U.S.: Al-Qaida's Gulf Chief Caught

ABC News ^

[Mensch]

U.S.: Al-Qaida's Gulf Chief Caught U.S. Says It Has Captured al-Qaida's Persian Gulf Operations Chief

The Associated Press

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 21 — Al-Qaida leader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the network's chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, has been captured, senior U.S. government officials said Thursday.

Al-Nashiri, a suspected mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in October 2000, was captured in an undisclosed foreign country earlier this month and is in U.S. custody, officials said.

He is the highest-ranking al-Qaida operative captured since the CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities captured bin Laden's operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March.

U.S. officials had recently said a senior al-Qaida leader had been caught, but they had declined to identify him. On Sunday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the leader was providing information to his interrogators.

[Grampa Dave]

The parts and pieces of Ole Sammy Been Larden are more in the loop than Mullah Shorty Da$$hole.

It is obvious that part of his problem is that he knows less about what is happening in the war than we do.

Rummy and GW have removed these anti American Senators so far out of the loop that they are not even in the same century.

[BJClinton]

Somebody needs to tell Fox to update their list.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Douchle should love this. Here's more proof that we aren't doing anything to prevent terrorism. You would think that he would be happy that we're arresting al-Qaeda instead of bombing their hometowns. Just more proof that liberals are schizo.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Would you really do that to your pigs?

No need to give the pigs a bad rap. The pigs should only be involved when al-Qaeda is buried with mouths full of bacon and they're well basted with the bacon grease.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

November 21, 2002

Suspected Cole-bombing mastermind captured

By John J. Lumpkin
Associated Press

Al-Qaida leader Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the network’s chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, has been captured, senior U.S. government officials said Thursday. Al-Nashiri, a suspected mastermind of the destroyer Cole bombing in October 2000, was captured in an undisclosed country earlier this month and is in U.S. custody, officials said.

He is the highest-ranking al-Qaida operative captured since the CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities captured bin Laden’s operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March.

U.S. officials had recently said a senior al-Qaida leader had been caught, but they had declined to identify him. On Sunday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the leader was providing information to his interrogators.

Al-Nashiri is suspected in a number of other al-Qaida terrorist plots, including the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. One of the suicide bombers in the attack on the Nairobi embassy, known only as Azzam, is believed to have been his cousin. Al-Nashiri is said to be either Saudi or Yemeni.

He has also traveled under a number of other names, including Umar Mohammed al-Harazi and Abu Bilal al-Makki. U.S. officials believe he was in Ghazni, Afghanistan, around the time the war began in October 2001. He is thought to have moved to Pakistan when the Taliban fell, and he may have gone to Yemen in recent months. Some tribesmen in Yemen, however, said he had gone to Malaysia.

In the Cole attack, U.S. officials have said al-Nashiri gave telephone orders to the bombers from the United Arab Emirates. He then fled to Afghanistan.

In addition to the Cole attack, officials say he has been involved with a number of plots targeting the U.S. Navy in the past three years.

He is thought to be behind a nearly identical attempt to bomb another destroyer, The Sullivans, nine months before the Cole attack, at Aden. That attack failed when the suicide boat, overloaded with explosives, sank.

Most recently, he has been tied to a failed al-Qaida plot to bomb U.S. and British warships crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, U.S. officials have said. In June, three Saudis were arrested in Morocco in connection with that plot.

He is also suspected of being behind plans to bomb the 5th Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain, a plot revealed in January by another top al-Qaida operative captured by Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan.

The 5th Fleet has responsibility for the Persian Gulf and provides ships for the operations of U.S. Central Command, which is running the war effort in Afghanistan. It also supports the enforcement of the no-fly zone over southern Iraq, the U.N. economic embargo against Iraq and the monitoring of sea traffic from the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

The capture of al-Nashiri is the latest reported success in the U.S. effort to capture or kill top al-Qaida chiefs. On Nov. 3, a CIA Predator drone fired a missile at a car carrying several suspected al-Qaida operatives, killing six, including al-Qaida’s top Yemen operative, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, who is also suspected of involvement in the Cole plot.

[Chad]

Here's how we deal with al-Nashiri. His organization has committed terrorist actions against the citizens of the United States of America:

We are not bound by the rules of the Geneva Convention, because his organization does not abide by the recognized rules of conflict and warfare. They engage in unrecognized actions, including the intentional murder of innocent civilians, to achieve their political aims.

Therefore, free of all conventional rules, we physically and mentally torture him in order to extract the maximum amount of information from him- so as to prevent any further terrorist's murder of innocent US citizens.

After we have extracted all useful information from him, we try and execute him. He is of no further use to us except as the means by which to set an example of the punishment that awaits others with similar intentions.

[MonroeDNA]

Offshore interrogation.

[patton]

thanks

[chuknospam]

I like this bag 'em & tag 'em Bush tactic. If it were the Rat's, they'd have Whorealdo riding along on every covert mission & turn it into a Reality TV show.
Pick 'em off one by one GW, just like hunting vermin on a Texas farm.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I really agree. There are times when you need to act with kind compassionate action. There are times when you need to act with harsh ruthless action. We need to be ruthless. We won't win the war by being Mr. Nice Guy. The enemy shows no mercy, so they deserve no mercy.

[NormsRevenge]

Thu Nov 21, 7:37 PM ET

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, al-Qaidas chief of operations for the Persian Gulf and a suspected mastermind of the USS Cole (news - web sites) bombing in October 2000, is seen in this undated handout photo. Al-Nashiri, a Saudi, is now in U.S. custody, U.S. government officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials declined to comment on the circumstances of his capture. (AP Photo/ABC World News Tonight, HO)

[fhayek]

Ping

[fhayek]

Tom Ridge said the leader was providing information to his interrogators.

You might say that he is squealing like a pig.

[Frank_2001]

First tell 'em it's chicken, then when they're finished, surprise 'em;)

[GOPJ]

Would it be too shrill if Rush emailed him?

Maybe someone should e-mail Sen Daschle with this news. He expressed some concern lately about being out of the loop.

[barker]

....and then this happens.

Yeah, interesting timing with these announcements isn't it? wink, wink