Successes - and a Saudi Betrayal

While Osama Bin Laden, his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, and primary operations leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, still remain at large, the United States is clearly making significant strides in dismantling al Qaeda's leadership apparatus. The list of successes in the worldwide effort being led by the CIA and U.S. military to capture or kill top Al Qaeda chiefs is steadily mounting.

Senior Bin Laden lieutenant Muhammad Atef was killed in Afghanistan in 2001 and a CIA predator drone brought a fiery end to al Qaeda's top man in Yemen, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, on Nov. 3, 2002.

More importantly, some of al Qaeda's most influential commanders have been captured. Al Qaeda operations chief Abu Zubaydah, Omar al-Farouq (a senior aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed), Ramzi Binalshibh, Omar al-Farouq (bin Laden's operations chief for Southeast Asia), and most recently Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in Yemen, are all in U.S. custody.

An audio tape released Nov. 12, 2002 by Qatar's Al-Jazeera television ended speculation that bin Laden had been killed during bombing raids in Afghanistan in late 2001. Intelligence experts believe that preliminary analysis of the tape indicates that not only is the voice recording genuine, but bin Laden's reference to the assassination of American diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan on Oct. 28, 2002 confirms that the taping was fairly recent.

Al Qaeda apologists claim that bin laden opted to deliver his most recent message via audiotape to avoid disclosing clues to his current whereabouts. In the fall of 2001, astute imagery analysts recognized distinctive rock formations in the background of a captured videotape of bin Laden claiming responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, enabling them to trace the site of the video to the mountainous Paktia province on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

However, a videotaped message from a gaunt, sickly, and apparently injured bin Laden (he appeared unable to move his right arm) released by al-Jazeera last December was purported to have demoralizing effects on Islamic extremists. Linguistic experts believe that elements of the recent audiotape are indicative of speech patterns of a sick or injured individual.

In the wake of bin Laden's most recent taped threat that "the Muslim nation will attack you with its young and enthusiastic and will defend Islam and ummah (the Islamic nation)," an American nurse was killed in Lebanon, two U.S. soldiers were shot and injured in Kuwait, and a McDonald's in Saudi Arabia was set afire.

A month earlier, Islamic terrorists had struck a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, a bus station and two department stores in the Philippines, the French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen, U.S. military troop exercises in Kuwait, and assassinated Laurence Foley in Jordan.

Clearly the significant setbacks inflicted upon al Qaeda's leadership have not stopped Islamic extremists from carrying out new waves of terrorism.

A major factor that has helped maintain the operational tempo of Islamic extremism, despite the waning fortunes of al Qaeda, is the constant undermining of our efforts to curtail global terrorism by our Saudi Arabian "allies."

The fundraisers for families of Palestinian terrorists and Crown Prince Abdullah's denial of Saudi air space and bases for an American offensive against the rogue regime in Iraq are just some of the more egregious and flagrant actions by our Saudi "allies."

While there have been numerous accounts of Saudi citizens, including members of the royal family, providing financial support for terrorism, one of the most potentially damaging actions of the Saudi government has gone largely unreported except by the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Hayat.

During the summer of 2002 the Saudi Interior Ministry released 160 al Qaeda members, all Saudi citizens, who had been repatriated to Saudi Arabia after being captured in Iran following the fall of the Taliban regime. The Ministry released them without consideration for the detainees' potential knowledge of or culpability in terrorist attacks, but based upon a determination that "they were not a threat to Riyadh," the newspaper reported.

The more telling aspect of the Saudi betrayal of the war on terrorism occurred just prior to the release of the detainees. Despite possessing a number of viable military and civilian airports wherein to fly the captured terrorists from Iran, the Saudis chose to return them via the holy city of Medina.

The Saudi Arabian city of Medina is known in the Muslim world as Dar al-hijra, the first place of refuge. It is an ancient city with strong spiritual significance, particularly for those who may seek to gain the reigns of the terrorist network after bin Laden and al Qaeda's hierarchy is brought to justice. In Islamic teachings, Medina is traditionally where the persecuted of Islam withdraw to begin again and return in triumph to the unbelieving lands through jihad.

The Muslim calendar begins with the Hijra, Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD to avoid death at the hands of "infidels" who denounced his teachings. The word Hijra literally represents the emigration of a Muslim from hostile surroundings to a supportive population from which a mujhadeen will then plan and regroup to launch jihad. It is Muhammad's Hijra to Medina, which is considered the pivotal and most sacred event in Islamic history.

The spiritual manifesto of al Qaeda, The Neglected Duty, penned by the late Abd Al-Salam Faraj placed enormous emphasis on the importance of the hijra component to a jihad. Al Qaeda transplanting itself from the "hostile" lands of its origin to the supportive confines of Taliban Afghanistan was clearly a form of hijra.

Allowing Al Qaeda terrorists to return to Medina, Muhammad's chosen place of refuge, provides a close parallel between their lives and that of Muhammad. Such a vital symbolic connection may enable a new generation of terrorist lieutenants to validate their claim to leadership by emulating the early trials and tribulations of Muhammad.

To win the war on terrorism, we must concurrently eliminate terrorists' operational cells and proactively inhibit the creation of new waves of terrorist leaders.

If we are to succeed, American analysts and policymakers need to become well versed in not only the major tenets and foundations of Islam, but in the works of influential extremist writers such as Abd Al-Salam Faraj, Sayyid Qutb, and Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab Najdi.

Only by doing this will the Bush administration be able to fully understand significant events in the Middle East and take the necessary action to win the war on terrorism.

Tom Knowlton writes about military affairs and terrorism. He can be reached at TKnowltonDW@aol.com.

[Saudi Arabia] Allowing Al Qaeda terrorists to return to Medina, Muhammad's chosen place of refuge, provides a close parallel between their lives and that of Muhammad. Such a vital symbolic connection may enable a new generation of terrorist lieutenants to validate their claim to leadership by emulating the early trials and tribulations of Muhammad.

This move by the Saudis should remove all doubt about which side they're on in the War on Terror, for those who still choose to put the wool over their own eyes. The Saudis are the premier terrorist sympathizers and financiers in the Islamic world, and prove it to us with just about every move they make.

I disagree. It would be a rallying point for them. Much the same as the WTC and Pentagon were for us. Along with the radical Muslims, it would push those "so-called" moderate Muslims over the edge as well, and with a religion that boasts over a billion followers, I don't think we want to open that can of worms.

I still don't believe it was him. Hiding or not, he'd be on camera if it were him........

Excellent analysis. When Musharref gave his speech to the Pakistani nation explaining why he had decided to cooperate with the US in its campaign against the Taliban, he spent ten minutes recounting the story of Mohammed's retreat to Mecca. He emphasized Mohammed's habit of signing treaties with Jews and Infidels as temporary accommodations--until he had recouped his forces and it was convenient to break his word.

So, an Arab will make a tactical retreat, if necessary, in order to regroup and attack again when the enemy grows trustful and turns his back. It's something to keep in mind.

I still don't believe it was him. Hiding or not, he'd be on camera if it were him........

The reason he is not on camera is that he has had plastic surgery and now looks like this.......

"The Saudi Arabian city of Medina is known in the Muslim world as Dar al-hijra, the first place of refuge....."

>> That is why the Saudis must close the doorway that opens to Medina and to Mecca.

It is an ancient city with strong spiritual significance, particularly for those who may seek to gain the reigns of the terrorist network after bin Laden and al Qaeda's hierarchy is brought to justice ...."

>>It is fundamental ... Islamic terrorsts must be denied any form spiritual relief or comfort.

In Islamic teachings, Medina is traditionally where the persecuted of Islam withdraw to begin again and return in triumph to the unbelieving lands through jihad...."

Bin Laden and his followers must understand >> The Saudis must be compelled to give up this nonsense. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to flatten Mecca.

"I still don't believe it was him. Hiding or not, he'd be on camera if it were him........"

The word structure and phrasology weren't his...he either hired Daschle's or Clinton's speechwriter or the tape is a hoax...IMO, probably made right there at al Jazeera's studio.

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