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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Euros disquieted over recent terrorist activities |
| 2005-08-03 |
| The preliminary finding by Italian investigators that those who took part in the attempted bomb attacks on London on July 21 were probably unconnected to any larger terrorism network raises a concern for intelligence and security services world-wide: there is a new breed of Islamic terrorism that has no link to old al-Qaeda structures. According to western security officials, the topic of home-grown, radicalised Muslim extremists shifted near the top of counter-terrorism agendas more than a year ago during regular bilateral discussion between the US and the UKâs homeland security services after a series of arrests of domestic terror suspects in both countries. The concern was heightened by US intelligence, which says the senior leadership group surrounding Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, remains isolated, unable to direct or to commission specific attacks on western targets. According to US intelligence officials, several al-Qaeda affiliates have had operations delayed because of a failure to receive instructions from the networkâs senior leadership. That, they believe, illustrates Mr bin Ladenâs increasing role as a propagandist rather than as an operational leader. Cofer Black, who recently stepped down as the State Departmentâs top counter-terrorism official, told Congress last year that US-led efforts to cut off al-Qaedaâs senior leadership had produced a second tier of leadership, less sophisticated and less well-trained, degrading the groupâs capabilities. Not all officials agree. Retired Admiral James Loy, former number two at the US department of homeland security and senior counsellor at the Washington-based Cohen Group, believes the new leadership is potentially as dangerous, since it remains largely unknown to intelligence officials and is widely dispersed. âI liken that to the drug wars of the 1980s when there were five or six cartels in Colombia and we took them down,â said Adm Loy. âUnfortunately, [the result] was that instead of five in-command families, all these lieutenants came up. So instead of five in-control families, there are 50. Unfortunately, thatâs what is happening now, and thatâs a scary proposition.â Of equal concern, say experts and officials, is the belief that Mr bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, may be using a recent campaign of audio and video tapes in order to radicalise western Muslims resident in targeted countries. These locals, disillusioned by US and British policy in Iraq, could be further influenced by recent admonishments by the al-Qaeda leaders that âthe most pressing duty after faithâ is to fight as part of a global jihad, officials argue. âOsama bin Laden has relied on Muslim resentment towards US policies in his call for a defensive jihad to oppose an American assault on the Islamic faith and culture,â vice-admiral Lowell Jacoby, head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told Congress this year. âHe contends that all faithful Muslims are obliged to fight, or support the jihad financially if not physically capable of fighting.â Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have said that while overseas al-Qaeda members remain their biggest concern, last yearâs Madrid bombings heightened attention being paid to the potential effect al-Qaeda propaganda may have on âradical American convertsâ. âThe potential recruitment of radicalised American Muslim converts continues to be a concern and poses an increasing challenge for the FBI since recruitment is subtle and, many times, self-initiated,â Robert Mueller, FBI director, said in an unclassified report to Congress. US authorities have already charged a handful of local Muslims with terrorism-related charges, including Ali al-Timimi, an American-born imam sentenced last month to life in prison for recruiting Muslims in his northern Virginia community for Taliban training camps in Pakistan. Ernest James Ujaama, an American-born Seattle resident, was sentenced last year to two years in prison for attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon. UK authorities last year arrested eight Britons of Pakistani decent in a raid that uncovered hundreds of pounds of fertiliser that police suspected was to be used to build a bomb. Some experts think al-Qaedaâs Pakistan-based leadership still controls terrorist operations. The July 7 London bombings, they say, had hallmarks of the old leadershipâs operations. âBin Ladenâs role is really that of a venture capitalist,â said Dominic Armstrong, director of research and intelligence for Aegis Defence Services, a London-based private security group. âIf he likes the idea, he can provide funding, training and expertise.â |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #14 RE: #8. they exercise strict top-down command and control, follow orders blindly, no individual inititive, submission, etc. You see this fault in the Arab armies all the time, same here. Wasn't this also claimed about the Ruskies? Occam's Razor! (Sorry) I remember reading a long ways back about the escapades of the assassins of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. Tried, failed, stumbled across their target later in the same day, improvised, succeeded. If Oliver Stone had been around then, he could've written a conspiracy theory to make JFK look like child's play! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-03 21:27 |
| #13 yes. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-03 20:26 |
| #12 ...in the first WTC case, (was it Yassin??), one of the players suddenly found himself stranded with no money and no way out of NYC. Was it the same one that tried to get the deposit back from the van that blew up? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-08-03 19:33 |
| #11 The theory that 7/21 was a distraction does not seem to have much basis especially when you consider how much it has cost these guys. Also the idea that there is no link to Al Queada is just silly. Just look up Aswat . There is now way Aswat or any of these guys decided to risk themselves just to distract people. Nope this was just a botched operation thatâs costing these people far more than they planned. |
| Posted by: Robi Sen 2005-08-03 17:08 |
| #10 This article seems to be based on the current work product of Italian intelligence. Wasn't it these yabbos who were snookered by the infamous yellowcake forgeries? Color me unimpressed by the collective analytical prowess of Italian intelligence. Sometimes it seems like the Italians are too busy indicting CIA agents and botching ransom attempts to find their own asses. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2005-08-03 16:20 |
| #9 So they panicked and did stupid shit. If there is one thing that stands out most about the foot soldiers in this war, it is that they do some stupid, stupid things. If we didn't live in a PC society that was always willing to look away and excuse away their glaringly obvious behavior (take for example that lender who tried to help the terrorist adjust to this country after he threatened to slit her throat), this war would have been over before it even started. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-03 12:55 |
| #8 I think one of the reasons these guys involved in the 7/21 bombing (and others) got picked up so easy can be traced directly back to the islamic mindset of not thinking for yourself. They exercise strict top-down command and control, follow orders blindly, no individual inititive, submission, etc. You see this fault in the Arab armies all the time, same here. Look how long it takes to plan and execute every big attack, 2 to 3 years is the average we keep hearing. Always a controller and a "mastermind" who pulls the strings from afar. Lot's of travel to far away places to consult higher-ups. Long distance cell phone calls to receive orders, even after they know they could be traced. The only reason I can see is they are incapable of acting any other way. When things went south on them and they were left on their own after the bombs failed, they were lost. Controller and mastermind had already left, no one to tell them what to do. So they panicked and did stupid shit. We still got lucky the Italians were watching that guys brother, or he might still be in the wind. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-08-03 12:51 |
| #7 I'm too lazy and don't have time to research this, but I think it was Phil who once posted a great article about the first WTC bombing and in my original comment a couple of days ago I was commenting that in in the first WTC case, (was it Yassin??), one of the players suddenly found himself stranded with no money and no way out of NYC. A patsy? It seems like there are a few possible trends from that first attack that I've seen in other attacks. The terrorists are operating right under feds noses, but then the feds either stop watching or lose track of one or two important players right before the big attack. Certain players fly out of the country hours before the attack and now I'm musing on the possiblity that they leave a patsy behind to lead the investigation away from the light. I'm not trying to win any converts to a conspiracy theory. I'm just commenting on it to see if others have had similar thoughts. Don't hold me to proving it - it's just a damn comment - a thought. I'm not trying to prove ANYTHING! |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-03 12:24 |
| #6 On the other hand, they've never tried to deflect attention before, at least not like this. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-03 12:04 |
| #5 Steve, I'm not proposing that 7/21 was IN FACT a distraction. I'll agree with you that usually a cigar is just a cigar, as it may well be in this case. However just saying "Occam's Razor" doesn't make it go away that anyone who is smart enough to pull off an event of this magnitude is smart enough to create a diversion to lead the police in the wrong direction after the fact. In fact, any good criminal or terrorist worth his salt would probably make that an obligatory part of his plan. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-03 11:51 |
| #4 The fact that the experts agree that the "Mother of Satan" homebrew has a short shelf life unless sealed air tight means nothing to the conspirisy types. Sometimes things are as simple as they seem. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-08-03 11:33 |
| #3 I believe his theory is that 7/21 was a diversion from 7/7. Since the 7/7 bombs all went off, there's a lot less forensic evidence and no bombers to interrogate. Sending some mooks out with duds gets the authorities concentrating on the mooks instead, in the manner of the old "looking where the light is" joke. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-03 09:16 |
| #2 2b - A diversion from what? |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-08-03 09:07 |
| #1 The preliminary finding by Italian investigators that those who took part in the attempted bomb attacks on London on July 21 were probably unconnected to any larger terrorism network this only increases my concern that perhaps the 7/21 bombing was a planned diversion. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-03 03:21 |