Posted on 06/19/2002 10:39:49 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Moroccan report reveals rich detail about al-Qaida tactics
By NICOLAS MARMIE
06/19/2002
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
RABAT, Morocco (AP) - Three al-Qaida operatives, plotting a terror attack in Morocco, argued over whether it would be noble to blow up a cafe if it would take Muslim lives.
Their debate emerged in a detailed report from the usually tight-lipped Moroccan government that shed light on the training, recruiting and planning of three alleged al-Qaida members in their custody.
The three Saudis, caught in May and arraigned in a Moroccan court on Monday, are suspected of plotting to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack U.S. and British warships.
The men - Zouhair Hilal Mohamed Tabiti, Hilal Jaber El Assiri and Abdellah Msafer El Ghamidi - planned the attacks with help from Ahmed Elmoulla Billal, according to a Moroccan Justice Ministry report.
Moroccan authorities believe Billal is a top leader of al-Qaida in charge of planning suicide operations, but said they do not know his whereabouts.
The suspects also prepared to blow up a cafe in central Marrakech and plotted a suicide attack against the national bus company, the Justice Ministry said in the report.
The seven-page document, released to reporters on Tuesday, gave a detailed account of the three men's operations in Morocco and their alleged intentions.
It coincided with information from Washington that a man U.S. officials described as central to recruiting operations of al-Qaida had been arrested in Morocco.
The U.S. officials identified the suspect as Abu Zubair al-Haili, a 300-pound (135-kilogram) man known as "The Bear." The Moroccan Justice ministry said he and Zouhair Hilal Mohamed Tabiti were one and the same.
According to the U.S. officials, he ran some of Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks and helped evacuate al-Qaida operatives during the U.S.-led war on the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Washington hailed the Moroccan arrests. White House spokesman Ari Fleisher on Wednesday called them one of the "notable successes in the war" and evidence of strong cooperation by the international coalition assisting the U.S.-led war.
The Moroccan document showed how the three suspects sought to infiltrate this Muslim kingdom in North Africa by seeking relationships with Moroccan women, and how they recruited new al-Qaida members here and financed their operations with support from locals.
Tabiti and El Assiri squabbled over targets to attack, according to the report. El Assiri rejected the idea of blowing up the cafe, located in the main square in Marrakech, because Muslims would be killed. Tabiti believed killing Muslims in the cafe attack was "justified by the nobleness of the operation," the report said.
Tabiti entered Morocco on Jan. 13, passing through Tehran and Rome, and arrived in Marrakech in early February. However, he temporarily lost contact with Billal, and went ahead with his plan to attack the cafe.
Explosives were prepared to blow up the cafe, but the men abandoned them after discovering that police were on their trail, the report said.
Billal favored the attack against U.S. and British vessels and gave the men dlrs 5,000 to finance the scheme. Tabiti and El-Assiri received other funds from al-Qaida to finance reconnaissance operations in the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla - which belong to Spain - focused on the movement of U.S. and British ships through the Strait of Gibraltar.
The men had met at al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan, where they learned how to disguise themselves, make explosives, shake off police surveillance, make false identity papers and use firearms, maps and compasses. The ministry didn't indicate when the training took place.
After learning such skills, Tabiti contacted Billal to request a suicide mission. But Billal told Tabiti to find a target himself, then get back to him.
Tabiti established a relationship with a Moroccan woman to better integrate himself and facilitate his movements around the country, the report said. All the while, he sought to recruit Moroccans for al-Qaida training in Afghanistan. Some offered money to finance his operations.
Some Moroccan citizens, who were not identified, set up bank accounts for El Assiri to give him access to money while he was in the kingdom. In exchange, he brought them gifts or cash.
The suspects and four Moroccan accomplices face charges including "attempted voluntary homicide," "attempted voluntary sabotage using explosives" as well as immigration law violations.
(nm-jk-eg)
'nuff said about who the enemy is
Click here: Islamic_Violence
In this case the men had to become established, come up with an idea, scout out a suitable target, and then seek financing AND authority from figures higher up in the organization. They have to have the plan reviewed and costs estimated and suitable targets to get the money. This is a common characteristic of al-Qeada operations.
In Padilla's case, people are claiming he didn't have a real plan, that he's a nobody. Maybe he is a small fish, but Padilla still received $10,500 bucks after getting approval from his handlers in al-Qeada. He is jobless, yet managed to travel around the world. I suggest he had plans already made and a target or targets selected with his possible co-conspirators, before he even went overseas to speak to the higher-ups. And whatever he revealed to them was sufficient to get them to provide him with $10,500 to get started, above and beyond what he was already obtaining to provide for himself. If the pattern holds, he or his group probably has financial sources here in the states, and perhaps women and fellow mosque-attendees who can serve as money 'mules' or as go-betweens locally, opening accounts, snatching credit cards, and purchasing or obtaining items while the men try to be stay out of suspicion's way most of the time. (One of the suspects nabbed early on after 9/11 here had written a check on woman's account; the woman supposedly worked at a charity in Washington DC but was long gone by the time they tried to track the account info down.)
Also, if the pattern holds, it isn't neccessarily the brightest terrorist-types who do the international traveling and courier work to and from the al Qeada handlers.
I make bold to suggest that the same IRS Gestapo that got on my case when I crossed the Kennedy Machine do the same for Muslims in America.
Check every goddam account.
LAFLAFLAF!!!
The saudi govt has a use for us. FAR FAR different from being our ally!
Yep, it's them alright
The US and Saudi Arabia have been keeping each other awfully close for decades now. Both sides know who their enemy is, even if the American people are only now waking up to this reality.
The Wahabi brand of Islam cannot and will not coexist with modern civilization.
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