Al Qaeda

"The FBI complained that military interrogators have gone far beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture and have followed an apparently new executive order from President Bush that permits the use of dogs and other techniques to harass prisoners." [more]

Interview with Yemeni Judge Humud al-Hattar, "chairman of the committee for religious dialogue with Al-Qa'ida supporters in Yemen," by Mahmud Ma'ruf, in Sanaa; date not given: "Chairman of the Committee for Religious Dialogue With Al-Qa'ida Supporters in Yemen Humud al-Hattar Tells Al-Quds al-Arabi: Violence Is Due to Restricting Freedom of Islamists and the Positions Toward Arab Issues, Especially Palestine" [more]

"The failure of the controlled electronic media--outlets reaching the largest audience in Pakistan--to publicize the commander's statement on the unsuccessful effort to locate Bin Ladin or other Al-Qa'ida leaders contrasts with the airing those remarks received by Pakistan's private electronic and print media." [more]

"It is believed that the United States receives such defective information from Afghanistan's opportunist warlords, Indian secret agencies, or from Pakistani experts who never visited Kabul or Kandahar but who are earning dollars by writing imaginary stories about the Taliban and Al-Qa'ida. " [more]

"Abu-Jandal is educated and open-minded. He has the power of persuasion. The security and military sense that he trained on while in Al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan still dominates him. He had a key role in the organization and was trusted by Usama Bin Ladin." [more]

In his statement upon release of the commission’s report, Thomas Kean, the commission’s chairman, incorrectly opined that the terrorists hate America and its policies. Even al Qaeda does not hate America per se... [more]

"This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. The Bush administration denies it has geared the war on terrorism to the electoral calendar." [more]

"We say that had the nation sharpened its swords, stood on its feet, gathered its armies, and moved toward Washington to seek revenge, and had the slaying (of Berg) incident followed all the above, deflecting the winds and scattering the armies, then matters would have taken another course. But where is my nation? Can my nation not see what is happening to Muslims in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Chechen Republic, and others?" [more]

"A new book by an author going by the name Anonymous (a senior US intelligence official), contains an outright and strong condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy [...] The book, due out in the first week of July, titled Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, dismisses two of the most frequent boasts of the Bush administration: that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are 'on the run' and that the Iraq invasion has made America safer." [more]

All of the Bush administration’s quibbling about the definition of the word “relationship” is as ridiculous as President Clinton’s hair-splitting over the definition of the word “is” during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. [more]

"The article said militants wearing police uniforms and using police cars set up a fake checkpoint on al-Khadma Road near Imam Mohammed bin Saud University. / They pulled over Mr Johnson's, car anaesthetised him and carried him to another car, the article said." [more]

Angry Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on Ashcroft to provide the document, saying leaked portions that have appeared in news reports suggest the Bush administration is reinterpreting U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture. [more]

"It is worth mentioning that the mujahidin were very concerned about the safety of the Muslims, distinguishing between them and the infidel Crusaders. They released the Muslims and sent them away from the scene of the fighting, as opposed to what the apostate government did when they opened indiscriminate fire in every direction without discrimination." [more]

"Your brothers from Jama'at al-Tawhid Wa Al-Jihad have attacked Abd-al-Jabbar Yusuf, the traitor and apostate general and the Interior Ministry undersecretary, who belongs to the Islamic Da'wah Party, while he was in front of his house getting ready to leave for work." [more]

"Terrorism does not necessarily come from the Islamic world; it could come from anywhere. It could be championed by many other groups and could originate in all communities. Before fighting this phenomenon, we must understand why others resort to terrorism." [more]

"The latest allegations will be an unwelcome blow to Malaysia, which was also embroiled in a scandal over the nuclear black market earlier this year." [more]

"In the eyes of the Al-Qa'ida organization, the reason why the "Satan" can again tread on Arab soil is because the United Nations has failed to stop the United States." [more]

"Caution and liberation from the magic of media is also required so that we will not be mere viewers of catastrophes and events, but rather fight the enemy and make events. This is a decisive war, after which we will either rise and have pride or descend and be humiliated." [more]

"An Al-Qa'ida leader avoided confirming his organization's responsibility for last week's terrorist bombing which targeted traffic police headquarters in Riyadh and claimed the lives of innocent civilians and children." [more]

"The Jordanian intelligence service lied twice: First, when it claimed that we were preparing to kill the people of Islam and innocent citizens. Second, when it claimed that it foiled a plot to defend the homeland and safeguard the blood of the people of Islam." [more]

"For those who reject peace and want war, we are ready. As for those who want peace, we have given them a chance. Stop shedding our blood so as to preserve your blood." [more]

"In my hands there is a message to remind you that justice is a duty towards those whom you love and those whom you do not. And people's rights will not be harmed if the opponent speaks out about them." [more]

"'There are no conditions or opportunities in Chechnya for such experiments,' Dudayev said today in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS. 'Virtually all petrochemical facilities in the republic have been totally ruined, and only the shells of the buildings are left. So the equipment needed for the purpose doesn't exist.'" [more]

"According to unofficial information, at least five people were killed in the Uzbek capital in the two blasts, up to 30 blast victims were brought to the first Tashkent city hospital. A female suicide bomber set off an explosive device fixed on her body at the Chorsu marketplace near the entrance to the three-story shop Detski Mir ('Children’s World'). There were luckily few visitors in the morning." [more]

"Every Muslim in Pakistan must strive to topple this agent government, which will continue to surrender to the Americans until it destroys Pakistan and helps the Indians control it." [more]

"The impact that terrorism has on society is determined by the authorities under target and how they deal with the threat, rather than by the terrorists' outrages." [more]

"... it was a tad misleading to demand Hussein's ouster on grounds that he 'harbors a deadly terrorist network' -- when it was not Hussein, but a Taliban-like crowd of Islamic radicals in the U.S. Air Force-protected north, doing the harboring." [more]

"The only way to fight terrorism, according to Castro, is 'to seek sincere cooperation' because war 'is not going to put an end to it, it is going to make it worse and worse, it is going to sow ever more hatred, more dissatisfaction, more tragedy.'" [more]

"Where is America to protect you today, Aznar. Who is going to protect you, Britain, Italy, Japan and other hirelings from us?" [more]

"He attributed the reasons for not carrying out their threats to stage a major operation deep inside US territories between the two (Al-Adha and Al-Fitr) ids in accordance with their former electronic messages to what he called the change to their strategies and plans." [more]

"It has become clear that the rulers are not qualified to apply the religion and defend the Muslims. In fact, they have provided evidence that they are implementing the schemes of the enemies of the nation and religion and that they are qualified to abandon the countries and peoples. Now, after we have known the situation of the rulers, we should examine the policy they have been pursuing. Anyone who examines the policy of those rulers will easily see that they follow their whims and desires and their personal interests and Crusader loyalties." [more]

"While neither the group nor the individuals had current links to New Zealand, Clark said the move 'will serve to deter New Zealanders from becoming inadvertently involved in their activities.'" [more]

"...I don't believe the Americans were behind yesterday's carnage despite the screams of accusation by the Iraqi survivors yesterday. But I do worry about the Iraqi exile groups who think that their own actions might produce what the Americans want: a fear of civil war so intense that Iraqis will go along with any plan the United States produces for Mesopotamia." [more]

"The secretary is not particularly moved by accusations that the intervention in Iraq is 'illegal.' 'I am not a lawyer; I dropped out of law school,' he jokes." [more]

"The banning of the hijab is consistent with all these crimes. It shows the scope of the Zionist-Crusade's moral and doctrinal hypocrisy and the extent of its savagery in its war against Islam and Muslims" [more]

"An official US statement declaring Ansar a terrorist group claimed that Zarqawi was a 'senior al-Qaeda operative', but later he was only 'suspected' of being some kind of affiliate. Until two weeks ago, he was considered the leader of Ansar al-Islam. Now he is thought to head a Jordanian extremist group called al-Tawhid, and only linked to al-Qaeda and other groups." [more]

"Al-Rashid warned Islamists of the fundamentalist, jihadist forums that replaced his website. He said that they are plagued with 'hypocrites and pins,' meaning intelligence organs." [more]

"The organizer of the attack is thought to be an Islamic fanatic Sunni organization, a branch of Ansar al-Islam, which works from outside. One of al-Islam's sources of financing are people of al-Qa'ida from Saudi Arabia." [more]

"While it has been reported that Jabarah had been co-operating with American agents and faced unknown charges, his case has been shrouded in secrecy. Hearings have been held in private. There is no listing of his case on New York court databases and prosecutors with the Southern District of New York state won't comment to reporters." [more]

"The Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh is a fundamentalist Islamist political party seeking to establish an Islamic state (Khilafat) in Bangladesh and in other Muslim countries through the adoption of Islamic (Shariah) law." [more]

"Interview via e-mail with Captain Khalid Shahbaz, Muslim chaplain at Camp Delta in Guantanamo, by Muhammad al-Shafi'i in London ... 'The detention of my predecessor, Imam Yusuf, will not affect my work; I supply the prisoners with their needs' " [more]

"You must know that what prevents you from joining jihad is nothing but your soul and Satan. If you hope to live a long life and fear death, then you must know that death is inevitable. You should not fear the path that you must tread." [more]

"The US administration wishes to frighten the US people in order to justify its flouting of UN resolutions, its violation of human rights in Iraq, and its holding of prisoners at the Guantanamo Base." [more]

"Let them prepare from now for more sorrows and let them prepare the coffins and the largest number of hospitals and graves. The coming days are full of surprises and major events that will make them an historic example. We will teach them the painful lessons that they will never forget." [more]

"The split decision by a three-judge panel in San Francisco raised the possibility that all the approximately 660 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay jail for alleged al Qaeda and Taliban fighters could also be given their first habeas corpus hearings in a U.S. court." [more]

"All the suspects were charged with 'association with the aim of international terrorism' — a charge introduced in Italy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They are believed to have provided false passports and money for recruits." [more]

"There's strong evidence that Saddam Hussein's arrest is irrelevant, and Osama bin Laden is using Iraq as a smoke screen." [more]

"The trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in an American court in connection with the attacks, has also been thrown into doubt by the government's refusal to make captured Qaeda operatives available for questioning." [more]

"Federal authorities do not have a clear understanding of how terrorists move their financial assets and are still struggling to prevent the flow of money to terror groups." [more]

"Al-Muqrin gained combat experience during his stints in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzogvina, Algeria, and Somalia. [more]

"According to security sources, Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin is the mastermind and current leader of the Al-Qa'ida organization in Saudi Arabia. He led the bombing operation against the Al-Muhayya residential compound in Riyadh on 8 November. He is still at large." [more]

"In the first stage, the stage of attrition and engaging the enemy in battle, you need to make your enemy tired more than you need to kill a large number of its members. You need to scatter the enemy, demoralize it, spread it out over a large area, and cause it to get tired." [more]

"Of the more than 600 detainees at the US prison camp at Guantanamo, none has been charged with any crime. But the US has repeatedly promised that at least some of the prisoners will be charged and tried by military commissions, an arcane form of tribunal based on long-disused models from the 1940s." [more]

"[al-Qa'ida] claimed that the 'upcoming attacks will make the United States lose its self-control and lose the ability to communicate with its army.'" [more]

"If they are seeking the elimination of their economic might, devastation, and destruction under the feet of the soldiers of God, let them come to Iraq, as our strikes will reach the center of Tokyo ... if they are seeking that, let them try their luck with us." [more]

"Another terrible terrorist atrocity, another steely vow to crush the terrorists. How long can this go on? George Bush and Tony Blair were united yesterday in their determination 'to defeat this evil'. The prime minister was adamant that 'there must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can and in defeating it utterly'. The president claimed, again, that the struggle against al-Qaida and its allies is being won. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The blood and rubble in the streets of Istanbul, for the second time in a week, tells a different story." [more]

"Statement by Muhammad Bin-Abdallah al-Mas'ari, secretary general and spokesman of the Saudi Committee in Defense of Legal Rights" [more]

"Al-Ablaj said that Al-Qa'ida leaders are currently busy working to issue a fatwa signed by reliable ulema that would allow them to fight the Arab and Islamic regimes." [more]

"We heard a missile passing over our heads immediately before we had finished eating and it exploded 100 meters from the house. We immediately started to leave fearing that we were the target and the targeting would be corrected so as to hit us." [more]

"We are acting according to a simple formula, namely, that the building is very difficult but the demolition might be done with a matchstick and that this is easier than easy. For example, can the United States protect its earthquake fault lines and forests?" [more]

Text of Osama bin Laden's message "to the American people regarding your aggression in Iraq" broadcast on al Jazeera television. [more]

A spokesperson "said that it was intolerable that the complex was used as 'an investigation center, not a detention center.' He said the International Red Cross was making the unusual statements because of a lack of action." [more]

"Prosecutors argued that Mr. Moussaoui has no right to question witnesses held overseas as enemy combatants. Court-appointed lawyers for Mr. Moussaoui had argued, and the judge agreed, that the prisoners might be able to offer testimony showing that he had no part in the conspiracy." [more]

"The United States invaded the world with the magic of media exaggeration and controlled it by political acumen. Everyone agrees on that. We do not ignore its military power. But it is impossible and difficult for the United States to embroil itself in such wars. The United States was compelled to send its armies or enter into these battles that are exhausting its strength and economy." [more]

"By trying to justify the current fight in Iraq as a fight against terrorism, the administration has done two frightening things. It has tried to divert attention from Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the wave of terrorist attacks against American interests from New York and Washington to Yemen. And the policy advanced by the speech is a major step toward creating a dangerous, self-fulfilling prophecy and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts on the ground." [more]

"The very different forces of Islamist terrorism and American militarism operate according to peculiarly similar criteria: They see the whole world as their legitimate battlefield; they paint their actions in a context of divine mandates and existential struggles for the triumph of good over evil; they cater explicitly to their public opinions and exaggerate fears and threats from the other and, most troublingly, they repeatedly misdiagnose the motives and miscalculate the reactions of the other." [more]

"Al-Ayiri noted that 'the collapse of the Ba'th government is a blessing for Islam and Muslims as the fall of the Arab Ba'th signals the collapse of the infidel pan-Arab slogans that swept the Islamic nation.'" [more]

"The United States figures it can get plenty out of the newly captured Chemical Ali. But how? And are these 'interrogation' techniques being readied for American citizens?" [more]

"Any arrest of genuine terror plotters reduces the likelihood of further attacks. But the decentralized nature of the cells and the variety of motives and objectives behind them suggests that the arrest of Hambali, while important symbolically, will of itself do little to reduce regional threats." [more]

"Saudis who have gone to Iraq have established links with sympathetic Iraqis in the northern area between Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit, where they have hidden in safe-houses." [more]

"Thai officials say Hambali is currently in US custody, though the US refused to say where upon announcing his arrest last Thursday. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage ... said it would be 'foolish' to believe the threat has evaporated with Hambali's arrest." [more]

"For Pakistanis who support the US-led war on terrorism, and for Washington, [jihadist rallies are] a troubling sign that Pakistan remains a breeding ground for extremist groups and for an ideology of cultural war shared by Al Qaeda." [more]

"Since the war, Iraq has started to look like a fertile ground for terrorists. The American invasion made this possible. The United States has created what it went to war to prevent." [more]

"The lawyer for a Pakistani man who has been detained in Manhattan since March as a material witness said he expected his client to be indicted on charges of providing support to a terrorist conspiracy whose goal included obtaining chemical weapons." [more]

"Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has been described by experts as a terror chain with franchises worldwide. But this week's Jakarta bombing, if it turns out to be the work of an al Qaeda affiliate, suggests that head office may not need a strong grip on its distant outposts." [more]

"Despite Washington's public obsession with Saudi terrorists, this bombing proves yet again that South East Asia is a major front in the war against terrorism." [more]

"The blast at the Marriott illustrated what had been known for months: that Jemaah Islamiyah, a group intent on achieving an Islamic state in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, consisted of many independent cells, each with the capacity to mount attacks." [more]

"Human rights groups have criticized Washington for refusing to give the detainees the rights accorded to prisoners of war under international treaties." [more]

"Asked if what he wants to convey is that Al-Qa'ida is succeeding in penetrating US institutions in the United States or abroad, he said: 'We have already penetrated US institutions. What is coming is worse. I cannot go into any more details because the matter is very sensitive.' " [more]

"In its latest report, the House of Commons foreign affairs committee also argues that nearly two years on from the 11 September atrocity it cannot conclude the threat from al-Qaeda has diminished." [more]

"The judge was clearly irritated about how Al-Marri was abruptly transferred to South Carolina and that neither he nor the defense lawyers know for certain whether his alleged offenses occurred in Peoria or elsewhere, because the government has not said exactly why Al-Marri is an enemy combatant." [more]

Did the Bush Administration burn a useful source on Al Qaeda? [more]

"The media loves the trivial and can't grasp the significant. If the United States fabricated evidence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as critics are claiming, the question is not whether it did so. The question is: Why did it do so? In other words, why was invading Iraq important enough to lie about — if indeed it was a lie, which is far from clear." [more]

"The best chance at killing or capture may have been deep in the past. Below the white peaks of the Spin Ghar near the Pakistani line, Osama bin Laden was spotted. The American high command believed this was it but didn't want to put its soldiers in severe danger; didn't want British special forces to claim the war's greatest prize; and couldn't compel Pakistan to close off the frontier." [more]

"The [British] government was 'fundamentally opposed' to the use of the death penalty and would raise the strongest possible objections if there was any chance of this being applied in these cases." [more]

"A surreal society has emerged at the tip of Cuba in which rules are the only common language and prisoners and guards alike feel marooned." [more]

"I swear to you, my brother, that the strike is coming. As I said earlier, you don't use the winning card at anytime. The strike must be well prepared. This means that it must be timed to occur when the giant starts staggering in his blood." [more]

"Analysts said Monday night's attacks, blamed by Saudi and U.S. officials on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, highlight the pressures the Saudi royal family faces in maintaining a domestically unpopular alliance with the United States." [more]

"Children younger than 16 are being held as 'enemy combatants' in the American detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, the US military admitted yesterday, a practice human rights groups condemned as repugnant and illegal." [more]

"Not only might these tribes bring back an ancient vigilante style of justice — burning the homes of accused criminals, for instance — but tribal militias could become an obstacle for US forces as they search the countryside for Al Qaeda." [more]

"The recent capture of Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is the latest indication that the taboo on torture has been broken." [more]

"Another commentator, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a leading Pakistani journalist and expert on Afghan affairs, said many members of the clan had left the tribal area to seek work in the Gulf states and the Middle East making them relatively well off." [more]

"Some combat troops privately admitted feeling sidelined in a country where only weak pockets of enemy forces remain after 17 months of US and allied operations to root out Al Qaeda." [more]

"The arrest represented a major victory in the American-led global search for pivotal leaders of Al Qaeda — the men who planned the suicide hijacking attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, as well as other terrorist acts." [more]

"A British-based Islamic news agency said Thursday it has a new audio recording of Osama bin Laden in which he predicts he will die as 'a martyr' this year in an attack against his enemies." [more]

"In very clear words, Osama bin Laden told the people of Iraq to rise up against both American aggression and against 'socialist' Saddam Hussein. So much, it seems, for Powell's case that Hussein and bin Laden are working together." [more]

"The US military today firmly denied allegations of torture and mistreatment of suspected al-Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan, claiming detention procedures were misreported by a leading US newspaper." [more]

"According to the Journal, numerous memos cited an unspecified project that would greatly help the terrorist organization. One memo, apparently written by bin Laden's senior strategist, described how the project's success 'may well be a way out of the bottleneck and transfer our activities to the stage of multinationals and [bring] joint profit.' " [more]

"The main theme of his report is the need for countries to share information more effectively in order to combat what is still described as a substantial threat to global peace and security." [more]

"Asked how the Monitoring Group felt about the appearance of new Al Qaeda training camps in eastern Afghanistan, he replied that they were of great concern, since their emergence signified that people were still disillusioned enough to side with Al Qaeda. Indeed, sympathy for the organization was widespread in some countries, he added." [more]

"Two suspected members of Al Qaeda have been arrested in the killing of an American diplomat in Jordan in October, the information minister said today." [more]

"Police in Indonesia and Malaysia have uncovered evidence that groups linked to al Qaeda trained teams of suicide bombers who were involved in the Bali bombing and an earlier plot to attack targets in Singapore." [more]

"Bin Laden broke cover at a particularly awkward time for President Bush, raising doubts about the success of phase one of Bush's antiterrorism war just when he's pushing to launch phase two against Saddam Hussein." [more]

"American intelligence experts were still trying to determine today whether an audiotape broadcast on Tuesday by Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network, does indeed contain the voice of Osama bin Laden praising several terror attacks around the world, including recent ones in Moscow and Bali, and threatened further bloodshed over Iraq." [more]

"A missile fired by a U.S. Predator drone over Yemen Sunday killed six suspected al Qaeda terrorists in a vehicle about 100 miles east of the nation's capital, the first time the United States has used the unmanned weapon outside Afghanistan, sources familiar with the action said yesterday." [more]

"An unmanned aircraft, operated by the CIA, tracked a suspect al-Qaeda vehicle in a remote corner of Yemen and then, at the command of the plane's ground controller, fired a missile which killed everyone inside. With this attack, the United States has opened up a new front in its war on terror." [more]

"The United States has said it still opposes Israel's policy of targeted assassinations, despite its apparent use of the same tactic to kill six al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen on Sunday." [more]

"And contrary to the view projected in most of the Western media, that the attacks are proof that al-Qaeda has become stronger than ever since September 11, the reality is that bin Laden's jihad against the US has to a large extent been hijacked by local Muslim groups, who are now the ones perpetuating the waves of terror." [more]

"The Jazeera reporter, Yosri Fouda, said Mr. bin al-Shibh sat on the floor surrounded by three laptop computers and five cellphones and spent much of his time quietly 'fiddling with his laptops.'" [more]

"Three Afghans released after months of captivity at the US military base in Cuba included a man claiming to be 105 and a man in his seventies who says that American troops dragged him from his sickbed." [more]

"The terrorist network that Osama bin Laden has stealthily built up in Southeast Asia over the past decade is largely intact, intelligence officials in several countries said in interviews over the last week. It may even have become more deadly and more virulently anti-American than it was a year ago, they say." [more]

"The British authorities have arrested an Islamic cleric whom authorities have alleged is an important figure in the European operations of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, according to members of the Muslim community here." [more]

"The only way to permanently defuse Al Qaeda's threat to the US may be to make the group's ideology seem less legitimate to recruits — the radically discontented of the Islamic world. " [more]

"The compatibility of Islam and democracy is an ongoing struggle. In Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia, secular militaries retain a strong hand in preventing Islamic rule and, ironically, keeping some sort of democracy. Even such semidemocratic nation-states provide a better unity and means than more authoritarian governments in both stopping terrorists and winning over the population." [more]

"With its leaders in hiding and its finances and communications slashed by the war on terrorism, al Qaeda is resorting to more indiscriminate attacks against 'soft' targets. But officials warn that while the strategy may be a sign of weakness, the simplicity of these attacks might make them more difficult to predict and prevent." [more]

Possible Qaeda attacks include "what is believed to be a terrorist bombing Oct. 6 on a French oil tanker near Yemen, the shooting death of a Marine in Kuwait on Oct. 8, the bombing death of an Army Special Forces soldier Oct. 2 in the Philippines and other recent attacks against French and German targets in the Middle East." [more]

"Several foreign diplomats said they suspected it was the work of the Jemaah Islamiah, an Islamic militant network in Southeast Asia that intelligence officials say is linked to al Qaeda." [more]

"The blast that killed nearly 200 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali this weekend is a different type of terrorism from what the Bush administration has campaigned against, and will open a new geographic front in that campaign, Western officials said yesterday." [more]

"As the US gears up to expand Washington's 'war on terror' to Iraq, a series of fresh attacks against US forces — even in nations where the majority support the US presence — underscores the risk to growing US military deployments." [more]

"Prosecutors did not say that any of the six had been able to make contact with Qaeda or Taliban members, nor has any evidence emerged to suggest that they were preparing to attack any American targets." [more]

"Mohammed said planning for the attacks began 2 1/2 years before Sept. 11 and that the first targets considered were nuclear facilities." [more]

"German authorities have found no al Qaeda terror links to a Turkish man and his American fiancee arrested for plotting an attack on U.S. military bases in Germany on the Sept. 11 anniversary, the Interior Ministry said Saturday." [more]

"Although it is not clear how much gold has been moved, U.S. and European officials said the quantity was significant and was an important indicator that the al Qaeda network and members of Afghanistan's deposed Taliban militia still had access to large financial reserves." [more]

"European, Pakistani and US agents told The Washington Post that most of the valuable cargo passed through Iran and the UAE." [more]

"Commanders in the American military's most elite Special Operations unit are contending that their troops should be freed from the fruitless hunt in Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden, military and intelligence officials say. " [more]

"Shannon Allen, offering peach slices to passers-by at the Farmers Market, says he is dreading the attacks anniversary." [more]

"The tape was among about 250 that Nic Robertson, a CNN reporter, was taken to 10 days ago, 60 of which he brought out of Afghanistan with him. Experts say the collection is the largest known assembly of videotapes ever made by Al Qaeda of its activities ó a library that was collected, cataloged and stored by unknown individuals, apparently to document the history of Al Qaeda." [more]

"The move follows months of criticism from European governments and human rights advocates that individuals whose assets were ordered frozen by the Security Council were deprived of the means to meet their daily living expenses or to hire lawyers to help them challenge the charges." [more]

"Jean Charles Brisard makes some disturbing allegations regarding a connection between oil, Saudi Arabia, the Clinton and Bush administrations and al Qaeda." [more]

"Proposals now being discussed by Mr. Rumsfeld and senior military officers could ultimately lead Special Operations units to get more deeply involved in long-term covert operations [against Al Qaeda] in countries where the United States is not at open war and, in some cases, where the local government is not informed of their presence." [more]

" 'There doesn't seem to be any evidence of FARC going to Afghanistan to train,' a U.S. intelligence official said. 'We have never briefed anyone on that and frankly, I doubt anyone has ever alleged that in a briefing to the State Department or anyone else.' " [more]

"A deep rift emerged early on between al-Qaeda and their nominal hosts, the Taleban, who seemed locked in mutual scorn. One top al-Qaeda lieutenant, Morgan al-Gohari, complained that the Afghans 'change their ideas and positions all the time' and 'would do anything for money'." [more]

" 'Al-Qaeda itself, we know, is less than 200,' said an FBI official, referring to those who have sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That figure — far fewer than recent press reports have suggested are in the U. S. alone — is based on evidence gathered by the FBI and CIA. It includes Al-Qaeda members who are now in custody at Guantanamo Bay." [more]

"Saad bin Laden has been in charge of the organisation 'since the US offensive against al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan,' which began in October, and al-Qaeda's pullout from its main hideouts in the country. This disclosure 'substantiates the theory that bin Laden was killed or seriously wounded' in the US-led military campaign." [more]

"Even if he was guilty of the crime for which he was convicted, Kazmi was nothing to do with al-Qaeda. He was a Shia acitivist and thus, to bin Laden and his people, a heretic. The strong antipathy between al-Qaeda (which has ideological roots in hardline Sunni muslim thought and financial and political roots in hardlien Sunni muslim countries and circles) and the Shias persists notwithstanding clumsy attempts by the Israelis or the Americans to manufacture links to Hizbolllah or the Iranians." [more]

"U.S. Customs agents have arrested a Jordanian-born man who was allegedly carrying $12 million in false cashier's checks, alarming counterterrorism officials who said the suspect may have been trained in al Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan." [more]

"An unnamed official said: 'We don't know what he was up to, but he was coming from Indonesia, he had $12 million in bogus cheques ... he was born in Jordan and his family is from Chechnya.' " [more]

"The men who pray inside an old storefront known here as Taqwa mosque insist they pose no threat. 'We ain't no terrorists, we don't make bombs,' Abdul-Hakim bellowed on the sidewalk out front this week. 'The FBI is fishing.' " [more]

The official "quickly emphasized that he had no evidence that bin Laden was dead, but his comments suggest that the FBI has no intelligence that proves bin Laden is alive." [more]

"August Hanning, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service, also estimated that more than 5,000 supporters of al-Qaida and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia remain in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, while many others have returned to their homelands." [more]

" 'There is no relationship with Al Qaeda ó not previously and not now ó and not for religious or ideological reasons but for political reasons,' Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the Arabic satellite television channel MBC. 'The issue is linked to the political programme and the battle priorities,' he said, without elaborating." [more]

"Small groups of about a half-dozen men in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta are under surveillance by FBI and other intelligence agencies and are thought to be part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity." [more]

"In 1988, Saddam launched a series of biological and chemical attacks against the Kurds, the tragic long-term effects of which are only now becoming apparent. British filmmaker Gwynne Roberts shot inside Iraqi Kurdistan for five years to prepare this unique report on a group who may play a crucial role, equivalent to that of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, in any military attempt to overthrow Saddam's bloody regime." [more]

"Officials in Pakistan say 10 soldiers and militiamen have been killed in a battle with suspected al-Qaeda fighters near the border with Afghanistan." [more]

"One scenario involves ambushing cops. An apparently disabled vehicle is parked just before a freeway ramp, with shooters hidden inside. When the police officer pulls up, someone inside blows the horn and the shooters burst out firing. Then there's the residential assassination, where someone knocks on the door of a home, then empties his gun into whoever answers. There's also the golf-course assassination, where an RPG-type rocket is lobbed onto a golf green, taking out the security vehicle and leaving the golfers to be mowed down by rifle fire." [more]

"I want to stress that indeed we still possess the ability to threaten America as well as to execute these threats. In the coming days and months we will prove to the entire world, Allah willingly, the trueness of what we say. In fact, we have performed many attacks against the Americans inside Afghanistan in cooperation with the Taliban as well as all righteous people who refuse this aggressive occupation and this imperialism on this blessed country. Indeed there have been many casualties among the Americans but their propaganda has prevented the great number of killed American soldiers becoming publicly known. However America will have to disclose the real numbers of losses of either the previous as well as coming attacks in Afghanistan in the next few days and weeks." [more]

"They appear to be more capable of attacking Americans than they were a month or two ago, said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee." [more]

"Americans are accustomed to thinking of the jihad movement as something overseas, inspired among the faithful in spartan Pakistani schools and gleaming Saudi mosques. But there is also an American road to jihad, one taken by true believers. For 20 years—long before 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh—American jihadists have ventured overseas to attack those they believe threaten Islam. It is a little-known story." [more]

"Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has trained between 10,000–50,000 terorists, the US State Department's Coordinator for Counterterrorism Francis Taylor has said. Briefing Non Governmental Organisations, Taylor said 77 suspected terrorists are in custody facing 116 criminal charges." [more]

"A second U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Mohammed played a critical role in planning the attacks but said questions remain about the extent of his leadership. The official said other bin Laden lieutenants, including Abu Zubaydah, now in U.S. custody, are also believed to have played top organizational roles." [more]

"A memo by military chief Mohammed Atef raises new questions about whether failed U.S. efforts to reform Afghanistan's radical regime — and build the pipeline — set the stage for Sept. 11." [more]

" 'What will come to the Americans, God willing, won't be less than what has come. America should be ready and on high alert and fasten the seat belts, as with the will of God, we will come to them from where they didn't expect.' " [more]

"The United States and its allies in the war on terrorism must defuse the widespread image of Al Qaeda as a ubiquitous, super-organized terror network and call it as it is: a loose collection of groups and individuals that doesn't even refer to itself as 'Al Qaeda.' Most of the affiliated groups have distinct goals within their own countries or regions, and pose little direct threat to the United States. Washington must also be careful not to imply that any attack anywhere is by definition, or likely, the work of Al Qaeda." [more]

"The assassination of an Afghan rebel leader 48 hours before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was part of a strategic plan by Osama bin Laden to expand his influence into Central Asia." [more]

"The former Taleban ruler of Afghanistan Mullah Muhammad Omar has warned that his war with the United States has only started and its flames would engulf the White House. Omar also said that Osama Bin Laden is alive." [more]

"The effort by Nuaimi and his colleagues may be the most potent legal undertaking so far to challenge the government's detention of the 384 captives in Cuba and Hamdi, who is held in the brig at the Norfolk Naval Station." [more]

"The Pakistani government's reluctance to go after pockets of al-Qaeda fighters on its territory would be the first major disagreement in the US-Pakistan alliance against terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States." [more]

"British officials are privately criticising what they consider a lack of understanding by the US administration of the need to engage in social and economic reconstruction in Afghanistan. 'The Americans seem to be operating like Swat squads, with one thought in their heads: "Let's go in and kill those 'ragheads'", as they call the enemy,' one UK military source said. The sources say official UK and US briefings have understated the civilian deaths caused by US bombing as well as the human rights violations committed by Afghans claiming the support of the US." [more]

"French armed forces chief of staff General Jean-Pierre Kelche said yesterday there was a 'significant likelihood' the al-Qaeda network carried out a bus bombing in Pakistan which left 14 people dead." [more]

"Accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, facing charges he plotted the September 11 attacks, today sought to fire his lawyers and represent himself at trial. During a rambling 50-minute address in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Moussaoui also called for the 'destruction of Jewish people and...the destruction of the United States of America.' " [more]

"A new campaign against al-Qaeda has allied forces digging in for a long stay. The U.S. believes there are hundredsónot thousandsóof al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters left in Afghanistan. Future missions are likely to involve small bands of soldiers taking on cells of terrorists in a slow, steady war of attrition." [more]

"With many of its best interrogators and speakers of Middle Eastern dialects dispatched to Afghanistan, the military has been forced to rely on some underqualified officers whoare overmatched by captives trained in methods of evasion, according to people familiar with the interrogations. In a few cases, young questioners in uniform were conducting some of their first interrogations." [more]

"I have come out to kill Allah's enemies the Americans anywhere (everywhere), killing and fighting them in their homeland, I am asking for the shahadah and I am working for it, to raise my religion high and kill its enemies. I am out to look for the jihad land to get ready to kill the Americans and Islamís enemy. By this Iím helping my Creators religion and taking revenge for my brotherís bloods." [more]

"Those who had doubts about bin Laden's guilt and even subscribed to anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories about Sept. 11, continue to concoct explanations about the content of the tape or cast doubt on its authenticity." [more]

" 'This suicide operation is a response to the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,' said a document, which the newspaper claimed was a genuine Al-Qaeda statement." [more]

"Spanish police have arrested an Algerian man suspected of being a financial chief of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. The Interior Ministry says Ahmed Brahim may have been involved in the financing of the August 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania." [more]

"The building of a permanent detention facility highlights an emerging US tactic: long-term holding of captives." [more]

"The Justice Department's reasons for the secrecy are unconvincing. By refusing to identify those it holds, the department says it avoids stigmatizing those who are innocent and avoids tipping off their fellow terrorists if they are not." [more]

"A Singaporean member of an Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaida is suspected of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into the city-state's international airport, Singapore's prime minister said Friday." [more]

"If Zobaida has indeed been arrested, it would certainly mean a setback for the operations in which he was immediately involved, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. But the al-Qaeda is a coordinated body of many militant outfits scattered all over the world. Their presence in the shape of the Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah reflects the fact that although the 'routes are different, the destination is one' and they can execute their plans against US interests independently." [more]

"The raid in Faisalabad and a parallel raid in Lahore, Pakistan, appear to be the first time that American intelligence and law enforcement officials had teamed up with foreign operatives and conducted a raid in a foreign country as part of the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism." [more]

"Pakistani authorities have handed over to the United States a man considered the biggest catch yet in the war on terrorism." [more]

"A Pentagon official told The Observer there was no intelligence to support claims from London that al-Qaeda was developing biological weapons in the Shah-e-Kot area. 'I don't know what they're saying in London but we have received no specific intelligence on that kind of development or capability in the Shah-e-Kot valley region - I mean a chemical or biological weapons facility,' said an official in the Army department in Washington. [more]

"Documents obtained by The New York Times tell a rich inside story of the network of radical Islamic groups that Osama bin Laden helped assemble in Afghanistan." [more]

"The mujahedeen 'were financed by Saudi and United Arab Emirates money,' said one Western military official, asking anonymity. 'They were mercenaries who were not running the show in Kosovo, but were used by the KLA to do their dirty work.' " [more]

"Unless core issues of marginalisation and disempowerment are addressed, the end result of responding to terror with violence will be increased support for groups like al-Qaeda, and an expanded cycle of violence." [more]

"Georgia said on Thursday militants from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network were in rebel Abkhazia, raising the specter of military action by Georgian forces under the banner of the U.S.-led war on terrorism." [more]

"In mounting a major military offensive near Gardez, the Pentagon's aim is to wipe out the last major pocket of Al Qaeda resistance in Afghanistan. One of the most important battles of the war, it seems, did not begin until most Americans concluded that the war was essentially over." [more]

"Frustrated by their inability to identify a vast majority of captured fighters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, federal authorities are proposing to create a DNA databank of terrorism suspects by analyzing blood samples from thousands of detainees being held in Afghanistan and Cuba, government officials said." [more]

"U.S. bombers blasted the cavernous mountains of eastern Afghanistan for a third day Sunday, pressing a new offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters believed to be regrouping there. One American and three U.S.-allied Afghans were killed Saturday in the opening day of a ground offensive that accompanied the air campaign, the Pentagon said. An Afghan doctor at the Gardez hospital said at least six Americans were injured." [more]

"A hunger strike yesterday by almost two-thirds of the 300 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, called to protest two guards' removal of a makeshift turban from a captive's head, prompted a rapid about-face by U.S. military officials, who told the inmates they could indeed wear such a headdress." [more]

"Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are regrouping in the mountains of eastern Paktia province and just over the border in Pakistan, urging the faithful to wage holy war against U.S. forces, Afghan officials say." [more]

"About a third of the al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, refused to eat on Thursday after guards forced a captive to remove a makeshift turban during prayers, military officials said." [more]

"The man accused of masterminding the abduction of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan has refused to confess to the crime in a Karachi court. In his latest appearance, he complained to the judge that he was being pressed to sign a confession. " 'Police have been trying to force us to sign blank papers,' Sheikh Omar said." [more]

"Recent intelligence reports indicate that Osama bin Laden survived the U.S. bombing assault on his hideouts in Afghanistan and could still be somewhere in the lawless, mountainous region that straddles the Afghan-Pakistan border, officials said yesterday." [more]

"Foreign nationals captured in Afghanistan and held in Cuba sued members of the Bush administration and the military Tuesday, saying they are entitled to the same legal rights as American Taliban John Walker Lindh." [more]

"There isn't a single fundamentalist movement with real existence on the ground and a site on the Internet that has not sided with al-Qa'ida and its leader Usama Bin Ladin." [more]

"[F]ears have prompted an escalating campaign by U.S. diplomatic, military and law enforcement officials to increase cooperation with Yemen's government, which has mobilized troops to crack down on suspected militants since Sept. 11 and has announced plans to expel more than 100 foreigners for questionable activities." [more]

"The FBI issued an extraordinary terrorist alert Monday night, asking law enforcement and the American public to be on the lookout for a Yemeni man and several associates who might be plotting a terrorist attack as early as Tuesday." [more]

"Interestingly, while Walker is being provided a trial in the United States, hundreds of his comrades in arms have been denied any such 'luxury'. Many across the world should have been relieved to see Walker enter the courtroom without handcuffs or fetters. No one, however, seems to be concerned about the fate of hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban captives being kept in Cuba precisely so they cannot approach a court of law." [more]

"To Western ears, the public utterances of Osama bin Laden have always come across like the 'tirades of a loony idealogue.' But these skillful rhetorical constructions, rich in historical allusion, have enormous powers of penetrationóand will survive their author." [more]

"In an apparent change of tactics, Pentagon officials said teams of soldiers and CIA officers in the area had been ordered to try to capture bin Laden and his lieutenants, rather than kill them. The Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, confirmed that the US wanted to detain and interrogate the al-Qaeda leadership to strengthen its hand in breaking up the movement's global terrorist network." [more]

"The U.S. military has sent Special Operations sniper and "snatch and grab" teams to the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan to assist in killing or capturing Osama bin Laden and other senior leaders of the Qaida network, according to senior defense officials." [more]

"Several officials said bin Laden's claims that most of the hijackers did not know one another or even know the game plan until the final hours indicates al-Qaeda enforces strict need-to-know operational security. That makes early detection extremely difficult." [more]

"In a few words caught on tape, Osama bin Laden pronounced himself guilty of masterminding the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center, legal experts said yesterday." [more]

"Legal specialists have mixed opinions on what use, if any, the tape would have in a criminal prosecution of bin Laden or other members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda that he is believed to lead." [more]

"The latest Osama bin Laden tape is widely hailed as proof that he organised the September 11 attacks, though many papers report doubts in the Islamic world about its authenticity." [more]

"For some leaders of major U.S. Muslim organizations who have been criticized for failing to condemn bin Laden, the tape was enough to get them on record. For other Muslims in the United States who were more suspicious of the nation's eagerness to justify the war in Afghanistan, no number of independent, nongovernment translations would be enough to convince them." [more]

"A videotape released Thursday by the Pentagon shows Osama bin Laden boasting of his involvement in the September 11 attacks and seeming amused that some of the hijackers did not know that they were on a suicide mission until 'just before they boarded the planes.' " [more]

As prepared by translators from a videotape discovered this month. "Due to the quality of the original tape, it is not a verbatim transcript of every word spoken during the meeting, but does convey the messages and information flow." [more]

"The release of a videotape showing Osama bin Laden purportedly bragging about the September 11 terrorist attacks was postponed Wednesday because of audio and translation problems, according to White House and Pentagon sources." [more]

"Attorney General John Ashcroft called Tuesday's indictment a 'chronicle of evil.' The charges include conspiring to murder, commit acts of terrorism and aircraft piracy and use weapons of mass destruction. Ashcroft said [the suspect] was an active player in the Sept. 11 attacks. He underwent the same training as the terrorists on the hijacked planes, Ashcroft said, and pledged to kill Americans." [more]

"If they do manage to catch [the Qaeda fighters], the United States then has to decide what to do with them. So far senior figures in the US administration, from President George W Bush downwards, have avoided spelling out exactly what should happen to Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban leader Mullah Omar. They also have not said publicly how more junior commanders would be treated as well. The US may have decided what to do, but every option seems fraught with difficulties." [more]

Northern Alliance officials believed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were in the south of Afghanistan near Kandahar. [more]

"U.S. scholar Dr. Noam Chomsky on Sunday said America wanted Osama bin Laden dead and not alive because it did not have any proof to get him convicted in a court of law." [more]

"In 1979, Bushís first business, Arbusto Energy, obtained financing from James Bath, a Houstonian and close family friend. One of many investors, Bath gave Bush $50,000 for a 5 percent stake in Arbusto. At the time, Bath was the sole U.S. business representative for Salem bin Laden, head of the wealthy Saudi Arabian family and a brother (one of 17) to Osama bin Laden. It has long been suspected, but never proven, that the Arbusto money came directly from Salem bin Laden. In a statement issued shortly after the September 11 attacks, the White House vehemently denied the connection, insisting that Bath invested his own money, not Salem bin Ladenís, in Arbusto." [more]

"He would arrive unannounced, it was said, at hospitals where wounded Afghan and Arab fighters had been brought. He was lean and elegant, and dressed in the traditional shalwar kameez of the Afghan tribes . . . over tailored trousers of fine English cloth, and he always wore English custom-made Beal Brothers boots. He was soft-spoken, and went from bed to bed dispensing cashews and English chocolates to the wounded and carefully noting each man's name and address. Weeks later, the man's family would receive a generous check." [more]

"He said the Islamic militia appreciated aid workers were helping the country's impoverished people and said anyone legally entering the country would be safe." [more]

"Countries like the United States determine right and wrong on the basis of their interests. If it is in their interest to arrest General Noriega, they forget years of his faithfulness. If they have to leave the Shah of Iran, they forget years of friendship." [more]

How the U.S. government and CIA helped create Bin Laden. [more]