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Slip of tongue in interview 'betrays secret that bin Laden is dead'
The Times (London) | September 09, 2002 | Dominic Kennedy

Posted on 09/11/2002 11:54:03 AM PDT by Drknows

World News

September 09, 2002

By Dominic Kennedy

A SLIP of the tongue by one of Osama bin Laden’s top henchmen seems to have betrayed al-Qaeda’s most potent secret: its charismatic leader is dead.

The blunder was made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has confessed to being the operational mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. He made his mistake while disclosing many of the secrets behind the atrocities, which were plotted in Kandahar, the religious extremist Taleban movement’s Afghan spiritual home.

The target of the fourth, thwarted hijack attack in Washington was Congress, not the White House; the original plan was to crash aircraft into atomic power stations; and the plotters used simple codes to keep in touch by internet, he disclosed.

Mr Mohammed was speaking in a propaganda exercise organised by al-Qaeda in time for the first anniversary of September 11.

A television journalist from al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television station that has previously broadcast exclusive footage of bin Laden, was blindfolded and taken to meet two al-Qaeda chiefs.

During two days of interviews, Mr Mohammed referred to bin Laden, who has not been seen since the fall of Afghanistan’s Taleban regime, in the past tense. The reporter Yosri Fouda, London bureau chief for al-Jazeera, concluded that bin Laden is now likely to be dead.

The journalist was taken to the Pakistan city of Karachi, driven five miles into the countryside, blindfolded, then brought to a clandestine rendezvous on the fourth floor of a sparsely furnished flat. He believes that it was in Karachi.

There he met Mr Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a former flatmate of Mohamed Atta, the hijack ringleader. Mr bin al-Shibh is a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, when 17 sailors were killed in the port city of Aden in Yemen in October 2000. He described himself as head of al-Qaeda’s military committee.

The two men spoke of September 11 as “Holy Tuesday”. They described the attacks using the Arabic word ghazwah, which means a raid against enemies of the Prophet, Mr Fouda wrote in The Sunday Times.

It had taken 2½ years to plan the attacks, the men disclosed. Al-Qaeda’s military committee had decided there must be a “martyrdom operation” inside America.

Nuclear targets were the first choice, but they were ruled out for now, Mr Mohammed said.

The hijackers were recruited from al-Qaeda’s “Department of Martyrs”, which still has scores of volunteers for future suicide attacks, the men claimed.

Atta, an al-Qaeda sleeper agent studying town planning in Hamburg since 1992, was chosen as a pilot and Nawaf al-Hazemi as his second-in-command. Mr bin al-Shibh wanted to be the twentieth hijacker. He applied for a visa for flight training three times, but was turned down on security grounds.

Questions are likely to be asked over whether alarm bells should have sounded in the United States over such a suspicious individual being so keen to go to America to learn to fly.

The leading hijackers were summoned to Kandahar for a shura or council meeting. Four advance reconnaissance units were sent to America.

The chosen pilots enrolled in US flight schools. Meanwhile, young Saudi volunteers were picked to act as “muscle” in the hijacking of the aircraft. “They knew it was a martyrdom operation, but did not know the details,” Mr Mohammed said.

As investigators have long suspected, the plotters did use the internet to communicate, the men confirmed. Using a chatroom, Atta sent messages in German from America, posing as a student, to “Jenny”, his fictitious girlfriend. The real recipient was Mr bin al-Shibh.

In al-Qaeda’s code the World Trade Centre was “the faculty of town planning” (Atta hated skyscrapers, preferring traditional Islamic architecture), the Pentagon was “the faculty of fine arts” and Congress was the “faculty of law”. In a final telephone call Atta told Mr bin al-Shibh the chosen date for the attacks.

“Two sticks, a dash and a cake with a stick down”, he said, meaning 11/9. The news reached bin Laden on September 6, giving him only five days’ warning of the horrors.

Mr Mohammed’s slip of the tongue about bin Laden’s demise was a serious lapse. Throughout their discussions with the reporter, al-Qaeda operatives persistently sought to suggest that their leader was still alive, well and keenly following events.

One intermediary told the journalist that bin Laden remained an avid viewer of al-Jazeera, so much so that “whatever he misses, he gets on tape”.

Al-Qaeda’s decision to bring a reporter from al-Jazeera to meet two of bin Laden’s generals rather than the man himself adds to the impression that their leader may be no more. The satellite channel has previously been trusted with interviewing bin Laden in person, in 1997 and 1998. Mr Fouda was also suspicious when al-Qaeda failed to send him videotapes of the interviews, as promised, although audiotapes did arrive.

“I am driven to the interpretation that something is wrong with the upper reaches of al-Qaeda — some sort of disruption. I now believe it is more than likely bin Laden is dead,” he said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alive; binladen; dead; osama
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1 posted on 09/11/2002 11:54:03 AM PDT by Drknows
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To: Drknows
“I am driven to the interpretation that something is wrong with the upper reaches of al-Qaeda — some sort of disruption."

Duh.

2 posted on 09/11/2002 11:58:13 AM PDT by SMASH IMPERIALIST LIBERALISM!!
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To: Drknows
One less murderous maniac killer to service the Killer Cult of Islame.
3 posted on 09/11/2002 11:59:17 AM PDT by justshutupandtakeit
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To: Drknows
I now believe it is more than likely bin Laden is dead,...”

Allah akbar.

4 posted on 09/11/2002 12:00:19 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: Drknows
The hijackers were recruited from al-Qaeda’s “Department of Martyrs”

2nd Floor: Housewares

3rd Floor: Ladies Lingerie

4th Floor: Department of Martyrs. Watch your step please.

5 posted on 09/11/2002 12:01:04 PM PDT by billorites
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To: billorites
I'm getting off at the mezzanine. I'm returning shoes.
6 posted on 09/11/2002 12:02:18 PM PDT by paulklenk
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To: billorites
Wet spill. Aisle 9.
7 posted on 09/11/2002 12:12:16 PM PDT by Lance Romance
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To: Drknows
Bin Laden is dead? This means we have to bring all our troops home now?
8 posted on 09/11/2002 12:13:15 PM PDT by alloysteel
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To: SMASH IMPERIALIST LIBERALISM!!
Mr Mohammed was speaking in a propaganda exercise ... - What he was on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather?


9 posted on 09/11/2002 12:13:59 PM PDT by Free_at_last_-2001
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To: Drknows
Wonder if it was this apartment?
10 posted on 09/11/2002 12:17:18 PM PDT by js1138
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To: alloysteel
Nope. We still have to root out the surviving leadership and the remnants of Al Qaeda. There could be attacks in the pipeline that survived the demise of Bin Laden. To the contrary, we have to pursue them no more than ever and make sure the plotters of 9-11 never find a moment's peace or rest. As for Bin Laden's death at our hands - chalk one up for The Good Guys. Cheers!!! :-)
11 posted on 09/11/2002 12:18:08 PM PDT by goldstategop
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To: Drknows
"..The hijackers were recruited from al-Qaeda’s “Department of Martyrs”.."


12 posted on 09/11/2002 12:18:53 PM PDT by Icthus
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To: alloysteel
Nope. It means, according to the 'Toon, that we may now proceed on Iraq.
13 posted on 09/11/2002 12:22:52 PM PDT by Freemyland
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I now believe it is more than likely bin Laden is dead,...”

I second that Allah akbar.

14 posted on 09/11/2002 12:23:21 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: Drknows
...some sort of disruption...

Definition of "some sort of disruption"


15 posted on 09/11/2002 12:26:45 PM PDT by American Blood
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To: Drknows
A SLIP of the tongue by one of Osama bin Laden’s top henchmen seems to have betrayed al-Qaeda’s most potent secret: its charismatic leader is dead. ..

The blunder was made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has confessed to being the operational mastermind behind the September 11 attacks....

During two days of interviews, Mr Mohammed referred to bin Laden, who has not been seen since the fall of Afghanistan’s Taleban regime, in the past tense. The reporter Yosri Fouda, London bureau chief for al-Jazeera, concluded that bin Laden is now likely to be dead...

Mr Mohammed’s slip of the tongue about bin Laden’s demise was a serious lapse. Throughout their discussions with the reporter, al-Qaeda operatives persistently sought to suggest that their leader was still alive, well and keenly following events.

One intermediary told the journalist that bin Laden remained an avid viewer of al-Jazeera, so much so that “whatever he misses, he gets on tape”.

Al-Qaeda’s decision to bring a reporter from al-Jazeera to meet two of bin Laden’s generals rather than the man himself adds to the impression that their leader may be no more.

You have no link to check and this article has no direct quotes from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Bin Laden may indeed be dead, but this article sheds no substantial light.




16 posted on 09/11/2002 12:30:14 PM PDT by Sabertooth
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To: Drknows
Nuclear targets were the first choice, but they were ruled out for now, Mr Mohammed said.
I hope that warning is heeded.
17 posted on 09/11/2002 12:50:07 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes
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To: Drknows
"Mr Mohammed’s slip of the tongue about bin Laden’s demise was a serious lapse. "

A serious lapse, or an attempt at disinforming the West?

18 posted on 09/11/2002 1:19:13 PM PDT by Lou L
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To: Drknows
I don't think this proves anything at all. It could be disinformation. Or it could be a manner of speaking. It's not unknown to speak about living people in the past tense, when you are talking about what they did at some earlier time. If I say "Bin Ladin did this," or "Bin Ladin did that," that doesn't mean he is dead.
19 posted on 09/11/2002 1:54:43 PM PDT by Cicero
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To: billorites
I like this one! don't forget to hold your nose too!
20 posted on 09/11/2002 3:53:35 PM PDT by Drknows
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