In Qaeda hideout: notes on blending in

Boston Globe ^ | December 9, 2001 | John Donnelly

[sarcasm]

ARM HADA, Afghanistan - In chilling detail, down to the right jewelry, cologne, and underwear, handwritten notes found yesterday at a compound for Al Qaeda operatives give a primer on how to blend into a foreign country to commit an act of terror.

[BunnySlippers]

''We should have a normal personality,'' the notes said.

Right. These notes are more proof that we need to sharply restrict people who come into this country.

[wienerdog.com]

''We should have a normal personality,'' the notes said.

I will second that motion.

[IoCaster]

Why would they write instructions like these in english?

Something smells here.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

In addition to the military mission in Afghanistan, we need to have an aggressive FBI/CIA type investigation of areas once held by al Qaeda personnel to get as much information about their tactics and organizational structure as possible. In many areas it looks like they were flushed out of their rats nest too fast for them to destroy potentially vital evidence.

[DainBramage]

The dress code sounds like 'Saturday Night Fever'.

[johnny7]

That's right. Your urban guerilla avoids soap and water.

He will douse himself with pungent oils before sitting his sorry a$$ in a tub of hot water.

But then again, he's smart enough to hi-jack 2 planes out of Logan for a one-way trip to the WTC.

The Boston Globe is a commie rag and this article is probably make-believe. The spittin' image of The Grey Whore... The New York Times.

[uglybiker]

''You chould know the difference betwene male female perfume if you will use the female perfume so you will be in big trouble.''

Especially if you're in San Francisco.

[Flintlock]

Hell, they go for that sort of thing.

[abclily]

Wasn't this whole article in the news a month ago?

[doosee]

Why would they write instructions like these in english?

The terrorists come from many different language sources. Chechens, Egyptians, Pakis, Lebanese. English is the common denominator even if it is broken English

[cake_crumb]

"do not ue deodorant on your clothes. Use only in your body."

HUH?? < * holding mental nose *> Ah, the olfactory "imagery".

[cake_crumb]

"Why would they write instructions like these in english?"

To practice blending in? Arabic characters and English letters don't look anything alike, and in order to fill out the hotel registration, among other things, they'll have to write in English.

[IoCaster]

I considered that. In verbal communications yes, but still hard to believe they would use it for written instructions. The one consideration that would make it more plausable is that these instructions were meant for infiltrators. I guess they would have to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of english.