Analysis & Commentary
‘Representing’ Al-Qaeda
Bravely entering the lion’s den — delivering a speech in praise of left-wing, “pro bono” lawyering to a group of left-wing, pro bono lawyers — Attorney General Eric Holder recently declared that “lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be, treated as what they are: patriots.”
21 Killed in Mumbai Bombings
Three bombings today in India's financial capital of Mumbai have killed 21 people and wounded scores more in the first major attack in the country since the terror assault on the city in November 2008.
5 Years Later, More Needs to be Done
Most of us can remember exactly where we were nearly five years ago, on the morning of Sept. 11. I was in small-town America, where the guys in the local doughnut shop - watching the endless TV replay of the burning Twin Towers - were ready to get their shotguns and go to war.
9/11: A Failure of Academia
A few months ago, when the 9/11 Commission released footage of the communications between several command centers and the transportation network during the dramatic minutes of September 11, one phrase chilled me to the bones. It summarized how unprepared America was to face to the Jihadist onslaught. A pilot of an F-16 rushing to the scene over the Pentagon screamed on his radio: "God, the Russians had us...they had us."
A Bad Relationship
One of the key findings of the 9/11 Commission is that al Qaeda was a terrorism innovator. Al Qaeda's "new terrorism," as the commission calls it, is more than just using aircraft as weapons and turning hijackers into pilots, it's about transforming the relationship between terrorists and rogue states. Old-style terrorists, such as the Palestinian groups, have generally been surrogates of states. By contrast, al Qaeda redefined these connections following its expulsion from Sudan in 1996, all but taking over the state in Afghanistan while loosely cooperating with other states--yet refusing to be controlled by them.
A Case Built on Irrationality
The Uighur saga nicely captures all the irrationality and hypocrisy of our counterterrorism approach.
A Crucial Moment
Simply stated, the killing of Abu Musab Zarqawi by U.S. forces in Iraq is more vital to ultimate success in the war on terror than would be snuffing out any other terrorist alive right now. Period.
A Mid East American Revolution Is Coming
Since September 11, 2001, a major question crossed the minds of many U.S. citizens: What would make 19 men from the Middle East hate us so much that they would massacre 3,000 Americans? Every anchor in every media had this question on his or her lips for weeks and months. Intellectuals debated what went wrong in the Muslim world. Academics continued with their rumblings about the so-called root causes, classically simmering with irrational self-guilt. Americans of all walks of life wanted and still want to know about the real feelings and aspirations of the vast Arab-Islamic world.
A War of the Worlds
It's a French cauchemar, a national nightmare with global overtones. For more than a week, gangs of mostly Muslim youngsters have been raging through the poverty-ridden housing projects of the Paris suburbs, battling police with Molotov cocktails and torching cars, shops, warehouses, even schools.
After Zarqawi
The elimination of al-Qaeda commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi presents an opportunity that should not be missed: Now is the time to take a fresh look at America's goals in Iraq.
Ahmadinejad’s Iran and Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad infuriated Americans last week when he claimed that America had exaggerated the death toll from al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attacks.
Al Qaeda Bodyguard And Accountant Pleads Guilty Before Military Commission
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, a Sudanese detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism before a military commission today.
Al Qaeda Disarms Select Taliban Commanders
Central Asia Online reports: Al-Qaeda is blocking Taliban fighters who favour peace talks from negotiating with Kabul.
Al Qaeda IED Cell Member Properly Detained at Gitmo, Judge Finds
In an order released on Tuesday, DC District Judge Richard Leon rejected a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by an Afghan detained at Guantanamo named Obaydullah (or Obaidullah).
Al Qaeda in Iraq
In a campaign speech on July 14, 2007, Senator Barack Obama railed against the Iraq war and President Bush’s obstinate refusal to end it. “We cannot win a war against the terrorists if we’re on the wrong battlefield,” Obama said. In another speech a few weeks later, he said, “The president would have us believe that every bomb in Baghdad is part of al Qaeda’s war against us, not an Iraqi civil war. He elevates Al Qaeda in Iraq—which didn’t exist before our invasion—and overlooks the people who hit us on 9/11, who are training new recruits in Pakistan.”
Al Qaeda Leader in Yemen Tries to Woo Saudi Soldiers
In a nearly 15-minute audio tape released in early August, Said al Shihri, one of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) top leaders, tried to convince Saudi soldiers and security officers to serve al Qaeda. Al Shihri set forth a dozen reasons why Saudi citizens should betray the royals, and he offered a cursory plan for doing so.
Al Qaeda Leader Linked to Iran May Have Been Killed in Recent Predator Strike
A senior al Qaeda leader who serves as al Qaeda's ambassador to Iran, and is wanted by the US, is reported to have been killed in a Predator airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan two days ago. The report has not been confirmed.
US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal did confirm, however, that two important al Qaeda operatives have relocated to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of northern Pakistan.
The first is Atiyah Abd al Rahman, a Libyan national who has been based in Iran and served as Osama bin Laden's ambassador to the mullahs. Unconfirmed press reports indicate that Rahman was killed in an airstrike earlier this week.
The second is Fahd Mohammad Ahmed al Quso, who is wanted for his involvement in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole. Quso was reportedly killed in an airstrike in northern Pakistan in September, but US intelligence officials have not been able to confirm that Quso is really dead.
From Iran to northern Pakistan
Atiyah Abd al Rahman may have been among one of four "militants" killed in an Oct. 7 airstrike on a compound and a vehicle in the village of Khaisoori in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. Another operative identified as Khalid Mohammad Abbas al Harabi was also reportedly killed.
"We have received reports that Al Qaeda leader Atiyah Abd al Rahman has been killed in the Oct 7 drone attack," a Pakistani intelligence official told DPA. "Together with him another low-ranking Al Qaeda operative Khalid Mohammad Abbas al Harabi also died."
However, US intelligence officials would not confirm the report when asked by The Long War Journal. They noted that while Atiyah Abd al Rahman is thought to have been operating in the area of the airstrike, his death has not been verified.
Khalid al Harabi is an alias for Khalid Habib, al Qaeda's former military commander who was killed in a US Predator strike in October 2008. Habib served as the leader of Brigade 055, al Qaeda's military formation in Afghanistan, after the death of Abu Laith al Libi, and also served as the leader of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army.
The Pakistani intelligence official cited by DPA described Khalid al Harabi as a "low-ranking" al Qaeda operative. Al Harabi was not "low-ranking," so the Pakistani official may have been referring to another al Qaeda figure. In any event, Khalid Habib has been dead for two years.
Atiyah Abd al Rahman is one of at least several high-level al Qaeda operatives who have relocated from Iran to northern Pakistan in recent years. Saad bin Laden, Osama's presumed heir, moved to northern Pakistan from Iran in late 2008. Some time later, Saif al Adel, who is a member of al Qaeda's military committee, followed suit. Osama bin Laden's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, also left Iran for northern Pakistan earlier this year. [See LWJ report, Osama bin Laden's spokesman freed by Iran.]
The US State Department's Rewards for Justice page for Atiyah Abd al Rahman notes that he was al Qaeda's "emissary in Iran as appointed by Usama bin Ladin." Atiyah "recruits and facilitates talks with other Islamic groups to operate under" al Qaeda and "is also a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Ansar al Sunna."
Atiyah "joined Usama bin Ladin in Afghanistan as a teenager in the 1980s," the State Department reported. "Since then, he has gained considerable stature in al-Qa'ida as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar."
Atiyah "became acquainted with [Abu Musab al Zarqawi]," the deceased leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in the western city of Herat in the late 1990s. "He retreated with Usama bin Ladin to the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in the fall of 2001," according to the State Department.
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Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso. |
From Yemen to northern Pakistan
Another al Qaeda operative reportedly killed in recent drone strikes is Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso. As with Atiyah, US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal could not confirm Quso's death. They did confirm Quso's presence in northern Pakistan.
Quso has long been wanted by the FBI. Quso has been detained and released by the Yemeni government on multiple occasions. Quso was most recently freed in 2007, and it was suspected that he was still operating inside Yemen. A tape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in May of this year featured Quso along with a former Gitmo detainee who has become an AQAP military leader. In the tape, the AQAP leaders threatened to attack American targets, including warships. [See LWJ report, Former Gitmo detainee featured as commander in al Qaeda tape.]
It is not clear when Quso relocated to northern Pakistan. It is just the latest wrinkle in his story.
In January 2000, Quso helped deliver thousands of dollars to a top al Qaeda planner known as Khallad in Bangkok. Khallad, whose real name is Tawfiq bin Attash, helped al Qaeda plan both the Sept. 11 operation and the attack on the USS Cole. It is not clear what the money was used for, as Quso and Khallad gave varying accounts when they were later interrogated. On that same trip, Quso met with two of the 9/11 hijackers in Malaysia.
According to the 9/11 Commission, Quso was supposed to film the attack on the USS Cole from a nearby apartment, but missed it. He was later detained, but escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2003. He was recaptured in 2004, and either escaped from prison or was set free by the Yemeni government in 2007.
Press accounts in 2009 and 2010 tied Quso to the notorious al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who is operating from Yemen. It is likely that Quso is still in northern Pakistan, if he was not killed in an airstrike there in September.
Stepped up pace of drone attacks
The US hit targets in Mir Ali three times this week, and has struck at targets in North and South Waziristan 29 times since Sept. 1. This unprecedented increase in strikes takes place as the US is seeking to disrupt a plot by al Qaeda modeled after the November 2008 Mumbai terror assault. Al Qaeda operatives were to carry out a terror assault against several major European cities, using armed gunmen. The plot was reportedly ordered by Osama bin Laden.
The US has been pounding targets in the Datta Khel, Miramshah, and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan in an effort to kill members involved in the European plot. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups host or share camps in the region.
Al Qaeda Martyrdom Tape Shows Nature and Extent of Terror Group’s Reach in Afghanistan
A recently released al Qaeda martyrdom videotape identifies five foreign commanders who have fought and died in Afghanistan within the past few years. The profiles of these commanders reveal that, in sharp contrast to the current, official assessment of top US intelligence officials, al Qaeda has an extensive network in Afghanistan as well as a deep bench of experienced leaders. Also, the martyrdom statement shows how al Qaeda rotates its cadre of leaders to ensure that seasoned commanders are on hand in critical areas.
Al Qaeda Moves to Africa
While events in the Middle East understandably preoccupy American policymakers at the moment, we cannot afford to forget that Israel's war of self-defense against the terrorist Hamas and Hezbollah organizations and their state sponsors is part of a global conflict being waged on many fronts. While that war is currently hot in the Levant, it can also just as quickly get heated in other geostrategically sensitive areas.
Al Qaeda Sleeper Agent Tied to 2009 NYC Subway Plot
The terrorists who plotted to blow up New York City subways last year may have met with a top al Qaeda operative who has been wanted by the US since 2003, according to multiple press accounts.
