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| Terror Networks |
| Al-Qaeda strategy is cause for alert |
| 2004-08-05 |
| They scouted the streets. They took photographs. They wrote detailed surveillance reports. And then, after five years of patiently waiting, Al Qaeda operatives carried out the devastating suicide truck bombing at the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 1998, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands. This meticulous approach to terrorism - studying targets and fine-tuning strategies for years before an attack - is in part why officials in Washington say they are so alarmed about the latest evidence of reconnaissance of financial centers in New York, New Jersey and Washington, even though much of the information dates back to the days before Sept. 11, 2001. The same studied technique has been central to the most well-known Qaeda attacks, be they in Africa or the United States. Plots that were carried out and failed, and even plots that were considered but abandoned, like a possible attack on the Brooklyn Bridge last year, each demonstrate this same obsession. It is Al Qaeda's hallmark. "Al Qaeda will wait years to act and decades to succeed," Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who has been investigating Osama bin Laden for about a decade, told the 9/11 commission this summer. Investigators also know that even after extensively considering and then dismissing a possible target, the terrorists have simply switched their focus to another location, which may explain the intense precautions imposed around the Capitol this week, even though it is not publicly known whether it was among the buildings that were subjected to surveillance. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #11 Badanov, In Saudi, where does the gov't purse end and the private princely purses begin? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-08-05 5:51:00 PM |
| #10 C'mon Badanov, what about the Saudi princes? At least some of them have been funding AQ for years. There's been speculation here that their local terrorists are proxies for family in-fighting over the throne and the future direction of Saudi society I was speaking primarily of governmental funding. Individuals probably do send money to Al Qaeda, but hostile foreign governments can provide the alpha and omega of everything terrorists need to kill lots of Westerners: money, intel, journalism, epsionage, etc. That's a pretty tall order ex-shepards with their pockets stuffed full of petrodollars can't hope to accomplish. But governments can. I don't mean to excuse crappy behavior from any quarter with my remarks. I just wanted to state my belief that Iran has been the geographical center of terrorism since 1979, and it is time to deal with this very real threat. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-08-05 4:31:42 PM |
| #9 I think Frank J of IMAO said it best: "All I know is that I want low taxes and dead foreigners." |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-05 4:11:05 PM |
| #8 C'mon Badanov, what about the Saudi princes? At least some of them have been funding AQ for years. There's been speculation here that their local terrorists are proxies for family in-fighting over the throne and the future direction of Saudi society. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-08-05 2:35:08 PM |
| #7 badanov -- Why does it have to be a single government? Doesn't have to be, I guess. But the Iranians are up as the next domino to fall with their growing nuclear threat and the rather obvious hostile rhetoric in recent months. If you have other notions on whom may be funding these f*ckers, I'd like to hear them. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-08-05 2:10:43 PM |
| #6 badanov -- Why does it have to be a single government? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-08-05 1:06:57 PM |
| #5 It’s an interesting theory, yank. True or not, it certainly seems a viable option. Put some seed money out there and fund the upstarts that show the most promise. It would explain the enthusiasm, original (wacky) ideas, limited budgets and total incompetence we’ve seen in the upstarts. The hook…small fry are delighted with the seed capital and the promise of glory; big bonuses for agents who manage successful ventures. Just like the movie (or any other) business |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-05 12:32:27 PM |
| #4 muck4allah? |
| Posted by: BH 2004-08-05 11:46:25 AM |
| #3 We tire of footing of pussy. We want heaps infidel bodies burned dead now, insh'allah. The Bush should fall now, insh'allah. Allahu Karyy! |
| Posted by: .Union of Sr Al Qaeda Operatives 2004-08-05 11:17:12 AM |
| #2 Al Qaeda doen't do anything any hostile foreign government doesn't do, and it is extremely likely they are also funded by a hostile foreign gvoernment. I vote Iran. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-08-05 10:44:32 AM |
| #1 There is another way to look at this. What if Al Queda isn't the DR Evil organization planning for years and then sending out minions to do their tasks. What if Al Queda really is sort of the venture capital of terrorists. They help train the minions and they provide cash to operations that sound promising. Reports have indicated Atta joined up hoping to fly a plane into an Israeli target. He wanted cash and support for the plan. The plan was accepted and the target was shifted to the US. I imagine the Kenyan and Tanzania embassies were watched by Al Queda for years because the local Al Queda had very few targets in their region and they had a tough time convincing Al Queda that hitting embassies in Africa, filled primarily with Africans was worth it. Eventually there was so much detail and Al Queda hadn't hit a target in three years, and it looked cheap and flashy so they agreed. Looking at Al Queda as primarily funding rather than planning may be incorrect, but it explains a lot of things. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-05 10:32:04 AM |