Return-Path: <sentto-279987-1966-1000747386-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 17 Sep 2001 10:24:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 25585 invoked by uid 510); 17 Sep 2001 17:23:22 -0000 Received: from n23.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.73) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 17 Sep 2001 17:23:22 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-1966-1000747386-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.54] by ck.egroups.com with NNFMP; 17 Sep 2001 17:23:06 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 17 Sep 2001 17:23:06 -0000 Received: (qmail 96693 invoked from network); 17 Sep 2001 14:11:31 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l8.egroups.com with QMQP; 17 Sep 2001 14:11:31 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta1 with SMTP; 17 Sep 2001 14:11:31 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id HAA10458 for iwar@onelist.com; Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:11:30 -0700 Message-Id: <200109171411.HAA10458@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:11:30 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Friends.Of.Bin.Laden.Lurk.Behind.Every.Shadow] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit U.S. News & World Report September 24, 2001 Friends Of Bin Laden Lurk Behind Every Shadow U.S. intelligence is "99.4 percent sure" that Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group are behind last week's airborne assault. But al Qaeda is simply an organizational base for a network of Islamic terrorist groups around the world. The battlefield stretches well beyond the remote training camps in various corners of Afghanistan where bin Laden has been training terrorists for the past five years. Bin Laden's operatives have already shown their global reach and skill. Three years ago, they launched two nearly simultaneous bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. The target last year was the warship USS Cole. Still, the incredible feat of hijacking four airliners and striking at the two symbols of American power--its money and military might--astonished even veteran counterterrorism experts. "It shows they have the patience to put together compartmented operations that are visionary," says Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism official. "Yet at the same time they leave footprints all over the place." Buried on a flight manifest for one of the hijacked planes, for example, were names of people that have been linked to bin Laden's al Qaeda. The man who built this terror empire once fought the Soviets as a U.S. ally in Afghanistan. Today, the Saudi millionaire has declared a holy war on America, but he does not command his disciples so much as he finances and inspires them. A U.S. intelligence official tells U.S. News that al Qaeda affiliates--the Islamic Jihad in Egypt and the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria--may have played key roles in last week's attacks. In all, al Qaeda cells have been identified in as many as 50 countries. "[Bin Laden] has trained between 5,000 and 12,000 people in these camps in Afghanistan," says Sandy Berger, former President Clinton's national-security adviser. "This is a hydra, not a snake, and it will not be eliminated simply by one swift swipe of the sword." If al Qaeda is behind last week's attack, officials will want to know whether the group got help, such as a supply of phony travel papers. A senior official says that Washington is looking at more than one--and as many as 10--countries that may be supporting groups linked to al Qaeda. Afghanistan is squarely in the cross hairs. U.S. cruise missiles have struck bin Laden's Afghan training camps once before, in an ineffective retaliation for the 1998 embassy bombings. Washington will also be looking at whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq might have provided assistance. Through the cracks. Bin Laden's operations have not always gone smoothly. U.S. intelligence, working with other countries, was able to disrupt several planned attacks in the past, including operations in Jordan and Los Angeles during the millennium celebration. But those successes may have enabled al Qaeda to adapt its methods to avoid detection. Says a former counterterrorism official: "They devised this scheme through the cracks in our procedures." Sadly, bin Laden has no shortage of recruits from the Middle East's disaffected youth. "I suspect this operation will have the effect of increasing the number of operatives who want to work with him," says John Gannon, who until recently headed the National Intelligence Council. Stopping them won't be easy. -- Kevin Whitelaw with Paul Bedard, David E. Kaplan, and Edward T. Pound ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Do you need to encrypt all your online transactions? Secure corporate intranets? Authenticate your Web sites? Whatever security your site needs, you'll find the perfect solution here! http://us.click.yahoo.com/wOMkGD/Q56CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:44 PDT