WASHINGTON — Somewhere in the mountains of Tora Bora the hydra’s head may have been cut off. But 12 months after the attacks of Sept. 11, it is clear that whether Osama Bin Laden is alive or dead does not really matter. Investigators say his Al-Qaeda organization, though disrupted, has not been wiped out and is preparing to launch more terror attacks. As with the mythical beast, the monster may now be even stronger.
The most visible sign of Al-Qaeda’s continued murderous capabilities came in April when 19 people, including 14 German tourists, were killed in a bombing at a Tunisian synagogue. Two months later, Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility with its spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, claiming 98 percent of the Al-Qaeda leadership, including Bin Laden, were still alive. “As long as America insists on its unjust and biased policy toward Muslims in favor of Jews and Christians around the world, then... we will continue to hit it anywhere in the world,” he said.
Part of the problem is that the military operation in Afghanistan failed to kill or capture the vast bulk of the Al-Qaeda leadership or its members — now believed to be active in up to 60 different countries.
The five most important havens are believed to be: Yemen, the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia, northern Iraq and Iran, where two key Al-Qaeda leaders, Saif Al-Adel and Mahfouz Ould Walid, alias Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, are in hiding. The most important single area is along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where several hundred fighters are based. Yesterday it was reported that Al-Qaeda is again regrouping inside Afghanistan.
Even in America there are estimates that there could be hundreds of Al-Qaeda sympathizers or operatives. Sen. Richard Shelby, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said this July: “There are a lot of potential or maybe active Al-Qaeda agents in the US. ... They don’t have, I believe, at the moment the central command they did with Osama Bin Laden, but they’re well-trained, and I think you have to recognize they’re dangerous.” What is also clear is that, despite efforts to freeze the financial efforts of Al-Qaeda, much of its wealth remains untouched. Two weeks ago then Swiss attorney general, Valentin Roschacher, said most of Al-Qaeda’s wealth has been converted into gold and diamonds and was beyond the reach of banks, Roschacher said a consensus has grown among officials in Germany, France, Italy and Liechtenstein that most of its assets were moved prior to Sept. 11. Michael Chandler, the British official who heads the UN group monitoring Al-Qaeda also believes its resources are still largely untouched. He said: “No one should doubt that Al-Qaeda continues to have sufficient resources at its disposal to carry out its operations in many areas of the world and to plan and launch further terrorist attacks.”
A recent report by Jane’s Defense Group suggests that Al-Qaeda may actually be stronger now than it was on Sept. 11, partly because it has been able to build and retain sympathy in much of the Islamic world. “Although it is true that the ousting of the Taleban has certainly ended the training of Al-Qaeda ‘s foot-soldiers in Afghanistan — and this is no small achievement — what has not been stopped is the group’s ability to raise funds or operate its international network of sleeper cells and safe houses,” said the report. “In fact, in the view of many within the Western intelligence community, Al-Qaeda is probably stronger now than it was before Sept. 11.” Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, met personally with Osama bin Laden to discuss the attack on America, the New York Times revealed yesterday. The disclosure is the clearest evidence yet that Bin Laden had personal involvement in the plot. (The Independent)
