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Osama bin Laden Uses Iraq to Plot New Attacks
Saturday, February 23, 2002
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times Online

Two of bin Laden's senior lieutenants, Abdullah Qasim and Mohammed Abu Islam, met with Saddam, at which time the Iraqi leader agreed to provide military training to Saudi al-Qaeda members and to equip them with arms and ammunition.

KARACHI -- ATO
In the light of Osama bin Laden's background and his international contacts and associations, there are strong indications that the world's most wanted terrorist has taken sanctuary in Iraq after fleeing Afghanistan via Iran. And given the enduring structure of his al-Qaeda network, it is most likely that he is already planning simultaneous terror attacks on United States interests in many parts of the world.

Despite exhaustive efforts in Afghanistan, including the crushing of the Taliban regime, the US has been unable to come even close to capturing the Saudi exile, whom Washington blames for masterminding the September 11 attacks on the US, as well as other acts of terrorism. It is no coincidence, perhaps, that US President George W Bush, in preparing to pursue America's war on terrorism beyond the campaign in Afghanistan, has accused Iraq, Iran and North Korea of being a part of an "axis of evil."

A close examination of militant outfits and religious groups clearly shows that al-Qaeda and the Taliban are two utterly different entities - in their leadership, in the nature of their followers and in their modus operandi.

The Taliban, who assumed power in Afghanistan in 1996, were characterized by deep introversion and the rigid application of a quirky strain of fundamentalist Islam, while al-Qaeda members have been noted for their sophisticated, extroverted and flexible approach in consolidating their international terror network since its inception in 1989, at which time they vowed to "oppose non-Islamic governments with force and violence."
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2002 © Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.

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