... who knows that it's like to live in the belly of a whale only he's not living...
CNN and al-Jazeera reported Tuesday.
Saif al-Adel,
...holed up in Iran from 2002 until 2010, when he made bail and moved back to the Pak-Afghan border...
a top Al-Qaeda strategist and senior military leader, has been tapped as "caretaker" chief of the group, CNN reported, citing former Libyan bad turban Noman Benotman, who has renounced Al-Qaeda's ideology.
The pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera issued a similar report that quoted a Pak security official as saying Adel was appointed during a meeting of between "six and eight Al-Qaeda leaders."
Mohammed Mustafa al-Yamani was also chosen as the network's commander.
Pakistain's The News newspaper had also corroborated the report, citing unnamed sources in an article datelined Rawalpindi, a city home to the military headquarters of the Pak Armed Forces near the capital Islamabad.
The decision to choose Adel, also known as Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi, came as forces of Evil grew increasingly restive over the lack of a formal successor to bin Laden, who was killed in a dramatic US commando raid deep in Pakistain on May 2, Benotman told CNN.
Adel took refuge in Iran after the US invasion of Afghanistan, according to Al-Jazeera report.
The 50-year-old bad turban was allegedly involved in attacks that targetted US embassies in Nairobi and Dar al-Salam in 1998.
Bin Laden's long-time deputy Ayman al-
Zawahiri,... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as
the real brainsof the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's
fatwaentitled
World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders.Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
another Egyptian, is considered to be his presumed successor.
Benotman said the appointment of Adel on a temporary basis may be a way for the group to gauge reaction to having someone outside the Mohammedan holy region of the Arabian Peninsula at the helm.