Posted on 02/19/2007 6:38:24 PM PST by blam
Bin Laden 'back in control' of terror blitz
By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad
Last Updated: 2:12am GMT 20/02/2007
Osama bin Laden has re-established control over a terrorist network along the Pakistan and Afghan border, according to US sources.
American security officials claim that bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, have rebuilt an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan.
"The chain of command has been re-established," The New York Times reported one US government official as saying. The official added that the al-Qa'eda "leadership command and control is robust".
Until recently, the US government had maintained that bin Laden and Zawahiri were effectively cut off from operational control of al-Qa'eda.
However, officials say that new intelligence points to the terrorist network gaining strength despite more than five years of a sustained US-led campaign against it.
The US has also identified several new al-Qa'eda training compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said may be training operatives for strikes on targets beyond Afghanistan.
"A particular concern is that the camps are frequented by British citizens of Pakistani descent," stated one US report, which noted terrorist trials in Britain had revealed several with links to Pakistan.
The claim of an al-Qa'eda revival has been the subject of intensive discussion in the Bush government. It has also reignited debate about how to confront Pakistan's role as a haven for militants, without undermining the government of General Pervez Musharraf.
Gen Musharraf has had to strike a balance between placating the US, which has bankrolled his regime, and living with Pakistan's powerful pro-jihad Islamic groups, who have tried three times to kill him and only just failed.
Pakistan's strategy in North Waziristan has come under scrutiny since it signed a peace deal with militants in September, which critics say has effectively ceded control of the area.
Isn't there something fundamentally obvious about signing peace deals with militants?
The nyt are a terrorists wet dream.
The New York Times makes a living saying that we're losing using unnamed government officials.
You'd think we'd eventually catch on, but we don't.
The term "US Government Official" always seems to be the source for the Times.
That term could also apply to the guy that runs the local Natural Resources Conservation Office here in Midwest USA
I haven't seen anything about this on any major cable news outlets today. If it were real, it would be all over FOX, etc,,,.
We haven't heard from him in 2 years. They would love to rev up a big story on him again.
Sooner or later Bin Ladens' ass will be grass. Anybody that doesn't think that we are doing everything that we can to find this scumbag isn't living in the real world. Just like 911, we will all turn on the TV one day to hear the news. We (Freepers) will be celebrating while democrats are once again on suicide watch. It's just a matter of time.
Semper Fi'
Jarhead
Breaking News: "An unnamed source says he uses the NY Times as toilet paper".
I can't imagine OBL passing up the opportunity to rub Pelosi in the face of the White House. He's either too sick, or too dead, to have passed up that opportunity.
I'm privy to the "too dead" scenario.
"US Government Official" = The Hildabeast
The last thing we need is a bunch of terrorist in control of nuclear missiles...
Osama is taking the 'dirt nap'!
bin Laden is dead.
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