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| Terror Networks |
| U.S. Says Omar Still in Afghanistan |
| 2002-07-24 |
| Al Qaeda's leaders have all but abandoned their former stronghold of Afghanistan, leaving Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and his followers to deal with the U.S. forces hunting them, Bush administration officials say. We knew that... Many of Al Qaeda's surviving leaders relocated to Pakistan, and others went elsewhere in the world, officials said Tuesday. Knew that, too... Osama bin Laden remains a mystery. The U.S. government does not know whether he is alive or dead and has little evidence suggesting either possibility. Yup. Don't know anything more than we do... About a dozen of bin Laden's chief lieutenants have been killed or captured, but more than half have escaped. Officials have identified between 15 and 20 more as their ''most wanted'' members of the group's leadership who are still at large. Most of the recent captures of Al Qaeda figures have been outside of Afghanistan. In recent months, U.S. officials acknowledged the capture of two: operations chief Abu Zubaydah in March in Pakistan, and operational planner Abu Zubair al-Haili in June in Morocco. Zubaydah was also Binny's designated successor. If Binny's toes-up, we've got the head of the organization in custody... Most of the leadership has been maintaining a low profile to avoid detection. U.S. counterterrorism officials say chief among their most wanted Al Qaeda are top bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, financial chief Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif and operational planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and the April 11 bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia. Nothing really new here — just summing up what we already know. It's probably time to start bearing down on the search for Zawahiri, though. He and Suleiman Abu Gheith are the last of the real al-Qaeda Bigs... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |