Trial shows Al Qaeda is still gunning for West -- but failing

Los Angeles Times ^ | Sept. 11, 2008 | Sebastian Rotella

[Clairity]

Aggressive surveillance has damaged the effectiveness of Osama bin Laden's network. Nevertheless, anti-terrorism officials remain wary of the evolving nature of the threat.

The trial of eight Britons charged with plotting to blow up transatlantic flights ended in London this week with a mixed verdict. But to anti-terrorism officials, two things are clear: The 2006 plot was an ambitious effort by Al Qaeda to match the carnage of the Sept. 11 attacks.

And it failed.

Today's seventh anniversary of the attacks on the United States finds anti-terrorism officials optimistic that they have damaged Osama bin Laden's network and its offshoots, but wary of the evolving nature of the threat.

Newly disclosed intelligence illustrates that the airplane plot was part of a broader campaign. British anti-terrorism officials said information that couldn't be used in court linked the plot to the bombing of the London transportation system in July 2005 and a failed follow-up attack two weeks later. Intercepts and other evidence indicate that leaders of the plots had contact with each other, converged in Pakistan and were trained by Al Qaeda bosses, officials said.

[Clairity]

Thank you, President Bush.

God Bless you and God bless America and all good people around the world.

[Clairity]

Security forces have detected a new trend starting this spring: Dozens of foreign fighters leaving Iraq have found refuge in Bosnia-Herzegovina rather than returning home, according to two senior European anti-terrorism officials. The veterans are assisted by an infrastructure of Arab militants who obtained Bosnian passports after fighting there in the 1990s, officials said.

“They go from Iraq to Bosnia and stay there awhile,” an anti-terrorism official said. “They are mainly North Africans. It’s not easy, but they enter Bosnia and live semi-clandestinely with the help of the mujahedin who have always been there. Eventually some show up in countries like France or Italy.”

[Robert DeLong]

I am surprised the LA TImes even admits this.

[rusureitflies?]

Just wondering, who finances these bad guys?

[Senator John Blutarski]

“Just wondering, who finances these bad guys?”

..... Essentially, the West does - every time we buy a barrel of oil from the middle east.

[edcoil]

The Sierra Club, the club for Slow Growth, the Nimby’s of the west. Actually any environmental grow that calls for the removal our our own right to drill.

Anyone notice any pictures of the mid-east oil operations. Very clean skies. If oil is so bad to produce, how come they aren’t dying at a higher rate then us.