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.
I understand he's singing in a higher octave now.
A few years back the FBI did a study that concluded that there's more than one kind of terrorist. There are
Opportunists and leaders might be willing to cut a deal to improve their position. Leaders are the most egomaniacal of psychopaths, who might also shoot their mouths off just to puff themselves up.
Seeing a news report saying they talked might also encourage some of these people to talk, when they realize that if they're ever freed, their own "friends" will kill them just in case the story is true.
Does that help any?
They don't act like a POW in the sense we understand it, because they believe they are merely insignificant tools of allah, and their death or capture means nothing.
Only the will of allah is important, and their side will win in the end because allah wills it.
So why not talk? It does not change the will of allah, and the will of allah is all that matters.
Of course last month in "Debka" it was "reported" that binny was in Yemen riding herd over the goats there...
Things are getting interesting indeedy...
They're fanatical about sending expendible minions to die for Allah. They ain't so hot on being on the hot seat themselves.
I think the legalities have been pretty well cleared up in more conventional deprogramming cases (e.g. your kid got brainwashed into selling flowers for the Moonies, so you hire somebody to grab and un-brainwash him). It's even less of an issue for noncitizens.
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