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| Terror Networks |
| Clarke believes Binny, Ayman, and Zark coordinated release of messages |
| 2006-04-30 |
| For the first time ever, the world now has heard from three of the world's top terrorists in one week, leaving analysts wondering if it's a coincidence — or a coordinated message. It began Sunday, when the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera aired an audiotape of Osama bin Laden. Two days later, a video from his top man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, appeared on an Arabic Web site. Now, wearing the black headdress of an Arab warrior, al Qaeda's second in command boasts on an Internet video that his fighters in Iraq have conducted 800 suicide missions since the war began. That, Ayman al-Zawahiri claims, has broken the back of America. "His message is not only to the America people, but to his own supporters telling them that they are winning, telling them that they should hang in there," says Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism director who is now an ABC News consultant. None of the communiqués threatens an attack on the United States, but Clarke notes that each encourages Muslims to help drive American forces out of Iraq. Clarke believes al Qaeda's leaders may be losing influence. "I think for at least bin Laden and for his deputy Zawahiri, they have been reduced to commentating on events in the Islamic world," Clarke said. "They have almost become terrorist bloggers, rather than terrorists' commanders." Clarke also thinks it is more than coincidence these tapes surfaced just days before the third anniversary of President Bush's trip to the U.S.S. Lincoln, when the president spoke of an end to combat operations in Iraq in front of a banner declaring, "Mission Accomplished." With the U.S. death toll in Iraq now topping 2,400 and the State Department reporting terrorist attacks there have nearly doubled, the mission is far from accomplished, and al Qaeda likely is trying to remind Americans of that. In Bush's radio address today, responding to Zarqawi's taped taunts, the president said terrorists feel threatened by the newly-formed Iraqi government. "The enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow in recent days," Bush said, "and we have taken great strides on the march to victory." The White House says the tapes show al Qaeda's leadership is under pressure and on the run. But they also clearly show that more than four years after the war on terror began, the world's three most wanted terrorists remain alive and seemingly well. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Payment in kind. Binny, Ayman, and Zark to give video endorsements for the Democrats' 2008 candidate for President. |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-04-30 22:06 |
| #5 Well all three definitely coordinated their talking points with the Clark/Murtha/Zinni consulting group. Hope the fees were satisfactory. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-04-30 15:46 |
| #4 Clarke is living proof that there are plenty of career opportunities for you with the MSM if you were an incompetent at your job in the White House and are critical of the Bush administration. |
| Posted by: WTF! 2006-04-30 09:31 |
| #3 It's almost like the three have matching Blackberries. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-04-30 09:30 |
| #2 Sharp as a marble, Mr. Clarke is.......... |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2006-04-30 09:25 |
| #1 Clarke believes Binny, Ayman, and Zark coordinated release of messages "They have almost become |
| Posted by: RD 2006-04-30 03:52 |