arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Nooit gehoord van Stratfor corporation ? Wie de vinger aan de pols wil houden moet naar http://www.stratfor.com, waar ex-intelligence officers, militairen, journalisten en academici elke dag de imperialistische ondernemingen van de VS van nuttige commentaar en achtergrondanalyse voorzien. Ontluisterend en leerrijk. Stratfor.com meldt vandaag doodleuk wat iedereen al begon te vermoeden : Bin Laden was niet het meesterbrein achter het WTC-inferno.

Stratfor.com is dank zij een uitgebreid netwerk van bronnen in de hoogste regionen van de Amerikaanse burgerij doorgaans uitstekend op de hoogte. Zo wisten ze bijvoorbeeld enkele weken geleden te melden dat de Amerikanen hun militaire aanvallen op Irak zouden opdrijven, wat ook prompt gebeurde. Over de aanslag op de tweelingtorens schrijven de wizzkids van Stratfor.com dat niet Bin Laden het meesterbrein achter de aanslag is, want dat de VS zijn hele netwerk al sinds midden 1997 volledig in kaart heeft gebracht, met bankrekeningen en alles. Bovendien hebben de Taliban zijn telefoon afgesloten, en kan hij alleen nog via de satelliet Immarsat 3 telefoneren, en daar luistert de CIA mee.

Bin Laden dient alleen als zoethoudertje voor de publieke opinie, een bordkartonnen slechterik uit een stripverhaal. Stratfor.com ontwikkelt uitdrukkelijk de hypothese van een wereldwijd netwerk van radicale moslimterroristen, met vertakkingen van Caïro tot Algiers, van Palestina tot Manila, met overal steun van bedrijfsleiders, regeringsleden, geheime diensten. Deze perverse hypothese past beter dan het Bin Laden-verhaaltje (cfr het hoongelach van The Independent) bij de ambities van de VS om van de WTC-aanslag gebruik te maken om overal waar ze goesting hebben orde op zaken te gaan stellen, en de hele wereld in een draaikolk van militair geweld mee te sleuren. Er zitten overal moslimextremisten, dus kan de VS overal toeslaan in naam van de strijd tegen het terrorisme.

S T R A T F O R

THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE COMPANY

____________________________________________________
16 September 2001

COMPLIMENTARY INTELLIGENCE REPORT - FULL TEXT

U.S. Faces Islamic Radical Network
2100 GMT, 010916

(…)

The masterminds behind this week's operation began
forming their attack plan years ago. They then needed to
locate funding and likely turned to sympathetic
financiers who could arrange for aid from even more
sympathetic donors. The planners also set up separate
departments with directors to handle
counterintelligence, logistics, training, diplomatic
covers and passports, finances and recruitment. At the
same time, security is maintained by isolating each
department from the others so that the organization is
not compromised.

Each division required support from a variety of
sources, which neither bin Laden nor his network could
provide. In fact, to say bin Laden himself masterminded
the assault overlooks some important limitations under
which he is currently operating.

For one he is trapped in Afghanistan and is limited in
what he can do. The Saudi dissident cannot even make
phone calls and has had to resort to courier services in
order to communicate with his associates.

For years, the United States tracked communications in
country and listened in on his phone conversations made
over the Immarsat-3 satellite telephone network.
Directing an operation like the one that took place
Sept. 11 would require flexible management that could
adapt to a variety of situations, necessitating quick
and reliable means of communication.

Even financing the operation would have required
resources beyond bin Laden and Al-Qaida's ability.
According to U.S. officials quoted by United Press
International, Washington had bin Laden's financial and
operational networks almost "completely mapped" out in
detail by mid-1997.

This suggest that bin Laden's finances have been at most
severely limited and at least under constant
surveillance. It would have been impossible for his
bankers to wire money to operatives in the United States
without tipping off U.S. intelligence agencies. Clearly,
bin Laden could not have financed this week's operation
alone.

Al-Qaida could have easily provided training and perhaps
even recruits. But there are several other organizations
that could also be tapped for intelligence, logistical
assistance, operational planning and financing. For
example, the Egyptian group al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya
orchestrated the bombing of the World Trade Center in
1993 and has experience operating in the United States.
It also has links to Egyptian intelligence and business
leaders who travel frequently and could provide
information on airline security standards in the United
States.

Another example can be seen in the bombing of the USS
Cole in Yemen last October. The group blamed for that
attack has been linked to bin Laden, but there is no
evidence that it acted directly under his command. That
group, like the recent attackers, employed crude tactics
and weapons in a sophisticated manner to cause massive
damage. It managed to severely damage a U.S. destroyer,
not to mention the U.S. sense of dominance, with a
rubber inflatable boat.

Indeed, there are hundreds of radical Islamic
organizations operating around the world, all individual
and distinct from each other, that could have provided
support. Although in the past a majority focused on
local issues and did not operate beyond their national
borders, a new picture is now emerging.

This picture is one of a global network tying all
Islamic groups together in a loose coalition. Like the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, this network is comprised
of organizations and sympathetic individuals from all
over the Muslim world, including financiers and aid
donors, government officials and diplomats, former and
possibly current military officers, intelligence agents,
former and current guerrilla and militant groups,
information technology specialists and operational
commanders and their lieutenants.

It is then quite possible that the group that
masterminded the Sept. 11 terror attacks is comprised of
a collection of individuals from several different
countries. Indeed, the FBI's list of suspects reads like
a student roster from the renowned Al-Ahzar University
in Cairo. The operatives who carried out the attack came
from countries across the Middle East, including
possibly Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates. There was no local issue tying them all
together.