Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Arrest yields al-Qaeda contacts in North America

News.com.au ^ | March 03, 2003 | From correspondents in Washington and Pakistan

[WSGilcrest]

doah! been a while

[John Valentine]

How do you know that the sleeper cell arrests have not been made?

Or that they are not under intense surveillance to determine associate members whose phone numbers were NOT discovered.

[keats5]

"Wait! Isn't the ACLU going to try to stop our intelligence agents from reading these documents?"

Well, now that they caught this guy, the ACLU has to regroup and find a new leader.

[11th_VA]

Suspect captured at crucial time for U.S.

By David Johnston

The New York Times

President Bush's critics, including some Democrats in Congress, have been complaining that his focus on Saddam Hussein had distracted the nation from the war against al-Qaida. The steady movement toward a war in Iraq had seemed only to escalate the risk of another terrorist attack.

But Mohammed's arrest was a heavy blow to al-Qaida [and Democrats]and good news for the United States when that has been a scarce

[umgud]

I can picture him strapped to a fence with his privates protruding through the fence fabric and a hungry pig on the other side. Or maybe we could create a large slide resembling a cheese grater and have him slide down it. Or maybe..........

[expatpat]

Yes, indeed.

[ErnBatavia]

Mohammed, dude, that is one ugly t-shirt. Do they all come with collars that BIG?

Just proof that they have Big Lots stores over there also.

[NJJ]

I would think that the "sleeper cells" watch the news too.

A sleeper is usually established in the community as part of his cover, waiting only to be called into action. It would be hard for them to just disappear. In fact if someone that fits the "profile" behaves strangely it might be wise to advise Homeland Security/local officials. Let them check them out.

If their intent is to break contact, that makes them difficult to "activate" by al Qaeda, unless they had an emergency contact, but then this guy was so high up that that number is also likely compromised. The net effect is they are disadvantaged. Once they can safely reestablish themselves into a community they will also likely reassess the need to reestablish contact with a bunch of losers.

[Illbay]

The Bush Administration needs to make BIG TIME PR points with this thing.

[Pharmboy]

I know how to make the scumbag talk: play and replay the Lieberman/Gore debates. He'll tell us ANYTHING.

[Illbay]

Don't be sure that this isn't a good thing. These people are hardly unnoticeable, even when they AREN'T known to be al-Qa'ida. Those here on student visas, even green cards, etc., from the list of "suspect" origins, don't kid yourself that PLENTY of racial profiling isn't going on where the press can't get wind of it and allow Democrats to make hay with it (thanks be to God for an "adult" Presidential administration).

If these people try to cut and run, they'll quickly be nabbed. You can count on it.

[Rytwyng]

Bury him in pigskin... and televise it.

[stilts]

So why are we hearing about this in the press BEFORE the sleeper cell arrests are made? So they can make their getaway?

Maybe because there was no list in his pocket and they want to see if anyone over here already under surveillance bolts or contacts others. A list in the pocket seems too easy for someone able to allude us for so long.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Here's more of that "nothing" that is being accomplished in the war on terrorism.

[Alberta's Child]

What an amazing picture. Did Al Sharpton get one of those Michael Jackson surgeries that turned his skin white?

[ConservativeMan55]

[Kay Soze]

On the list: MArtin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Edward Asner,George Clooney, MAdonna, ANWSWER...

[Miss Marple]

....and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[piasa]

So why are we hearing about this in the press BEFORE the sleeper cell arrests are made? So they can make their getaway?

Who says you are hearing about it before the arrests were made?

Jose Padilla was arrested a month before anyone heard of it.

About a month from now, we may hear about arrests made in the past two days related to this.

We know from recent reports that sami Al-Arian wasn't the only guy rounded up recently, and there are bound to be many whom we have not heard about.

Of course, pessimistically, there is always the Pakistani problem, in that if we conduct a joint effort with the Pakis, there may be a sleeper in the Paki side who will leak information on arrests to the press to warn fellow al-Qaeda operatives. That may have occured in this case since I believe the first announcements on this came from the foreign press.

A sleeper may not have bee able to prevent the arrests, but he can still serve his cause by at least preventing us from keeping them secret.

And then there is the most obvious reason the news is out about his arrest... namely, he was in a highly populated area and there was no way the neighbors wouldn't notice and report guys in ninja suits descending on a house and hauling off the narcissistic sheepmolester in a large burlap bag.

[guitfiddlist]

ACCUSED September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was carrying the names and phone numbers of members of al-Qaeda sleeper cells in North America when he was arrested, intelligence officials have said.

What a bozo. I'll bet he used pig-latin on the cell-phone too...or maybe pig-arabic..or would that be a deadly sin?