U.S. Captures Senior Al Qaeda Leader, Sources Say

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | 11/15/02

[B-bone]

U.S. Captures Senior Al Qaeda Leader, Sources Say

1 hour, 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the top two-dozen al Qaeda leaders sought by the United States in its war on terrorism was captured recently and is in American custody, U.S. government sources said on Friday.

The sources declined to name the operative for Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s network who was caught in the past week or so. But it was not top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, operational leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, nor bin Laden's son Saad.

U.S. authorities have become increasingly concerned this week that al Qaeda was planning fresh attacks.

The FBI (news - web sites) said that in selecting its next targets, the network may favor "spectacular attacks" that result in mass casualties and severe damage to the U.S. economy.

Contributing to that concern was an audio tape broadcast earlier this week on the al-Jazeera television channel in Qatar believed to be of bin Laden praising recent attacks and making fresh threats.

The United States blamed bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America that killed about 3,000 people.

Senior al Qaeda leaders in U.S. custody include Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi Binalshibh, who were being interrogated at an undisclosed location overseas.

"There have been a number of -- numerous senior leaders of al Qaeda that have either been eliminated, incarcerated or detained someplace," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said without elaborating.

President Bush (news - web sites) earlier this week, in response to a question about the audio tape, said, "We'll chase these people down one at a time. It doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll find them and bring them to justice."

[freedomtrail]

You can be sure we put the needle in him within minutes after we had him secured.

[Wolfstar]

It could also imply that the operation that scooped up this AQ guy is in the process of scooping up others. That it's still underway, in which case it's better to say as little as possible to avoid cluing the enemy in to the operation.

[Wolfstar]

Actually, most of the Hollyweird types do not live in Hollywood, but in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, the Malibu Colony, New York City and assorted other entertainment industry enclaves. By the way, former President Reagan and his devoted Nancy live in Brentwood.

[Republic]

You noticed but didn't say anything? Do you know the control it takes to refrain my widdle finger from sliding over to the shift key? Can't help myself...that ol finger just finds that shift key and there it is! (Heheh-and yeah-what's a good rant without CAPS to throw around!)

But I am getting better...really.

[Republic]

You can't appeal to their reason, because at least where Saddam is concerned they have none, and you can't appeal to their humanity because what humanity they have is relative to their politics.

yeah. And thanks. People like that nutcase need people who love our freedom to do their fighting for um. Pretty sad.

I know for sure-I would want to share my foxhole with a conservative. So many dems seem like girly men to moi. No kidding. They seem like people who thrive on all the blessings freedom brings, but cannot be found when the times call for action to defend this precious gift.

[Righty1]

F the dwarf! I would turn him over slowly on a spit with a piglet in his mouth and baste him with bacon fat until he was fully carmelized. I bet he might say a few words during the 24 hour curing process.

[r9etb]

Isn't it amazing how uniformly bad his timing is?

What is this...the fourth (or fifth) time he's opened his mouth about the war and had the US military put his foot in it for him?

Isn't it amazing how Daschle hasn't yet figured out that the WH will announce these arrests whenever he opens his pie hole?

I have to think that the timing of the announcement is political. The WH knew they could hold it until they needed it -- nothing lost by not announcing it, and lots to gain by slapping Tommy down.

Gotta love it. The D's aren't used to playing the game with somebody who knows how to play back....

[Howlin]

Hey, we've had a good few weeks. It's way past time for our blood pressure to come down. Mine's been up since 2000; just don't read the Daschle or Gore threads........LOL.

[Republic]

ROFLMAO! (And agreed!)

[r9etb]

We have Bush putting the UN center stage in all of his responses. And now we have our Secretary of State Colin Powell -- just a week or two after conservative voters gave the republicans an historic victory -- calling America's most visible Christian leaders hate mongers.

I agree with the WH on both counts here.

Bush will do what he needs to do, with or without the UN. However, life is much simpler if we can get the UN to go along: no need to deal with second-guessing by the French, Russians, and Chinese, and now Syria has put itself on record against Saddam. Moreover, the UN was going to go our way regardless, so Bush gained freedom of action without having to pay for it.

Powell is right, too. Robertson and Falwell (with their legendary tin ears) are not blaming terrorists, they're blaming "The Muslims," which is easily interpreted as "all Muslims." You've got to remember that the Islamic world will portray these guys as "Christian Leaders." In Islamic countries, religious leaders carry great political influence.

So the people in these countries -- most of whom are indeed peaceful -- can be convinced that the comments should be taken as the U.S. branding them as enemies. So they'll probably end up as enemies -- not really the sort of impression one wants to give, just before we go to war over there. Robertson and Falwell said stupid things, and Powell's got to try to clean up their smelly little piles.

This explains Bush's comment that the Falwell/Robertson comments "do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans."

[Angelus Errare]

Since many people (myself included) are curious as to who exactly al-Qaeda's top leadership is and there is no truly definitive list, I've been forced to create my own ever since War on Terror first began using various news articles and counter-terrorism reports as my guide. This list, like most of my other ramblings, can be accessed on my blog, which you can get to by looking at my profile. Allow for alternate spellings of many of the names and keep in mind that it does NOT include the names of the leadership of affiliate Wahhabi terrorist groups like the GIA, Salafist Group for Call and Combat, Abu Sayyaf, MILF, Jemaah Islamiyyah, et al. This is only the names of those individuals within al-Qaeda's direct hierarchy.

Anywhos, here's who they are:

SHURA MAJLIS

These are the first-tier guys and the actual members of al-Qaeda's board of directors. Any one of them is a possible successor to Osama bin Laden.

Name: Osama bin Laden
Function: Emir-General
Status: Unknown, possibly killed at Tora Bora in December 2001

Name: Ayman al-Zawahiri
Function: Second-in-Command/Gamaa al-Islamiyyah Emir-General
Status: At Large

Name: Mohammed Atef
Function: Supreme Military Commander
Status: Dead

Name: Abu Zubaydah
Function: Global Operations Chief
Status: Apprehended

Name: Rifa Ahmed Taha
Function: Egyptian Islamic Jihad Secretary-General
Status: At Large

Name: Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri
Function: Middle East Operations Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Musab Zarqawi
Function: Former Southeast Asian Operations Chief, currently Global Operations Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Zubair al-Haili
Function: North African Operations Chief
Status: Apprehended

Name: Tawfiq Attash Khallad
Function: South Asian Operations Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Mohammed al-Masri
Function: East African Operations Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Zaid Khayr
Function: Unknown
Status: At Large

Name: Mohammed Salah
Function: Senior Explosive Expert, Central African Operations Chief
Status: Dead

Name: Tariq Anwar al-Sayyid Ahmad
Function: Balkans Operations Chief
Status: Dead

Name: Saif al-Adel
Function: Former second-in-command of al-Qaeda's military, currently Supreme Military Commander
Status: At Large

Name: Amin al-Haq
Function: Shura Majlis Security Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Hafs the Mauritanian (aka "Mr. Mauritania")
Function: Theologian
Status: Formerly believed dead, now believed to be at large

TERRORIST TRAINING CAMP COMMANDERS

These are the guys who supervise the training, indoctrination, and assignment of al-Qaeda operatives worldwide. They also seperate all recruits into four categories: mujahideen (foot soldiers), shahideen (suicide bombers), takfiri (sleepers), and ansar (support personnel). Each category has its own version of the "Afghan Guide to Jihad," al-Qaeda's training manual (all four versions combined are roughly 3,000 pages in length) that provides instruction to recruits for just about any situation imaginable.

Name: Sheikh Ibn al-Liby
Function: Terrorist Training Camp Commander
Status: Apprehended

Name: Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi
Function: Terrorist Training Camp Commander
Status: Apprehended

THE FINANCIAL COMMITTEE

This is the committee that oversees al-Qaeda's legitimate and illegitimate businesses, charities, drug smuggling, ect.

Name: Sheikh Saeed (Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi?)
Function: Head of the Financial Committee
Status: At Large

Name: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa
Function: Financier and envoy to the Saudi Bin Laden Group
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Jafar al-Jaziri
Function: Financier
Status: Dead

Name: Abu Salah al-Yemeni
Function: Financier
Status: Dead

Name: Abdul Rahim Riyadh
Function: Financier
Status: Apprehended

Name: Ahmed Saeed al-Kadr
Function: Financier
Status: At Large

Name: Hamza al-Qatari
Function: Financier
Status: Dead

MEDIA COMMITTEE

This the group that manages and updates the websites, oversees the E-Jihad, and is responsible for all statements by the al-Qaeda leadership. Not a lot of declassified info on this one.

Name: Suleiman Abu Ghaith
Function: Spokesman
Status: At Large

Name: Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri
Function: Spokesman/Recruiter
Status: At Large

Name: Sheikh Omar al-Bakri
Function: Spokesman
Status: At Large

Name: Sheikh Abu Qatada al-Philisteeni
Function: Spokesman
Status: Apprehended

WMD COMMITTEE

Al-Qaeda employs a number of Muslim scientists of various nationalities to assist it in procuring as well as manufacturing the necessary materials to create chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons.

Name: Midhat Mursi
Function: Top scientist for nuclear weapons research
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Khabab
Function: Biological and chemical weapons expert
Status: At Large

Name: Assadalah Abdul Rahman
Function: Weapons of Mass Destruction Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Bashir al-Yemeni
Function: Unknown
Status: At Large

MILITARY COMMITTEE

These are the definite guys to watch out for. Most have a great deal of combat experience either from serving in Arab militaries or else from fighting in Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, or the Philippines.

Name: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Function: Martyrdom Battalion Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abd al-Aziz al-Jamal
Function: Unknown
Status: At Large

Name: Bilal bin Marwan
Function: Arabian Sea Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Saqar al-Jadawi
Function: Unknown
Status: At Large

Name: Mohammed Omar Abdel Rahman
Function: Military Commander
Status: At Large

Name: Ahmed Omar Abdel Rahman
Function: Military Commander
Status: Apprehended

Name: Abu Walid
Function: Military Commander
Status: At Large

Name: Abdel Hari al-Iraqi
Function: Afghanistan Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Abu Leith al-Lybi
Function: Algeria/Libya Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Shamil Basayev
Function: Chechnya Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

Name: Amir ibn al-Khattab
Function: Dagestan Commander-in-Chief
Status: Dead

Name: Hanbali
Function: Indonesia Commander-in-Chief
Status: At Large

I should mention that there probably a lot more of these guys that we don't know about, but this is the best run-down that I've been able to create.

And yes, I am aware that there are more than twenty names on the list.

[Grampa Dave]

Mullah Big Clymer Shorty Da$$hole, shown below, is laughing as they haven't caught him yet as the highest ranking member of al Qaeda in the US Senate!

Mullah Da$$hole says, "BUSH IS SO STUPID. HE DOESN'T REALIZE THAT I'M A CARD TOTING AL QAEDA. I'M THE HEAD AL QAEDA IN THE US SENATE!

[Nick Danger]

We have Bush putting the UN center stage in all of his responses.

I watched Bush at the UN. Did you? He basically told them that they could either vote to enforce their own resolutions, or they could stand aside while we went ahead without them.

Let's remember that the object of this exercise is not to piss people off needlessly, it's to produce regime change in Iraq and rid the world of Hussein's arsenal of WMD's. There are a bunch of people around the world who have a lot of emotion tied up in the UN, and since it wasn't going to impact our schedule anyway, why not let them put a fig leaf over their impotence and allow them to dance a bit on the stage? At no point has Bush suggested that the UN has any sort of veto over what we are going to do, or that they can dictate the timing of it. He is permitting them to Act Important while the Pentagon lines up the ducks. I see nothing wrong with that.

now we have our Secretary of State Colin Powell -- just a week or two after conservative voters gave the republicans an historic victory -- calling America's most visible Christian leaders hate mongers.

There are likely to be more of these "spectacular" attacks from al Qa'eda before this is all over, and the last thing we need is pogroms in the streets following them. I join Colin Powell in wishing that Falwell et. al. would shut up about this. I do not consider those guys Conservative Heroes, I consider them the white versions of Jesse Jackson; hustlers who wear a Rolex on their TV show and get caught in bed with... well, you know as well as I do. How anybody can look up to those guys is a mystery to me.

[cake_crumb]

"People like that nutcase need people who love our freedom to do their fighting for um. Pretty sad."

Sad is an understatement, but there isn't a single word in the English language which describes "horrified, terribly disappointed and dispirited to tears"...that I know if.

I'd rather have a conservative guarding my back than a left-wing progressive - whatever they call themselves these days - too, ANY day of the week. Conservatives are more loyal and more stable and less likely to break and run when the heat is on than the left wing could ever dream of being.

[DaisyCutter]

Great info!

[bray]

Don't forget that the ex-copresidents both hate the military and spitting on cops, scouts, the flag and soldiers is what liberals are all about. To stand with them is not what they are made of. Mrs Clinton won the senate seat by lynching a half dozen cops protecting NYC. How can they now say that the enforcement agencies are doing a great job which they are.

They also realize that PravdABC will carry whatever lies they can think up without question. Lie enough and they think the proletariet will believe them. Problem is they do not have their machine and people realize that GW and Co is trying to keep all of us alive. Their prattle comes off pretty much obvious. Their hatred of America is going to put them on the trash pile of history with their predecessors, Stalin, Mao and Castro; good riddence to this rubbish. America took out the trash last Tuesday

Pray for GW and the Troops

[bray]

The Libertarians would do a better job, right after they finished their next legal spliff......Al Que...who??? Be like Cheech and Chong in the Oval Office.

Don't forget GW said that their would be many victories that were not going to be known. Can you say snipers?? Only people in the highest places, like Dasshole and Mrs excopresident have access to that information???

Pray for GW and the Troops

[cake_crumb]

"Don't forget GW said that their would be many victories that were not going to be known. Can you say snipers??"

Many known, and many unknown, is closer.

I'm a chess master. I haven't done the tourney thing in over 10 years, but I still understand the...err...import of the structure of the intent of the game as it applies to the imitation of the real world. I know another when I see one, and MAN have I EVER been glad to see one since... well....May/June, 2001 (the EP-3 incident)

[CIApilot]

Nice job! Be sure to add Mugniyah to your list.

[Angelus Errare]

Imad Mugniyah is the military commander and operations chief of Hezbollah as well as a ranking member of the Iranian Qods (Jerusalem) Force, the Committee on Foreign Intelligence (which oversees Iran's overseas intelligence networks), the Committee on Actions Abroad (which sends regular updates to the Iranian parliament as well as serving as the brain behind all Hezbollah activities), and the Office of Liberation Movements.

He's basically Iran's answer to whoever's the highest-ranking member of Mossad in the field. If you want proof that Hezbollah is nothing more than a proxy army for Iran, you need look no further than Mugniyah.

But while he is a trusted ally and supporter of al-Qaeda, he works for Supreme Ayatollah Khameini, not al-Qaeda (his Shi'ite faith rather precludes the latter employment opportunity). I decided not to include Mugniyah because I could develop a list of matching size for Hezbollah, the GIA, MILF, et al.