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| Terror Networks | |||||||||
| Regional terror groups seen as growing threat | |||||||||
| 2004-02-07 | |||||||||
| The landscape of the terrorist threat has shifted, many intelligence officials around the world say, with more than a dozen regional militant Islamic groups showing signs of growing strength and broader ambitions, even as the operational power of Al Qaeda appears diminished. That’s because they’re all part of Binny’s International Front. Since al-Qaeda has been hit hard over the last couple of years, the group is now having its affiliates fold back into the core in order to strengthen it, hence the merger last fall between al-Qaeda, the GSPC, and the Yemeni groups. Some of the militant groups, with roots from Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus to North Africa and Europe, are believed to be loosely affiliated with Al Qaeda. But others follow their own agenda, merely drawing inspiration from Osama bin Laden’s periodic taped messages calling for attacks against the United States and its allies. Yet the money flows in from the same source, as does most of the training and leadership. It’s more or less the subsidiary principle taken to a whole new level. The smaller groups have shown resilience in resisting the efforts against terrorism led by the United States, officials said, by establishing terrorist training camps in Kashmir, the Philippines and West Africa, filling the void left by the destruction of Al Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan. But what is also worrisome to counterterrorism officials is evidence that, like Al Qaeda, some of them are setting their sights beyond the regional causes that inspired them. We already knew about the camps in Kashmir and Mindanao. West Africa is a new one for me, I’m guessing that it refers to the al-Qaeda/GSPC bases in the Algerian Sahara or else to operations that were set up in Liberia or Burkina Faso. Northern Nigeria is also a definite possibility. The Islamic militant organization, Ansar al-Islam, for example, has largely fled its base in northern Iraq and elements of the group have moved to several European countries where they are believed to be actively recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq and Europe, officials said. That’s because the Ansar are little more than an arrow in the quiver of al-Tawhid, which is run by Zarqawi, who works for Binny. It’s really not all that complicated ... The mutation of the cells was illustrated last October when the authorities in Australia arrested a Caribbean-born French citizen who they believe was sent by a little-known Pakistani group to scout possible targets for attacks. The group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was previously thought to be focused only on the struggle of Muslims in Kashmir. The LeT has been sending jihadis abroad to fight in Chechnya and Mindanao for years. This was just the first time that they started targeting Australia, here again at the behest of al-Qaeda. There’s been some speculation that the LeT is being used by al-Qaeda to fill the role of being the public face of the International Front while the latter remains underground. The activity of such organizations is one reason intelligence officials believe that the threat of terrorism against the United States and its allies remains high. But the mobility and murky associations of the groups, most of which were operating before the Sept. 11 attacks, makes it difficult for agents to monitor their communications or follow their money. "They are like little time bombs that have been sent out into the world," said Gwen McClure, an F.B.I. agent and the director of counterterrorism at Interpol, the international police organization based in Lyon, France. "You never know where it might go off."
That situation changes dramatically if he’s staying at an IRGC military base with Ayman though, don’t it? The officials said their view of Al Qaeda had changed. The terror network today is different from the Qaeda that existed before Sept. 11; a "credible argument can be made that it’s finished," said a senior Australian official. "However," he added, "to talk about it being finished is to ignore what it is." He said it was more accurate to see it as a movement of individuals who view the United States and the West as the enemy. "Every day around the world, we are discovering Al Qaeda members and cells previously unknown," he said.
The evidence would seem to suggest otherwise. They point to the May 12 suicide bombings of three Western housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 25 residents, including 8 Americans. Four days later, in Casablanca, suicide bombers carried out five simultaneous attacks, killing more than 30 people. The Riyadh bombings were ordered by Saif al-Adel and Zarqawi likewise called in for the attack in Casablanca. How is that not direct contact? In both cases local groups, with loose ties to Al Qaeda, carried out the attacks. While investigators have not found solid evidence that the attacks were coordinated, "we don’t believe it was mere coincidence," a senior European intelligence official said. Skipping through what we already know about Brigitte ... But the most unusual part of the case is that the authorities believe that Mr. Brigitte was a low-ranking member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani group that was formed a decade ago with help from Pakistan’s intelligence service to fight against India in Kashmir. The group was not known to have operations outside that region. Before the Taliban were driven from power, Lashkar-e-Taiba trained its men at camps in Afghanistan alongside Qaeda camps. Even though the group was banned by Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, it continues to exist with training camps in Kashmir, officials said. A minor detail, no doubt ...
I’m not exactly sure why it’s so shocking that Brigitte would have triple membership in al-Qaeda, LeT, and JI. I can be a member of multiple departments in a corporation too ... Skipping past a primer on JI ... Still, counterterrorism officials in the region say the group is recruiting and reorganizing and training men in the Philippines. It has a dedicated cadre and access to large caches of explosives, which make it a continuing serious threat. It may also be switching tactics, to the assassination of important Westerners and the use of bicycles for suicide attacks, a senior Indonesian intelligence officer said recently. Skipping past a primer on Ansar al-Islam ... The blurring of boundaries is also the case in Algeria, where the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, better known by its initials as the G.S.P.C., is growing more powerful and expanding its geographical operations. A year ago, G.S.P.C. kidnapped a group of European tourists, including nine Germans. The hostages were released after the German government paid a ransom of more than $1 million. The money has allowed the group to buy weapons, including sophisticated antiaircraft missiles.
The GSPC is also, by the word of their own leader, part of Binny’s shadow army. I’m still trying to figure out the level of resistance for recognizing the terror machine for what it is ... | |||||||||
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 believe was sent by a little-known Pakistani group to scout possible targets for attacks I'm sure Lashkar-e-Taiba will be better known soon enough. Unlike Al Qaeda, LeT has been able to expand their infrastructure for the past decade without any arrests to disrupt them, apart from the commanders killed off in Kashmir. But due to their transnational nature, if nothing else, I think LeT has to rank in the top tier of terrorist organisation, with Al Qaeda, Hezballah, al Tawhid and JI. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-2-7 6:58:05 PM |