AND after the families of the victims get their justice,
he should join Osama for a meal.
Posted on 09/15/2002 4:10:55 PM PDT by blam
Yemeni captured in Pakistan saw himself as next Bin Laden
By Andrew Gumbel
16 September 2002
The United States has never quite dared believe it could decapitate al-Qa'ida and neutralise the men who masterminded the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. But as new evidence emerges about an extraordinary series of police raids and bloody shoot-out at a high-class residential compound in Karachi last week, it seems its wish might just have been granted.
New information from both US and Pakistani sources over the weekend suggested that Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, the 30-year-old Yemeni considered to be the big catch of last week's raids, could not only be the key figure in the 11 September plot but also the next Osama bin Laden. He may be emerging as the leader of the newly configured al-Qai'da after the group's expulsion from Afghanistan, the death of thousands of its cohorts, possibly including Mr bin Laden, and the arrest of several hundred others.
Aside from Mr Bin al-Shibh, who is believed to be in either Pakistani or US custody and subject to intense interrogation, there is furious speculation about the fate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a close associate who boasted in an interview last week that he was the military commander of al-Qa'ida and the man who first thought of flying commercial airliners into prominent US buildings.
Conflicting, unofficial reports suggest that Mr Mohammed was either taken into custody with Mr Bin al-Shibh, or that he was one of two al-Qa'ida suspects who died in a three-hour gun battle with Pakistani police last Wednesday, the anniversary of the 11 September attacks.
US officials have said that the significance of his capture could not be overstated. Prosecutors in both Germany and America have already described him as the key surviving member of the Hamburg cell led by Mohammed Atta, the pilot of the first plane to slam into the World Trade Centre.
Mr Bin al-Shibh was also meant to be part of the suicide-hijacking team, according to prosecution documents, but was denied a US visa on four occasions. Instead, he allegedly played the leading role in coordinating the other 19 hijackers, acting as logistics chief and financier for the operation.
Evidence garnered from other captured al-Qa'ida fighters, including photographs found in their belongings, suggests Mr Bin al-Shibh has since enjoyed cult status in the movement and may have played a pivotal role in subsequent al-Qa'ida assaults, including a recent bombing in Tunisia.
Mr Mohammed, meanwhile, was identified by US officials a few months ago as the conceptual mastermind behind the 11 September attacks. He has been wanted since 1995, when he is believed to have conspired with his nephew, Ramzi Yousef, to blow up a dozen airliners over the Pacific Ocean. Mr Yousef, currently serving a life sentence in the US, was also involved in the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Centre in 1993.
Evidence that Mr Mohammed and Mr Bin al-Shibh had become central figures in al-Qa'ida emerged in an interview they gave to the Arab satellite television station al-Jazeera in June. In the interview, aired last week, they bragged about the two and a half years that it took to plan the 11 September attacks, calling it "Holy Tuesday" and revealing several new details about it. They said they considered flying a plane into a nuclear reactor but discarded the idea, fearing the operation would "go out of control".
They said the fourth plane, which crashed in Pennsylvania after an apparent revolt by the passengers, was headed to the US Capitol building rather than the White House, as another senior al-Qa'ida leader in US custody, Abu Zubeida, suggested a few months ago.
Perhaps most significantly, Mr Mohammed made one reference to Osama bin Laden in the past tense, bolstering the view that the founding leader of al-Qa'ida could be dead.
The al-Jazeera interviewer, Yosri Fouda, was given only audiotapes of his interview, not video – the result, possibly, of a security lapse when Mr Mohammed realised he had a mobile phone with him. One way or another, communications intelligence appears to have been crucial to locating Mr Mohammed and Mr Bin al-Shibh.
Spanish police found a telephone number for him in April while arresting the suspected financial chief of al-Qa'ida in Spain. Reports over the weekend suggest that the Pakistanis were led to the Karachi compound after the interception of a phone call made by Mr Bin al-Shibh.
Details of the police raid remain sketchy and contradictory but, according to yesterday's Washington Post, there were at least three separate raids between last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Mr Bin al-Shibh was found asleep and seized without incident. After that, six Arabic-speaking men and one woman were captured, also without any resistance.
However, as the police began escorting them down a staircase, a man armed with an automatic weapon – possibly Mr Mohammed – lobbed a grenade at them from the doorway of another flat. The police beat a retreat, losing control of some detainees in the chaos. A furious battle erupted, pitting up to 200 law enforcement officials against the small band of resisters, who barricaded themselves on the roof of the compound. Two suspects were found dead, including the grenade-lobber, and a dozen others were captured.
Police searching the grenade-attackers' apartment found the Islamic statement of belief ("There is no God but God, and Allah is the prophet of God") daubed on a wall in human blood.
It is not clear what will happen to Mr Bin al-Shibh. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haider, said yesterday he was still in Pakistani custody. Other Pakistani officials suggested he would be handed over to the Americans. The German government also has an international arrest warrant out against him and would be keen to prosecute him. But officials said they would back down if the Americans prosecuted him first.
We should begin to leak at how much they are talking and telling us, even if they aren't. That will/could generate some mistrust, panic and movement that we can detect.
Unless of course, the old one is dead....
What?! He saw himself blown to bits? Now that's low self-esteem.
Someone forgot to tell that stupid SOB that the Republicans were back in town and the significance of that change.
Now there's a track record to aspire to. I like a young feller with ambition...
Yup. How many times did he have to 'jigger' those visa applications to stay off the WTC planes?
They've got it backwards here -- we need to neutralise al-Qa'ida and decapitate the men!
I thought of that very thing a few days ago when I read about this. (I just thought I was the only one who would think like that.)
Sac
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.