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http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2011/05/ap_how_osama_bin_laden_emailed.php

“Osama bin Laden’s Internet connection”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN
May 12, 2011 7:25 PM

SNIPPET: “Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo of the Associated Press have a new piece out explaining how, according to US officials, Osama bin Laden emailed with members of his network.

Holed up in his walled compound in northeast Pakistan with no phone or Internet capabilities, bin Laden would type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet cafe.

At that location, the courier would plug the memory drive into a computer, copy bin Laden’s message into an email and send it. Reversing the process, the courier would copy any incoming email to the flash drive and return to the compound, where bin Laden would read his messages offline.”

SNIPPET: “Finally, the 100 flash memory drives captured indicate that far from being a mere figurehead or symbol — bin Laden was still operationally active.”

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stepping back in time...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/10/report_osama_bin_lad_1.php

“Report: Osama bin Laden ordered Mumbai-style attacks in Europe”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN & BILL ROGGIO
October 1, 2010

SNIPPET: “NPR reported on Thursday that “bin Laden used couriers to send a message to” al Qaeda’s “affiliates and partners.” He wanted them to emulate a “Mumbai-style attack” in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. NPR also reported that US intelligence officials are currently investigating the possibility that the US was a target as well.”

SNIPPET: “The recently foiled plot against Europe demonstrates, yet again, that al Qaeda works in concert with a number of like-minded jihadist organizations based in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda is the tip of the jihadist spear.]”

SNIPPET: “According to NPR, Siddiqui was sheltered by the Haqqani Network in Pakistan. The Haqqani Network has longstanding ties to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, and the Taliban cooperate in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network, is a member of al Qaeda’s Shura Majlis.

In Afghanistan, Siddiqui became a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an al Qaeda affiliate that has primarily fought alongside the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The IMU is known as a guerilla-style fighting organization. But in keeping with bin Laden’s vision of folding local organizations into his international jihad, the IMU contributed to this latest plot by accepting Siddiqui into its ranks and possibly doing more.

The plot itself was supposed to be modeled after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET). The LET was originally founded by the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment to fight Indian forces in Kashmir. It currently assists the Taliban and al Qaeda in operations in Afghanistan and has an international presence, including inside the US.

Al Qaeda has long worked closely with the LET.”

SNIPPET: “Speaking to students at Duke University at Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates explained that the US-led coalition’s enemy in Afghanistan “is increasingly an unholy syndicate of terrorist groups working together: al Qaeda, the Haqqani network, the Pakistani Taliban, the Afghan Taliban and groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.””