Al-Qa'ida trained over 100,000 terrorists at Afghanistan bases, says US in

[cantwealljustgetalong]

...

According to the report of a high-level inquiry into the September 2001 attacks, which is due to be released this week, between 70,000 and 120,000 terrorists were trained in Afghanistan before the coalition invasion in 2002. The figure, based on testimony by senior US intelligence officials to a joint inquiry by the US Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees, is at least three times higher than previous estimates.

The hearings were told that the al-Qa'ida recruits came from more than 70 countries and were trained in skills from bomb-making and weapons use to foreign languages. Many are believed to have escaped capture and are lying low around the world.

One of the authors of the report, Senator Bob Graham, said the estimate suggests that al-Qa'ida remains the main threat to the West. The Bush administration "lost focus" when it turned its attention to war with Iraq, in his view.

...

One official told The New York Times last week that counter-terrorism officers frequently complained about the absence of human intelligence from the Afghanistan camps, saying that analysts had to rely on reports from foreign intelligence services, satellite imagery and intercepted communications, none of which detected any advance sign of the impending attacks.

...

Nearly an entire section has been removed from the final report at the insistence of the intelligence agencies. It describes the actions of foreign governments, including Britain and Saudi Arabia, before the attacks. Unlike most other official publications on intelligence, the report will have sections blacked out, making it possible to see how much of it has been deleted.

Apart from the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and the question of whether he is still alive, other mysteries remain in the wake of 9/11, says the inquiry team. One is how 19 young men, mostly from Saudi Arabia, could conspire to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon without the knowledge of the Saudi government.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=425888

[indictrichardperle]

1. i wonder how many Taliban

soldiers there were totally ? and if all of them are being called "al-queda" ?

I read an interview with retired French intelligence official who said " no terra can exist or sustain itself without a government sponsor". I think thats probably true.

Im becoming very cynical.

[leesa]

2. Reports from intelligence agencies around the world,

including the CIA gave estimates of 2000-3000 members shortly after 9-11. It was a very small group. Probably quite large now though, thanks to the Chimp in Charge. I suspect this is more BS to retro justify an illegal, unethical slaughter.

[hedda_foil]

3. I agree.

I'm glad that Graham is talking tough about impeachment but between this kind of fear mongering crap and the fact that he's one of the authors of the Patriot Act, I don't support his bid for the presidency in any way shape or form.