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| India-Pakistan |
| Al-Qaeda in complete control of Waziristan other than Wana, Miramshah |
| 2006-01-25 |
| As a side note, I've recently received some independent corroboration of the basic gist of this. The propaganda videos of hundreds or possibly thousands of jihadis openly training (looks like a cross between the Hosts of Mordor in Lord of the Rings with black flags and all and the thousands upon thousands of stormtroopers in Attack of the Clones) are now too extensive to just shrug off as bluster. This pisses me off to no end too, since we didn't destroy their training camps in Afghanistan just so they could set them up all over again. The longer those camps are active, the longer the war is going to go on. The release of a new audio tape featuring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden marks the group's announcement that the new strategy it has been developing is now very much in place. The tape, the first from bin Laden in more than a year, was aired on Thursday by the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel. It appeared to have been made in early December, US intelligence officials said. In the tape, bin Laden warned that al-Qaeda was preparing terrorist attacks on the United States: "Operations are in preparation, and you will see them on your own [US] ground once the preparations are finished." Since the ouster in 2001 of the Taliban from Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda had a strong base, and with the ongoing "war on terror", al-Qaeda has lost hundreds of operatives through killings and arrest. By the end of 2003, the organization was in the doldrums and its cadre infested with spies. As a result, the organization as it had been run was practically dismantled. Its vertical, centralized structure was abolished and its various groups and cells - apart from a few - were abandoned and allowed to scatter. Bin Laden, in the meantime, went low-key. The US attack on Iraq then provided al-Qaeda with a trump card as it was able to reactivate members and sympathizers in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Morocco and beyond. * In fact the success of the Iraqi resistance, in which al-Qaeda is a component, figured significantly in the thinking of al-Qaeda's leadership to relaunch the group as an open organization to pitch a worldwide battle against US interests. Serious debate on this new direction began in 2004, with two main issues prominent: Should al-Qaeda drop its shadowy nature and call for a jihad in the open against the United States? * Should the "war" be exclusively against the US, or also against Muslim regimes sympathetic to the US? These issues were later linked with two conditions: * The acquisition of bases to launch a war in the open. * The reorganization of sympathizers and new recruits to launch a worldwide battle. At this time, al-Qaeda decided to defer its war against Muslim regimes until a clear-cut victory was gained in Iraq. Bin Laden has always resisted taking the fight to these countries. Throughout 2005 al-Qaeda underwent extensive changes to prepare itself for major operations. Information gathered by Asia Times Online from various sources suggests that though al-Qaeda is now working on a horizontal structure, some top-level decision-making bodies have been revived to discuss key issues and to communicate decisions to other levels. These include a religious committee and an al-Qaeda council. First the council addresses issues and then passes its decisions to the religious committee, which reviews the religious implications of the decisions. It then gives the final approval, or not. A special committee coordinates matters worldwide with other organizations, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Ansar al-Sunna and other Iraqi resistance groups. Al-Qaeda has now achieved many of its targets, including the acquisition of various bases in the shape of small pockets. The leadership has safe havens in areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, including Khost-North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Kunar-Chitral and Kunar-Bajur. The areas in the South and North Waziristan tribal areas are the most significant as the Pakistan government has virtually lost its writ there. According to credible information, there is very little room left for Pakistani security agencies to move around beyond South Waziristan's headquarters, Wana, and North Waziristan's headquarters, Miramshah. Pro-Taliban militants rule the roost here, and even local journalists cannot file stories without the prior approval of these militants. Other journalists simply are not allowed into the area. As a result, very little information filters out from North and South Waziristan. Nonetheless, contacts in various jihadi organizations suggest that both North and South Waziristan have become hubs for all jihadi activities. Hundreds of youths previously belonging to such organizations as the Laskhar-i-Toiba, Jaish-i-Mohammed, Harkat-i-Jihadi-i-Islami, Harkatul Mujahideen etc, left for bases in South and North Waziristan. Here they receive fresh jihadi orientation, including both military and ideological training, and after a few months they are launched into Afghanistan. Their numbers run into the thousands. The acquisition of these bases and fresh recruits are the prime successes of al-Qaeda as it prepares to wage its new battle. Bin Laden's appearance confirms this to his followers. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #25 funny thread, wait till i tell AL. |
| Posted by: Max Planck 2006-01-25 23:41 |
| #24 Inspector Clueso I've been wanting to invest in them for years but their stock doesn't perform. I am curious what the problem is. Maybe it is demoing in places not in Echelon. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-01-25 23:27 |
| #23 I agree wx....5 minutes of ammo is a bit expensive. |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-01-25 21:52 |
| #22 I don't quite get this. they're testing in Singapor ? I would feel better if only America and it's closest allies ever saw this gun. More reason to focus on small unit warfare. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-25 21:41 |
| #21 MOAB test? Lets try this one: http://upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060120-070112-5273r |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-01-25 20:33 |
| #20 Is it true that the AB of C is taking George Galloways place in the house? |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-25 20:21 |
| #19 Don't you think it's about time we field tested the MOAB? |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-01-25 20:18 |
| #18 Got tossed from the pub for being a wanker. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2006-01-25 20:02 |
| #17 Right, Lambeth Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury just got a Dell, dude! |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-01-25 19:51 |
| #16 Lambeth Palace? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-01-25 19:46 |
| #15 We are just keeping the Paki/Islamic nukes on a leash until we can deal with them. Perhaps we can decapitate Iran, glass over Waziristan, and destroy the Paki/Islamic nukes all in one massive attack. A three-fer, while only riling the Arab Street(TM) once. Useful for reducing our nuke stockpile a little bit too. Then we can have a "Bush Doctrine" -- no Islamic nukes anywhere, ever. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-01-25 19:25 |
| #14 Hey, if these wankers are massing in storm troop parade rank and file formations, bring in a few mini-gun choppers and toss some raw hamburger around. Pakistan is one of our very worst enemies. So long as they continue to drag their heels on just about every critical topic under the sun, their sh!thole country is our private shooting range. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-01-25 19:13 |
| #13 Thrimble Glith4421 IP Location: GB(GB) United Kingdom, Lambeth, H1 One of London's more illustrious citizens, I see. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-01-25 18:47 |
| #12 Heh, 6. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-25 16:00 |
| #11 Now Thimble you forgotten most of the rest of the story - please include.... The war is about: (please pick iv for your next post) a) oil 2) profits iii) Haliburton d) tax cuts for the wealthy 5) vi) Enron's homeless g) faith based protestant insanity 8) Skull and Bones again |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-25 15:54 |
| #10 America's Pacific Island-hopping Campaign was an excellent training ground for Japanese Banzai charges. Fucking Roosevelt & Truman. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-25 15:15 |
| #9 Hey Thimble Glitch, Please stop repeating urban legends that were debunked several years ago. The CIA never gave any money to Bin Laden, largely because his anti-American views were known even then. The money he got was stickly from private Saudi donations -not part of the joint CIA-Saudi project. As for Iraq, these guys are not living long enough to be a problem. They last only a few weeks before the become "human DNA" or deserting and coming home complaining about lousy working conditions. The Europeans keep complaining about Super-terrorists coming back from Iraq, but nobody can point to a living breathing example. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-01-25 15:10 |
| #8 I enjoy reading the Asia Times almost daily. For the same reason I enjoyed watching Bagdad Bob during the Iraq Invasion of Bagdad. |
| Posted by: junkirony 2006-01-25 15:09 |
| #7 LOL, TG! I'd recommend a course in Crticial Thinking, but I'd bet the prerequisites would make that a non-starter. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-25 15:06 |
| #6 George Bush has already given the militants the best training ground they could have wished for. Its called Iraq. Nice one George. That ranks alongside your father giving Bin Laden training and money to fight a non existent communist threat. |
| Posted by: Thrimble Glith4421 2006-01-25 14:53 |
| #5 Reminds me of a passage on the battle of Gallipoli. The Ozzies were shooting up a Turkish attack as each man climbed to the top of the trench across No Mans Land. It dawned on the Ozzies to let them all get up first, allowing the Turkish officers to act as beaters making sure each formation was in place. The Ozzies would then cut them all down, except for the officers who'd provide another assemblage for butchery. Let them mass. Watch their behaviors. Set up a good kill zone. |
| Posted by: Angineng Whomonter7804 2006-01-25 10:25 |
| #4 This article is probably painted pro al Qaeda, so believe only half of it. They seem to be stepping up activities in Afghanistan, so I believe they do have renewed training, but nothing a few well placed snipers can't reduce. I doubt they have enough concentration to waste a bomb on. Don't forget, we have drones watching, so our side knows the facts on AQ. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-25 09:28 |
| #3 I'm not saying this article is wrong, but Asia Times is a notoriously anti-US publication which tends to hype the capabilities of the jihadi forces. A week before the Taliban fell they were boasting about how fucked up US military strategy in Afghanistan was. |
| Posted by: Apostate 2006-01-25 06:31 |
| #2 This pisses me off to no end too, since we didn't destroy their training camps in Afghanistan just so they could set them up all over again. The longer those camps are active, the longer the war is going to go on. Time for Pappy's B-52 boxes then. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-01-25 03:23 |
| #1 All this has been done with the complicity of Pakistan. What the hell is Bush going to Pakistan for? |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2006-01-25 03:10 |