Um, Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri-dead... now, on the same day...

[kpete]

August 01, 2008
Um, Al Qaeda #2 dead... now, on the same day...
...As we hear about the alleged Anthrax killer? Not yesterday, or the day before, or a year ago, or two, three, four, five years ago... no, today... just now:

(CBS) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/01/eveningnews/main4316193.shtml
Ayman al-Zawahiri - the second most powerful leader in al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden's No. 2 - may be critically wounded and possibly dead, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan reports exclusively.

CBS News has obtained a copy of an intercepted letter from sources in Pakistan, which urgently requests a doctor to treat al-Zawahiri. He's believed to be somewhere in Pakistan's remote tribal areas of Pakistan.

The letter refers to Sheikh Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri by name - and says that he is in "severe pain" and his "injuries are infected."

Oh wait, best part:

However, CBS News has not been able to confirm the authenticity of Baitullah Mehsud's signature and seal.

The letter is dated July 29 - one day after a U.S. air strike that killed al Qaeda weapons expert Abu Khabab al-Masri, and five other Arabs in South Waziristan.

more at:
http://www.atlargely.com/2008/08/um-al-qaeda-2-d.html

[graywarrior]

1. How many #2's are dead and captured fer crissakes?

[sniffa]

9. Al-Queda's structure is set up that "number 2" isn't just one figure

but several. Zawahiri most likely, is actually one of the number ones. If he's a number tow (based on their structure) then so is Bin Laden.

[graywarrior]

16. Dear lord, how are we supposed to follow all this?

[sniffa]

17. Here

Circular Structures
Similarities between al Qaeda and the Assassins are not surprising or significant in themselves. Both groups are religiously oriented secret societies on a wartime footing. It's natural that there would be some parallels. The question is how deep the similarities run.

Governments tend to be organized in pyramids. An individual rules from the top, then a series of bureaucratic layers that fatten and sprawl as you get further and further from the leadership. In contrast, religious cults and secret societies tend to be organized in circles.

These groups usually have a large outer circle, often consisting of people with only a casual interest in the society's goals. Within that circle are a finite number of increasingly exclusive degrees, made up from agents and members who are increasingly informed about the society's real goals and methods.

Circular organizations are more resistant to assault than pyramid hierarchies, in part because their internal mechanisms are hidden. The point of a pyramid is to create a clear path to a visible apex, a single leadership position that dominates the structure. The pyramid structure is therefore largely transparent. Standing at the foot of a pyramid, you can see its tip.

Circular structure hides and protects the center. Standing on the surface of a globe, you cannot see its center. It's difficult to strike at the center without burrowing into the structure.

There are other advantages. Gravity, for instance, works to the advantage of a spherical structure, but acts to the detriment of a pyramid.

When you attack the structure of a globe, everything falls in toward the center, consolidating strength at the middle and healing ruptures in the exterior, a mechanism which experts see working in al Qaeda as it recovers from a U.S. onslaught.

In a pyramid, however, the vitally important apex rests on top of the subsequent layers. By hacking away at the middle, or the bottom, the structure can become so destabilized that the apex may fall.

http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/al-qaeda-and-the-assassins/mind-control/

[spanone]

2. over three months to go....hold on to your hats

they're just getting warmed up.....

[madeline_con]

3. Al Qaeda #2 - World's Most Dangerous Job!

:rofl:

[Muttocracy]

6. totally! Noone wants to be #2 or #3 and promoted! nt

[marmar]

4. Al Qaeda has more No. 2s than the Papermate factory.....

n/t

[Botany]

5. 7 years after 9/11 ..... about time!

BTW wasn't this Obama's idea?

[benddem]

7. I think he died

the last time there was news the * admin. wanted to hide. It must be the 4th time at least.

[Tab]

8. I'm not convinced the anthrax guy 'committed suicide'

It's always suspicious when this stuff gets trotted out near an election.

They've also waited until now to do a conviction of a Gitmo terrorist (Bin Laden's driver, for chrissake), and I'd expect more faux arrests and maybe a terra alert or two as we get nearer to the conventions and elections.

[Muttocracy]

10. me neither - or at least they drove him extra insane

Seems like they went after that other guy (Hatfill?) and he didn't cave - so they finally switched to this guy, camped out at his house for a year, let him go nuts, and are quite pleased to be wrapping things up all the sudden.

:tinfoilhat:

[Tab]

13. that sounds like a lot of work

I suspect these guys would have no qualms throwing him off of his balcony or something and making something look like a suicide. Why camp out for a year when you can do a few days of planning and finish the job within the week?

[Muttocracy]

14. I'm referring to the neighbors who said FBI cars were out there all the time

I think it was video on KO tonight, and in text somewhere on MSNBC.

[pinto]

11. Geez. I'm sure there's a reality somewhere, out there. Just not sure where...n/t

[GOPisEvil]

12. Al Qaeda #2's are like drummers for Spinal Tap.

[stray cat]

15. I would be glad if this were true

[TexasObserver]

18. they be takin' care of business!

[AnnieBW]

19. Going after them in Pakistan

Like BO said is really doing the job.

[JDPriestly]

20. OK, Bin Laden, if not already dead, will be caught right at the

time of the Democratic Convention. I figured it would happen in the fall, but no. McCain is so lacking in any following that they probably have moved the date up.

This is my best guess on the time frame. I have been talking about the anticipated Bin Laden capture in time for the 2008 November election for some time. They are really getting close.

Bush can't afford to leave the Bin Laden mystery unresolved. He doesn't want the next administration to look into what was really going on. Bin Laden before November, quite probably on the day of Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention or just before. You read it here first. Remember that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. No evidence of al Qaeda No. 2's illness or death, U.S. says

U.S. counterterrorism officials said Friday they have seen no evidence to support a media report that al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, may be critically wounded or dead.

A senior intelligence official told CNN there is no evidence to support a CBS News report on al-Zawahiri, and no reason to believe it is true.

"This is utterly uncorroborated, and at this point there is no reason to believe that al-Zawahiri has been injured or killed," another intelligence official said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/01/alzawahiri/?iref=mpstoryview

[brettdale]

22. Its the old the number two guy is dead trick

Would you believe their number three guy is dead

Their number four guy?

How about the leader of their girl scout chapter?

[MrScorpio]

23. We've seen all of this before...

Usually at the end of a GODFATHER movie

[Arkham House]

24. Jesus--Al-Queda has more "Number Two"s than SPECTRE...