Washington Post has an article on what's left of al-Qaeda's leadership. Most of the names were already in Thugburg.U.S. and European intelligence sources identified six emerging leaders as key to running the terrorist network's global military and financial networks. Some members of this group have come to the fore in recent months; others were already known to intelligence organizations. Intelligence officials view these men's emerging roles within al Qaeda as proof that the group can adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and regenerate its leadership.
The new leaders "have been there from the beginning, but were in the shadows, not the most visible people," said a European intelligence analyst. "But they have their skills, and in war you need your best commanders." I don't think this is the "leadership" that's behind the current "counterattack," with the exception of Hambali in Indonesia, though I could be wrong. I think this bit's at the instigation of the Learned Elders of Islam directly, in defense of Iraq. A serious American attack on Iraq threatens them directly. Because of their direct hand involvement, they're leaving a trail for the Americans and, more importantly at this instance, the Russians to follow. If they can follow these leads, they can have a nice little talk with them — or at least with all of them they can catch outside of Arabia and Iran. There's probably a lot of interest in the telephone calls to those overseas controllers from the Moscow hostage-takers. |