Top al-Qaeda leader captured

[Nostromo]

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Arrian
Yay.

No word yet on whether he was #2?

-Arrian

[Jaakko]

Re: Top al-Qaeda leader captured

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Hopefully the CIA can catch enough of these guys so that Iraq doesn't go completely to **** when the Yanks pull out...

I hate to break it to you Drake, but al-Qaida in Iraq is just a minor symptom of the US occupation. The civil war is a full fledged shiite-sunni fight, with each side's militias/death squads/truck bombers doing most of the killing.

[Drake Tungsten]

I hate to break it to you Drake, but al-Qaida in Iraq is just a minor symptom of the US occupation. The civil war is a full fledged shiite-sunni fight, with each side's militias/death squads/truck bombers doing most of the killing.

Portions of Iraq turning into a new stronghold for al Qaeda is worse for the West than an Iraqi civil war. Stopping the former is a good thing even if we can't stop the latter...

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Capturing Al Gayda Top Man

Oops looks like we only caught #2.

[Drake Tungsten]

Wow; al-Iraqi was the mastermind of the 7/7 attacks. This is an even bigger catch for the Americans than I had initially thought...

7/7 ‘mastermind’ is seized in Iraq

The al-Qaeda leader who is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain has been captured by the Americans.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the “high-value detainee programme� at Guantanamo Bay.

Abd al-Hadi was taken into CIA custody last year, it emerged from US intelligence sources yesterday, in a move which suggests that he was interrogated for months in a “ghost prison� before being transferred to the internment camp in Cuba.

Abd al-Hadi, 45, was regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s most experienced, most intelligent and most ruthless commanders. Senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times that he was the man who, in 2003, identified Britain as the key battleground for exporting al-Qaeda’s holy war to Europe.

Abd al-Hadi recognised the potential for turning young Muslim radicals from Britain who wanted to become mujahidin in Afghanistan or Iraq into terrorists who could carry out attacks in their home country. He realised that their knowledge of Britain, possession of British passports and natural command of English made them ideal recruits. After al-Qaeda restructured its operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas he sought out young Britons for instruction at training camps. In late 2004 Abd al-Hadi met Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, from Leeds, at a militant camp in Pakistan and, in the words of a senior investigator, “retasked them� to become suicide bombers.

They were sent back to Britain where they led the terrorist cell that carried out the 7/7 bombings, killing 52 Tube and bus passengers.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that Abd al-Hadi was also in contact with Rachid Rauf, a Birmingham man now in prison in Pakistan and alleged to be a key figure in last summer’s alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight.

Abd al-Hadi has also been linked to a number of other foiled al-Qaeda plots to carry out attacks in Britain. But the Security Service, which has previously sent officials to question detainees at Guantanamo Bay, may not have the opportunity to question him directly.

The Government’s recently adopted position in favour of closing Guantanamo Bay is likely to act as a bar on agents travelling there. British Intelligence would have to rely on relaying questions it would like asked by American interrogator

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1717571.ece

I bet British Intelligence is pissed that they won't get a chance to interrogate this guy, but that's the price you pay for whining about Guantanamo...

[Ramo]

The Saudis just thwarted a pretty huge attack

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/28/saudi_arabia_arrests_172_in_alleged_plot/

[Drake Tungsten]

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Asmodean
... As long as they have Bin Laden's money and a willing pool of recruits, Al Qaeda is still as strong as ever....

Like Ramo said: The Saudi's just broke up a huge al Qaeda cell, nabbed 150 suspects and $5,000,000

[Zkribbler]

From that article:

[quote:]
...Even bin Laden was repulsed by reports of his vicious temper and gratuitous cruelty...

Hard to imagine, eh?

-Arrian
[/quote]

Not really. Bin Ladin is a religious fanatic. While he's perfectingly willing to kill thousands and even millions of people to advance his cause, he would abhor a vicious temper and gratuitous cruelty that didn't advance his cause. Such vile actions are just...just...just unholy.

[Ned]

Iranian involvement in this is puzzling. It appears they may be backing both sides in the Iraqi civil war.

As I have said in other threads, we can't deal with Iraq unless we deal with Iran (and Syria). So long as bordering nations are funding/supplying the resistance, we have no hope of winning.

Since we cannot deal with Iran and Syria because we don't have the power to do so and further because the American people would not support it, we need to give up the idea of victory in Iraq and act accordingly.

Alternatively, we need to get serious about this. But that poltically could only be undertaken by a new, Democrat, administration as no Republican administration would have any credibility or international support for a war on Syria and/or Iran, I'm afraid. Bush has really screwed the Republic and the Republican Party for some time.

[Drake Tungsten]

It appears they may be backing both sides in the Iraqi civil war.

They are.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

I hate to break it to you Drake, but al-Qaida in Iraq is just a minor symptom of the US occupation. The civil war is a full fledged shiite-sunni fight, with each side's militias/death squads/truck bombers doing most of the killing.

Portions of Iraq turning into a new stronghold for al Qaeda is worse for the West than an Iraqi civil war. Stopping the former is a good thing even if we can't stop the latter...

Yes but we know it's all about the oil. That's why we don't want a civil war. We don't want disruptions in the oil supply. This is why we are still there.

[Ned]

Dis, I would say its not about the oil supply so much as it is about the oil revenues. We don't want that to fall into hostile hands.

[Dis]

all I know is I'm paying $3 a gallon for gas now.