| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Britain | ||
| DEBKA uncovers another deep, dark plot | ||
| 2005-07-18 | ||
| I'd advise adding some salt, say the Pacific Ocean:The British authorities have mounted a tremendous publicity effort to emphasize that Pakistan and Egypt are the central areas of interest in their investigation of the July 7 transport bombings that killed 55 Londoners. This is a diversionary tactic. Much of the intelligence offered to the media is irrelevant to the inquiry. There is nothing that was not known to British and US intelligence from early 2004 in the fact that three of the four bombers were of Pakistan origin and some studied at medressas run by Muslim extremists linked directly to terrorism. Even the fact that they visited Pakistan last year or were in contact with Muslims in Queens, New York, does not lead to the masterminds who sent them to their deaths on July 7. Even terrorists phone or visit relatives. As for the Egyptian biochemist Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar from Leeds, the Egyptian security authorities who are not known for their gentle handling of al Qaeda suspects have found no ties between him, al Qaeda and the London bombers. There was seemingly nothing to find beyond the fact that he rented them his apartment after a meeting at a local mosque. Yet British detectives are in Cairo day after day waiting to be allowed to interview the scientist. The British government is feeding the public with a daily dose of suggestive, diversionary data for two purposes. One is to stop the mouths of Tony Blair’s enemies and throw off their efforts to link the attacks to Britain’s involvement in Iraq alongside the United States. This ploy was set back Monday, July 18, when the influential Chatham House came out with a report claiming Britain had been placed at magnified risk of terror attack by its role in Iraq and cooperation in the worldwide US-led offensive against al Qaeda. This contention was fiercely contested by the British defense and foreign ministers. The other purpose is to deflect attention from the leads followed by the inquiry to the real source of the attacks.
The Nouakchott meeting was indeed called by British anti-terrorist services after their experts concluded that the team of terrorists that blew up three Tube trains and a bus in London on July 7 received their orders, explosives and operating funds from al Qaeda’s West Africa arm. Very little is known about this remote wing of the Islamist group known as the West African Jam’a functions from deep inside the Sahara Desert under the command of Mukhtav bin Mukhtar, known also as the Blind One because he is one-eyed. Al Qaeda refers to this area of operations as Zone 9 and it is one of the most remote, bizarre and hazardous of all its sectors. West African Jam’a members live in hiding among the strange Tuareg tribes, no more than a million strong, of the Sahara desert. Predominantly nomadic, these Berber-speaking people roam mostly through the northern reaches of Mali near Timbuktu and Kidal. The Tuareg are often referred to as the Blue Men of the Desert for their men’s indigo-dyed robes and blue face veils.
These tribesmen have many uses for the fundamentalist terrorists. 1. They range across seven African countries: Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, northern Benin, large parts of Niger, Nigeria and Mauritania. Al Qaeda operatives traveling with the Tuareg have access to terrorists and smugglers away from prying eyes. In all these places, except for Algeria, security is lax. 2. For a terrorist moving around in northwest Africa, the blue veil is the perfect disguise. 3. Al Qaeda agents have learned some of the Tuareg tribes’ Berber dialects and use them as a form of internal code to guard their secrets from Western ears. The West African Jam’a stages terrorist attacks only very rarely. Al Qaeda experts believe that even those few are carried out to divert attention from their main missions in the Sahara, which are the smuggling of arms, money and drugs. For instance, al Qaeda’s drug shipments from Afghanistan to Europe, a primary source of funding for terrorist attacks, are routed by the West Africa Jam’a through the Sahara. Some people in counter-terror agencies believe that if anyone knows where al Qaeda has stowed its nuclear materials, it would be bin Mukhtar, who rules the West African wing of the terror organization and is also exceptionally well-connected with Russian, Central Asian, Balkan and Persian Gulf mafias. Because of Its functions and connections, the West African Jam’a is al Qaeda’s operational arm in the international crime world. DEBKA-Net-Weekly reports that British intelligence has mapped the route by which the explosives used in London reached the British Isles in the last two years: Stage One: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, or another senior terrorist planner located in the Middle East, employed Jordanian, Syrian or Lebanese crime mobs to relay the money for purchasing explosives to the Serbian Mafia in Belgrade, which specializes in the acquisition of illicit weapons. Al Qaeda transferred directives to the London bomb team by the same route. Stage Two: The purchased explosives – only a part of the consignment was used, in the view of British investigators – were shipped from the Balkans to West Africa and conveyed by local smugglers to al Qaeda agents of the West African Jam’a living among the Tuareg. Stage Three: The explosives were divided into small packages for dispatch to the UK. Some of the merchandise was carried by smugglers boats sailing from Africa to Spain or Gibraltar, some through Algeria or Morocco. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources add the British authorities have not traced the unused portion of the explosives and are trying to find out if they are still in Britain, stored ready for fresh terrorist attacks, or have been sent on to other parts of Europe. The two communiqués claiming Qaeda responsible for the London blasts specify that Italy and Denmark are next in the terrorists’ sights. Terrorism experts deduce that the missing explosives as well as funds were destined for those countries by the same route as they reached the UK – another indication that the London attacks were not an isolated incident but like the Madrid bombings last year, part of a general al Qaeda European offensive mounted from Muslim Africa and possibly masterminded from the Middle East. Atlhough the Nouakchott conference delved into the mystery surrounding the identities of the masterminds who directed the bomb blasts and the intelligence teams which prepared them, the British have no clues as to who they are. None of the intelligence experts present doubted that the commander had visited London to inspect and approve the bomb sites some time in 2004 or even late 2003. Surveillance teams would have followed him and taken many trips on the underground to test timetables and select routes for synchronized targeting. | ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #14 What is it with these one-eyed Islamofascist assclowns? They're Eyes of Gruumsh. |
| Posted by: SC88 2005-07-18 21:18 |
| #13 True dat, true dat. A whole lot of speculation in the article. As per Debka standards, believable, but unprovable. Great conspriacy fodder nonetheless. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-07-18 18:14 |
| #12 Smuggling is just unregulated trade. In the absence of the apparatus of a state, all trade is automatically smuggling. All nomads are also traders. The issue is not whether the Tuareg are smugglers, the issue is would you use them as part of a trans-shipment network, that's the part that makes no sense. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-18 18:10 |
| #11 Occams razor indeed, Moose, your experience speaks volumes here. Thank ya, thank ya very much. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-07-18 17:50 |
| #10 The Tuaregs are great and renowned smugglers who are largely cut off from the rest of the world. Traditionally they are herders and traders. These people were subjugated and brought into Islam by force over the past few centuries, but are renowned for their bravery in battle and their elusiveness. It's not news that they are engaged in smuggling, what the hell else are they going to do. Race camels maybe. They still try to maintain a nomadic lifestyle, but that is fading fast as cultural pressure comes to bear in the region, and an agrarian or semi agrarian economy is taking over their traditional stompin grounds. Usually they work for a tribal leader, imam or sheikh locally who pimps out their services to the highest bidder, no ideaology involved on their end. Most are probably ignorant and illiterate and never even heard of a War on Terror, their just doin their camel thing. Heroin, nukes, hashish, c4, eggs, chickens, rugs, whatever. They still get their $1 a day and couldn't care less what they are carrying,unless they thought they could steal it and sell it for a profit. Is Debka FOS? maybe, they generally have a pretty good take on this type of intelligence in the region. Better than most at least. I know for a fact AIPAC takes them very, very seriously, and that their analysts are in contact with Debka's people often. Whatever that's worth. Nuff said. Thank ya, thank ya very much. EP |
| Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-07-18 17:45 |
| #9 I agree, Debka is out to lunch on this. You only have to consult a map to understand that the Tuareg live in a vast incredibly remote area. It would be a good place to hide out but using it for logistics or trans-shipping drugs makes absolutely no sense. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-18 17:44 |
| #8 While they picked several valid situations, the problem lies in weaving them together. Yes, one can buy weapons in Serbia. Yes, the Tuareg exist along yet another ancient smuggling route. Yes, Zarqari plans and schemes in the Middle East. However, the distance between Belgrade and London is about 1000 miles, whereas the distance from Belgrade to Mali to London is about 5000 miles, and a considerably harder trip, with far fewer modern conveyances, so why not smuggle the explosives directly? Second of all, Mr Z might just be a little distracted right now, what with losing almost all of his senior subordinates and getting shot. Third, there *is* a *real* connection between the bombers and Pakistan, and their chemist and Egypt, so Occam's razor would suggest that the Brits should sniff around there before making investment into the meanderings of Tuareg. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-18 17:36 |
| #7 It's possible, but not probable.There's roughly 1.3 to 2 million million of the nominally Islamic Tuareg. There still are Tuareg caravans, but reportedly most of them have ceased being nomadic. However, they did fight against the goverments of Mali and Niger until the mid 1990's. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-18 17:11 |
| #6 Will nobody say it? Tuaregs: Why do they hate us? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-07-18 17:08 |
| #5 Blue-faced Man of the Sahara. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-07-18 17:04 |
| #4 " . . . under the command of Mukhtav bin Mukhtar, known also as the Blind One because he is one-eyed." Mukhtav bin Mukhtar. Mullah Omar. What is it with these one-eyed Islamofascist assclowns? |
| Posted by: Tibor 2005-07-18 16:54 |
| #3 First the Blue Men then the Wheel Barrows, it's starting to make sense now. NMSBS. I'd keep a sharp eye out for abu Ethel Ready the Least Endowed. |
| Posted by: 1066 2005-07-18 16:19 |
| #2 About two days after the bombing there was a brief article about the Serbian connection. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-07-18 16:13 |
| #1 Wait -- I thought the explosives were homemade in the bathtub according to a recipe. Where is Debka getting their information? |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-07-18 15:32 |