The Remaking of Al-Qaeda--Asia Times Online

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Feb 25, 2005

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GB25Df04.html


THE REMAKING OF AL-QAEDA

By Syed Saleem Shahzad



KARACHI - More than four years since the launch of the campaign to catch Osama bin Laden "dead of alive", the US has initiated a new phase in the "war on terror" to counter perceived threats from al-Qaeda generated by a new breed of operatives spawned in the post-September 11 era. Unlike the pre-September 11 al-Qaeda, the structure, central command, depth and whereabouts of the latest incarnation remain largely a mystery.

An Asia Times Online investigation based on interviews with well-placed sources in Pakistan who have been in coordination with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at a very senior level attempts to shed some light on today's threat from al-Qaeda.

(snip)

Almost as a publicity stunt to announce its newfound determination, the United States has launched a massive US$57 million campaign in Pakistan's press and electronic media (and in other countries), drawing attention to the world's most wanted man and reaffirming the $25 million bounty on bin Laden's head.

Though there have been claims in the media of a good response to the advertisements, the media blitz is just the first salvo in a broader battle.

(SNIP)

The new campaign
Well-placed people Asia Times Online spoke to maintain that the new phase of the "war on terror" has started across the world, but unlike the present campaign in Pakistan, the aim is not to trace bin Laden, but rather his "links".

(snip)

Al-Qaeda itself has stopped all operations pending a new phase. In the meantime it is focusing on developing these new links - the very links that the US is now after.

"Most of al-Qaeda's cells have either been caught or exposed, and they just cannot operate. The present threat is the fast-growing network inspired by Osama bin Laden. This new network is loosely connected among the top brass, but for sure is associated with it, and the US and Pakistan are both looking forward to catching this new network and their links to reach bin Laden. The network is not in Pakistan and Afghanistan alone, but all across the world," explained a well-placed contact who has 35 years of experience in the counter-intelligence and internal-security business. He spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity.

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[Gloria]

1. I'm kicking this

eom

[sattahipdeep]

2. Heres a thought

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in
Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington.
They also tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens
wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

[liveoaktx]

5. You should credit your source for that comment

tbrnews.org

[geek tragedy]

6. Are you a fan of that site and the people who run it? eom

[Igel]

9. Or ear tags. n/t

[oblivious]

3. Osama likely dead?

links taken from whatreallyhappened

Telegraph, December, 2001
"President Bush has hinted in private that bin Laden's silence could mean he has been killed. .. "He could have made the video and then ordered that it be released in the event of his death," said one White House aide.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/12/28/wbin28.xml

CNN, January 2002
Pakistan's Musharraf: Bin Laden probably dead
"...I think now, frankly, he is dead."

...a senior Bush administration official said Musharraf reached a "reasonable conclusion"

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/01/18/gen.musharraf.binladen/

CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, January 2002
Renal dialysis -- talking about hemodialysis -- is something that really is reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure. That means their kidneys have just completely shut down.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/01/21/gupta.otsc/

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, Feb 2002
"This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he's really, by December he's looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he's barely moving the left side of his body. So he's clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He's got a wound in his foot. He's apparently got dialysis ... for kidney problems... the question that people continue to debate is not only is he not well, is he still alive today?"

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/02/01/gen.bergen.cnna/index.html

New York Times, July 2002
"Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/11/opinion/11TAHE.html?ex=1109221200&en=c2fd2f39d58403b3&ei=5070&ex=1089432000&en=373a282aeff2716a&ei=5070&todaysheadlines&oref=login

CNN, Oct, 2002
The editor-in-chief of a London-based Arab news magazine said a purported will it published Saturday was written late last year by Osama bin Laden, and shows "he's dying or he's going to die soon."

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/26/binladen.will/

CNN, Oct 2002
Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead, but former Taliban leader Mullah Omar is alive, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/10/06/karzai.binladen/

World Tribune, Oct 2002
TEL AVIV — Osama Bin Laden appears to be dead but his colleagues have decided that Al Qaida and its insurgency campaign against the United States will continue, Israeli intelligence sources said.

The Israeli sources said Israel and the United States assess that Bin Laden probably died in the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan in December. They said the emergence of new messages by Bin Laden are probably fabrications, Middle East Newsline reported.

http://216.26.163.62/2002/me_terrorism_10_16.html

[eridani]

4. So who the bloody hell--

--was that healthy robust-looking fellow in the video last fall?

[Demrock6]

7. My thoughts exactly. n/t

[mmonk]

8. a republican double?

[AliceWonderland]

10. "Al-Qaeda itself has stopped all operations pending a new phase"

What utter rubbish. Al-Qaeda has never been properly defined and now it has operations where phases are clearly identifiable and released to the press? And I use the term "press" very very loosely, since I wouldn't allow this kind of unsubstantiated tripe in a Boy Scout newsletter.

"Al-Qaeda" fables really infuriate me.