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December 19, 2008
Exclusive: CRC Open-Source Intelligence Briefs
Maj. W. Thomas Smith Jr., Director of the Counterterrorism Research Center
PAKISTAN: The Taliban recently executed five men whom the organization found “guilty” of spying for the U.S. and assisting in the targeting and killing of a senior Al Qaeda leader. The men were reportedly beheaded.
TURKEY: Turkish police commandos have reportedly nabbed at least 30 Al-Qaeda operatives – including 15 in Istanbul – in a broad counterterrorist sweep.
UNITED KINGDOM: “Al-Qaeda mastermind” Rangzieb Ahmed was convicted Thursday of “directing terrorism.” It was the first such conviction in the UK.
According to the TimesOnline: “[Rangzieb Ahmed] was regarded as so important to the organisation that a second man, Habib Ahmed, 28, was recruited to carry incriminating documents written in invisible ink that amounted effectively to a ‘terrorist’s contacts book’. Among the names and phone numbers found in the three books or diaries was that of Hamza Rabia, No 3 in al-Qaeda’s chain of command.”
According to the TimesOnline: “[Rangzieb Ahmed] was regarded as so important to the organisation that a second man, Habib Ahmed, 28, was recruited to carry incriminating documents written in invisible ink that amounted effectively to a ‘terrorist’s contacts book’. Among the names and phone numbers found in the three books or diaries was that of Hamza Rabia, No 3 in al-Qaeda’s chain of command.”
LEBANON: During a panel discussion hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute, last week, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin S. Indyk said if the U.S. State Department-designated terrorist group, Hizballah, and Hizballah’s allies gain control of Lebanon through parliamentary elections slated for June 2009, “American support for Lebanon will be placed in jeopardy” and “we should have no illusions about that.”
Indyk’s remarks reflect a particularly disturbing reality for the pro-democracy majority in Lebanon, which lost much of its political power to Hizballah and its allies when concessions were granted to Hizballah in order to persuade Hizballah to stop the killings (after the organization turned its weapons on the Lebanese people in May 2008). And the remarks should reflect a disturbing reality for the rest of the world.
“[Hizballah] is a premier terrorist organization,” Indyk said. “Beyond that, it has built up an independent military capability that is greater than the military capabilities of the Lebanese armed forces.” (Read story here.)
GUANTANAMO BAY: Captain Pete Hegseth, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and currently chairs Vets for Freedom, said this week on FOX News’ O’Reilly Factor: “I also served in Guantanamo Bay and know that the folks that we're holding there are very dangerous and seek every opportunity to get back to the battlefield and kill Americans. And they have intelligence, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had a great deal of it. And what we did was do everything we could to make sure that we kept our soldiers on the battlefield in future engagements and here at home safe because we had the intelligence we needed to pick apart these far- reaching, secretive networks that exist in keeping their mouth shut and not telling us where they are and what they do.”
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
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