Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed the double suicide bombing Tuesday that killed at least 43 and injured 73 at a police academy in E. Baghdad

December 5, 2005, 12:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

The US military corrected their first statement that the bombers were female. Al Qaeda claimed on an Islamist Website two brothers targeted the academy because “it produces dogs that shed the blood of Sunni Muslims.”

Iraqi police said the dead included 7 policewomen. Among the wounded was an American contractor. It was the deadliest attack since February 28 when a suicide car bomber killed 125 Shiite recruits in Hilla

Also Tuesday, a Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed by a roadside bomb and an Iraqi army colonel was murdered in a drive-by shooting near Baqouba north of Baghdad.

--------------------
Al-Qaida No. 2 Urges Attacks on Oil Plants
--------------------

By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press Writer

December 7 2005, 5:37 AM PST

CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Qaida's deputy leader called for attacks against Gulf oil facilities and urged insurgent groups in Iraq to unite to drive out American forces, according to a videotape posted on the Internet Wednesday.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wi...,0,907466.story

Bin Laden still leading war: Zawahri video
Tue Dec 6, 2005 11:30 PM ET

By Heba Kandil

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden is still alive and leading a holy war against the West, the group's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in an Internet video on Wednesday.

"I bring a message of joy to all Muslims and mujahideen that al Qaeda, thanks to God, is spreading and expanding and strengthening," Zawahri said in a video posted on a Web site frequently used by militants.

"Its prince Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, is still leading its jihad," he said, speaking against a white background to an interviewer off-camera who said the interview was to mark the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities -- carried out by al Qaeda.

"(Qaeda) has transformed into a popular organization confronting a new crusader Zionist campaign, in defense of all violated Muslim lands," said Zawahri, who was wearing a black turban and white robe.

It was not clear exactly when or where the interview was filmed. Bin Laden and his second-in-command, Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan and have eluded capture since the 2001 attacks.

Zawahri said the new "crusader" campaign by the United States and its Western allies was failing as evident by U.S. losses in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"America and its crusader allies have not achieved anything. Its forces in the battleground are receiving blows each day."

He discredited Iraq's January elections, saying only half the population turned out to vote, and blasted what he called a weak government that was swept into power.

"The (Iraqi) government is begging Americans not to leave because they know the day Americans leave is the day they are finished."

Four years after the U.S. war on Afghanistan, only the Taliban exercised real power in the country, chaos reigned in its capital Kabul, and legislative elections held in September were fraudulent as they were monitored by a biased United Nations, he said.

"If it wasn't for the Pakistani army's continuous support to Americans, they would have left (Afghanistan) a long time ago and they will leave soon, God wiling."

Zawahri last appeared in October, when he urged Muslims in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television to help Pakistan's earthquake victims even though its government was an "agent" of the United States.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Al-Zawahri calls on Iraqi insurgents to unite
Full-length version of tape previously aired urges attacks against oil targets
NBC VIDEO

CAIRO, Egypt - In a full-length version of a tape previously broadcast, al-Qaida’s deputy leader called for attacks against Persian Gulf oil facilities and urged insurgent groups in Iraq to unite to drive out American forces, according to a videotape posted on the Internet Wednesday.

The posting was a full version of a video by al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri that was issued on Sept. 19, excerpts of which were broadcast by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera at the time. The network aired more excerpts Wednesday, originally presenting them as newly issued footage. A newscaster later told viewers the video was old.

“I call on the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam,” said al-Zawahri, the Egyptian deputy of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

“The enemies of Islam are exploiting such vital resources with incomparable greed, and we have to stop that theft with all we can and save this fortune for the nation of Islam,” said al-Zawahri, who was wearing a white robe and black turban and was seated before a pale blue sheet, speaking to an off-camera interviewer.

“I bring a message of joy to all Muslims and mujahedeen that al-Qaida is spreading, expanding and strengthening. Its prince Sheikh Osama bin Laden is still leading its jihad (holy war),” he said.

Call for Iraqi groups to unite
In the full version of the tape, which was posted on an Islamic Web site known for carrying statements from extremist groups, al-Zawahri called on Iraqi insurgent groups to unite.

Iraqi Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, “whose hands were not tainted by Americans,” should come together to fill “the gap that will be left by the Americans departure” from Iraq, he said.

When it aired excerpts Wednesday, Al-Jazeera’s newscaster said they came from the “latest al-Zawahri video.”

The full video includes quotes from al-Zawahri on September elections in Afghanistan and on the July 7 London bombings that appeared in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera on Sept. 19.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Report: Al-Qaida organizing in Lebanon
By Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published December 6, 2005


WASHINGTON -- Lebanon and Israel may be facing the prospect of massively increased terror attack threats.

New reports claim that al-Qaida has set up an organizing center in Lebanon and that Iran has boosted its ties to West Bank Palestinian militants, especially Islamic Jihad, who have launched a new suicide bomber campaign against Israel.


The Lebanese Shiite weekly Shiraa, which opposes the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, or Party of God, is claiming this week that al-Qaida has already set up an operational command base in the country.

It also claims that Imad Mughniyeh, the prominent Hezbollah leader, is representing al-Qaida in talks with potential sympathetic Palestinian leaders in the south of the country.

Al-Shiraa said Mughniyeh also met with Jemal Suleiman, head of the Palestinian Ansar Allah, and with Abu Mahujayn, Shehada Jawahr and Khaled Safayn, who lead Palestinian militias in the Bureij camp.

The report follows other indications of growing al-Qaida influence in Lebanon.

There have been reports, as yet unsubstantiated, that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, commander of al-Qaida operations in Iraq, has been receiving an increasing number of Lebanese Sunni Muslim supporters.

Also this week the Israeli debka.com web site, which maintains a wide circle of sources within Israeli intelligence, said an FBI-CIA team was currently in Lebanon, trying to discover whether al-Qaida was planning to participate in a major terror offensive against Israel from bases in Southern Lebanon.

"The Americans are concerned lest Mughniyeh has been tasked to orchestrate simultaneous strikes against Israel from its northern and southern borders," debka.com said.

The development of a close alliance between al-Qaida and Iran-backed organizations like Hezbollah would mark a dramatic strengthening of anti-American and anti-Israeli guerrilla capabilities in the Middle East. Given Iran's great and still growing influence among the 60 percent Shiite majority in Iraq, it could also open the way for future operational cooperation between al-Qaida and other insurgent forces in Iraq, and Iran-backed Shiite paramilitary groups there such as Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

In a parallel development, The Australian newspaper reported Wednesday that Israeli security chiefs fear Hezbollah militants may have already joined forces with Islamic Jihad and other Sunni Muslim Palestinian guerrilla groups on the West Bank

The report emerged after Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack on a shopping mall in the prosperous, middle class Israeli resort city of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, Monday. Five people were killed and 40 wounded in the attack. Israeli Intelligence officials say Hezbollah has been using donations and other sponsorship to infiltrate the restive West Bank areas of Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm, The Australian said.

Two members of a second militant group, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, told the newspaper that that a man claiming to represent Hezbollah had recently asked them to join the organization.

Israeli suspicions of Hezbollah infiltration were given fresh impetus by the fact that the claim of responsibility for Monday's attack, which killed five people and wounded 55 others at the entrance to the Netanya mall, was first aired on Hezbollah television in Syria, the paper said. .

"We are looking at a proxy relationship between Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their major terror masters, who are directly linked to the Iranian Islamic revolution," former Israeli military intelligence chief Erin Lerman told The Australian.

The Israeli reports and claims of growing ties between Hezbollah and al-Qaida, or between Hezbollah, backed by Iran, and Islamic Jihad, may also strengthen the hands of Bush administration hawks around Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who remain eager to confront Iran.

But they also may reflect the growing militancy of Iran's hard-line President Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in October publicly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Some U.S. security analysts believe the growing public militancy and confidence of Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders reflects the fact that they may for the first time have full access to nuclear weapons bought or stolen clandestinely from former Soviet republics.

It may also reflect the Iranians observing the continuing U.S. inability to make significant progress in scaling down the level of operational violence of the still-spreading insurgency in Iraq.

Al Qaeda’s Passage to China

Exclusively from DEBKA-Net-Weekly 230

December 6, 2005, 10:26 PM (GMT+02:00)



In mid-September, Al Qaeda diverted a small but potent force from Iraq to a new mission: the opening of a new front in China. The unit was smuggled into the Chinese border town of Kushi in the Xinjiang Uygur province in November, after a meandering journey traced by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terror sources. There, the terrorists were quickly absorbed by the al Qaeda infrastructure of local Uygur Muslim extremist cells.

(See DEBKA Exclusive Map attached to this article.)

Their plan of campaign in the first stage was to reach Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai for strikes against US embassies and consulates, American firms operating in China and American tourists.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .


(This al Qaeda group was previously revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 229 on Nov. 11 [A Jihadist Airlift] as having set out from Baghdad between mid-September and early October, stopping over in Qatar and proceeding to Konduz in northern Afghanistan for special training.)

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources report the terrorists slipped north from Konduz into Tajikistan and onto the Kyrgyz section of the strategic Fergana Valley which straddles Central Asia. There, they rendezvoused at two places, Osh and Jalal-Abad close to the Kyrgyz-Uzbekistan border, establishing jumping-off points for both China and Central Asia.

The Islamist terrorists were guided from Konduz into Kyrgyzstan by armed men of al Qaeda’s operational arm in Uzbekistan, the MUI, which also has tentacles in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as training camps in the Fergana Valley. The commander of these cells is Tahir Yuldashev, an old comrade of Osama bin Laden who fought alongside him in Afghanistan. In 2004, Yuldashev returned to Tashkent from the badlands of Pakistan’s South Waziristan and was ordered to prepare facilities in Osh and Jalal-Abad for the incoming terrorist unit. His payment was a section of the force to boost his campaign against Uzbek president Karimov.

The unit from Konduz accordingly divided into two heads – the largest proceeding from Osh into China and fetching up in Kushi, while the second group assembled in Jalal-Abad, turned west and crossed into Uzbekistan to set up base in the Fergana town of Andijon.

American and British military and intelligence officials picked up the group’s arrival at the Konduz training facility, but decided after consultation that the large-scale forces needed to eradicate the facility would be hard to muster. They therefore resolved to await events and meanwhile find out where the mysterious al Qaeda force was heading.

According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, Washington reported the arrival to Moscow, hoping the counter-terror-trained Russian Motorized Rifle Division 201 stationed in Uzbekistan would step in to wipe out the al Qaeda intruders. The Russians declined to take action, but said they would not object to Beijing sending Chinese troops over the border to tackle the incoming terrorists.

This was the first time Moscow had ever consented to the Chinese military stepping into Central Asian soil and joining the war on terror in that region.

Clearly, the Kremlin, which frowns on American military bases and movements in Central Asia, was not eager to pull American chestnuts out of the fire

The skirmishing between Washington, Moscow and Beijing over who should tackle the al Qaeda menace – if anyone – had the result of opening the door for al Qaeda to move a force across half the globe from Iraq to the Far East unhindered and plant it in western China and eastern Uzbekistan.

The Chinese government was caught totally unprepared and did its best to tune out the loud alarums sounded by Chinese military and security chiefs.

However, on November 9, the Chinese police alerted the US embassy in Beijing to a possible attack by Islamic rebels on luxury hotels throughout China. The US embassy accordingly advised American visitors to “review their plans” to stay at four- and five-star hotels in China over the coming week.

A sharper notice was issued in the southern Chinese town of Guangzhou relaying “credible information” that a terrorist threat may exist against official US government facilities in the city. American citizens in south China were advised to remain alert to possible threats.

China’s Ministry of Public Security responded to these warnings, which were obviously sourced in Chinese police circles, with anger. A statement accused an unnamed “foreign citizen” of fabricating the so-called attack on four- and five-star hotels in China. The Chinese foreign ministry chipped in with, “Chinese public security has never issued such a warning for foreigners on the hotel issue,” its spokesman told reporters. “Chinese hotels are safe!” he added.

US officials diplomatically withdrew their terror alert notice.

However, while Chinese officials are doing their utmost to calm fears that could affect the tourist industry, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terror sources affirm that a terror alert is indeed in force in Chinese cities.

Saudi envoy says al Qaeda still capable of attacks
08 Dec 2005 02:03:04 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Washington said on Wednesday the failure to capture Osama bin Laden only enhanced a sense of al Qaeda's invincibility and said that the group remained capable of launching attacks.

Although U.S. officials have described al Qaeda as diminished after U.S.-led assaults, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, said the group was "alive and well" and its leaders were "quite capable of issuing orders and having those orders followed."

In a wide-ranging first meeting with reporters, Turki insisted Saudi Arabia would not follow suit if rival Gulf power Iran develops nuclear weapons, which Washington believes it is trying to do.

Turki reaffirmed concerns that Iran was exerting "undue influence" in Iraq and expressed optimism that turmoil in Iraq would abate if a government due to be elected next week is able to prove its legitimacy to the Iraqi people.

Turki has been charged with improving Saudi relations with the United States which deteriorated after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by mostly Saudi-born hijackers.

His predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, left several months ago to head Saudi Arabia's national security council after serving in Washington for more than two decades. In recent years Bandar rarely spoke with reporters on the record.

Turki said it was crucial that bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahri be caught, adding, "the longer they stay unpunished, uncaptured, undetected, the more aura of invincibility they acquire."

Bin Laden has not been heard from publicly for a year but in a video interview posted on an Islamist Web site on Wednesday Zawahri said bin Laden still led al Qaeda's war on the West.

BIN LADEN STILL ALIVE

Turki said he was confident bin Laden was alive somewhere on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but may not be as "paramount as he used to be." There were signs there were differences between bin Laden and Zawahri and that Zawahri would succeed bin Laden, the envoy said.

The Bush administration is under attack by European allies and others over the U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects and allegations the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe.

Turki said prisoner abuse ran counter to "everything we hear about issues of human rights and democratic processes" and more importantly did not work as a tactic. Instead, the kingdom engaged militants in conversation and offered them alternatives to their ideological beliefs, Turki said.

Iran has set itself on a collision course with the West by insisting on plans to make enriched uranium, which could be used in nuclear weapons.

Many experts are worried that if Iran builds a bomb, other countries will follow. But the Saudis are "not going to go the nuclear way at all" because this would contribute to a regional arms race, Turki said.

He said Iran rejected charges of meddling in neighboring Iraq on behalf of fellow Shi'ite Muslims, but "the facts on the ground show there is undue influence on the part of our Iranian brethren."

One key to regional stability was a unified Iraq in which Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds worked together, the envoy said, adding: "The only way you can have a stable and unified Iraq is if the Iraqis decide things for themselves."

Iraqis have viewed two governments elected since U.S. occupation authorities turned over power nearly two years ago as illegitimate but it is hoped the government elected on Dec. 15 will have more standing and could undercut support for an ongoing insurgency, Turki said.


AlertNet news is provided by

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Turki al-Faisal confirms Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Al Qaeda is still capable of attacks as long as bin Laden and Zawahiri are not caught, he stressed

December 8, 2005, 10:27 AM (GMT+02:00)

Former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to UK, Turki saw signs of differences between bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and predicted the latter would succeed the former.

The Saudi ambassador reaffirmed concerns that Iran was exerting “undue influence in Iraq.” He added that Saudis are not going the nuclear way” of Iran because it would start a regional arms race, thereby indirectly confirming Iran’s goal of attaining a bomb. He urged Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to work together as the only way to achieve a stable and unified Iraq.


Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/stor...5467626,00.html

Saudi Official: War in Iraq Sparked Terror

Friday December 9, 2005 1:31 AM


By KATHERINE SHRADER

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S.-led war in Iraq accelerated the spread of terrorism around the globe and reports of U.S. mistreatment of terror prisoners are troubling its allies, the new Saudi ambassador to Washington said Thursday.

In a wide-ranging interview with American reporters, Prince Turki bin al-Faisal also said he thinks Osama bin Laden may no longer be in charge of al-Qaida, called Israel's decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip a ``remarkable achievement'' and said his country has concerns that Iran is meddling in the establishment of an Iraqi government.

Asked whether the war in Iraq made the world less safe, Turki said even if the United States had not invaded, global terrorism would have continued. ``Going into Iraq may have accentuated or accelerated that process, but I don't think it is the reason why we are having bombs in London or in Saudi Arabia or wherever,'' he said.

Turki's comments come as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concludes a European tour where she has faced daily questions about U.S. detention and interrogation policies aimed at stopping terrorism. That has included criticism of secret CIA prisons and ``renditions'' in which intelligence operatives grab terror suspects and deliver them to their home countries or another where they are wanted for a crime.

Turki, a former director of the Saudi intelligence service, said his country has never accepted any renditions or served as an interrogation or holding point at the United States' request.

In its annual report on human rights worldwide, the State Department called Saudi Arabia's human rights' record ``poor overall,'' despite some progress. It said Saudi security forces ``continue to abuse detainees and prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and hold persons in incommunicado detention.''

Turki said five or six Saudis have been released from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and more than 100 still remain there. Discussions about their release are continuing, he added.

The ambassador said he does not have any specific information about whether any Saudis held by the United States have been mistreated, beyond what he reads in news reports.

``The U.S. for much of mankind has always stood as an example of ... due process, human rights, innocent before proven guilty,'' Turki said. ``If any of these precepts and principles are flouted by the promoter ... then that affects all of us.''

The White House had no immediate comment immediately on the issues raised by Turki.

In July, Prince Bandar bin Sultan announced his resignation after 22 years as Saudi ambassador to Washington. Turki, who was serving as the ambassador to Britain, recently arrived in Washington to fill the position.

On Iraq, Turki said he, too, was surprised that weapons of mass destruction were not found there, given Saddam Hussein's ambitions. ``We were all assuming that he was working toward acquiring the means for weapons of mass destruction, but there was no specifics,'' he said.

While Turki described Saudi Arabia's relations with Iran positively, he said the Iraqis report ``increased interference'' from Iran as they establish their government, including the takeover of village councils and intimidation in the election process.

``We express to our Iranian neighbors that that is not going to be helpful,'' Turki said.

On other issues, Turki said:

- He believes that Osama bin Laden is alive but that there is some question about whether he is still the leader of al-Qaida. Bin Laden has not been heard from since an audio last December, and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has been making the public pronouncements for the past year. Yet Turki didn't know precisely what the shift meant, suggesting that bin Laden even may be in retirement.

- The Israeli pullout of the Gaza Strip has been a ``remarkable achievement'' on the part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, ``who throughout his life has been of the opposite opinion'' and has wanted to take more land from the Palestinians.

- Saudi Arabia has been undergoing a number of democratic reforms. Turki said he can see a day when the country's national assembly would be elected and would include women.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/stor...5484202,00.html

Purported al-Qaida Video Outlines Attack

Friday December 16, 2005 3:16 PM


By LEE KEATH

Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Dozens of al-Qaida in Iraq fighters who attacked Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison in April planned to knock a hole in the prison wall and topple guard towers with a series of car bombs to free detainees and hit U.S. forces, according to a purported al-Qaida video.

The April 2 attack on the prison, west of Baghdad, left one attacker dead and more than 40 U.S. soldiers and 13 prisoners wounded. Dozens of militants failed to break in after attacking the facility with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and car bombs.

The eight-minute video, signed by the spokesman of al-Qaida in Iraq and posted on an Islamic militant Web forum Tuesday, shows a satellite photo of the facility, with U.S. troop positions and ``interrogation booths'' marked in English, as a voice-over outlines the plans of the attack.

A ticker along the bottom of the well-produced video streamed photos of abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers at the facility, including a famed image of a naked prisoner being dragged on a leash by a female guard. The images of abuse and sexual humiliation at the prison have sparked outrage among Iraqis and across the Arab world since they first emerged in early 2004.

Later in the video, militants are seen firing rockets, and Abu Ghraib is filmed from what appears to be a field some distance away. A large mushroom cloud - the kind raised by vehicle bombs - is seen, as are several plumes of smoke.

Voices resembling those of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden - apparently old speeches from previous statements - play in the background over some of the images. The identity of the voices could not immediately be confirmed.

``This is Abu Ghraib prison, let it speak,'' says the voice purportedly belonging to al-Zarqawi.

``Defense of the Muslim land begins with fighting on the starting line in Iraq,'' says the purported voice of bin Laden.

The video's authenticity could not be verified. Al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups often put out videos of their attacks as propaganda aimed at drumming up support and encouraging Iraqis and other Arabs to join the insurgency against U.S. and Iraqi forces. Such videos often have old speeches by bin Laden or al-Zarqawi as a soundtrack to inspire followers.

A statement with the Web posting said the video was part of a ``full set,'' still to be released, showing attacks by the ``Brigade of Aisha, Mother of the Faithful,'' a previous unknown cell of al-Qaida in Iraq fighters.

The voiceover explaining the plans for the attack says it had two aims: ``First is to release our brothers from this prison. The second is raise the morale of the mujahedeen across Iraq if God lets us succeed in this operation.''

The plan for the attack involved more than 50 fighters assaulting the prison from four sides, he explains. From the south side, fighters were to knock a hole in the wall and ``knock down towers'' with a truck bomb, then drive an explosives-filled tractor through the hole.

From two other sides, militants would engage the security forces as a distraction. Then, on the northwest side, attackers would break open the wall again with a vehicle bomb, then send two more car bombs through the hole ``into the American forces to destroy their headquarters.''

The signal to launch the attack was to be a barrage of rockets on Abu Ghraib.

U.S. authorities have not given exact details about what happened in the April 2 attack, so it was not known how closely the attackers stuck to the plan outlined in the video.

But the plan was typical of well-coordinated assaults al-Qaida has carried out in the past. Several times it has used the technique of breaking through a security wall with one suicide bomber, then driving a second through the hole to attempt to hit the target inside.

The video shows men, said to be the suicide attackers who drove the suicide vehicle bombs, reading the Quran together in a room before the operation.

Israeli Fears Al Qaida Threat To Jordan
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzzx.html

Where's Osama Bin Laden?
Many US experts believe he no longer runs Al Qaeda.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1221/dailyUpdate.html

http://z1.adserver.com/w/cp.x;rid=1218;tid...=60;c=651;;nc=1

Armed and dangerous: Taliban gear up
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Any resistance movement is generally only as good as the weapons it uses, and that is something that has bedeviled the poorly-equipped Taliban-led anti-US forces in Afghanistan for a long time.

The resistance has steadily taken steps, though, to beef up its arsenal to include modern automatic weapons and ground-to-air missiles. This it has done in part by forging closer links with the resistance in Iraq, as well as with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.

According to intelligence sources who spoke to Asia Times Online, al-Qaeda concluded that its attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 was a failure, even though 17 American sailors were killed. As a result, al-Qaeda sent a team to the LTTE to gain expertise in maritime combat operations. The LTTE, as part of its longstanding battle against the Sri Lankan government, has developed a relatively sophisticated maritime wing.

The interaction was brief and inconclusive, and al-Qaeda subsequently rejected the idea of maritime combat, deciding instead to fight the United States on land. Nevertheless, the links established between the two groups were to prove useful in another way.

Pakistani intelligence sources say that al-Qaeda now works with the LTTE to get weapons, including automatic arms and ground-to-air missiles. The weapons are paid for in cash, as well as in drugs originating from Afghanistan, according to the sources. The drugs primarily are sent to Scandinavian countries and Thailand, the latter being a traditional base from which the LTTE has smuggled weapons.

"This is a perfect arrangement as resources are complemented - the Tigers get ideological support, while regular arms supplies on the other hand go to al-Qaeda, which ultimately feeds its fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan," said the source.

"The smuggling channels are the same that the Tamil Tigers have adopted for years [with international arms cartels]. The latest weapons originate through arm dealers, as well as those stolen from arms depots and shipped from South America and Lebanon. They are transferred from ship to ship and sometimes offloaded at small ports, and from there, using various channels, they reach the final destination," the source said.

In the firing line
In the mountains and on the plains of Afghanistan, the resistance operates in several ways, ranging from suicide bombings to attacking convoys and brief pitched battles.

"But an air defense system [ground-to-air missiles] can break the back [of the enemy] in low-intensity conflicts," a top Pakistani security official told Asia Times Online.

"The resistance movement in Afghanistan has now acquired that system in bulk. There are possibilities that some pieces will also have been supplied to Iraq. As soon as this system comes into full action, drastic results will come," he said.

After the Taliban retreated in the face of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, the Afghan resistance was largely scattered. The Taliban did preserve some heavy weapons, but these could not be easily accessed due to the strong US military presence, and many caches were seized.

Furthermore, some of the armory, especially missiles, required special storage facilities to prevent exposure to harsh climatic conditions, but this was not possible, and the weapons were damaged.

Slowly, as the resistance took firmer root and with the help of money from foreign Arab fighters who had fled to the tribal areas of South and North Waziristan in Pakistan, the resistance acquired missiles, guns and ammunition from the indigenous home-made arms industry at Dara Adam Khel near Peshawar.

However, these arms were of poor quality and simply not good enough to take on the US-led forces in Afghanistan. For instance, the home-made M16 rifles were only semi-automatic and the G-3 rifles lacked the original specifications and accuracy which had made the original version of the weapon popular. Locally-made rockets did not fly properly and lacked sensors, which made them all but useless.

Authentic weapons are, of course, expensive. Now the Taliban has solved this problem by tapping into Afghanistan's - and the world's - richest cash crop, poppies. Using contacts among the warlords who control the drug trade, the Taliban are able to divert some of the money, which is then earmarked for weapons purchases.

With the drug money and the networks of the LTTE, the Afghan resistance is now well positioned to sufficiently arm itself to take its war with foreign forces in Afghanistan to a new level.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com

(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)

Al Qaeda’s Passage to China

Exclusively from DEBKA-Net-Weekly 230

December 6, 2005, 10:26 PM (GMT+02:00)



In mid-September, Al Qaeda diverted a small but potent force from Iraq to a new mission: the opening of a new front in China. The unit was smuggled into the Chinese border town of Kushi in the Xinjiang Uygur province in November, after a meandering journey traced by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terror sources. There, the terrorists were quickly absorbed by the al Qaeda infrastructure of local Uygur Muslim extremist cells.

(See DEBKA Exclusive Map attached to this article.)

Their plan of campaign in the first stage was to reach Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai for strikes against US embassies and consulates, American firms operating in China and American tourists.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .


(This al Qaeda group was previously revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 229 on Nov. 11 [A Jihadist Airlift] as having set out from Baghdad between mid-September and early October, stopping over in Qatar and proceeding to Konduz in northern Afghanistan for special training.)

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s sources report the terrorists slipped north from Konduz into Tajikistan and onto the Kyrgyz section of the strategic Fergana Valley which straddles Central Asia. There, they rendezvoused at two places, Osh and Jalal-Abad close to the Kyrgyz-Uzbekistan border, establishing jumping-off points for both China and Central Asia.

The Islamist terrorists were guided from Konduz into Kyrgyzstan by armed men of al Qaeda’s operational arm in Uzbekistan, the MUI, which also has tentacles in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as training camps in the Fergana Valley. The commander of these cells is Tahir Yuldashev, an old comrade of Osama bin Laden who fought alongside him in Afghanistan. In 2004, Yuldashev returned to Tashkent from the badlands of Pakistan’s South Waziristan and was ordered to prepare facilities in Osh and Jalal-Abad for the incoming terrorist unit. His payment was a section of the force to boost his campaign against Uzbek president Karimov.

The unit from Konduz accordingly divided into two heads – the largest proceeding from Osh into China and fetching up in Kushi, while the second group assembled in Jalal-Abad, turned west and crossed into Uzbekistan to set up base in the Fergana town of Andijon.

American and British military and intelligence officials picked up the group’s arrival at the Konduz training facility, but decided after consultation that the large-scale forces needed to eradicate the facility would be hard to muster. They therefore resolved to await events and meanwhile find out where the mysterious al Qaeda force was heading.

According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, Washington reported the arrival to Moscow, hoping the counter-terror-trained Russian Motorized Rifle Division 201 stationed in Uzbekistan would step in to wipe out the al Qaeda intruders. The Russians declined to take action, but said they would not object to Beijing sending Chinese troops over the border to tackle the incoming terrorists.

This was the first time Moscow had ever consented to the Chinese military stepping into Central Asian soil and joining the war on terror in that region.

Clearly, the Kremlin, which frowns on American military bases and movements in Central Asia, was not eager to pull American chestnuts out of the fire

The skirmishing between Washington, Moscow and Beijing over who should tackle the al Qaeda menace – if anyone – had the result of opening the door for al Qaeda to move a force across half the globe from Iraq to the Far East unhindered and plant it in western China and eastern Uzbekistan.

The Chinese government was caught totally unprepared and did its best to tune out the loud alarums sounded by Chinese military and security chiefs.

However, on November 9, the Chinese police alerted the US embassy in Beijing to a possible attack by Islamic rebels on luxury hotels throughout China. The US embassy accordingly advised American visitors to “review their plans” to stay at four- and five-star hotels in China over the coming week.

A sharper notice was issued in the southern Chinese town of Guangzhou relaying “credible information” that a terrorist threat may exist against official US government facilities in the city. American citizens in south China were advised to remain alert to possible threats.

China’s Ministry of Public Security responded to these warnings, which were obviously sourced in Chinese police circles, with anger. A statement accused an unnamed “foreign citizen” of fabricating the so-called attack on four- and five-star hotels in China. The Chinese foreign ministry chipped in with, “Chinese public security has never issued such a warning for foreigners on the hotel issue,” its spokesman told reporters. “Chinese hotels are safe!” he added.

US officials diplomatically withdrew their terror alert notice.

However, while Chinese officials are doing their utmost to calm fears that could affect the tourist industry, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terror sources affirm that a terror alert is indeed in force in Chinese cities.

Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.

Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan Issues a Video of the Beheading of a "U.S. Spy":

Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan issued a 4:53 video yesterday, December 24, 2005, depicting the beheading of Saeed Allah Khan, an alleged spy for Americans who was sent to Warziristan, northwest Pakistan, to execute bombings on Islamic schools and students’ houses
http://tinyurl.com/blc7a

Iraq al Qaeda claims missile attack on Israel: Web 17 minutes ago

Al Qaeda in Iraq said it had launched missiles at Israel from Lebanon as part of a "new attack" on the Jewish state, a statement posted on the Web said on Thursday.

"The lion sons of al Qaeda launched ... a new attack on the Jewish state by launching 10 missiles ... from the Muslims' lands in Lebanon on selected targets in the north of the Jewish state," said the statement, attributed to al Qaeda and posted on an Islamist Web site. It did not give the date of the attack.

It appeared to be the first claim of responsibility from al Qaeda for an attack on Israel from Lebanon. The statement could not be authenticated, but was posted on a main Web site frequently used by Iraqi insurgent groups.




Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.


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http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt...060106&hn=28299
CIA Warns Turkey of Al-Qaeda's Action Plan
By Sedat Gunec, Ankara
Published: Thursday, January 05, 2006
zaman.com


The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) warned Turkey that the terrorist network, al-Qaeda plans to attack the country with high rate radiation-nuclear materials.

CIA Director Porter Goss held top-level meetings with the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and visited the General Security Directorate during his three day-visit to the Turkish capital Ankara recently.

Goss mentioned terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) could easily be destroyed with the help of shared intelligence, and steps to further share information were undertaken upon his return to the United States.

CIA sent the MIT a secret al-Qaeda cryptic message last week, in which reportedly the terror organization will send nuclear materials including high rate-radiation to selected targets by using international cargo companies such as UPS and FedEx.

Turkey’s Intelligence Undersecretary warned the Security Directorate about the CIA’s coded message.

MIT and the General Security Directorate investigated the cargo packages sent to Turkey through international transport companies.

Top-level security precautions were taken in the cargo departments of international airports such as Istanbul Ataturk, Sabiha Gokcen, Ankara Esenboga, Izmir Adnan Menderes and Antalya.

Al-Qaeda is claimed to have developed such action plans in order to not lose members.

Bin Laden 'ordered Israel attacks'
From correspondents in Paris
09jan06

AL-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in an audio tape put onto the internet yesterday that rockets had been fired at Israel from Lebanon last month "on the instructions" of the network's overall chief Osama bin Laden.

"The rocket firing at the ancestors of monkeys and pigs from the south of Lebanon was only the start of a blessed in-depth strike against the Zionist enemy (...). All that was on the instructions of the sheikh of the mujahedeen, Osama bin laden, may God preserve him," said the voice attributed to the Jordanian extremist.
His group, the Organization of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, had claimed responsibility for the rockets in an on-line statement on December 29.

"This commendable feat came in application by the mujahedeen of the oath by fighter sheikh Osama bin Laden, emir of the al-Qaeda network, may God preserve him," added the recording referring to repeated statements by Bin Laden that the Israelis should not enjoy security as long as Muslims were not safe.

© Herald and Weekly Times

Zarqawi denounces Arab states as US agents: Web Sun Jan 8, 4:57 PM ET

The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, denounced Arab countries working for political reconciliation in Iraq as U.S. agents, according to a Web audio tape posted on Sunday.

"The countries that met in Cairo ... were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, air space and waters and offering intelligence to it," said the speaker on the tape, who sounded like Zarqawi.

He was referring to an Arab League conference in November that tried to reconcile Iraqi political factions.

The tape, posted on an Islamist Web site often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, could not be authenticated.

The speaker denounced the Iraqi Islamic Party, viewed as the largest Sunni Arab party, for endorsing a new constitution, a move which boosted the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government.

"We call on the Islamic Party to leave this path ... which leads to the destruction of the Sunnis," the speaker said.

"We had the power to disrupt the elections in most parts of Iraq but did not do it in order not to harm the Sunni masses," the speaker said, referring to last month's parliamentary polls which were mostly peaceful.

Osama bin Laden named Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq after he pledged allegiance to the overall al Qaeda leader in October 2004. Washington has set a $25 million U.S. bounty on Zarqawi's head.




Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.


Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

January 12, 2006
Skirmishes
Local Insurgents Tell of Clashes With Al Qaeda's Forces in Iraq
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
and DEXTER FILKINS
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 11 - The story told by the two Iraqi guerrillas cut to the heart of the war that Iraqi and American officials now believe is raging inside the Iraqi insurgency.

In October, the two insurgents said in interviews, a group of local fighters from the Islamic Army gathered for an open-air meeting on a street corner in Taji, a city north of Baghdad.

Across from the Iraqis stood the men from Al Qaeda, mostly Arabs from outside Iraq. Some of them wore suicide belts. The men from the Islamic Army accused the Qaeda fighters of murdering their comrades.

"Al Qaeda killed two people from our group," said an Islamic Army fighter who uses the nom de guerre Abu Lil and who claimed that he attended the meeting. "They repeatedly kill our people."

The encounter ended angrily. A few days later, the insurgents said, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the Islamic Army fought a bloody battle on the outskirts of town.

The battle, which the insurgents said was fought on Oct. 23, was one of several clashes between Al Qaeda and local Iraqi guerrilla groups that have broken out in recent months across the Sunni Triangle.

American and Iraqi officials believe that the conflicts present them with one of the biggest opportunities since the insurgency burst upon Iraq nearly three years ago. They have begun talking with local insurgents, hoping to enlist them to cooperate against Al Qaeda, said Western diplomats, Iraqi officials and an insurgent leader.

It is impossible to say just how far the split extends within the insurgency, which remains a lethal force with a shared goal of driving the Americans out of Iraq. Indeed, the best the Americans can hope for may be a grudging passivity from the Iraqi insurgents when the Americans zero in on Al Qaeda's forces.

But the split within the insurgency is coinciding with Sunni Arabs' new desire to participate in Iraq's political process, and a growing resentment of the militants. Iraqis are increasingly saying that they regard Al Qaeda as a foreign-led force, whose extreme religious goals and desires for sectarian war against Iraq's Shiite majority override Iraqi tribal and nationalist traditions.

While American and Iraqi officials have talked of a split for months, detailed accounts of clashes were provided by men claiming to be local insurgents.

Abu Lil was one of four Iraqi men interviewed for this article who said they were fighters for the Islamic Army, one of the main insurgent groups. Despite its name, its members have nationalist and largely secular motivations. While their membership in the insurgency could not be independently verified, the descriptions the four men offered of themselves and their exploits were lengthy, detailed and credible.

The four men interviewed are, by all accounts, ordinary Iraqis. One worked as a trash collector. Another was a part-time mechanic in an ice factory. All of them said they had children. While they claimed to be members of the same group, different members provided lengthy accounts of operations in an array of cities in the Sunni Triangle. The men gave Iraqi nicknames and noms de guerre. Some of their assertions, including specific examples about clashes with Al Qaeda's forces, were confirmed by American and Iraqi officials.

According to an American and an Iraqi intelligence official, as well as Iraqi insurgents, clashes between Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and Iraqi insurgent groups like the Islamic Army and Muhammad's Army have broken out in Ramadi, Husayba, Yusifiya, Dhuluiya and Karmah.

In town after town, Iraqis and Americans say, local Iraqi insurgents and tribal groups have begun trying to expel Al Qaeda's fighters, and, in some cases, kill them. It is unclear how deeply the split pervades Iraqi society. Iraqi leaders say that in some Iraqi cities, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and local insurgent groups continue to cooperate with one another.

American and Iraqi officials believe that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is largely made up of Iraqis, with its highest leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. Even so, among Iraqis, the group is still perceived as a largely foreign force.

Evidence of the split is still largely anecdotal, and from most available evidence, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia remains the most virulent and well-financed group fighting in Iraq. But in most Sunni cities, Iraqis defied Al Qaeda's threats and turned out to vote in large numbers on Dec. 15.

"The tribes are fed up with Al Qaeda and they will not tolerate any more," said a senior Iraqi intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The intelligence official confirmed reports that a Sunni tribe in Samarra had tried and executed Qaeda members for their role in assassinating a local sheik.

"It was a beautiful mistake," the intelligence official said of the sheik's assassination by Al Qaeda. "Now the tribes will kill Al Qaeda. Now they have the courage."

An Attack's Repercussions

Samarra, north of Baghdad, had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda's fighters. In desperation, a local sheik, Hekmat Mumtaz al-Baz, traveled to Baghdad in September to meet with Iraq's defense minister and ask for help, said one of the sheik's aides, Waleed al-Samarrai. A few weeks after the visit, the sheik was shot dead by Qaeda gunmen in his yard.

The account was confirmed by a member of the tribe, and a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Baghdad. Mr. Samarrai spoke in an interview in Al Wasat Hospital in Baghdad, where his brother, Salim, the sheik's bodyguard, who was wounded in a fight with Al Qaeda, was convalescing.

The tribe was furious, and its members tracked down the three men who carried out the killing. Elders from the tribe held a trial in a local farmhouse and interrogated the men for days. They said they worked for a fighter from Saudi Arabia who bankrolled the attacks, Mr. Samarrai said.

The Samarrai brothers said Al Qaeda's appeal was based less on religion than on money. The Iraqis who killed the sheik were believed to have received $500 to $1,000 for the job, and the same amount for dozens of other similar killings, Waleed al-Samarrai said. He said local insurgents had changed allegiances, lured away by Al Qaeda's money.

Members of the tribe swept the town and arrested 17 people they suspected were associated with the sheik's killing. In one house raid, the tribe found men from Sudan, Morocco, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, a member of the tribe said.

Al Qaeda's fighters struck back during the tribe's offensive. A foreign Arab believed to be a Saudi wearing in a suicide belt blew himself up at the sheik's funeral, killing one guest and wounding two, said Salim al-Samarrai, who said he witnessed the attack.

As a lesson to all those associated with the sheik's death, the tribe staged a public killing. While the sheik's father watched, men with machine guns shot the three men who carried out the assassination, the Samarrai brothers said.

"Someone from outside the tribe should not tell us what to do," said Waleed al-Samarrai, standing next to Salim's hospital bed. "It is unacceptable for us."

Tactical Disputes

Disagreements over Al Qaeda's bloody tactics between local insurgents and Al Qaeda's fighters are as old as the war. Abu Lil, who fought in Taji in October, for example, claimed to have met with Qaeda fighters in late 2003. The militant group had just claimed responsibility for a double car bombing in Baghdad, and insurgents from the 20th Revolutionary Brigade, a nationalist group that Abu Lil belonged to at that time, were angry about the high civilian death toll.

Abu Lil, an elfin man with a cotton scarf tied around his head, talked in detail about the meeting as he sat on a couch in a house in Baghdad. The meeting was held in a farmhouse in Mosul, he said. About 25 men from Al Qaeda attended. Several appeared to be from Pakistan. Some spoke Arabic so poorly that they had to speak through a translator.

The discussion dragged on for seven hours, he said, but did not go well. The local insurgents demanded that the foreigners from Al Qaeda leave Iraq.

"They said, 'Jihad needs its victims,' " Abu Lil said. " 'Iraqis should be willing to pay the price.' "

"We said, 'It's very expensive.' "

The meeting ended abruptly, and Abu Lil and his associates walked out, feeling powerless and angry.

"I wished I had a nuclear bomb to attack them," he said. "We told them, 'You are not Iraqis. Who gave you the power to do this?' "

It took two more years for Sunni Arab sentiment to turn against the militants. As the Iraqi democratic political process began, including elections and the drafting of a new constitution, there was a widespread feeling among Sunnis that they were being left behind. Last January, Sunnis boycotted an election, giving them few seats in the new Parliament, and leaving them out of the drafting of a new constitution.

In the predominantly Sunni town of Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad, local residents blamed insurgents for their isolation. In the days leading up to a vote on the constitution, they went to the resistance and demanded they let people vote.

"All of the Sunnis were angry at the resistance," said a resident of Dhuluiya. "People realized, if we do not take part it, then we will lose the government. So the resistance agreed. They said, 'We will protect you from anyone who tries to attack you.' "

Emboldened by the promise of protection by the resistance, clerics from five local mosques encouraged their congregations to vote, even sending out people to put up posters about the election.

The excitement over the vote spurred Al Qaeda into action. At night, men put up their own posters threatening, "He who votes will be beheaded." Then, two days before the Oct. 15 referendum, a group of Qaeda fighters confronted an imam in one of the local Sunni mosques and lectured him about how voting contradicted the Koran. According to the imam, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety, two of the men appeared from their accents to be from Algeria and Syria. They vowed to kill anyone who removed their posters.

"Why are you driving the troubles into our town?" the Sunni cleric said he asked the men. "If you want jihad, the U.S. military is there."

Imams from five Sunni mosques tore down the Qaeda posters wherever they could find them.

"I myself tore those into pieces," the Sunni cleric said.

Al Qaeda got the message. On election day, Dhuluiya's voters streamed into polling places. The streets were quiet, with only a single attack on a polling center.

"All of them voted," the resident said. "All of Dhuluiya. There was no one sitting in his house."

Invisible Boundaries

Two and a half years into the American occupation, the towns and villages south of Baghdad are divided among the insurgent groups like gang territory in big American cities. The arrangement is largely invisible to American troops who patrol the towns, the insurgents said in interviews. But guerrillas themselves say they must seek permission to travel through towns their groups do not control.

Abu Marwa, a 32-year-old guerrilla leader from Yusifiya, a city south of Baghdad, told of a blood feud with Al Qaeda in a village the group controlled called Karagol, south of Baghdad.

Bookish and soft-spoken, wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, Mr. Marwa told of life inside the insurgency during two days of interviews in Baghdad. He said he might never have clashed with Al Qaeda, but the group's sectarian war against Shiites clashed with his loyalty to a Shiite relative of his the group had kidnapped and tortured.

"It's more than crazy when you want to hit Al Qaeda," said Mr. Marwa, who said he was a fighter for a local cell called Thunder. "Even the network of the resistance couldn't think of doing such an act."

According to Mr. Marwa's story, the feud with Al Qaeda began on Oct. 13, when a car full of gunmen he said appeared to be Syrian kidnapped his relative and took him to Karagol, which is in territory he said was controlled by Al Qaeda.

"Karagol is the place where Al Qaeda is based in the region," said an Iraqi Army lieutenant based in the area. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

"There has not been a command to go into Karagol," he said. "There are no government forces there. Now it's fully under control of the terrorists."

For the next three days, Mr. Marwa searched through miles of lush farmland before he got to Karagol. When he was prevented from driving through the town by Qaeda gunmen, who shot at him on the road, he walked through orchards after dark.

He said a guide had led him to the house of a man who was known as a paid killer for Al Qaeda. The man consulted a notebook fat with names, but Mr. Marwa's relative's was not among them.

As he drew closer, a local insurgent warned him to stay away from Karagol, even if he was sure his relative was there.

" 'I advise you, if you know he's with Al Qaeda, don't go there,' " Mr. Marwa recalled the man saying.

Mr. Marwa finally found his relative in the local morgue. His legs bore drill holes revealing bone. His jaw had slid off to one side of his head, and his nose was broken. Burns marked his body. His knees were raw, as if he had been dragged.

"I was totally crazy," Mr. Marwa recalled. "A mad man was more rational than me."

Enlisting the most trusted members of his cell, Mr. Marwa set out to take revenge. They tracked down two Syrian members of Al Qaeda, and in late October laid out an intricate plan for an ambush. They killed them on a country road as they drove out of town, and took their kaffiyeh, or headdresses, to the dead relative's wife, Mr. Marwa said.

"After many meetings, we decided to terminate them," he said.

Despite such tensions, the Americans face significant challenges in trying to exploit the split. "It is against my beliefs to put my hand with the Americans," said an Iraqi member of the Islamic Army who uses the nom de guerre Abu Omar.

Still, he said in an interview in a house in Baghdad, he allowed himself a small celebration whenever a member of Al Qaeda fell to an American bullet. "I feel happy when the Americans kill them," he said.



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

World > Middle East
from the January 13, 2006 edition


ROCKETS FROM LEBANON: Israeli policemen examined a piece of a rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel in late December. The attack was reportedly carried out by Al Qaeda.
HAIM AZULAY/REUTERS



Al Qaeda takes aim at Israel

Zarqawi's group said a December rocket attack was just the beginning.

By Ilene R. Prusher and Nicholas Blanford

JERUSALEM AND BEIRUT – Al Qaeda, which originally announced its presence on the global scene in 1998 as "The World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders," for the first time has claimed an attack on the Jewish state from neighboring Lebanon.
Abu Musab Zarqawi, the commander of Al Qaeda's Middle East branch, issued a warning to Israel on the group's website, boasting that Katyusha rockets fired two weeks ago from southern Lebanon were just the "beginning of a welcome operation to strike deep in enemy territory, at the instructions of Osama bin Laden."

The statement was posted earlier this week on Internet sites associated with Jemaat al-Tawahid wal Jihad, Mr. Zarqawi's Sunni fundamentalist insurgents who are fighting the US in Iraq.

The claim of responsibility and its accompanying threat of more to come seem to realize concerns in Israel that over time Al Qaeda might step up attacks from neighboring Arab countries or from regions under control of the Palestinian Authority, analysts say.

After Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in August, ending a 38-year-long occupation, Israeli officials expressed concern that Al Qaeda operatives had slipped in from Egypt during the course of several days of uncontrolled border crossings.

Moreover, the development also follows what may be a shift in strategy for Al Qaeda: While not giving up attempts to inflict massive attacks on major targets in the US and in Europe, it will take advantage of opportunities to hit targets in the Middle East.

These include the ongoing suicide bombings in Iraq's deadly insurgency and attacks on pro-Western forces in the Arab world - from international targets in Saudi Arabia to the triple bombing attack on three major hotels in Amman, Jordan on Nov. 9, 2005.

The attempt to ratchet up tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border comes at a time when the Israeli security establishment is concerned about the perception abroad of the country being in a state of political crisis, given that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been in critical condition for the past week.

"Zarqawi has tried to attack Israeli targets for a long time. We know for a fact that Al Qaeda has been pondering attacking inside the Israeli border, so it's nothing new, but we should see it as part of a trend," says Yoram Schweitzer, an expert on Al Qaeda at the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.

"The reaction in Lebanon shows that even Hizbullah is a little bit frustrated," he adds, "not that they mind Israel being attacked, but they don't like anyone else trying to control their territory."

Indeed, the attempt of Al Qaeda operatives to gain ground in southern Lebanon, which has long been a magnet for militant groups, appears to have irked Hizbullah, or the Party of God, the primary military and political organization controlling the south of the country.

Hizbullah has moved toward a sort of hostile quiet with Israel during the more than five years since Israel withdrew from its occupied "security zone" in Lebanon.

It appears likely, many observers say, that the attacks were perpetrated by Palestinian militants who would like to link their agenda with Al Qaeda's.

Although Shiite Hizbullah, backed by Iran, tends to have good relations with mainstream Sunni groups in Lebanon, it is very worried about the emergence and spread of militant Sunni ideology and has been keeping a close eye on its presence in Lebanon.

"There are some [operatives] in Lebanon," says Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hizbullah's deputy secretary-general in an interview with The Monitor. "We don't know how many and we don't know their plans or if they intend to do [military] operations here," he says.

"It's important to caution everyone not to make Lebanon an arena for settling scores," he adds. "It will be a dangerous development if that happens."

Hizbullah, which maintains tight control of the border district, is opposed to outside actors staging attacks into Israel in case it upsets the delicate balance. Still, Hizbullah admits it is difficult to fully control the border region to prevent other militants from launching their own operations.

"I have read articles saying that attacks can only happen [in the border district] with Hizbullah's knowledge. This is not true," says Mr. Qassem, who says his organization is still investigating the Al Qaeda claim.

"Small groups can infiltrate in and out very quickly. Weapons are available everywhere. It's not complex. These are not large groups of people. Just two or three who plan for a while and then launch several rockets," he says.

The statement attributed to Al Qaeda used language that is similar to that employed in leaflets written by Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"The rockets fired at the grandchildren of monkeys and pigs from the south of Lebanon was only the start of a blessed in-depth strike against the Zionist enemy," the group said in a statement, which was posted on several different militant Islamic websites and picked up by both Western and Middle Eastern media outlets.

"All that was on the instructions of the sheikh of the mujahideen, Osama bin Laden, may God preserve him," said a taped voice that is reported to be Jordan-born Zarqawi's.

The tape also said that Israelis should not enjoy security as long as Muslims were not safe.

The Israeli Army could not comment in depth on the issue at this time. "As far as we are concerned, we hold the Lebanese government responsible for any activity that happens in its territory," a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said.

"If the Lebanese won't move [against such operatives] and the Syrians won't do anything, we might run into a pattern," says Zeev Schiff, a top military affairs columnist for the Haaretz newspaper. "I can guess that if Sharon were really in power, this could be the time to act against" militants in southern Lebanon.

Did al-Qaeda's Gambit Work? Have They Baited Bush into Disastrous Missteps in the Middle East?
Real Men Go to Tehran
By M. SHAHID ALAM



"Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran."

Senior Bush Official, May 2003

The United States and Israel have been itching to go to Tehran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. That Revolution was a strategic setback for both powers. It overthrew the Iranian monarchy, a great friend of the US and Israel, and brought to power the Shi'ite Mullahs, who saw themselves as the legitimate heirs of the Prophet's legacy, and, therefore, the true defenders of Islam.

As a result, the Iranian Revolution was certain to clash with both the US and Israel, as well as their client states in the Arab world. Israel was unacceptable because it was an alien intrusion that had displaced a Muslim people: it was a foreign implant in the Islamic heartland. But the US was the greater antagonist. On its own account, through Israel, and on the behalf of Israel, it sought to keep the Middle East firmly bound in the chains of American hegemony.

The US-Israeli hegemony over the Middle East had won a great victory in 1978. At Camp David, the leading Arab country, Egypt, chose to surrender its leadership of the Arab world, and signed a separate 'peace' with Israel. This freed Israel to pursue its plans to annex the West Bank and Gaza, and to project unchecked power over the entire region. The Arab world could now be squeezed between Israel in the West and Iran to the East, the twin pillars of US hegemony over the region's peoples and resources.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 ended this partnership. At that point, real men in Washington would have loved to take back Tehran from the Mullahs but for the inconvenience of Soviet opposition. But great powers are rarely stymied by any single development however adverse. It took little encouragement from Washington to get Iraq to mount an unprovoked invasion of Iran. In the twenti-eth century, few Arab leaders have seen the difference between entrapment and opportunity.

The war between Iran and Iraq served the United States and Israel quite well. It blunted the energies of Iran, diverting it from any serious attempts to export the revolution, or challenging American influence in the region. The Israeli gains were more substantial. With Egypt neutered at Camp David, and Iraq and Iran locked in a bloody war, Israel was free during the 1980s to do what it pleased. It expanded its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak, expelled the Palestinian fighters from Lebanon, and established a long-term occupation over much of Southern Lebanon. Israel was closer to its goal of commanding unchallenged power over the Middle East.

The end of the Cold War in 1990 offered a bigger opening to the United States and Israel. Freed from the Soviet check on their ambitions, and with Iran devastated by the war, the United States began working on plans to establish a military control over the region, in the style of earlier colonial empires. This happened quickly when, with American assurance of non-intervention in intra-Arab conflicts, Iraq invaded Kuwaiti in August 1990.

The US response was massive and swift. In January 1990, after assembling 600,000 allied troops in Saudi Arabia ­ about half of them American ­ it pushed Iraq out of Kuwait, and mounted massive air strikes against Iraq itself, destroying much of its industry, power-generating capacity and infrastructure. The US had now established a massive military beachhead in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. It established permanent military bases in Saudi Arabia, continued its economic sanctions against Iraq, created a Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of Iraq, and, together with Britain, continued to bomb Iraq on a nearly daily basis for the next thirteen years.

With the US beachhead in place, where did the real men in the US and Israel want to go next? There was no secrecy about their plans. At a minimum, the Neoconservatives in the US and their Likud allies in Israel wanted 'regime change' in Iraq, Syria and Iran. This would be delivered by covert action, air strikes, or invasion ­ whatever it took ­ to be mounted by the US military. Israel would stay out of these wars, ready to reap the benefits of their aftermath.

The Likud plans were more ambitious. They wanted to redraw the map of the Middle East, using ethnic, sectarian, and religious differences to carve up the existing states in the region into weak micro-states that could be easily bullied by Israel. This was the Kivunim plan first made public in 1982. It would give Israel a thousand years of dominance over the Middle East.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 were the 'catalyzing event' that put these plans into motion. The US wasted no time in seizing the moment. Instantly, President George Bush declared a global war against terrorism. The first target of this war was Afghanistan, but this was only a sideshow. On January 29, 2002, the President announced his initial targets for regime change: the 'axis of evil' that included Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

The plan was to invade and consolidate control over Iraq as a base for operations against Iran, Syria and perhaps Saudi Arabia. This sequencing was based on two assumptions: that the invasion of Iraq would be a cake-walk and American troops would be greeted as liberators. The US invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003 and Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003. It was indeed a cake-walk, and it appeared to television audiences that American troops were also being greeted as liberators. Understandably, the mood in Washington and Tel Aviv was triumphant. The US is unstoppable: it was time for real men now to go to Tehran.

Nearly three years after the Iraqi invasion, the real men are still stuck in Baghdad. Yes, there has been a great deal of talk about attacking Iran: plans in place for air strikes on Iran's revolutionary guards, on its nuclear installations and other WMD sites, and even talk of a ground invasion. There have been reports of spy flights over Iran and operations by special forces inside Iran. Israel too has been goading the US to strike, and if the US shrinks from this duty, threatening to go solo.

What has been holding back the real men in Washington and Tel Aviv? One reason of course is that the cake walk very quickly turned into a quagmire. The apparent Iraqi welcome was replaced by a growing and hardy insurgency, which has exacted a high toll on US plans for Iraq even though it was led mostly by Sunni Arabs. As a result, close to 150,000 US troops remain tied down in Iraq, with little prospect that they can be freed soon for action against Iran. Most Shi'ites aren't resisting the American occupation, but they are ready to take power in Iraq, and want the Americans to leave.

While the US cannot mount a full-scale invasion of Iran without a draft, it does possesses the capability ­ despite the Iraqi quagmire ­ to launch air and missile strikes at Iranian targets, using nuclear weapons to destroy underground weapon sites. On the other hand, despite its saber rattling, most analysts agree that Israel does not possess this capability on its own. Unlike Iraq, Iran has dispersed its nuclear assets to dozens of sites, some unknown. Then, why hasn't the US mounted air attacks against Iran yet? Or will it any time soon?

More and more, as the Americans have taken a more sober reckoning of Iran's political and military capabilities, they realize that Iran is not Iraq. When Osirak was attacked by Israel in June 1981, Iraq did nothing: it could do nothing. One thing is nearly certain: Iran will respond to any attack on its nuclear sites. Iran's nuclear program has the broadest public support: as a result, the Iranian Revolution would suffer a serious loss of prestige if it did nothing to punish the attacks. The question is: what can Iran do in retaliation?

Both the CIA and DIA have conducted war games to determine the consequences of an American air attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. According to Newsweek (September 27, 2004), "No one liked the outcome." According to an Air Force source, "The war games were unsuccessful at preventing the conflict from escalating." In December 2004, The Atlantic Monthly reported similar results for its own war game on this question. The architect of these games, Sam Gardner, concluded, "You have no military solution for the issues of Iran."

What is the damage Iran can inflict? Since preparations for any US strike could not be kept secret, Iran may choose to preempt such a strike. According to the participants in the Atlantic Monthly war game, Iran could attack American troops across the border in Iraq. In responding to these attacks, the US troops would become even more vulnerable to the Iraqi insurgency. One participant expressed the view that Iran "may decide that a bloody defeat for the United States, even if it means chaos in Iraq, is something they actually prefer." Iran could also join hands with al-Qaida to mount attacks on civilian targets within the US. If Iranian losses mount, Iran may launch missiles against Israel or decide to block the flow of oil from the Gulf, options not considered in the Atlantic Monthly war game.

What are the realistic options available to the US? It could drag Iran to the UN Security Council and, if Russia and China climb on board, pass a motion for limited economic sanctions. Most likely, the US will not be asking for an Iraq-style oil embargo. Not only would this roil the markets for oil, Iran will respond by ending inspections, and accelerate its uranium enrichment. If Iran is indeed pursuing a nuclear program, then it will, perhaps sooner rather than later, have its bomb. Once that happens, one Israeli official in the Newsweek report said, "Look at ways to make sure it's not the mullahs who have their finger on the trigger." But the US and Israel have been pursuing that option since 1979.

It would appear that US-Israeli power over the Middle East, which had been growing since World War II, may have finally run into an obstacle. And that obstacle is Iran, a country the CIA had returned to a despotic monarch in 1953. Paradoxically, this has happened when American dominance over the region appears to be at its peak; when its troops occupy a key Arab country; when it has Iran sandwiched between US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; and when it has trapped Iran inside a ring of US military bases running from Qatar, through Turkey and Tajikistan, to Pakistan.

Could it be that al-Qaida's gambit is beginning to pay off? It had hoped that the attacks of September 11 would provoke the US into invading the Islamic heartland. That the US did, but the mass upheaval al-Qaida had expected in the Arab streets did not materialize. Instead, it is Iran that has been the chief beneficiary of the US invasion. As a result, it is Iran that now possesses the leverage to oppose US-Israeli aims in the region. Al-Qaida had not planned on a Shi'ite country leading the Islamic world.

It is possible that the US, choosing to ignore the colossal risks, may yet launch air attacks against Iran. President Bush could be pushed into this by pressure from messianic Christians, by Neoconservatives, by Israelis, or by the illusion that he needs to do something bold and desperate to save his presidency. By refusing to wilt under US-Israeli threats, it appears that the Iranians too may be following al-Qaida's logic. We cannot tell if this is what motivates Iran. But that is where matters will go if the US decides to attack or invade Iran.

No one have yet remarked on some eerie parallels between the US determination to deepen its intervention in the Islamic world and Napoleons' relentless pursuit of the Russian forces, retreating, drawing them into the trap of the Russian winter. It would appear that the United States too is irretrievably committed to pursuing its Islamic foe to the finish, to keep moving forward even if this risks getting caught in a harsh Islamic winter. On the other hand, the Neoconservatives, the messianic Christians, and the Israelis are convinced that with their searing firepower, the US and Israel will succeed and plant a hundred pliant democracies in the Middle East. We will have to wait and see if these real men ever get to add Tehran to their next travel itinerary ­ or they have to give up the comforts of the Green Zone in Baghdad.

M. Shahid Alam teaches economics at a university in Boston. Some of his previous essays are available in a book, Is There An Islamic Problem (IBT Books, 2004). He may be reached at alqalam02760@yahoo.com.

© M. Shahid Alam

U.S. targeted-killings of al Qaeda suspects rising
Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:28 PM GMT

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence has increased its use of pilotless drone aircraft to target al Qaeda suspects along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border despite questions about the tactic's effectiveness, intelligence experts say.

Drones armed with Hellfire missiles and controlled by the CIA have been deployed at least five times since the September 11 attacks in deadly airstrikes against al Qaeda suspects in Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan, according to experts and media reports.

Three of the five incidents have occurred in the past eight months in Pakistan, including a January 13 attack that killed at least 18 people while targeting al Qaeda second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, in the remote Bajaur tribal region.

"Three in just slightly more than six months, versus two in the previous four years, has the makings of a trend," said John Pike, an intelligence specialist with GlobalSecurity.org.

"Looks like a possible cause for slight optimism," he added. "Or maybe we are killing a lot of innocent bystanders, and with the local reaction to Friday's hit, maybe we are recruiting evildoers faster than we are blowing them up."

The U.S. attack enraged many Pakistanis and sparked protests. The government of President Pervez Musharraf lodged a protest with U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker at the weekend.

Pakistani officials said Zawahri, the intended target, was not at the site despite U.S. expectations.

The CIA declined to comment. But a U.S. official played down any suggestion that Predator missile attacks were becoming a preferred tactic against al Qaeda.

"It's a question of when the intelligence comes together, when the intelligence is good enough," said the official, who asked not to be identified because drone operations are classified.

Friday's attack was the latest in a recent series of controversies to provoke global criticism of U.S. policies in its declared war on terrorism, following reports of CIA torture of detainees, secret CIA prisons in Europe and a domestic spying program that critics regard as illegal.

ZAWAHRI ASSOCIATES THOUGHT KILLED

But days later, U.S. and Pakistani officials said there was growing evidence that several of Zawahri's al Qaeda associates were killed in the attack.

U.S. sources said Washington would not have undertaken the airstrike without an OK from Pakistani officials, while experts dismissed Pakistan's angry public response.

"The protests were entirely to be expected," said Daniel Benjamin of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "The Pakistanis know the U.S., if it gets high-quality intelligence, is going to act."

Some interpreted Musharraf's reaction as a sign he was on board with the U.S. strategy. His initial response was only a passing reference to the airstrike during a speech near Islamabad.

"It's a sign he's willing to allow this to happen, and happen again," said Daniel Byman of the Brookings Institution.

Experts say the use of Predator drones by U.S. authorities including the military has grown exponentially since the start of the war in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Air Force drones have been credited with successes against insurgents in Iraq. Last September, a drone tracked and killed 11 insurgents who had attacked a U.S. base in Iraq.

But CIA Predators, which each carry two antitank missiles and can maintain video surveillance for 24-hours, have concentrated on the rugged terrain of South Asia where U.S. intelligence agents or special operations forces would likely encounter heavy armed resistance.

Current and former intelligence officials said Predator air strikes are usually supported by guidance from spies or the monitoring of the suspects' cellular and satellite phones, and are often co-ordinated with the U.S. military.

"It's a cleaner shot. There's a political price to be paid whenever you put boots on the ground. But this way there are no U.S. casualties," said a former intelligence official.



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Al Qaeda threatened Sweden over Afghanistan troops
Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:02 AM ET

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's security service warned in December that al Qaeda had threatened the country over over its peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan but said on Wednesday the alert was over.

The SAPO security service said the threat came after parliament backed plans to boost the country's contingent with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, a decision taken despite the killing of two Swedish peacekeepers there in November.

"We saw comments from al Qaeda that were directed against Sweden and we also received other information that constituted a heightened risk scenario," SAPO chief Klas Bergenstrand told Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

"They had a focus and direction against Sweden that we hadn't seen before and were coupled with a criticism of Sweden's participation in Afghanistan," he said.

The neutral Nordic nation opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and has not previously been the object of any known threats by Islamic fundamentalists, unlike its neighbors Denmark and Norway.

Sweden is not a NATO member, but has about 100 troops providing security for reconstruction work in Afghanistan, a force to be boosted to 375 personnel.

A SAPO spokesman said the information was the result of new coordination efforts between SAPO and military intelligence, who jointly provide the government with a threat assessment update every two weeks. He declined to give details about the current threat level but said the al Qaeda alert was now "historical".



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January 19, 2006
U.S. Raid Killed Qaeda Leaders, Pakistanis Say
By CARLOTTA GALL and DOUGLAS JEHL
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan. 18 - Two senior members of Al Qaeda and the son-in-law of its No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were among those killed in the American airstrikes in remote northeastern Pakistan last week, two Pakistani officials said here on Wednesday.

The bodies of the men have not been recovered, but the two officials said the Pakistani authorities had been able to establish through intelligence sources the names of three of those killed in the strikes, and maybe a fourth. Both of the officials have provided reliable information in the past, but neither would be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the news media.

American counterterrorism officials declined to say whether the four Qaeda members were in fact killed in the raid, or whether the men were among those who were the targets of it. But one American official said, "These are the kinds of people we would have expected to have been there."

If any or all were indeed killed, it would be a stinging blow to Al Qaeda's operations, said the American officials, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized by their agencies to speak for attribution. They said all four men named by the Pakistani officials were among the top level of Al Qaeda's inner circle of leadership.

The Pakistani officials agreed that the deaths would be a strong setback to Al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas, but acknowledged that hundreds of foreign militants might still be at large in the region.

The airstrikes, which killed 18 civilians, among them women and children, have caused anger across the country, particularly in the autonomous tribal regions, and led the government to condemn the intrusion by United States warplanes. Some officials and opposition politicians have accused the government of inventing the presence of foreign militants in the area to mitigate the political fallout. But Pakistani security officials have been consistent in their comments and appear increasingly confident of their information. American officials, while more cautious, have repeated much of the same information.

At least one of the men believed by the Pakistani officials to have been killed, an Egyptian known here as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is on the United States' most-wanted list with a $5 million reward for help in his capture. His real name is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 52, who according to the United States government Web site rewardsforjustice.net, was an expert in explosives and poisons.

Abu Khabab, the Web site says, operated the Qaeda camp at Darrunta, near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, and trained hundreds of fighters. He was responsible for putting together a training manual with recipes for crude chemical and biological weapons, the Web site says.

Among those Abu Khabab trained was Abu Zubaydah, Al Qaeda's No. 3 operative, who was captured in 2002 in the Pakistani town of Faisalabad, one of the Pakistani officials said.

Another Egyptian, known by the alias Abu Ubayda al-Misri, was also believed killed, the Pakistani officials said. He was the chief of insurgent operations in the southern Afghan province of Kunar, which borders Bajaur in Pakistan, the area where the airstrikes occurred, according to one of the Pakistani officials. As chief of operations, Abu Ubayda commanded attacks on American forces in his part of southern Afghanistan, and trained the insurgent groups active in the area. He also served as a liaison for senior Qaeda leaders, and provided logistics and security for the top Qaeda people in the region, the official said.

After the fall of the Taliban, Abu Ubayda moved to the Pakistani town of Shakai, in South Waziristan, but left the area when the Pakistani military mounted operations against the foreign militants there in February 2004, the officials said.

The third man believed to have been killed was a Moroccan, Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, who is the son-in-law of Mr. Zawahiri, the officials said. Mr. Maghrebi was in charge of Qaeda propaganda in the region, and may have been responsible for distributing a number of CD's showing the activities of Taliban and Qaeda fighters in southern Afghanistan in recent months.

A fourth man, Mustafa Osman, another Egyptian and an associate of Mr. Zawahiri's, may also have been killed, one Pakistani security official said. But he was less certain of his fate. There may have been one or two more foreign militants killed as well, he said.

One of the American officials said another senior Qaeda figure, identified as Khalid Habib, might have been at the site of the attack. His name was circulating among Pakistani officials as someone who might also have been killed, though again they were uncertain.

Mr. Habib is Al Qaeda's overall operational commander in Pakistan and Afghanistan, an important post, and would be the most significant of those who might have been at the site of the attack, which occurred in the village of Damadola, about 3:15 a.m. last Friday. After an initial investigation into the strike, Pakistani provincial authorities said in a statement on Tuesday that 10 to 12 foreign militants were believed to have been invited to a dinner in the village on the night of the Jan. 13 strike.

The target of the raid, American officials have said, was Al Qaeda's No. 2, Mr. Zawahiri, but they have acknowledged that he was not killed in the attack and Pakistani officials say that Mr. Zawahiri failed to show up for the dinner that night.

The statement from Pakistani provincial authorities said that four to five bodies were taken from the wreckage of the bombing quickly after the strikes, and secretly buried somewhere in the mountains.

One of the men who died with his family in the wreckage of his home, Bakhtpur Khan, was named by a Qaeda operative, Faraj al-Libi, as a sympathizer, one of the Pakistani officials said. Mr. Libi, who was captured in Pakistan last summer, told an interrogator that he had met Mr. Zawahiri in Mr. Khan's house in Damadola previously, the official said. It is unlikely that Mr. Zawahiri was in the house at the time of the bombing, because he would have been accompanied by a larger entourage, one of the Pakistani officials said. Villagers, many of whom are sympathetic to Taliban and Qaeda elements, continue to insist there were no foreign militants in the village at the time of the airstrikes.

Al Arabiya television reported that Mr. Zawahiri was alive, quoting a member of Al Qaeda, in the days after the strike. A news agency in Afghanistan, Pajhwok Afghan News, has also reported that a Qaeda member telephoned the agency to say that Mr. Zawahiri was safe.

The news agency identified the caller as Ahmad Solaiman, a Moroccan who serves as a spokesman for the group. In a dispatch Wednesday, the agency quoted him saying that "Mr. Zawahiri is alive. Reports about his death are false." An American counterterrorism official said the claim was being viewed with skepticism, because Al Qaeda usually chooses more mainstream outlets to issue public statements. A Pakistani security official said soon after the strikes that he was confident that Mr. Zawahiri had survived.

Mohammad Khan contributed reporting for this article.



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

Bin Laden says new US attacks prepared

Osama bin Laden warned that al Qaeda was preparing new attacks inside the United States, but said the group was open to a conditional truce with Americans, according to an audio tape attributed to him on Thursday.

"The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your houses as soon as they are complete, God willing," said the speaker on the audio tape, who sounded like bin Laden.

In the tape, broadcast by al Jazeera television, bin Laden said al Qaeda was willing to respond to public U.S. opinion in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"We have no objection to responding to this with a long term truce based on fair conditions."

It was not immediately known when the tape was recorded.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said U.S. intelligence was assessing the tape in an effort to determine its authenticity.

Bin Laden issued an audio tape in April 2004 in which he also offered a truce -- on that occasion to Europe, but not to the United States.

Analysts saw the move at the time as an attempt to drive a wedge between the United States and its allies and to scare wavering coalition members out of Iraq.

Bin Laden's last audio tape was in December 2004. The interval between then and now was by far his longest public silence since the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.




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Bin Laden offers Americans truce
Thursday 19 January 2006, 21:04 Makka Time, 18:04 GMT

In an audio tape broadcast on Aljazeera, Osama bin Laden has warned that al-Qaida is preparing an attack very soon, but also offers Americans a long-term truce.

The voice, attributed to Bin Laden and apparently addressing Americans, said: "The new operations of al-Qaida has not happened not because we could not penetrate the security measures. It is being prepared and you'll see it in your homeland very soon."

But the voice on the tape, which appeared to be aimed at the American public, also offered a truce: "We do not mind establishing a long-term truce between us and you."

The tape, broadcast by Aljazeera on Thursday evening but dated to December last year, comes after a year of silence from the al-Qaida leader.

"This message is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end those wars," it began.

"It was not my intention to talk to you about this, because those wars are definitely going our way.

"But what triggered my desire to talk to you is the continuous deliberate misinformation given by your President [George] Bush, when it comes to polls made in your home country which reveal that the majority of your people are willing to withdraw US forces from Iraq.

Americans want peace

"We know that the majority of your people want this war to end and opinion polls show the Americans do not want to fight the Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their [US] land.

"The new operations of al-Qaida has not happened not because we could not penetrate the security measures. It is being prepared and you'll see it in your homeland very soon"

Osama bin Laden

"But Bush does not want this and claims that it is better to fight his enemies on their land rather than on American land.

"Bush tried to ignore the polls that demanded that he end the war in Iraq.

"We are getting increasingly stronger while your situation is getting from bad to worse," he told the US, referring to poor US troop morale and the huge economic losses inflicted by the war.

"The war in Iraq is raging and the operations in Afghanistan are increasing."

Truce offer

"In response to the substance of the polls in the US, which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their land, we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to.

"We are a nation that Allah banned from lying and stabbing others in the back, hence both parties of the truce will enjoy stability and security to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by war.

"In response to the substance of the polls in the US, which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims ... we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to"

Bin Laden

"There is no problem in this solution, but it will prevent hundreds of billions from going to influential people and war lords in America - those who supported Bush's electoral campaign - and from this, we can understand Bush and his gang's insistence on continuing the war."

Addressing Americans again, he said: "If your desire for peace, stability and reconciliation was true, here we have given you the answer to your call."

US response

The White House said on Thursday that the US "does not negotiate with terrorists".

Bin Laden, who had not been heard of since a 27 December 2004 audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, as al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, also said his network was winning the war against the US.

"I would like to tell you that everything is going to our advantage and the number of your dead is increasing, according to Pentagon figures."

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's deputy, said in a September videotape that his leader was still alive and leading the jihad against the West.


Aljazeera

Fresh Threats for US From Bin Laden Los Angeles Times
Al-Jazeera today aired an audiotape from Osama bin Laden in which he makes fresh threats against the United States but also offers a long-term truce if unspecified "just" conditions are met. The White House said the intelligence community was analyzing the data and said the U.S. would never shrink from pursuing terrorists who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001. "We do not negotiate with terrorists," said presidential spokesman Scott McClellan. Later in the day, the CIA determined that the voice on a tape was that of Bin Laden, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed agency official. Earlier, while declining to address the question of whether the voice was that of the Al Qaeda leader, McClellan declared at his midday White House briefing that Bin Laden "was clearly on the run."
Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Makes Offer of Truce Muslim American Society
Bin Laden message: 'I'm still here.' Christian Science Monitor
TIME - CNN - FOX11AZ.com (subscription) - The American Prospect - all 947 related »

January 20, 2006
Bin Laden Warns of More Attacks; Proposes Truce
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 19 - Breaking more than a year's silence, Osama bin Laden warned Americans in an audiotape released on Thursday that Al Qaeda was planning more attacks on the United States, but he offered a "long truce" on undefined terms.

It was unclear when the recording, broadcast by the Arab satellite television station Al Jazeera, was made, but the Central Intelligence Agency verified its authenticity and said the station was probably right in saying that it dated from early December.

American officials said the release might have been timed to assure his followers that Mr. bin Laden was alive and well days after an American bombing of a house in a Pakistani village where senior Qaeda officials were said to have been killed.

In the tape, Mr. bin Laden addressed the American people directly, saying of his supporters, "Our situation is getting better while yours is getting worse."

"My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them," he began. "Bush said, 'It is better to fight them on their land than their fighting us on our land.' I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no letup, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favor."

He said the lack of Qaeda attacks in the United States since Sept. 11 was not related to improved security, and he pointed to terrorist attacks in Europe as evidence that his fighters could penetrate all such barriers.

As to what attacks Americans can expect, he said, "The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through, with God's permission."

Vice President Dick Cheney, asked by Fox News about the tape, said it now seemed likely that Mr. bin Laden, whom some had believed dead, was alive. But, the vice president said, Mr. bin Laden has clearly had trouble getting his message out and added, "We don't negotiate with terrorists."

"I think you have to destroy them," he said. "It's the only way to deal with them."

Mr. bin Laden offered the American people a vague truce, saying "both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan." Later in the statement he quotes from a book which calls for an end to what he termed "American interference in the nations of the world."

The statement noted that American opinion polls had shown the nation's desire to withdraw its troops from Iraq and its feeling that it is better that Americans "don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours."

Regarding an American withdrawal, he said, "There is no shame in this solution which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign."

Nearly all of the video and audiotapes attributed to Mr. bin Laden in the past have turned out to be authentic. His voice, this time, sounded somewhat more labored, lacking the energetic quality typical of earlier recordings. There was also a pronounced echo as if he had been inside a room, in contrast to previous recordings that seemed to have been made outdoors or in large spaces.

Like some of his other recordings, this one made reference to recent events, including in this case to a report in a British newspaper in November that President Bush wanted to bomb the headquarters of Al Jazeera in Qatar, a claim dismissed by both the American and British governments.

The bin Laden broadcast comes just days after the United States launched airstrikes on a Pakistani village aimed at Mr. bin Laden's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Mr. Zawahiri was not at the site, but two senior members of Al Qaeda and the son-in-law of Mr. Zawahiri were among those killed in the strikes in remote northeastern Pakistan, Pakistani officials said.

The attacks caused anger across Pakistan, particularly in the autonomous tribal regions, and led the government to condemn the intrusion.

Some analysts saw the message as a triumph for the leader of Al Qaeda. "The fact that he was able to record the message, deliver it and broadcast is in itself a victory for him," said Muhammad Salah, Cairo bureau chief for the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat and an expert on Islamist groups.

Mr. bin Laden typically chooses his timing and messages carefully to prove a point, Mr. Salah said. "He is playing on the American people's desire to get out of Iraq and the Islamic fundamentalist swamp," he said. "And he is telling Bush that 'I am winning and I am still there.' "

The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters that President Bush had been told about the tape on Thursday morning after an appearance in Virginia. Mr. McClellan said American intelligence agencies were trying to determine whether the tape provided clues about Al Qaeda's operations.

"If there is any actionable intelligence, we will act on it," Mr. McClellan said.

"We are winning," he said. "Clearly Al Qaeda and the terrorists are on the run, and that is why it is important that we do not let up, and do not stop, until the job is done."

Mr. McClellan added: "We continue to act on all fronts to win the war on terrorism, and we will. The president is fully committed to do everything within his power to prevent attacks, and to defeat the terrorists. We are taking the fight to the enemy, we are working to advance freedom and democracy, to defeat their evil ideology."

Mr. bin Laden's message said his followers were not afraid of further American attacks because "a swimmer in the ocean does not fear the rain," but he promised the same treatment for Americans as they had given others.

"This says the man is still very much in action," said Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, a security research firm in Dubai. "He's saying the war is still on, and he's talking about ongoing plans for operations and strikes elsewhere. He's also mentioning recent events to give authenticity to the recording that it is recent and he is keeping up to date with developments."

Mr. bin Laden was last heard from in an audio recording in December 2004, in which he called for Iraqis to boycott the elections in January 2005. That broadcast prompted President Bush to take the unusual step of responding to the message, declaring that the call by Mr. bin Laden made the stakes in the Iraqi elections clear.

Abeer Allam contributed reporting from Cairo for this article, and DouglasJehl from Washington.



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

Full Text of Bin Laden Tape

Bin Laden appears to be addressing the American people:

By The Associated Press

My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11615.htm

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In a new audiotape, Osama bin Laden warns Americans that plans for an attack in the United States are underway. The White House: We do not negotiate with terrorists, we put them out of business

January 19, 2006, 6:12 PM (GMT+02:00)

In a poor-quality tape aired by al Jazeera Arabic TV Thursday, Jan 19, he says: We have seen explosions in many European countries. As for similar operations in America, they are only a question of time. They are under way and you will hear about them soon. An anonymous CIA official believes the voice on the tape is Osama bin Laden’s.

The al Qaeda leader – not heard on tape for more than a year - says the reason there have been no attacks in America since Sept. 11, 2001 is not because of heightened security but because “there are operations that need preparations.”

“We do not mind offering you a long-term truce with fair conditions,” he goes on to say. “…So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce to build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.

Al Jazeera’s editor-in-chief, Ahmed al-Shbeik, did not say when the tape was received. He said excerpts considered newsworthy were aired of the 10-minute tape which appeared to have been made as recently as December, 2005.

Copyright 2000-2006 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.

Full Text of Bin Laden Tape Addressing the American People

Full Text of Bin Laden Tape

By The Associated Press , 01.19.2006, 05:00 PM

The following is the full text of a new audiotape from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Parts of the tape were aired on Al-Jazeera television, which published the entire version on its Web site. The text was translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press.

Bin Laden appears to be addressing the American people:

My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.

But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But he (Bush) has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them (bin Laden's followers) on their land than they fighting us (Americans) on our land.

I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let-up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favor, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses, the destruction of the soldiers' morale there and the rise in cases of suicide among them. So you can imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts a soldier as he gathers the remains of his colleagues after they stepped on land mines that tore them apart. After this situation the soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines. This puts him under psychological pressure, fear and humiliation while his nation is ignorant of that (what is going on). The soldier has no solution except to commit suicide. That is a strong message to you, written by his soul, blood and pain, to save what can be saved from this hell. The solution is in your hands if you care about them (the soldiers).

The news of our brothers mujahideen (holy warriors) is different from what the Pentagon publishes. They (the news of mujahideen) and what the media report is the truth of what is happening on the ground. And what deepens the doubt over the White House's information is the fact that it targets the media reporting the truth from the ground. And it has appeared lately, supported by documents, that the butcher of freedom in the world (Bush) had decided to bomb the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera in Qatar after bombing its offices in Kabul and Baghdad.

On another issue, jihad (holy war) is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S Army and its agents (which is) to a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam's criminality, as it has reached the degree of raping women and taking them as hostages instead of their husbands.

As for torturing men, they have used burning chemical acids and drills on their joints. And when they give up on (interrogating) them, they sometimes use the drills on their heads until they die. Read, if you will, the reports of the horrors in Abu Gharib and Guantanamo prisons.

And I say that, despite all the barbaric methods, they have not broken the fierceness of the resistance. The mujahideen, thank God, are increasing in number and strength - so much so that reports point to the ultimate failure and defeat of the unlucky quartet of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Declaring this defeat is just a matter of time, depending partly on how much the American people know of the size of this tragedy. The sensible people realize that Bush does not have a plan to make his alleged victory in Iraq come true.

And if you compare the small number of the dead on the day that Bush announced the end of major operations in that fake, ridiculous show aboard the aircraft carrier with the tenfold number of dead and wounded who were killed in the smaller operations, you would know the truth of what I say. This is that Bush and his administration do not have the will or the ability to get out of Iraq for their own private, suspect reasons.

And so to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible, and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as he