'US-NATO war served al-Qaeda strategy'

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MF09Df01.html

WASHINGTON - Al-Qaeda strategists have been assisting the Taliban fight against United States-North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan because they believe that foreign occupation has been the biggest factor in generating Muslim support for uprisings against their governments, according to the just-published book by Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online's Pakistan bureau chief whose body was found in a canal outside Islamabad last week with evidence of having been tortured.

That al-Qaeda view of the US-NATO war in Afghanistan, which Shahzad reports in the book based on conversations with several senior al-Qaeda commanders, represents the most authoritative


picture of the organization's thinking available to the public.

Shahzad's book Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban was published on May 24 - only three days before he went missing from Islamabad on his way to a television interview. His body was found on May 31.

Shahzad, who had been the Pakistan bureau chief for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online for 10 years, had unique access to senior al-Qaeda commanders and cadres, as well as those of Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Taliban organizations. His account of al-Qaeda strategy is particularly valuable because of the overall ideological system and strategic thinking that emerged from many encounters Shahzad had with senior officials over several years.

[sabrina 1]

1. The author of that book, Syed Saleem Shahzad,

was murdered and tortured a couple of weeks ago. He was a great journalist. His book had been published just three days before he disappeared on his way to a TV interview. His body was found later showing signs of torture.

He was the only journalist, airc, who interviewed Illyas Kashmiri. He was a brave man, often going into very dangerous places to interview some pretty dangerous people.

Rec'd to zero. I would like to read his book, maybe our leaders ought to also.

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2. he was one of the best in pakistan.

hos work was very insightful -- and he worked very hard to get his info.

maybe some people shouldn't be so afraid of reality.

[sabrina 1]

3. Yes, he was. It is a tragedy that he was murdered the way he was.

I guess he made enemies on all sides. But that is what happens to those who try to get to the truth.

Do you know if there has been any effort to find out who killed him? I was shocked when I read of his death last week. I was actually reading his interview with Kashmiri when I saw the report.

And I wonder if it had anything to do with his book, which was just released three days earlier?

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4. well the ISI is strongly suspected.

we will have to wait to see if anything comes of it.