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| Southeast Asia |
| Whatever happened to Hambali? |
| 2002-10-19 |
| Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil said Abu Bakar Bashir, was linked to al-Qaida and that his right-hand man, known as Hambali, was behind many of the country's terrorist bombings. Matori stopped short of accusing Bashir of organizing the Bali attack, but said that it was logical to believe that Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, helped orchestrate them and that Bashir knew about it. The two men are accused of being leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's biggest ally in Southeast Asia. Hambali's kind of the Tom Hagen to Abu's Don Corleone... Hambali is one of the region's most-wanted figures. He is accused of arranging a meeting of two of the Sept. 11 hijackers with other al-Qaida figures in Malaysia in January 2000 and was behind an alleged plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy and other Western targets in Singapore. "Al-Qaida and its internal network is behind this Bali bomb blast," Matori told a news conference in Bali, a week after bombs tore through a nightclub district and killed at least 183 people and injured more than 300, mostly foreign tourists. "A lot of information and the progress of our intelligence work confirm that Hambali is Abu Bakar Bashir's vice chairman," Matori said. "Hambali is a terrorist from Indonesia. He's always been mentioned by those who did bombings in the past as their commander." That way Hambali can take the heat and Abu can continue being a holy man. Once Abu's in charge, with a jewelled turban, it can be discovered that it was all infidel lies and Hambali can be Grand Vizier... "It is illogical if Abu Bakar Bashir says that he doesn't know about the bombings in Indonesia," Matori said. This is Indonesia we're talking about. Where does logic come in? Bashir, 64, hospitalized since Friday with breathing problems, is under police guard at the main hospital in his hometown of Solo in the western part of Indonesia's main island of Java. Saturday afternoon, authorities sent police doctors to Solo to determine if Bashir is healthy enough to travel to Jakarta. "The police don't believe he is sick," said National Police spokesman Gen. Saleh Saaf. "He might be pretending." But... But... He has a note from his Mom! I'm so surprised! |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |