Posted on 11/22/2002 3:43:16 PM PST by Heartlander2
A top al Qaeda lieutenant in U.S. custody is talking to interrogators, and U.S. officials believe he knows the recent locations of Osama bin Laden as well as the current targets of al Qaeda forces worldwide, ABCNEWS has learned.
Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri has already provided what officials hope is important new information about future terrorist plots, people he recruited and terror cells he created, sources told ABCNEWS. U.S. officials also said al-Nashiri was carrying a computer and cell phone at the time of his arrest that could provide valuable information about recent al Qaeda operations.
Al-Nashiri, the network's chief of operations in the Persian Gulf and the man U.S. officials suspect of masterminding the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, was captured about two weeks ago in Yemen on his way to Malaysia.
Although the capture of the senior al Qaeda leader was made public last week, U.S. officials declined to identify al-Nashiri until Thursday.
Al-Nashiri is one of the terror organization's earliest members, whose ties with bin Laden date to what was believed to be al Qaeda's first anti-Western attack.
In 1992, a bomb exploded at a hotel frequented by U.S. military personnel in the Yemeni port of Aden. An Austrian tourist and a Yemeni hotel worker were killed. No Americans were harmed.
According to a report in the New York Post today, U.S. officials revealed the al Qaeda captive's name in a move they hoped would panic bin Laden into moving — which could make him vulnerable to capture.
The report came as U.S. military and intelligence sources told the Post a top-secret mission to use elite Delta Force commandos to seize bin Laden fell apart after al-Nashiri refused to disclose the terror master's hideout.
Al-Nashiri is the highest-ranking al Qaeda operative captured since the CIA, FBI and Pakistani authorities captured bin Laden's operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March.
As the U.S. government has captured or killed a number of bin Laden's top people, al-Nashiri has risen to near the top. Officials say he was in charge of terrorist cells operating in the Persian Gulf, some in Asia and was in the midst of planning several operations.
Although bin Laden and his close associate, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, are still at large, Nashiri's capture is believed to be a major development in Washington's crackdown on al Qaeda.
Speaking to reporters in Russia today after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Bush said, "America and Russia are one person safer" as a result of al-Nashiri's capture.
A String of Attacks
Al-Nashiri's résumé includes involvement in major attacks against the United States.
Over a period of two years, sources told ABCNEWS, al-Nashiri organized and financed the attack on the Cole that killed 17 American sailors two years ago. He slipped out of Yemen four days before his suicide bombers struck, giving them final instructions by phone from the United Arab Emirates.
For the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, al-Nashiri recruited then allegedly helped train his own cousin as a suicide bomber.
In Morocco earlier this year, he was the alleged organizer and financier of efforts to kill tourists and blow up ships coming through the Strait of Gibraltar.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence believes al-Nashiri was behind the Oct. 6 attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen that left one crewman dead.
"This is a person who is totally dedicated to destroying people from the West, to destroying Americans and American interests," said Skip Brandon, a former senior FBI intelligence official.
"This is what he does for a living, and unfortunately with great dedication and great zeal."
Osama’s Countryman
Like bin Laden himself, al-Nashiri was born in Saudi Arabia but his ancestral homeland is Yemen.
The Associated Press identified his birthplace as Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
Al-Nashiri fought with bin Laden against the Soviets in Afghanistan 20 years ago, and was reportedly with bin Laden last year in Afghanistan when the U.S. began its campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
U.S. officials are not saying where al-Nashiri is being held — except that it is not in the United States. His capture officials say, has already set in motion U.S. operations to go after the terrorist structure he was building.
ABCNEWS knew about al-Nashiri's arrest for several days, but high-ranking government officials had asked the corporation not to reveal the name in the hopes that the government could use the information al-Nashiri had revealed to get ahead of the curve on the terrorist cells.
ABCNEWS made a corporate decision not to reveal his name for several days.
Damn straight he's talking! If he's not talking, that means that the CIA isn't beating him hard enough. I hope the President signed paperwork relegating this scumball's civil rights to the trashcan.
I say find out what this guy knows, put him in front of a military tribunal, then push him out of a C-130 over the north Atlantic.
More likely CC (Camel Cr@p) But when one of these camel herders with petro dollars tells you they are planning on killing these people or blowing up that building, you can hardly afford to discount it completely. The same goes for the location of the goat humpers.
That will never do. A C-17 could make the fall alot longer.
It's impossible to know whether captured terrorists are spilling their guts, nor is there any way we can know what interrogation methods are being used. If this guy really is talking, I'm sure it's not because he's cutting a deal for a lighter prison sentence. It would either be because of drugs or torture (perhaps by one of our "allies") or expert psychological tricks and pressure.
But in a larger sense it doesn't really matter whether he is talking or not. Oh sure, it matters if we can get specific bits of information out of him that will lead to the capture of other terrorists and the short-circuiting of planned attacks. But a far more important message is being broadcast to the Al Queda and other groups: You never know who you can trust or who will betray you. Your leaders might crack under questioning and rat you out. If the Americans can capture Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri and make him talk, you could be next (unless a Predator missile finds you first). And are you sure those new recruits who are replacing your dead comrades aren't really undercover agents?
This article is psy-ops, pure and simple. In that respect its truthfulness or lack thereof is largely irrelevant.
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