[dennisw]

BTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[Travis McGee]

"....a circle of radical clerics based in mosques and prayer centers in London and Leicester that French officials see as central to Mr. bin Laden's movement. "They are Osama bin Laden's representatives in Europe," an official of the Interior Ministry said."

Why are they still being "observed", instead of raided, arrested, and bulldozed? Are we serious about winning this "war" (sic) on terrorism or not?

"Think globally, act locally."

[aristeides]

The nod was to come from a Frenchman of Algerian origin who was on his way back from training in Afghanistan.

Another article in tomorrow's NY Times, Jubilant Calls on Sept. 11 Led to F.B.I. Arrests , says that bin Laden no longer phones people so that he cannot be tracked, but uses messengers instead. Somebody presumably gave Atta the go-ahead during his last trip to Europe, in July of this year. I wonder if we will ever learn who the messenger was.

[aristeides]

"These plotters were not very clever," an official of the Interior Ministry said. "They bought all their chemicals at the same place. They might as well have left a calling card for our intelligence service."

These guys seem to have had particularly bad opsec. Not that Atta's bunch, from what we hear, had much better. The European authorities could pick their bad actors up, our authorities did not. Of course, I suspect that's because Atta's bunch had protection, from the CIA or some such.

[Prodigal Daughter]

Thank you for the flag, and bump.

[piasa]

.