Capture of Zubaydah Prevents Attacks, Feds Say

Yahoo ^ | 4/3/02 | Deborah Charles

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The FBI (news - web sites) said Wednesday the capture of senior al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah was a blow against future attacks on America and the Pentagon (news - web sites) angrily denied that the wounded prisoner might be tortured.

"The arrest assists in helping to prevent another attack," Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller told reporters at a briefing, without giving further details.

"Zubaydah was a principal al Qaeda leader. The Pakistani authorities are to be congratulated on their detention of him," Mueller said of Zubaydah's capture last week.

Zubaydah has been turned over to U.S. custody and is being treated for three bullet wounds at an undisclosed location.

The prisoner, believed to be chief of operations of Saudi-born extremist bin Laden's al Qaeda network, is the highest-ranking al Qaeda member known to be in U.S. custody in a war on terrorism triggered by Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people.

At the Pentagon on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pounded the podium at a separate briefing and denied broadcast reports suggesting the U.S. military might pressure Zubaydah with threats of turning him over to another country to be tortured.

IRRESPONSIBLE 'T WORD'?

"That is what I saw on television. And that is wrong and irresponsible. I saw a report that referred to a word (torture) I don't even want to use," Rumsfeld told reporters.

"Believe me, reports to that effect are wrong, inaccurate, not happening and will not happen," he said when asked by reporters about the "T word."

"We are responsible for him. He is receiving medical care. And we intend to get every single thing out of him to try to prevent terrorist acts in the future," Rumsfeld added. "He will be properly interrogated by proper people who know how to do those things ... we will be responsible for that interrogation. Not we the Department of Defense (news - web sites), we the United States of America."

Zubaydah, who is said to be bin Laden's right-hand man, was captured last week during targeted raids in the towns of Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore in which more than 50 people -- half of them foreigners -- were arrested.

His role and responsibilities in al Qaeda grew after top bin Laden aide Mohammed Atef was killed in American air strikes in Afghanistan (news - web sites), U.S. officials have said.

Zubaydah, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia who is about 30 years old, used multiple aliases to travel extensively and is suspected of possible ties to the Sept. 11 attacks, they said.

FBI SUPPORTED RAID

Mueller gave credit for the raids to the Pakistani authorities but said the FBI was involved in a "support capacity."

The U.S. government blames bin Laden for masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and has vowed to bring him to justice. But so far the Saudi-born militant and many of al Qaeda's top operatives have eluded capture.

The U.S. military currently is holding more than 500 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members captured in and around Afghanistan, but most are considered foot soldiers.

Mueller said the arrests have helped to disrupt al Qaeda, but there is still threat of another attack on the United States or U.S. interests.

"We believe the threat of terrorism is high still," he said. "Their ability to carry out terrorist acts has been hampered around the world...nonetheless there is ability there...so we still have to be alert."

Mueller cautioned Americans to be on high alert for the "foreseeable future" in case of another attack or home or abroad. "My hope is that the American public will remain alert and understand that the world has changed since September 11," he said.

[robomatik]

I say inject the SOB with a scopolamine benzodiazepine cocktail (supposedly a CIA mixture that creates short-term memory loss) and torture him and extract anything they can from him. (Supposedly he has a photographic memory).

This way, we can extract information from him, while he has no memory of being tortured or providing us with info.

hehehe. Just a thought.