Al-Qaida Ability Diminishing, Agents Say

Al-Qaida Ability Diminishing, Agents Say
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, March 13, 2005



(03-13) 14:26 PST ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) --


Senior Bush administration officials have warned in recent weeks that al-Qaida is regrouping for another massive attack, its agents bent on acquiring nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in a nightmare scenario that could dwarf the horror of Sept. 11.


But in Pakistan and Afghanistan — where Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy are believed to be hiding — intelligence agents, politicians and a top U.S. general paint a different picture.


They say a relentless military crackdown, the arrests last summer of several men allegedly involved in plans to launch attacks on U.S. financial institutions, and the killing in September of a top Pakistani al-Qaida suspect wanted in a number of attacks — including the 2002 killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and two failed assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf — have effectively decapitated al-Qaida.


Because of the secretive and underground nature of cells that operate throughout the world, it cannot be known for certain what effect the damage done to al-Qaida in its home territory has had on operations elsewhere.


Pakistani intelligence agents told The Associated Press that it has been months since they picked up any "chatter" from suspected al-Qaida men, and longer still since they received any specific intelligence on the whereabouts of bin Laden or any plans to launch a specific attack

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/03/13/international/i135612S76.DTL

One excerpt makes the whole thing drool:

Because of the secretive and underground nature of cells that operate throughout the world, it cannot be known for certain what effect the damage done to al-Qaida in its home territory has had on operations elsewhere.

problem in Afghanistan and terrorizing wealthy countries to fight poverty and hungry in the world and fighting to socialize medicine.

training in Iraq.

he will come. I think both of those mysterious sources mentioned above are lying through their teeth.

selling or using, both could leave you with very little time for terroractivism :shrug: :shrug:

Pakistani intelligence agents don't need to "pick up" al-Qaida's chatter, they're usually the ones chatting with them. And, of course, they have no "specific information" on the whereabouts of Mr Bin Laden, at least not in the time periods when they are not giving him dialysis treatment in Pakistani military hospitals.

HAHAHA!

"intelligence agents, politicians and a top U.S. general"...

The Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalists in the Bullshit Toss!

To put it in perspective, used car salesmen haven't even made the medal round since 2001!

Can't we at least expect THAT much from these bumbling idiots?

Could it just posibly be true that with all the dollars and attention pissed away in phony "security" measures, that some additional pressure really did get put on al-Qaeda?

I mean, if this report partially contradicts anything said by the Bush Administration, isn't that an argument in favor of its veracity?

Now, I assume that however much the War on Terr has reduced al-Qaeda's ability to operate, our bloody imperial ambition has given birth to similar organizations which will more than take up the slack.

...the Tet Offensive.

And then they said that the Viet Cong had exhausted their last remaining resources, and that the North Vietnamese were really not much of a threat.

They were still saying that when the last helicoptor left the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon.

The crowd that is spouting this stuff today is the heir to the crowd that spouted it during the Vietnam War.

http://reuters.excite.com//article/20050313/2005-03-13T214223Z_01_N13459267_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-ZARQAWI-DC.html

Mar 13, 4:42 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's chief ally in Iraq, may be planning attacks on "soft targets" in the United States including movie theaters, restaurants and schools, Time magazine reported on Sunday.

White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley would not discuss the specific warning, which Time said was circulated among U.S. security agencies last week in a restricted bulletin.

But he said the administration was concerned about reports -- "which we think are very credible" -- that Zarqawi is working more closely with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.

Hadley said movie theaters, restaurants and schools "are the kinds of targets we know that al Qaeda has traditionally been concerned about."



so which is it? Is their ability Diminishing? or are they re-grouping?

Where is that damn color chart when you need it???