7:41 AM EDT

Islamic militants attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, in a brazen attack Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

The Syrian government said the attackers were using automatic rifles, hand grenades and at least one van rigged with explosives, the AP reported. Syrian security forces killed three of the attackers.

The assailants apparently did not breach the high walls surrounding the white embassy compound in a diplomatic neighborhood of Damascus. But a Chinese diplomat was slightly injured by a stray bullet during the attack, China's government news agency said, according to the AP dispatch.

http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/newsanalysis/general/10308371.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Mike

09-12-2006, 09:11 AM

I think Friday means something else.
I don't think it means an attack Friday.

What does this actually translate to?

عدنان الشكري جمعة .. نووي القاعدة ؟

Mike

09-12-2006, 09:22 AM

I think he's referring to this:

"F. Bi. No, "accusing him of planning the dirty bomb and interrogated his father seven times
Turkish : Gomaa stayed in Saudi Arabia, left 20 years ago

Riyadh, Abha : WAS homeland
The security spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry Major General Mansour Turkish Adnan Shukri Gomaa-Saudi and was resident in the Kingdom before leaving with his parents and non-Saudis for 20 years and was then 11 years old.
The American embassy in Pakistan has circulated a statement to the arrest of Adnan Chakri Friday, describing it as the most important in al-Qaeda. The embassy distributed boxes sulphate on the cover image Adnan is the successor states have a reward of five million dollars for those unable to arrest or reporting.
In March 2003 announced the "F. Bi. No, "that he is working on finding a relationship between Adnan and the other accused of terrorism including the planned" dirty bomb "Jose Padilla.
Adnan has lived in South Florida at the same time, Jose Padilla, who was living there.
He said high-ranking officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the names of Jose Padilla and Adnan Chakri Friday ", or perhaps one of their own multiple aliases" emerged in the intelligence information gathered after the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
He has the "F. Bi. Any "to launch a global campaign to search for Adnan, as the search extended to Geoana, Trinidad, two countries believed to be carrying passports issued them.
After searching in the lists information on the name of Adnan clear that it is not a name in Trinidad, making officials believe that the passport he was carrying was fake.
The father of Adnan allegedly Jolshir Chakri Friday from his home in Florida that his son is not a terrorist and does not know Jose Padilla. He also said that elements of the "F. Bi. Any "visited him six or seven times since the events of September 11.
The verification of the "F. Bi. Any "in the relationship Adnan Bomran Manzi, one of two students convicted of conspiring to blow up power stations and ammunition depot of the National Guard continued American companies owned by Jews, as well as Mount Rushmore, which carries the statues of the heads of the Americans.
Also discuss "F. Bi. Any "in the relationship Balbritani Rchardrid who tried to blow up an American plane by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.
The "F. Bi. Any "warning border warns that Adnan may try to cross into Arizona or Texas. The Honduran officials said he was seen at the beginning of the Internet Cafe in Dejosegalba Huelva, the capital of Honduras.

It's a translated article. Friday isn't the correct translation.

candypreet

09-12-2006, 09:33 AM

Where was Osama bin Laden on 9/11

ibnlive.com
Posted Monday , September 11, 2006 at 19:03

New Delhi: It is not clear where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had parked himself to watch the World Trade Centre crashing on 9/11, but just a day before he was in a Pakistani military hospital in Rawalpindi, it has emerged

"On September 10, 2001, USA's Enemy Number One was in a Pakistani military hospital in Rawalpindi, courtesy of America's indefectible ally Pakistan, as confirmed by a report of Dan Rather, CBS News," says Michel Chossudovsky, author of the international bestseller America’s War on Terrorism .

Chossudovsky is a professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization.

Writing on the website of Center for Research on Globalization, http://www.globalresearch.ca, Chossudovsky claims: "Laden could have been arrested at a short notice which would have 'saved us a lot of trouble'."

CBS' Dan Rather had earlier claimed in January 2002 that Bin Laden was hospitalised in Rawalpindi one day before the 9/11 attacks, on September 10, 2001. Rather says Pakistan's military intelligence ISI had told CBS that bin Laden had received dialysis treatment in Rawalpindi, at the Pakistan Army's headquarters.

CBS News quoted Pakistan intelligence sources as saying that "Laden was spirited into this military hospital in Rawalpindi for kidney dialysis treatment. On that night, says this medical worker who wanted her identity protected, they moved out all the regular staff in the urology department and sent in a secret team to replace them. She says it was treatment for a very special person. The special team was obviously up to no good."

"The military had him surrounded," CBS quoted a hospital employee as saying. "And I saw the mysterious patient helped out of a car. Since that time," he said.

"I have seen many pictures of the man. He is the man we know as Osama bin Laden. I also heard two Army officers talking to each other. They were saying that Osama bin Laden had to be watched carefully and looked after."

The TV channel also said that Pakistan government officials had denied that bin Laden had any medical treatment on that night.

Chossudovsky concludes that Osama's whereabouts were known to US officials on the morning of September 12, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell initiated negotiations with Pakistan with a view to arresting and extraditing bin Laden.

These negotiations, led by Gen Mahmoud Ahmad, head of Pakistan's military intelligence, on behalf of the government of President Pervez Musharraf, took place on the 12th and 13th of September in Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's office.

"He could have been arrested at short notice on September 10th, 2001. But then we would not have been privileged to five years of Osama related media stories. The Bush administration desperately needs the fiction of an outside enemy of America," he wrote
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/where-was-osama-bin-laden-on-911/21262-2.html

JaneDoe

09-12-2006, 09:54 AM

I think he's referring to this:

"F. Bi. No, "accusing him of planning the dirty bomb and interrogated his father seven times
Turkish : Gomaa stayed in Saudi Arabia, left 20 years ago

<snipped>

It's a translated article. Friday isn't the correct translation.
Is this article about the FBI trying to make a connection between Adam Ghadan, Jose Padilla and Richard Reed? I have difficulty with the machine translations :(

Mike

09-12-2006, 10:46 AM

Yes, as far as I can tell.

Casey

09-12-2006, 09:14 PM

Here is an interpretation of your post, Mike.

TERRORISM: 'AL-QAEDA'S MR. NUCLEAR TO HEAD FRESH ATTACK ON U.S.'

Dubai, 12 Sept. (AKI) - Osama bin Laden is planning to carry out new, more destructive attacks inside the United States, and there is someone working on this terror plot currently in the US, according to Hamid Mir, the famed Pakistani journalist who obtained the only post-9/11 interviews with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. In an interview quoted on the website of the al-Arabiya television network, Mir spoke about his last trip to Afghanistan and his meeting with al-Qaeda members and Taliban leaders.

In his interview with Al.Arabiya.net, Mir said that the al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters referred to attacks targeting the US-led coalition forces during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which begins on 24 September, and that the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden was in "good" health during a meeting he had recently with the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Mir also said that bin Laden has assigned a man named Adnan Al-Shukri Juma to carry out a new attack within the US which is intended to be larger than the 11 September, 2001 attacks. According to Mir, Adnan Jumaa has smuggled explosives and nuclear materials into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and is hiding somewhere in America where the FBI has not been able to locate him.

The Pakistani journalist also gave a brief background on Adnan Jumaa. Born in Saudi Arabia, he moved to the US where he met a group of a Al-Qaeda members in the Al-Farouq mosque in New York in 2000. He then traveled to an Arab state and from there to Pakistan then Afghanistan. He left there two years ago and since then has smuggled nuclear material from Mexico to the US. Jumaa has earned the nickname "Al-Qaeda nuclear whizz" and is tagged to play the same role in a future attack as Mohammed Atta did in the 9/11 attacks.

In March 2003 the FBI announced that it was seeking a link between Adnan and others accused of terroris, saying Adnan Jumaa "or maybe one of his several nicknames" had appeared in intelligence information gathered after the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

Western media had reported in earlier times that Adnan Jumaa was a Saudi pilot, but the Saudi Ministry of Interior security spokesman lieutanent Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement to Al-Watan newspaper two months ago that Adnan Jumaa is not a Saudi citizen, he was living in the kingdom until he was eleven years old and left along with his parents, who are not Saudis, twenty years ago.

Adnan Al-Shukri's name has been mentioned in many Western media reports claiming that Al-Qaeda has acquired nuclear technology. The American writer, Paul Williams, in his book " The Al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse", says he was among a number of Al-Qaeda members trained for the nuclear technology.

On another issue, Hamid Mir spoke to Alarabiya.net of his last trip to Afghanistan and his meeting with a leader of Taliban named "Khaibar" in Zabul who claimed that 300 Taliban suicide bombers had managed to sneak into Kabul and Jalalabad to carry out attacks against coalition troops during Ramadan.

Mir alleges that there was a meeting between Bin Laden and Mullah Omar several few weeks ago in the mountain area of Zabul where they planned more attacks, "I received this piece of information from one of the Taliban leaders who attended the meeting himself and I met him recently in Afghanistan" Mir said. "He told me that this was the second meeting between the two men since last year and that Bin Laden's health seemed good while he was eating with Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The Pakistani journalist expressed his surprise of the changing situation in Afghanistan; saying that the Taliban had come back to rule some areas and spread their special courts, their special administrations, nothing that even some police officials follow their orders.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.338885348&par=0

Gawzi

09-12-2006, 10:39 PM

I think Friday means something else.
I don't think it means an attack Friday.

What does this actually translate to?

عدنان الشكري جمعة .. نووي القاعدة ؟

the people who need to know this date already know it and have for years.. before 911. when the alqaeda camps were planning.. like in the newest video. if you watched it, you will notice more excerpts from the videotaped speech from osama to the hijackers. though you cant see the hijackers, you know they are there because of how specific he is when he talks to them. u can be there are more people there who are for the next attacks as well. alqaeda has released excerpts from that speech before, but it was more vague.. so it seems they were holding onto more specific excerpts as part of a plan.. i can bet there are even more specific words in that speech which wont be shown until the next attacks.
when usama talks to them, he says there will be a group of you who will go out first, then the rest of you be patient and i will join you in the next. so that room of people listening to that recorded speech were all sent to america. this was a private speech for them, you can tell. none of them know exactly when they are to strike, but osama picked them "because of their patience". i bet there is more from that speech that is more important pertaining to the next events, but never the dates... the dates are exchanged in small circles to people of deep deep piety who wouldnt play with them on message boards.. only to the cell phone immediately before.. but im sure there will be an event that will make everyone ready to accept that txt message. for example, the small cells that are sleeping could be instigated to load their car with the device that's hidden in the floor boards with a big event and then get out the hacked cell phone that is hidden whos only purpose is to accept one text message. it's safe to say that's a close assesment u think?

Chaos

09-12-2006, 11:26 PM

I think Friday means something else.
I don't think it means an attack Friday.

What does this actually translate to?

عدنان الشكري جمعة .. نووي القاعدة ؟

Adnan Al-Shukri Juma.. nuclear Al-Qaeda.

(as in "nuclear expert of" Al-Qaeda?)

Mike

09-13-2006, 03:58 PM

Petronas

09-13-2006, 08:41 PM

This may shed further light on the origin of some of the statements in the earlier posts. While I believe that Al Shukrijumah may have attended McMaster under a false name to obtain some nuclear related knowledge and expertise, I have a harder time believing that he made off with 180 pounds of "nuclear material". That said, I believe he may be one of the most dangerous individials alive today. A few years ago he was rumored to be in Mexico to negotiate with MS 13 the smuggling of Al Qaeda operatives, and possibly also materials to be used in an attack, across the US border, after having been sighted in a Central American internet cafe a few months earlier. See this thread for further articles about his possible whereabouts: http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27999

Osama's 'American Hiroshima' field commander studied at Hamilton's McMaster University
Monday, May 1, 2006

Adnan el Shukrijumah--who attended flight schools in Florida and Norman, Oklahoma, with Mohammad Atta and the other 9/11 hijackers--attended Hamilton, Ontario’s McMaster University. That’s just one compelling revelation in the new book, The Dunces of Doomsday by Paul L. Williams. "You can look for the next Mohammad Atta by tracing him through Hamilton when you get back to Toronto," Williams told Canada Free Press (CFP) in an exclusive interview in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Williams, who also wrote Osama’s Revenge and The Al Qaeda Connection, was in Washington to address a Terrorism Symposium sponsored by America’s Truth Foundation.

"Following the success of 9/11, Adnan el Shukrijumah received his commission to serve as the field commander for the next attack on U.S. soil–the so-called American Hiroshima," Willams wrote in The Dunces of Doomsday. "In preparation for this mission, he–along with fellow al Qaeda agents Anas al-Liby, Jaber A. Elbaneh, and Amer el-Maati–was sent to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, a facility that housed a five-megawatt nuclear research reactor, the largest reactor of any educational facility in Canada.

"At McMaster University, where the al Qaeda agents may have registered under fictitious names, Shukrijumah and friends wasted no time in gaining access to the nuclear reactor and stealing more than 180 pounds of nuclear material for the creation of radiological bombs." ...

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover050106.htm

Alli

09-13-2006, 08:48 PM

More on Shukrijumah here. (http://www.wincoast.com/forum/showpost.php?p=807637&postcount=5)

The 801

09-14-2006, 07:36 AM

Osama's on the move again
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

"Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: no matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice."
- President George W Bush, September 11, 2006

"On the anniversary of 9/11, the trail [of bin Laden] is stone-cold."- US intelligence official

KARACHI - Osama bin Laden is on the move, and Tuesday's
terror attack on the US Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, could be a tangible result of this.

Exclusive information obtained by Asia Times Online shows that the al-Qaeda leader recently traveled from the South Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan to somewhere in the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan, or possibly Bajour, a s mall tribal agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan in North-West Frontier Province.

According to a witness, bin Laden traveled in a double-cabin truck with a few armed guards - not in a convoy. Apparently, this is how he now prefers to move around.

Bin Laden, with a US$25 million bounty on his head, has not been sighted for some time, and he has not been seen on any new videotape since late 2004, although audio tapes purporting to be him speaking surfaced this year.

At the same time, a close aide responsible for bin Laden's logistics and media relations told Asia Times Online that bin Laden had recovered from serious kidney-related ailments.

In Tuesday's attack in Damascus, four men tried to drive two explosives-laden cars into the US Embassy compound. Four of them and a security official were killed. One of the cars exploded outside the compound.

The incident not only carries al-Qaeda hallmarks, it is also very much in line with the al-Qaeda leadership's focus, agreed on during the Israel-Hezbollah war, to extend the flames of conflict across the region.

In this vein, bin Laden's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, warned on Monday that the Persian Gulf region and Israel would be the next targets of al-Qaeda. He was speaking in a video message released to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

In addition to bin Laden's improved health, al-Qaeda has in the past few months gained some breathing room to regroup and solidify its logistics as a result of the situation in the semi-autonomous North and South Waziristan tribal areas.

This area has long been home to al-Qaeda elements, but until recently they had been under intense pressure from Pakistan's security forces. However, as the tribals gained more strength - some Taliban-affiliated districts have even been declared independent of Islamabad - the authorities realized they were fighting a losing battle.

This culminated last week in security officials and the "Pakistani Taliban" agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. Previously choked channels between the Waziristans and other parts of Pakistan were now fully opened, allowing al-Qaeda to start moving money again.

The bigger playing field
A new dynamic among militant groups has emerged in Egypt to complement al-Qaeda's designs in the Middle East. Tuesday's Damascus attack could also be an illustration of this.

Many youths previously associated with the militant Gamaa Islamiya of Egypt have formed independent cells, while some Egyptian youths of Palestinian origin have created underground organizations to target the pro-Israeli Egyptian government and US interests.

Credit goes to al-Qaeda that in the past six months it established inroads into these organizations, to the extent that they are now directly under the command of the al-Qaeda leadership.

This was confirmed by Zawahiri last month in a videotape aired on Al-Jazeera news network: "We announce to the Islamic nation the good news of the unification of a great faction of the knights of the Gamaa Islamiya ... with the al-Qaeda group."

Al-Qaeda has evolved into more of an ideological inspiration to sharpen Muslim reaction against the West and create a backlash than a militant group. Five years of the US-led "war on terror" damaged its structure and it was forced to melt into the local resistance movements of Iraq and Afghanistan. Already, the Taliban and Iraqi resistances complement each other, sharing experience, skills and even logistics.

From this position, al-Qaeda will work to bind all local resistance movements into one coordinated unit against the US and its allies, with the ultimate aim of creating a universal Muslim backlash against the West.

The Israel-Hezbollah war proved the ideal starting point for this plan. The successful defense of Lebanon by Hezbollah was largely taken in the Arab world as the first Arab victory against Israel. Sentiment on the streets of the Middle East turned noticeably against the US, Israel and pro-West Muslim rulers.

Al-Qaeda wants to keep this mood, and inflame it even further. Attacks like the one in Damascus could be such pot-boilers. More, and bigger, ones are most likely being plotted by the masterminds sitting in the tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HI14Df03.html

Now the Feds claim that the trail to Bin Laden has gone cold. But here is Shahzad laying out some details. One of these sources is lying. It would be reasonable to determine who has a history of lying and applying that to this instance.

Mike

09-22-2006, 01:17 PM

Should this be in BREAKING NEWS?

Osama Bin Laden About to Attack the U.S., Says Terrorism Expert

54 minutes ago
To: National Desk

Contact: Dr. Hugh Cort, 205-213-5621 or 205-313-1786

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by Republican presidential candidate Dr. Hugh Cort:

I work with Dr. Paul Williams, the source for the September 7th World Net Daily article "Al-Qaeda Warns Muslims: Time to get out of U.S.; Afghan terror commander hints at big attack on NY, Washington." He is in touch with Hamid Mir; the Fox News Middle East expert who has interviewed bin Laden three times. Hamid Mir did the interview with Abu Dawood, the top Al Qaeda man in Afghanistan, who said all the Muslims need to leave America, especially New York and Washington, because Osama is soon going to attack with his "American Hiroshima" plan where he blows up 7 to 10 American cities with suitcase nukes.

Abu Dawood also told Hamid Mir that bin Laden will come out with a new audiotape in the next 10 days or sooner. Dr. Williams can provide media with the transcript of this interview. (NOTE: Contact Dr. Cort at 205-213-5621 between 2 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time, or leave a message at 205-313-1786 for more information).

Dr. Williams and I have located Adnan Shukrijumah, who the FBI calls "the next Mohammed Atta", who is the leader of bin Laden's "American Hiroshima" attacks, in Canada. We met with Canadian intelligence for five hours. They were very helpful. However the FBI has not been helpful. Google the name Ciro Vitolo. We have much more info that is not on the internet. We have also discovered what we believe could be the nerve center for bin Laden's "American Hiroshima" attacks. Hamid Mir, who has never been wrong to our knowledge, says bin Laden has already smuggled suitcase nukes through the Mexican border into the U.S. and is soon going to blow up 7 to 10 American cities.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's number two man, said in his latest audiotape, essentially "We have warned you repeatedly, we have offered you a truce, we have asked you to convert to Islam, so now we have satisfied all the requirements (of Muslim law or "Honor Code" where you must warn your enemy, and offer him one last chance for a truce and to convert, before you strike him) and now we are justified in attacking you. Your government has hidden from you the full extent of the devastation that is coming. The days are pregnant with events that are about to be born."

In his audiotape of Jan. 19, bin Laden offered America a truce, then said "The only reason we have not attacked you yet is not because of your security precautions. It is simply because we are not quite through with the preparations. The minute the preparations are through, you will feel the attacks in your own homes."

Christianne Amanpour in the CNN special on bin Laden that aired a few weeks ago, "In the Footsteps of Bin Laden" made the point that before 9/11 bin Laden got a fatwa saying it was okay to kill civilians. Then he did 9/11. Now, she pointed out, he has gotten a fatwa, or religious order, saying it is OK to kill 10 million Americans with nuclear weapons. Guess what is going to happen next?

These attacks, which Khalid Sheik Mohammed said will be "a nuclear hell storm on America", are coming soon, perhaps as early as this Saturday, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts.

So what can we do at this late date?

The FBI needs to search every mosque in our major cities, but in surprise raids, because, apparently, according to an internet posting by the English Muslim convert Rakan Ben Williams, the bombers have a "failsafe plan" where if one of them gets caught the others are to immediately detonate their nukes.

And we must quickly catch Shukrijumah and his fellow terrorists in Canada before they blow up 7 to 10 American cities (just contact Dr. Paul Williams and myself and we will lead you to them). It is our only chance.

Also, everyone needs to immediately go to the website http://www.ki4u.com where they can order potassium iodide (KI) pills to avoid thyroid cancer in the event of a nuclear attack, and on that website they can read the ten-page article "How to Survive a Nuclear Attack" -- stay inside your house for three days, after which the radiation decreases to one hundredth of its initial strength, and then it is safe to go outside for short trips, and after 2 weeks you can go out all the time. But if you go outside in the first three days, even just for ten minutes, you will receive a fatal dose of radiation and slowly bleed to death internally over 2-3 weeks. Remember, many more people died from radiation poisoning after Hiroshima than died in the initial blast.

Please help me and Dr. Paul Williams stop these horrible attacks. Please get us some press coverage and some help from our Congressmen and Senators and FBI and CIA and NSA before it's too late.

God bless you, and God bless America!

P.S. Watch for Osama's new audiotape, coming out in a few days.

---

Visit http://www.stopdoomsday.com and http://www.cortforpresident.com for futher information.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060922/pl_usnw/osama_bin_laden_about_to_attack_the_u_s___says_ter rorism_expert204_xml

freeman

09-22-2006, 01:21 PM

Knock knock...he's in ice strorage cube #56....but iot'll take a day or two to thaw him out...they'll roll him out about 7 days before the election.

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 01:22 PM

I called it.... :sad_01:

Alli

09-22-2006, 01:26 PM

work with Dr. Paul Williams, the source for the September 7th World Net Daily article "Al-Qaeda Warns Muslims: Time to get out of U.S.; Afghan terror commander hints at big attack on NY, Washington."and the same article is recirculated every year :rolleyes:

There's another thread around here on it.

Mike

09-22-2006, 01:30 PM

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 01:34 PM

We have seen this info recently.
I've been surprised the news hasn't gotten a hold of Hamid Mir to confirm these recent interviews.

Alli, I really don't think this is the same article. I don't recall Hamid Mir interviews being mentioned before.

Someone needs to contact Hamid Mir to confirm the interview. Although it seems this Dr. Cort already has.

Glen beck interviewed Hamid Mir the other day.

it was LIVE on air.

He has corresponded the same info.

Excerpts at Mypetjawa and HotAir.

Mike

09-22-2006, 01:36 PM

Thanks SmokedYourDSM.
I don't watch that show. Sorry I missed it though.

Alli

09-22-2006, 01:39 PM

We have seen this info recently.
I've been surprised the news hasn't gotten a hold of Hamid Mir to confirm these recent interviews.

Alli, I really don't think this is the same article. I don't recall Hamid Mir interviews being mentioned before.

Someone needs to contact Hamid Mir to confirm the interview. Although it seems this Dr. Cort already has.

Maybe not by Hamid, or exact same article, but this whole 'Osama tells all muslims to leave the USA" theme has been played out every year. Then they follow up with the 'rivers of blood will flow through Amerikka' threat too.

And they say they found Shukrijumah in Canda?

Mike

09-22-2006, 01:42 PM

Maybe not by Hamid, or exact same article, but this whole 'Osama tells all muslims to leave the USA" theme has been played out every year. Then they follow up with the 'rivers of blood will flow through Amerikka' threat too.

And they say they found Shukrijumah in Canda?

Yes, they say they found him.

Here's the Glenn Beck interview

http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/21/audio-pakistani-journalist-hamid-mir-on-aqs-alleged-nuclear-plot/

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 01:55 PM

I would take these warnings more seriously this year.

That's all I can say.

Threads I have made allude to what I think will happen, including my "Who is this man" thread.

Now, we wait.

Mike

09-22-2006, 01:55 PM

Abu Dawood also told Hamid Mir that bin Laden will come out with a new audiotape in the next 10 days or sooner.

Somewhere I saw that this interview took place on the 12th.
Add 10 days and what do you get?
A tape just in time for Ramadan.
He almost always puts out something for Ramadan.

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 02:07 PM

Somewhere I saw that this interview took place on the 12th.
Add 10 days and what do you get?
A tape just in time for Ramadan.
He almost always puts out something for Ramadan.

From what I've "heard" there will be 2 audiotapes and a videotape.
There is a stipulation on weather the 2nd audio gets played, from what I've heard.
We'll just have to wait and see.

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 02:18 PM

However, the Ciro Vitolo stuff is barking up the wrong ladder.

Fram canadafreepress

Ciro Vitolo comes forward

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/images/cover0512.jpgCiro Vitolo
Photo: Brian Thompson By Judi McLeod
Friday, May 12, 2006
Ciro Vitolo has come forward to say he is not the FBI-hunted Al Qaeda terrorist Adnan "Jafar the Pilot" El Shukrijumah, who is believed to have posed as a student at Hamilton’s McMaster University.
At the request of Judi McLeod, Ciro Vitolo--whose picture appears with McMaster’s graduate engineering Class of 98-- checked into Canada Free Press’s Elm Street office, late Thursday afternoon.
In real life, Ciro Vitolo--who admits that he bears a striking resemblance to terrorist El Shukrijumah--is a limo driver, whose next door neighbour says puts in 12-hour shifts working at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

Alli

09-22-2006, 02:45 PM

I don't think that's a striking resemblence.

SmokedYourDSM

09-22-2006, 02:47 PM

I don't think that's a striking resemblence.
In his older college foto, he does bear resemblence.

Not in the current photo.

Casey

09-22-2006, 08:02 PM

Hamid Mir's website

http://www.hamidmir.com/

Casey

09-22-2006, 08:04 PM

Why has this taken almost 5 years to come to this feverish pitch?

November 10, 2001 Saturday Shaba’an 23, 1422
http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/10/top1.htm

Osama claims he has nukes: If US uses N-arms it will get same response

By Hamid Mir
KABUL, Nov 9: Osama bin Laden has said that “we have chemical and nuclear weapons as a deterrent and if America used them against us we reserve the right to use them”.

He said this in a special interview with Hamid Mir, the editor of Ausaf, for Dawn and Ausaf, at an undisclosed location near Kabul.

This was the first interview given by Osama to any journalist after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

The correspondent was taken blindfolded in a jeep from Kabul on the night of Nov 7 to a place where it was extremely cold and one could hear the sound of anti-aircraft guns firing away. After a wait of some time , Osama arrived with about a dozen bodyguards and Dr Ayman Al-Zuwahiri and answered questions.

Hamid Mir: After American bombing on Afghanistan on Oct 7, you told the Al-Jazeera TV that the Sept 11 attacks had been carried out by some Muslims. How did you know they were Muslims ?

Osama bin Laden: The Americans themselves released a list of the suspects of the Sept 11 attacks, saying that the persons named were involved in the attacks. They were all Muslims, of whom 15 belonged to Saudi Arabia, two were from the UAE and one from Egypt. According to the information I have, they were all passengers.Fateha was held for them in their homes. But America said they were hijackers.

HM: In your statement of Oct 7, you expressed satisfaction over the Sept 11 attacks, although a large number of innocent people perished in them, hundreds among them were Muslims. Can you justify the killing of innocent men in the light of Islamic teachings ?

OBL: This is a major point in jurisprudence. In my view, if an enemy occupies a Muslim territory and uses common people as human shield, then it is permitted to attack that enemy. For instance, if bandits barge into a home and hold a child hostage, then the child’s father can attack the bandits and in that attack even the child may get hurt.

America and its allies are massacring us in Palestine, Chechenya, Kashmir and Iraq. The Muslims have the right to attack America in reprisal. The Islamic Shariat says Muslims should not live in the land of the infidel for long. The Sept 11 attacks were not targeted at women and children. The real targets were America’s icons of military and economic power.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was against killing women and children. When he saw a dead woman during a war, he asked why was she killed ? If a child is above 13 and wields a weapon against Muslims, then it is permitted to kill him.

The American people should remember that they pay taxes to their government, they elect their president, their government manufactures arms and gives them to Israel and Israel uses them to massacre Palestinians. The American Congress endorses all government measures and this proves that the entire America is responsible for the atrocities perpetrated against Muslims. The entire America, because they elect the Congress.

I ask the American people to force their government to give up anti-Muslim policies. The American people had risen against their government’s war in Vietnam. They must do the same today. The American people should stop the massacre of Muslims by their government.

HM: Can it be said that you are against the American government, not the American people ?

OSB: Yes! We are carrying on the mission of our Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The mission is to spread the word of God, not to indulge massacring people. We ourselves are the target of killings, destruction and atrocities. We are only defending ourselves. This is defensive Jihad. We want to defend our people and our land. That is why I say that if we don’t get security, the Americans, too would not get security.

This is a simple formula that even an American child can understand. This is the formula of live and let live.

HM: The head of Egypt’s Jamia Al-Azhar has issued a fatwa (edict) against you, saying that the views and beliefs of Osama bin Laden have nothing to do with Islam. What do you have to say about that ?

OSB: The fatwa of any official Aalim has no value for me. History is full of such Ulema who justify Riba, who justify the occupation of Palestine by the Jews, who justify the presence of American troops around Harmain Sharifain. These people support the infidels for their personal gain.The true Ulema support the Jihad against America. Tell me if Indian forces invaded Pakistan what would you do? The Israeli forces occupy our land and the American troops are on our territory. We have no other option but to launch Jihad.

HM: Some Western media claim that you are trying to acquire chemical and nuclear weapons. How much truth is there in such reports?

OSB: I heard the speech of American President Bush yesterday (Oct 7). He was scaring the European countries that Osama wanted to attack with weapons of mass destruction. I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent.

HM: Where did you get these weapons from ?

OSB: Go to the next question.

HM: Demonstrations are being held in many European countries against American attacks on Afghanistan. Thousands of the protesters were non-Muslims. What is your opinion about those non-Muslim protesters ?

OSB: There are many innocent and good-hearted people in the West. American media instigates them against Muslims. However, some good-hearted people are protesting against American attacks because human nature abhors injustice.

The Muslims were massacred under the UN patronage in Bosnia. I am ware that some officers of the State Department had resigned in protest. Many years ago the US ambassador in Egypt had resigned in protest against the policies of President Jimmy Carter. Nice and civilized are everywhere. The Jewish lobby has taken America and the West hostage.

HM: Some people say that war is no solution to any issue. Do you think that some political formula could be found to stop the present war ?

OSB: You should put this question to those who have started this war. We are only defending ourselves.

HM: If America got out of Saudi Arabia and the Al-Aqsa mosque was liberated, would you then present yourself for trial in some Muslim country ?

OSB: Only Afghanistan is an Islamic country. Pakistan follows the English law. I don’t consider Saudi Arabia an Islamic country. If the Americans have charges against me, we too have a charge sheet against them.

HM: Pakistan government decided to cooperate with America after Sept 11, which you don’t consider right. What do you think Pakistan should have done but to cooperate with America ?

OSB: The government of Pakistan should have the wishes of the people in view. It should not have surrendered to the unjustified demands of America. America does not have solid proof against us. It just has some surmises. It is unjust to start bombing on the basis of those surmises.

HM: Had America decided to attack Pakistan with the help of India and Israel, what would have we done ?

OSB: What has America achieved by attacking Afghanistan ? We will not leave the Pakistani people and the Pakistani territory at anybody’s mercy.

We will defend Pakistan. But we have been disappointed by Gen Pervez Musharraf. He says that the majority is with him. I say the majority is against him.

Bush has used the word crusade. This is a crusade declared by Bush. It is no wisdom to barter off blood of Afghan brethren to improve Pakistan’s economy. He will be punished by the Pakistani people and Allah.

Right now a great war of Islamic history is being fought in Afghanistan. All the big powers are united against Muslims. It is ‘ sawab ‘ to participate in this war.

HM: A French newspaper has claimed that you had kidney problem and had secretly gone to Dubai for treatment last year. Is that correct ?

OSB: My kidneys are all right. I did not go to Dubai last year. One British newspaper has published an imaginary interview with Islamabad dateline with one of my sons who lives in Saudi Arabia. All this is false.

HM: Is it correct that a daughter of Mulla Omar is your wife or your daughter is Mulla Omar’s wife ?

OSB: (Laughs). All my wives are Arabs ( and all my daughters are married to Arab Mujahideen). I have spiritual relationship with Mulla Omar. He is a great and brave Muslim of this age. He does not fear anyone but Allah. He is not under any personal relationship or obligation to me. He is only discharging his religious duty. I, too, have not chosen this life out of any personal consideration.

Casey

09-22-2006, 08:05 PM

Interview with Hamid Mir: Bin Laden Biographer
By Ayub Khan

23/10/2001

http://www.islamonline.net/english/views/2001/10/article10.shtml

candypreet

09-23-2006, 05:26 AM

French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan
Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:54 AM BST

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-23T075358Z_01_L23801953_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-BINLADEN-FRANCE.xml
PARIS (Reuters) - A French regional newspaper quoted a French secret service report on Saturday as saying that Saudi Arabia is convinced that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

L'Est Republicain printed what it said was a copy of the report dated September 21 and said it was shown to President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and France's interior and defence ministers on the same day.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," the document said.

"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs."

The report, which was stamped with a "confidential defence" label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on September 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.

Officials contacted by Reuters in Chirac's and Villepin's offices had no immediate comment.

A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry said: "We have no information about Osama's death."

Saudi-born Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan until the Taliban government there was overthrown by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001. Since then, U.S. and Pakistani officials have regularly said they believe he is hiding somewhere on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The last videotaped message released by bin Laden was in late 2004, but there have been several low quality audio tapes released this year.

(Additional reporting by Islamabad bureau)

Casey

09-23-2006, 09:05 AM

Saturday, September 23, 2006 · Last updated 5:42 a.m. PT
France looks into bin Laden death report

By ELAINE GANLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

PARIS -- President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that information contained in a leaked intelligence document raising the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last month is "in no way whatsoever confirmed."

Chirac said he was "a bit surprised" at the leak and has asked Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to probe how a document from a French foreign intelligence service was published in the French press.

The regional newspaper l'Est Republicain on Saturday printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

The DGSE transmitted the document, dated Sept. 21 or Thursday, to Chirac and other top French officials, the newspaper said.

"This information is in no way whatsoever confirmed," Chirac said Saturday when asked about the document. "I have no comment."
In Washington, CIA duty officer Paul Gimigliano said he could not confirm the DGSE report.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.

"We've seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.

Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.
The last time the IntelCenter says it could be sure bin Laden was alive was June 29, when al-Qaida released an audiotape in which the terror leader eulogized the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq earlier that month.

Chirac spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkl in Compiegne, France, where the leaders were holding a summit.

Putin suggested that leaks can be ways to manipulate. "When there are leaks ... one can say that (they) were done especially."
Earlier the French defense ministry said it was opening an investigation into the leak.

"The information diffused this morning by the l'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defense Ministry statement said.

The DGSE, or Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs, indicated that its information came from a single source.

"According to a reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," said the intelligence report.

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this report, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al-Qaida was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed.
The report further said Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death on Sept. 4.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the French army chief of staff, said in a radio debate last Sunday that bin Laden's fate remained a mystery.
"Today, bin Laden is certainly not in Afghanistan," Bentegeat said. "No one is completely certain that he is even alive."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_France_Bin_Laden_Report.html

uchiuke123

09-23-2006, 09:22 AM

http://www.estrepublicain.fr/zoom/2006092300222348.html

Oussama Ben Laden serait mort
Les services secrets saoudiens auraient acquis la conviction que le fondateur d'Al-Qaïda est mort.

Si elle était prochainement confirmée, l'information tomberait à pic pour le président américain Georges Bush fortement malmené par les sondages à moins de deux mois des élections.

L'information que nous révélons aujourd'hui résulte d'une note de renseignement classifiée « confidentiel défense » émanant de la Direction générale des services extérieurs (DGSE). Les services secrets français l'ont transmise jeudi 21 septembre au Président de la république, au Premier ministre, au ministre de l'Intérieur et de la Défense. Nous vous en livrons le contenu in-extenso. :

« Selon une source habituellement fiable, les services saoudiens auraient désormais acquis la conviction qu'Oussama Ben Laden est mort. Les éléments recueillis par les saoudiens indiquent que le chef d'Al-Qaïda aurait été victime, alors qu'il se trouvait au Pakistan le 23 août 2006, d'une très forte crise de typhoïde ayant entraîné une paralysie partielle de ses membres inférieurs. Son isolement géographique, provoqué par une fuite permanente, aurait rendu impossible toute assistance médicale. Le 4 septembre 2006, les services saoudiens de sécurité ont recueilli les premiers renseignements faisant état de son décès. Ils attendraient, d'obtenir davantage de détails, et notamment le lieu exact de son inhumation, pour annoncer officiellement la nouvelle ».

Les informations recueillies par la DGSE sur la mort de Ben Laden ont été jugées suffisamment fiables pour qu'il soit décidé d'en informer les plus hautes autorités françaises. Une première note avait été rédigée et diffusée le 19 septembre dernier. Elle était intitulée : « Les services saoudiens cherchent à confirmer la mort d'Oussama Ben Laden ».

Avant la divulgation de cette nouvelle, cela faisait plus de trois ans que les responsables américains du contre-terrorisme n'avaient pas reçu d'informations crédibles. Il faut remonter à l'arrestation d'un des dirigeants d'Al-Qaïda, Walid Mohamed Ben Attash en avril 2003, pour trouver une trace de Ben Laden. Il avait alors été établi que ce dernier avait rencontré le chef spirituel du Jihad, trois mois auparavant, dans la province de Khost en Afghanistan. Ces derniers mois, les commandos américains, qui étaient en charge de la traque, concentraient leurs recherches à la frontière entre l'Afghanistan et le Pakistan, au nord des régions tribales. C'est à dire dans la région non contrôlée par les autorités d'Islamabad et où l'armée ne s'aventure jamais. Il faut dire que les militaires pakistanais ont enregistré d'énormes pertes en hommes lorsqu'ils avaient tenté d'occuper le terrain en 2004 et 2005.

644 morts

Malgré les énormes moyens déployés par les Américains pour la capture de Ben Laden, les recherches sont demeurées vaines. Et ce, malgré l'utilisation de satellites, de drones et de moyens d'écoutes sophistiqués. Grâce à l'arrestation de plusieurs membres de la nébuleuse Al-Qaïda, les services américains savent que Ben Laden sort peu de ses caches. Il ne sortirait que la nuit et lorsque la couverture nuageuse est épaisse. Et grâce à ses troupes locales, le milliardaire saoudien a une très bonne connaissance de la région qui offre un nombre infini de planques.

Malgré cette impossible recherche, l'administration américaine n'a jamais voulu renoncer. « C'est notre principale priorité », déclarait le 13 septembre dernier le vice-président Cheney. Tandis que le Sénat débloquait 200 millions de dollars pour recréer une cellule du renseignement spécialement destinée à traquer celui qui le 11 septembre 2001 à oser défier l'Amérique. Et dont l'organisation revendique la commission de 16 attentats, ayant fait 644 morts et 2700 blessés, perpétrés dans le monde au nom d'Al-Qaïda depuis septembre 2001. Une organisation devenue une marque, un label, une référence idéologique au nom desquels des milliers de fanatiques à travers le monde sont prêts à passer à l'action terroriste de façon autonome. Comme les auteurs des attentats du 7 juillet 2005 à Londres.

uchiuke123

Casey

09-23-2006, 11:20 AM

So, Saudi Arabia is convinced that bin Laden died of typhoid. (CNN televised statement)

Where does that leave these people....????

Should this be in BREAKING NEWS?

Osama Bin Laden About to Attack the U.S., Says Terrorism Expert

54 minutes ago
To: National Desk

Contact: Dr. Hugh Cort, 205-213-5621 or 205-313-1786

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by Republican presidential candidate Dr. Hugh Cort:

I work with Dr. Paul Williams, the source for the September 7th World Net Daily article "Al-Qaeda Warns Muslims: Time to get out of U.S.; Afghan terror commander hints at big attack on NY, Washington." He is in touch with Hamid Mir; the Fox News Middle East expert who has interviewed bin Laden three times. Hamid Mir did the interview with Abu Dawood, the top Al Qaeda man in Afghanistan, who said all the Muslims need to leave America, especially New York and Washington, because Osama is soon going to attack with his "American Hiroshima" plan where he blows up 7 to 10 American cities with suitcase nukes.

Abu Dawood also told Hamid Mir that bin Laden will come out with a new audiotape in the next 10 days or sooner. Dr. Williams can provide media with the transcript of this interview. (NOTE: Contact Dr. Cort at 205-213-5621 between 2 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time, or leave a message at 205-313-1786 for more information).

snipped

P.S. Watch for Osama's new audiotape, coming out in a few days.

---

Visit http://www.stopdoomsday.com and http://www.cortforpresident.com for futher information.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060922/pl_usnw/osama_bin_laden_about_to_attack_the_u_s___says_ter rorism_expert204_xml

Casey

09-23-2006, 11:23 AM

And the forums are all over this binny is dead thing.

They keep pointing out though, that he was not "killed" by the Americans, but rather that he died of typhoid.

I'm guessing it is a little underwhelming, if it turns out to be true.

freeman

09-23-2006, 11:30 AM

It's pretty certain tha Carl Rove and the treason president will attack Washington and NYC.

It's the only card they have left to play..

Unfortunately 90% of the Country will wake up instantly and realize that the $6 billion a year they spent lining the pockets of Bush Warpigs was a total waste.

Atlas

09-23-2006, 11:33 AM

Casey

09-23-2006, 11:35 AM

Atlas

09-23-2006, 11:37 AM

Casey

09-23-2006, 11:37 AM

Let's say he is dead from a disease or whatever.

How does this change anything? Some other balloon knot will step in to take his place. This war doesn't end with the death of UBL, like he was hitler or something. This is a decentralized movement that doesnt rely on a pyramidal command structure

I believe what it will change and why it is being pointed out that he did not died at the hands of attackers, is what we have heard about an agenda, an activation for attacks, if he did died at the hands of Americans or friends.

This would also be why there has not been an annoucement from al Qaeda.

Atlas

09-23-2006, 11:42 AM

I believe what it will change and why it is being pointed out that he did not died at the hands of attackers, is what we have heard about an agenda, an activation for attacks, if he did died at the hands of Americans or friends.

This would also be why there has not been an annoucement from al Qaeda.

If hes still drawing breath, I think we'll hear from the AQ egomaniacs sooner, rather than later.

The next attack will happen when it can, whether this guys alive or dead.

Casey

09-23-2006, 11:52 AM

If hes still drawing breath, I think we'll hear from the AQ egomaniacs sooner, rather than later.

The next attack will happen when it can, whether this guys alive or dead.

I have always thought the success or failure of independent cells will lay directly on how well they were trained.

If they have any confusion to the facts whether bin Laden is alive or dead, that will trickle down and probably undermine them.

JaneDoe

09-23-2006, 04:07 PM

If they have any confusion to the facts whether bin Laden is alive or dead, that will trickle down and probably undermine them.

I would have to agree with you Casey.

And if it is true, that he died from typhoid, I think that might undermine some also.

Here you have this "fierce warrior", their "leader in the footsteps of Mohamed (sp?)"....and "Allah" does not grant him to die with honor and dignity in battle and rise to the status of "martyr"?

Instead "Allah" subjects him to a painfully slow and tortuous death from typhoid. A bacteria which spreads from contaminated water and body lice which would certainly happen when your entire existence is living as a coward, hiding in a cave for five years.

Yep....sign me up!! :happy_07:

The 801

09-23-2006, 06:26 PM

Report on Osama Bin Laden's death from typhoid a set up by Pakistan's ISI after truce with Taliban to confuse French secret service and the world
Kisran Chaube
Sep. 23, 2006

Pakistan has spread the rumor that typhoid killed Osama Bin Laden in August.Report on Osama Bin Laden's death from typhoid is a set up by Pakistan's ISI after truce with Taliban.

Officially Pakistan denies even of hearing any thing like that.Pakistan officially has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate a French newspaper report on Saturday that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan, a senior government official said.

"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

French secret service got the information from their ISI dual agent bases working to protect France from Pakistan based Islamic terrorists.

A senior official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry also said: "We have no information about Osama's death."

The daily L''est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia was convinced that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August.

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/13336.asp

India reports this. Do they have an ax to grind? How good do you think India gets along with ISI sources? - 801

Casey

09-27-2006, 11:11 PM

Osama is alive and safe: top Taliban Commander

Islamabad, Sept 27. (PTI): A top Taliban military commander has claimed that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is alive and hinted that an audio tape may be circulated to prove the same.
"There is no truth in reports in the French media that bin Laden died from typhoid in Pakistan in August. Shaikh Osama is alright. He is safe," Mulla Dadullah Akhund said. Dadullah has also issued statements in the past to the effect that bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are alive.
When pressed for evidence which may indicate that bin Laden is alive, Dadullah hinted that a tape may be sent to media organizations to prove that the al-Qaeda leader is not dead.
Bin Laden's audiotape was last circulated in July. In it, he had eulogised the sacrifices of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and described him as a martyr. He demanded that Zarqawi's body be handed over to his family for burial in Jordan.
The renewed interest in bin Laden's fate has been triggered by a report in a French regional newspaper that the al-Qaeda leader had died from a serious bout of typhoid in Pakistan on August 23.
President Pervez Musharraf in his just released book 'In the Line of Fire' has suggested that the most likely place for bin Laden to hide would be Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province but was quick to add that "we cannot be sure."

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200609271410.htm

Vancouver

09-28-2006, 08:42 AM

About Usama being alive according to the Taliban:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/26/taliban.binladen.reut/index.html
Al-Arabiya's Arabic original:
http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/09/26/27788.htm

Casey

10-28-2006, 07:48 PM

He overtook > a prayer the night of 27 Ramadans 1427 ه from Palestine < a dedication to the sheikh Osama bin Laden

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Name of Allah, the Benificent, the Merciful
Thanks god the Islam consoler with its victory, and a humiliating the association of partners with its defeat, and the matters drain with its order, and an enticing the infidels with its cunning, that appreciated the days of countries with its justice, and making the consequence of the pious with its favour,

And the prayer and the greeting are on from above the Islam lighthouse Allah by its sword .
As for till now

A prayer the night of 27 Ramadans 1427 ه
From the neighborhood of Al-Aqsa

To the sheikh Al Sada with the truth

<<< the father of the Jerusalemite light >

And that prays in it for the sheikh Osama bin Laden is in Bin Taimiyya's mosque
I shake the mosque with the weeping at the prayer for the militants and to the sheikh Osama
As and they call on the sheikh on Al Barzani and the Malki one and Allawi and the sage

A dedication to the militants in all places of
A dedication to the Sunnis and the belief

Ties of the prayer
http://file.uploadr.com/a6e5
http://up.9q9q.net/up/index.php?f=06ZnmiVVu
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2gxuqa

He was stationed to the mobile
http://file.uploadr.com/a6ed

Al-Fallujah center to the jihad media
The organization of the media support to the militants
From the neighborhood of Al-Aqsa

عاجل >> دعاء ليلة 27 رمضان 1427هــ من فلسطين<<< إهداء إلى الشيخ أسامة بن لادن

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله معز الإسلام بنصره ، ومذل الشرك بقهره ، ومصرف الأمور بأمره ، ومستدرج الكافرين بمكره ، الذي قدر الأيام دولاً بعدله ، وجعل العاقبة للمتقين بفضله ،
والصلاة والسلام على من أعلى الله منار الإسلام بسيفه .
أما بعد

دعاء ليلة 27 رمضان 1427هــ
من جــوار الأقصي

للشيخ الصادع بالحق

<<< أبو النور المقدسي >>>

والذى يدعوا فيه للشيخ اسامة بن لادن فى مسجد بن تيمية
فأهتز المسجد بالبكاء عند الدعاء للمجاهدين وللشيخ أسامة
كما ويدعوا الشيخ على البرزانى والمالكى وعلاوى والحكيم

إهداء إلى المجاهدين فى كل مكان
إهداء لأهل السنة والإيمان

روابط للدعاء
http://file.uploadr.com/a6e5
http://up.9q9q.net/up/index.php?f=06ZnmiVVu
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2gxuqa

رابط للجوال
http://file.uploadr.com/a6ed

مركز الفلوجة للإعلام الجهادي
هيئة الدعم الإعلامي للمجاهدين
من جوار الإقصى
www.al-faloja.com

rectar

10-28-2006, 08:05 PM

In the name of God the Gracious Merciful .
Al - Fallujah the center to the the jihad media .
The the organization of the the media the support to the the militants .
From the the the neighborhood of Al-Aqsa .

Hurried>> a night call the 27 Ramadan 1427 from Palestine < < < a dedication to Sheikh Osama Bin Laden .
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In the name of God the Gracious Merciful .
Praise be to God Muaez the Islam in triumph, and humiliated the trap vanquishing , and the matters bank in matter, and allured the infidels coerced, the days estimated countries in justice and the consequence make thanks to it for,.
And the prayer and the peace on from the highest Islam lodestar God in sword..
As for after.
A night call the 27 Ramadan 1427.
Which hide (élàqsee) .
For the sheikh in the right (élsadà) .
<<< Jerusalemite light Abu . >>>
(waldha) invite for the sheikh Osama Bin Laden in the Bin mosque in it (teemeea) .
And tremble the mosque in crying at the Osama for the fighters and for the sheikh call.
And invite the sheikh on (élbrzana) also (walmalka) (wàlaoua) and wise .
A dedication to the fighters in everywhere.
A dedication for adherents of the Sunnah and the faith.
Bindings for the call.
Http: / / the file..Uploadr ..Com / a6e5 .
Http: / / up..9q9q ..The net / up / the index..Php ?F=06ZnmiVVu .
Http: / / www.sendspace (http://www.sendspace): / /.com / the file / 2gxuqa .

Be posted for the mobile.
Http: / / the file..Uploadr ..Com / a6ed .
The Al-Fallujah center for the media (éljhadee) .
The informational support commission for the fighters.
From the (éliqsa) vicinity.
Www . al-faloja ..Com .
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

al-Canine

11-09-2006, 08:22 AM

Analysis: More rumors of bin Laden's death

By Claude Salhani
UPI International Editor

Has the rumor of Osama bin Laden's death been greatly exaggerated, or is there more to it than initially thought? The news first surfaced last September, when a French regional newspaper citing French and Saudi intelligence sources claimed that the most wanted man in the world had died while hiding in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If one is to read into behavioral changes among Saudi Arabian jihadi fighters returning from Pakistan and Afghanistan, bin Laden could indeed be dead.

Consider the following: Saudi Arabian security services have arrested several former fighters returning from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Saudi Arabia over the past few months. While these arrests may not indicate much, it is the manner in which those fighters trickled back home that is revealing.

"They had no attack plan and no clear command structure," said Saudi security expert Nawaf Obaid. "They focused exclusively on avoiding Saudi security services."

Obaid is a Saudi Arabian security and intelligence analyst who monitors trends among Saudi terrorist groups. He told United Press International that there appears to be an increasing number of Saudi nationals who had gone to Pakistan and Afghanistan to join bin Laden's training camps for a chance to fight American forces and their allies in Afghanistan.

Scores of these fighters are now suddenly making their way back to Saudi Arabia. The returnees seem to be completely disorganized, not knowing where to go, or what to do once in the kingdom. They have no marching orders, many have not been paid in several months, and they seem in total disarray.

Since Saudi Arabian intelligence, security and counterinsurgency forces have been reorganized, and al-Qaida groups infiltrated, the terrorists have been unable to re-organize and re-group. "No coherent command structure has been re-established," said Obaid.

The state of disarray displayed by the returning jihadis goes counter to al-Qaida's established modus operandi. Reports filtering to the West always seemed to indicate that volunteers who joined the jihad were traditionally taken care of. They were housed, fed and paid a minimum monthly stipend. If indeed bin Laden has died from medical complications as rumored, it would explain the disarray observed among his jihadi fighters as reported by Saudi intelligence.

In a lengthy report titled "Remnants of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia: Current Assessment," Obaid says that Saudi Arabia's reorganized security forces are making great progress in their war against terrorism.

Since May 2003 Saudi security officials have captured 845 individuals with direct or indirect links to al-Qaida. Over 400 have attended "ideological re-education programs." Some 264 al-Qaida commanders, logisticians, theologians, financiers and fighters have been captured or killed. Of the original 26 members that comprised the first "most wanted" list, all but one have been killed or captured and all five initial al-Qaida cells have been identified, infiltrated and decimated.

Of 36 second-tier operatives comprising the second "most wanted" list, 20 had already fled the kingdom when the list was published. Of the remaining 16, only four have not been killed or captured. Saudi intelligence believes that it was this group that carried out a recent failed attack on the oil processing facility at Abqaiq.

Saudi security forces have been able to foil over 25 major terrorist attacks since May 2003. The kingdom's security services have identified four of the main routes used by terrorists to smuggle themselves, fighters, weapons and drugs in and out of the country. Painstaking police work and close surveillance has resulted in hundreds of interceptions along the Saudi-Yemeni border.

Meanwhile, the kingdom continues to invest heavily to protect its oil industry and infrastructure from future possible terrorist attacks.

In 2004, $8.5 billion was spent to keep the oil flowing safely from the world's largest producer -- $1.2 billion allocated to Petroleum Security, including the National Guard.

That amount jumped to $10 billion in 2005.

And in 2006, the kingdom estimates it will spend some $12 billion, of which more than $2 billion will be allocated to Petroleum Security, including the National Guard.

Saudi Arabia has spent more than $2.5 billion on counterterrorism efforts. Major increases in budgets were allocated to the specialized services of the Interior Ministry for equipment purchases, increased troop hiring, and the construction of state-of-the-art training installations.

It is estimated that Saudi Arabia employs some 35,000 troops in its Special Emergency Forces, or SEF. Another 10,000 troops are employed by the Special Security Forces, or SSF. Specially created units in Energy Security have been deployed to coordinate with the National Guard and the four services of the armed forces.

Obaid credits the success of the Saudi counterterrorism program on the General Security Service, or GSS, a service better known by its Arabic name, Al Mabahith Al Amma.

The GSS has successfully deployed state-of-the art electronic systems that help it leverage its vast human intelligence assets in the kingdom and the region. Intelligence collection, analysis and implementation have been merged into a new "Command & Control" structure that allows the GSS to act within minutes of major alerts, directing the SEF and SSF throughout the kingdom.

The report attributes the success of the various services to proportionate and effective security investments and strong human intelligence. No expense has been spared, and great care has been taken to avoid waste in the multi-billion Saudi security budget. The government has successfully enlisted the media, the religious authorities, and average citizens in its fight against terrorism.

But as the threat from terrorism is ever changing, so too, must the security adjust itself. "Security plans must be part of a larger social, economic, and political program," concludes the report. However, despite all the money invested, along with the human intelligence and the super sophisticated electronic equipment at their disposal, the most sought after terrorist remains unfound.

Maybe now with Robert Gates, a former head of the CIA, as the new secretary of defense, more effort will be placed in finding bin Laden. Unless, of course, he is already dead.

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20061108-105604-5212r