Blame America first loose a hero. Key al-Qaeda player seized

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:29 am

Pakistan should be comended for their efforts.

As some have stated on this forum "death to Pakistan" I am sure this is not good news for their "HATE America First" crowd

The arrest of Abu Faraj al-Libbi could prove to be significant not just for Pakistan but also for the broader international struggle against al-Qaeda. Intelligence sources believe he is a major player in the organisation and that this could prove the biggest detention in more than two years.

He had been on a list of six "most wanted" individuals in a Pakistani poster campaign last year for his alleged involvement in two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.

Bounty

Pakistan offered a reward of 20m rupees ($340,000) for information leading to his arrest.

But he was seen as not just an al-Qaeda operational commander for activities within Pakistan but also further afield.

It is thought that, after the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Rawalpindi in March 2002, Libbi, who had been Mohammed's close associate, took over as an international operations planner for al-Qaeda.

The al-Qaeda hierarchy has always been fluid and complex so talk of him being number three in the organisation is hard to confirm, but there have been reports that he was involved in sending messages to al-Qaeda cells overseas with instructions to carry out attacks last year - including against the US.

Planner

That international aspect was emphasised in US President George W Bush's statement, when he described Libbi as a "a top general for Bin Laden.

"He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al-Qaeda network," he said.

"His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America and to those who love freedom."

US officials have also indicated that the arrest came through joint co-operation with Pakistani authorities.

The hope will be that Libbi's capture leads on to more intelligence about these cells and any other international networks, as well as operations in Pakistan.

That may lead to some debate over in whose custody he is placed.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was transferred to US custody and is now held as a "ghost detainee" at an undisclosed location.

His interrogations have played a major role in helping the US understand the 11 September 2001 plot and are heavily referenced in the report of the commission looking into that attack.

Suspects

Given Libbi's international role and links to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the US may well want to speak to him and hundreds of suspects have been handed over by the Pakistanis to the Americans.

PAKISTAN'S KEY ARRESTS

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, above, Rawalpindi, March 2003

Omar Saeed Sheikh, February 2002

Abu Zubaydah, Faisalabad, March 2002

Ramzi Binalshibh, Karachi, September 2002

Naeem Noor Khan, Lahore, July 2004

Khalfan Ghailani, July 2004, Gujrat

Amjad Hussain Farooqi - shot dead in September 2004

But, in this case, the Pakistani authorities have indicated to the BBC that because of his involvement in the domestic assassination plots, they intend to keep hold of him.

There will also be some hope that Libbi may have been in contact with Osama Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri and that he may help in the hunt for these two key figures.

In a BBC interview this March, President Musharraf said that his country's intelligence services had their strongest indication of the al-Qaeda leader's whereabouts about eight to 10 months earlier but that they had lost the trail.

Bin Laden last appeared in a video just before the November US election and is suspected to be hiding along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - perhaps even the area where Libbi is reported to have been picked up.

Pakistan says that it has rounded up around 700 suspects and last summer captured and killed a number of suspected senior al-Qaeda operatives with international links - its hope will be that Libbi leads them on to some more.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 514409.stm

Published: 2005/05/04 18:11:34 GMT

john8pies · Post by **john8pies** » Thu May 05, 2005 6:58 am

Good luck, but from what I see, whoever is captured, there`s usually always another one to take his / her place.

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Thu May 05, 2005 7:10 am

john8pies wrote: Good luck, but from what I see, whoever is captured, there`s usually always another one to take his / her place.
Yah you are correct. Maybe we should just concede and stick our head in the sand? Then they would all just go away?

Post by **spot** » Thu May 05, 2005 7:45 am

BTS wrote: The arrest of Abu Faraj al-Libbi could prove to be significant not just for Pakistan but also for the broader international struggle against al-Qaeda.BTS, I would be delighted to see every known and unknown member of al Qaeda taken into custody this afternoon. It would leave the United States with no excuse for interfering any longer in the domestic affairs of other sovereign states, after all, which would upset neither of us. Oh, except for the War on Drugs, of course - OK, incude all the drug cartel with al Qaeda for completeness.

You don't think, perhaps, that since the current leader of al Qaeda was supported for so many years with American Government cash and weaponry, he might actually still be cooperating with elements of the US Intelligence community? You needn't ask whether I think that might be true, it's central to my understanding of how today's world works, flawed though my understanding undoubtedly is.

Either way, I don't expect the War on Terror to be declared won any time soon, it's far too useful to people of power.

Philadelphia Eagle · Post by **Philadelphia Eagle** » Thu May 05, 2005 8:37 am

President Musharraf of Pakistan deserves great credit for his efforts in tracking down terrorists. He operates in a country which has many of these individuals amongst the population which makes his job doubly difficult. He himself has been the target of several assasination attempts. More power to him!

It is a further blow, as you say BTS, to the anti-America crowd and we obviously have one right here on this forum.

Some of them are well-meaning and some are not. The thinking of all of them is seriously flawed. It generally stems from an inferiority complex.

Post by **spot** » Thu May 05, 2005 8:42 am

Philadelphia Eagle wrote: It is a further blow, as you say BTS, to the anti-America crowd and we obviously have one right here on this forum.Don't look at me, PE, I love America, I always have and I always will. I've never met an American whom I didn't like on sight. I take exception to your current gangster Administration in Washington, that's all, and so do a whole stack of other people, patriotic Americans included.

john8pies · Post by **john8pies** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:41 am

This is just a query, so please don`t anybody get annoyed with this. I`m serious! But why , after searching since 11/9/01 ("9/11" in American notation), haven`t the largest and most successful superpower in history with the most advance intelligence networks and the most expensive spy satellites and most developed computer technology, been able to find Osama bin Laden?

minks · Post by **minks** » Thu May 05, 2005 11:48 am

john8pies wrote: This is just a query, so please don`t anybody get annoyed with this. I`m serious! But why , after searching since 11/9/01 ("9/11" in American notation), haven`t the largest and most successful superpower in history with the most advance intelligence networks and the most expensive spy satellites and most developed computer technology, been able to find Osama bin Laden?

Some say it is because he sleeps with the GW Bush Family.

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:26 pm

john8pies wrote: This is just a query, so please don`t anybody get annoyed with this. I`m serious! But why , after searching since 11/9/01 ("9/11" in American notation), haven`t the largest and most successful superpower in history with the most advance intelligence networks and the most expensive spy satellites and most developed computer technology, been able to find Osama bin Laden? Haven't you heard the rumors? He will be exposed after the 2004 elections......... OOPS that is past huh?

December 2003: Saddam is already caught and will be convicted just before the US elections

March 2004: Bin Laden is dead or captured and this will only be announced just before the elections

OOPS that is past too huh?

29th October 2004: Bin Laden's unexpected appearance on video, alive and uncaptured, less than a week before the elections, was exactly as planned by the Bush administration to win the election

Am I right to call the claims at all three stages (separate) conspiracy theories? The first two already proven false by history, the third unproven?

And what sort of people manage not to even mention their abject failures in the past, just proved totally false, as they move forward to present the latest, inconsistent version of the same old anti-Bush bashing, suitably transformed almost in real time?

Well, to be fair, most pundits of any stripe suffer from something of the same. See for example Mark Steyn, one whose recent record is a lot better than most.

But Conspiracy Nuts really must be the worst. I was genuinely shocked at the lack of judgment shown by Alex Jones here. I blamed the obsessively anti-Bush Britisher right away, for leading the Texan astray. But whatever the reason, the progression is pathetic. Deep reassessment of the whole modus operandi is needed.

or.......

Some say it is because he sleeps with the GW Bush Family.