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New book provides an âinside lookâ of Al-Qaeda
Mohamed Sifaoui, an Algerian journalist who claims to have infiltrated one of Franceâs most important extremist networks, has just published a book detailing his accomplishments, and has taken to the airwaves to promote his feat, which has just led to the incarceration of several alleged French Al-Qaeda kingpins.The book, âMes âFreresâ Assassins. Comment jâai infiltre une cellule dâAl-Qaedaâ (My âBrothersâ in Assassination. How I infiltrated an Al-Qaeda network), published this week by Editions du Cherche-Midi in Paris, coincides with the decision by a French tribunal to charge a supposedly prominent member of French Al-Qaeda, Karim Bourti, with âassociation de malfaiteurs,â that is, association of wrong-doers, a rather euphemistic catch-all categorization that has usually in the past been used to justify the rounding up of alleged French Mafiosi. According to Sifaoui, the point of departure for his book goes back many years ago to Algiers where he and Karim Bourti attended the same high school, Lycee Emir-Abdelkader, located at Bab-El-Oued. In October 2002, making use of an assumed name, Sifaoui says that he decided to introduce himself to Bourti, whoâd been accused of having played a key role in the several terrorist attacks in the French subway system that occurred in the summer and fall of 1995. âI decided then,â notes Sifaoui, âto introduce myself as being a sympathizer of Al-Qaeda, and was surprised to see how easily they believed me. Itâs then, after a month and a half of initial contacts, that I began to learn how Bourti and his confederates had been to Afghanistan, and had indeed prepared an attack on the Stade de France for the 1998 World Football Cup (won by France), this under the direction of Omar Saiki.â âIf they accepted me so easily,â he continued, âit was largely, they told me, because they needed somebody of confidence who would be able to provide them with detailed information on persons who would figure eventually on a hit list, among them were Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Grande Mosquee of Paris (and the new president of the just-named Conseil francais du culte musulman), as well as the Mufti of Marseille, Soheib Bencheikh. Sooner or later, moreover, they confided to me, they would also be hitting at major targets throughout Europe.â And, he adds, âwhen, last December, Osama Bin Laden conveyed a message by way of the Al-Jazeera TV network, Karim Bourti confided to me: âThe sheikh has given us the order to go into action in the countries referred to in the message: Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy.ââ As a result, he notes, âKarim Bourti sent me to London in December 2002, to meet his former chief, Omar Saiki, who was headquartered at the Finsbury Park mosque. It was there that I was able to learn that London had become the hub of international Islamic extremism, indeed I was able to make acquaintance with some of the key players of the Al-Qaeda movement, among them members of the Algerian GIA, and the Salafist group Algerian combat.â In December, 2000, Saiki was sentenced to four years in jug for his involvement in the attempted atrocity at the World Cup. He was released in August, 2002. (Don't ask me. I didn't take French arithmetic...) Finsbury Park is, of course, the place to be, if you're a crazed killer. I have no idea where the in crowd will congregate now that it's boarded up — I presume MI5 either has an idea, or will be keeping an eye on where Abu Hamza goes... I'd also imagine there's going to be a Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-28 |
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