One of the two alleged al-Qaeda members charged on Tuesday tried but failed to set up a satellite television connection so Osama bin Laden could watch the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to the indictment. Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen was described by the Pentagon as a "key al-Qaeda propagandist" and former bodyguard to bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
| The bodyguard, as I've noted over at my own blog, appears to be a staple for moving up in al-Qaeda. So if you're in Binny's praetorian guard, you're definitely on the fast track for promotion within the organization. Khalid, Saif, Attash, al-Hajj, et al. all did it before assuming the higher ranks. |
| Sort of like Trump and his apprentices but without the violence. |
According to the indictment, "from late 1999 through December 2001, al Bahlul was personally assigned by Osama bin Laden to work in the al-Qaeda media office. "In this capacity, al Bahlul created several instructional and motivational recruiting video tapes on behalf of al-Qaeda," the indictment said. "On September 11, 2001 Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to set up a satellite connection so that bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members could see news reports," the indictment said. "Despite his efforts, al Bahlul was unable to obtain a satellite connection because of the mountainous terrain," it added. "In the weeks immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to obtain media reports concerning the September 11th attacks and to gather data concerning the economic damage caused by these attacks."
| That fits with what we know of Binny's character. Unlike most terrorists, he's was never too content with just big booms - he wants to make a lasting economic as well as political, visual, and above all corpse count impact. Also, if his Saudi backers did short-sell the airline stocks as has been alleged, this might've been his way to keep tabs on how well his buddies faired out back in the Magic Kingdom. |
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