Al Qaeda Tape to Call for Use of WMDs

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Intelligence and law enforcement sources tell ABC News they are expecting al Qaeda operatives will post a new video on the Internet in the next 24 hours, calling for what one source said is "jihadists to use biological, chemical and nuclear weapons to attack the West."

"There have been several reports that al Qaeda will release a new message calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against civilians," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told ABC News in an e-mail.

"Although there have been similar messages in the past, the FBI and have no intelligence of any specific plot or indication of a threat to the U.S.," the e-mail said. "The FBI and U.S. intelligence community will review the message for any intelligence value."

While there is no evidence of any direct threat, the FBI sent a bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, out of an abundance of caution.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/story?id=4941724

---

Also this on ABC as sidebar:

New Bin Laden Tape: Who Cares?

Isolated and in hiding, Osama bin Laden's taped messages no longer have the power to send shivers through the Western world.

The release overnight of his third audiotape message of 2008, timed to the 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of Israel, provided proof the al Qaeda leader is alive but also showed his desperate attempt to remain relevant.

"He's definitely found himself on the back burner," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant. "It's a case of measured irrelevance. We used to do back flips when one of his tapes would arrive but no longer," Garrett said.

-----

"It seems just more of the same," said ABC News consultant Garrett. "He has an opinion, sure, but nothing he says surprises anyone anymore."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4870233&page=1

[Mojambo]

1. All they need now is an American corporation to sell them some.

I'm sure they'll be on the phone with Dick Cheney in about 8 months.

[gateley]

2. "...Qaeda operatives will post a new video on the Internet in the next 24 hours..."

Just as soon as Busco puts the finishing touches on it. :eyes:

[yurbud]

6. ''we gotter add the scratches an' blur it up & shit so it looks real.''

[yurbud]

8. I don't know if I'M going to post a video in 24 hours--how would they know what someone else

is thinking?

And if they were that far inside, wouldn't it be relatively easy to take out that cell or trace it higher up the food chain?

[gateley]

12. And they know the content of the video?

And excellent point -- if they're that far inside...

[yurbud]

15. then they would also know that you are going to take a pic of your kid tomorrow

with your thumb in front of the lens.

[katty]

14. and the suspense-emmy goes to: Langley Media Productions

[tridim]

17. Exactly what I was thinking

Does this shit still fly outside of Faux Newz?

[yurbud]

3. isn't there someone in the CIA who can shut this shit down? Just get a warrant to tap

Karl Rove's phone, and it would be over in about a day.

[hobbit709]

4. They JUST HAPPEN to know this in advance do they now?

If they know this much, how come they don't know where to find all these AQ people.

[katty]

11. it's like "Lost"--bush just keeps lookin & lookin & lookin....

[katty]

5. Langley calling....

[PSPS]

7. What's this? The al Qaeda edition of TV Guide?

I'm sure bush has hammered out the entire fall schedule by now.

[katty]

9. ha! i'm sure and he gave mcSame the PR talking points

[bill for obama]

10. It is all a load of crap really -

Like the - we know you know we don't know that you know that we know - blah blah blah.

I mean - any attack instigated against us will be determined by signature of the agent and within an hour - the country of origin will be incenirated - it is really that simple - and we have done it before.

It is a 21st century version of mutually agreed assured destruction. I just don't think so explicitly put as it was with the USSR - but the meaning is the same.

I always thought it was funny in a way - like that Iran could ever ever launch a successful attack on the United States. I guess - they could against a city, if they were suicidal I suppose. But consider, if they ever did - they may hurt a city - but we will surely burn the country to the ground. Less than 60 minutes - maybe 45 minutes.

[MarkR1717]

18. What happened with the Anthrax? NT

[bill for obama]

20. True.

[stillcool]

13. and this is the news...

can't wait till the color coded terror alerts come back in time for the elections.

[Solly Mack]

16. never did have "the power to send shivers through" me

Fuck the fear-mongers

[ohio2007]

19. Al-Qaida at War with Itself, Author Says

Al-Qaida at War with Itself, Author Says ( admit failure in Iraq )

Al-Qaida is at war. And not just against the West, but with itself, says Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower, the definitive account of the terrorist organization and the road leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11.

snip
Wright tells NPR's Guy Raz that the two players behind the rift are Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's No. 2 man, and Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl. Sharif, who wrote al-Qaida's manual for jihad training, recently released a manifesto refuting those principles.


snip
But in some respects, they are not losing, they are regenerating.
But they're still much reduced from what they were. They're clearly losing in Iraq. Their popularity all across the Muslim world is plummeting because Muslims are the main victims.
snip

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90805085&ft=1&f=1001



Forbidden pleasures’ return to Mosul


Weddings, park visits, coffee shops and restaurants back into circulation as Al-Qaeda melts away in northern Iraq.


By Marwan Ibrahim - MOSUL, Iraq

Ata Taha tied the knot with his university sweetheart in a popular park and traditional meeting point for lovers in Iraq's northern city of Mosul -- but only after Al-Qaeda went on the retreat.

snip

Al-Qaeda militants had banned all public expressions of joy in Mosul, and even prevented the sale of a local popular bread, claiming that it was a breach of Muslim tradition.

In mid-May Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said a crackdown had begun against a Sunni area of Mosul that the American military describes as the last urban bastion of Al-Qaeda jihadists in Iraq.


snip

"The extremist factions imposed their values on us with rhetoric and fatwas (decrees) that have nothing to do with real Islam," said Taha.

Coffee shops and restaurants, as well as other favourite meeting spots like the corniche overlooking the Tigris River in downtown Mosul, have also buzzed with activity since the anti-Al Qaeda operation got under way.

snip
Mosul, with its population of 1.5 million, is the provincial capital of Nineveh -- itself the capital of the once powerful Assyrian empire -- and is home to both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as Kurds and Christians.

"We always lived in harmony with the other communities and this is what encouraged me to come back," said Gergis Hannah, a Christian who fled his hometown two years ago but returned at the onset of the military push against the jihadists.

Once Al-Qaeda is uprooted from Mosul "the government must push for reconciliation" among all of the city's communities, Hannah added.

Soldiers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles continue to patrol the streets of Mosul in a reminder that the threat posed by Al-Qaeda has not been removed completely.

But the military met no resistance as its forces rolled into Mosul, and many residents believe the Islamists either fled the city in the face of the advance or went to ground.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=26099

[Igel]

21. I found the first article misleading.

Fadl wasn't AQ, per se. He was the founding theoretician for the Egypt group that Zawahri came from. They quoted him a lot, bought into his reasoning, only to have Fadl say he was wrong.

Zawahri's response was to hole himself up for months and publish a refutation of Fadl that was widely distributed.

The wrangle created some dissent, it would appear, but probably didn't affect partisans in the group. It would have made recruitment harder, however.

I assume the writer involved got it right. It's far more nuanced than the NPR guy probably could follow (although I'm willing to be he'd pride himself on his grasp of nuance).

[pinniped]

22. Al Qaeda Tape to Call for Use of Goldeneye EMP Weapon

They just updated their myspace page.

BS