“Today’s report of the capture of a top Al Qaeda operative, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, represents a critical victory in the war on terror,” Mr. Bush said. “Now al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden. He was a major facilitator and chief planner for the Al Qaeda network. His arrest removed a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America.”
Can someone run a Lexis search on this guy? I never heard of him.
Here’s what former CIA analyst Larry Johnson says:
Today, Pakistani authorities announced the capture of the third-ranking leader of al-Qaeda, a native Libyan named Abu Faraj al-Libbi (alias Dr. Taufeeq). Al-Libbi, along with five other foreign al-Qaeda operatives, was captured following a shootout in the village of Fatami in northwestern Pakistan. Authorities had long been searching for al-Libbi– Pakistan had posted a reward of 20 million rupees (approximately $333,333) for his arrest and the United States also offered a 5 million dollar reward.
Al-Libbi is commonly described as the third in command of the al-Qaeda network, following Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Libbi took over al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan and assumed the position of his leadership rank in al-Qaeda after the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in March 2003. Al-Libbi is considered the mastermind behind the two failed attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. Schooled in the Afgahn terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, al-Libbi was said to have been in touch with a network of militants across Pakistan, and is believed to have been receiving instructions directly from bin Laden.
Al-Libbi was among six suspects identified as Pakistan’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” in a poster campaign in 2004. One of the other six “Most Wanted Terrorists” was Amjad Hussain Farooqi, an al-Qaeda operative and recruiter who was killed by Pakistani forces last September. Farooqi was an associate of al-Libbi’s who had been involved in the plots to kill Musharraf as well as the 2002 abduction and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
What will not happen is that the U.S. media will make the connection between high-level al-Qaeda operatives and the government of Pakistan, specifically its ISI, Inter-Services (military) Intelligence.
There are a number of conspiracy stories out there allegeding an ISI connection to the events of September 11, 2001. As time goes on, they seem less and less unlikely. Here’s one.
I remain convinced that the real reason for Danny Pearl’s death is that he was getting, or had gotten, too close to information that Pakistanis (perhaps Americans, too, who knows?) at very high levels did not want made public.
.
DIARY at dKos —
9/11 was pre-emptive strike on US
by creve coeur Fri Dec 17th, 2004
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
not be looked into too closely.
And except for a small, shrill fringe, the US voting class does not object to that.
Whether they are motivated by fear, prudence, or idealism is irrelevant.
“cui bono?” is not a question that should be asked lightly in some cases.
What is wrong with al-Libbi’s face in the photo they’re showing on TV? It’s almost like those pics of Saddam’s sons after the morticians put makeup on them.
I noticed that also and think it could be vitalago(sp) or results of a burn or explosion near him.
I wondered if they’d beaten him or tortured him, but had to cover their handiwork.
He doesn’t look in very good shape in that photo. It makes me wonder if it was taken after his capture.
The Pakistanis are horrible in their torture methods. They tortured the Australian before he was transferred to the U.S., then rendered to Egypt for more torture, then to Guantanamo Bay. (He’s home in Australia now.)
I don’t dismiss that he may have been tortured, and his face may be evidence of that.
I think we can pretty much expect that everyone, everywhere that is captured (in this war of terrorism) is going to be tortured in some manner or at the very least not be treated well and not just by the Pakistani’s. I still do not trust that our country is not doing the same, does anyone?
God only knows what’ll happen to him. He’ll probably be in some dungeon at Diego Garcia or a similar isolated spot. He’ll never see the light of day or an attorney, or even a book or newspaper, the rest of his excruciatingly painful life.
(I know full well the man is probably a murderer and criminal. But it matters how he is treated. And we’ll never — never — find out how he is being treated. That in itself is criminal. Ron Reagan discussed today what George Washington told his soldiers about how British captives should be treated because it was well known that the British were incredibly cruel to revolutionaries they captured. Washington, Reagan said, told his men that the new country, based on liberty, would not treat British captives like that no matter how their own were treated by the British. They would stand for something better.)
Ron Reagan, I like him so much. He sure is the voice of reason so many times on that show as he was today.
But cohost is a different matter. she seemed to be saying, well we need to torture, bla, bla, bla.
Did you see how she talked over Mr. Reed who was calling for independent investigation, and saying things she thought were true but weren’t. I find her very frustrating, because I want to see Ron and here what he has to say.
Yes this whole torture thing has to be resolved for this country and it is one of the things I am primarily concerned with. We do need an independent investigation of this whole matter and not just some white washing.
Glad you saw that. Did I quote him correctly about Washington? (I’m always half-listening so I worry when I repeat something that’s said on air.)
Ron Reagan is a fine man. Smart, knowledgeable, and so very reasonable.
I don’t mind his co-host toooooooo much (forget her name). Of all the rightwing blondes, she’s far and away the most tolerable. I can’t imagine Reagan putting up with the likes of Ann Coulter.
I enjoy that show when I remember to catch it.
Guess we West Coasters are the only ones awake tonight.
Things really die out after 9:00 here.
Her last name is Crowley, can’t remember the first, but I wonder if she is CNN’s Candy Crowley’s daughter.
I think she is very much a Rep. but Ron is Independent. she does very biased interviews, much like Scarborough and others. She thinks she is smarter than she is, my opinion. She doesn’t seem to have all the facts in many cases or a least a firm Rep. opinion which as we know excludes facts if they don’t fit.
I thought you quoted it accurate as I recall.
Oh her first name is Monica, I think.
or a global terrorist network.
According to the BBC documentary:
THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES
In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.
[…]
It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media. […]
There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and who will use the techniques of mass terror – the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.
But the nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organisation waiting to strike our societies is an illusion.
Wherever one looks for this al-Qaeda organisation, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the “sleeper cells” in America, the British and Americans are chasing a phantom enemy.
I find this easier to believe than the theory that the Bush administration was complicit in 9/11. They were to blame for it in that they were negligent and incompetent.
That they have hyped the fears of the American people and the world and used 9/11 to destroy civil rights, detain and torture people, and invade Iraq, those are facts. That there is a vast connected global terrorist movement that is suspect.
Maybe the most important documentary ever made. Bless infoclearinghouse for making it easily available in various formats.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=76048
Interesting account of arrest and also the CIA saying they wanted the head of bin Laden on dry ice when captured..instead of keeping him alive.
… so I’m messin’ with his stuff. Love that cartoon. It’s from TheAge.au via infoclearinghouse.org
chartreuse and magenta and make the frog become a pink hippopotamus that squeaks when you touch it?
Oh, and add some background music.
“Police & Thieves” is modern and catchy.
BooMan will be soooo surprised!
Yeah. I bet he’d be tickled pink. But, to do it right, we need to get him out of town for at least a day or two.
RANT
#1 diary at Kos: Smoking gun memo: Impeachable Offense
CLOSE RANT
P.S. Booman did that story on May 1, and accurately, I might add.
And I commented on it this morning, after I read the email from Greg Palast. Thought it was interesting enough to note, but not to get all in a BREAKING! dither and diary over. <snark>
Didn’t Richard A. Clarke in “Against All Enemies,” March 2004 already tell us that the invasion of Iraq was set on September 12, 2001?
on the FBI’s “most wanted” list.
It looks like they conjured him up to take the focus off the criminal cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly fire death.
You’d think the media would be all over a story about the burning of evidence and lies that went at least as high as General Abizaid.
You’d be wrong.