The big catch that wasn't?
Pakistan's arrest of Libyan Al Qaeda suspect not as big a breakthrough as first thought.
"
Pakistan captures 'Al Qaeda number 3'," roared last week's headlines.
Pakistani officials triumphantly announced last Wednesday that the man they nabbed was Libyan national Abu Farraj al-Libbi, who they said ranks third in Al Qaeda's current hierarchy. His arrest was described in the US as "a major breakthrough" in the hunt for bin Laden.
An article by
The American Forces Information Service published on the Defense Department's website reports that President Bush called it "a
critical victory in the war on terror."
'Al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden,' Bush said, before beginning a Social Security address to the Latino Coalition Conference .... 'He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al Qaeda network. His arrest removes a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America and for those who love freedom.'
But, were these pronouncement made in haste?
The Sunday Times of London cites European intelligence experts as saying that Libbi "was
not the terrorists' third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as 'among the flotsam and jetsam' of the organisation."
The
Times reports that "the backslapping in Washington and Islamabad has astonished European terrorism experts, who point out that the Libyan was neither on the FBI's most wanted list, nor on that of the State Department 'rewards for justice' program."
Another Libyan is on the FBI list – Anas al-Liby, who is wanted over the 1998 East African embassy bombings – and some believe the Americans may have initially confused the two. When
The Sunday Times contacted a senior FBI counter-terrorism official for information about the importance of the detained man, he sent material on al-Liby, the wrong man. "Some believe al-Libbi's significance has been cynically hyped by two countries that want to distract attention from their lack of progress in capturing bin Laden, who has now been on the run for almost four years," the
Times reported.
Whether or not the Libyan suspect is in fact Al Qaeda's number three, Pakistan announced Monday that they have
arrested 24 alleged Islamic militants since his detention.
The Telegraph reports that "more than a dozen low-key Al Qaeda targets were arrested in Pakistan last week
thanks to information said to have been stored on Libbi's mobile phone." The
Telegraph added that "early US and Pakistani hopes that he would tell them the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawihiri, were dashed."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that "the Pakistanis are to be congratulated for the hard work that they did," referring to al-Libby's arrest.
Of course, we've been cooperating with them, but the Pakistanis, as we've been saying, have been really stalwart in the war on terrorism. They've been fighting in parts of Pakistan that have not been even open to Pakistani forces for a very long time. And so this is a great victory for them. It's a great victory in the war on terrorism.
But former CIA analyst Gary Schroen takes a different view of Pakistan's cooperation on the hunt for bin Laden. In a recent interview with
National Public Radio (NPR), Mr. Schroen recalled how he was asked shortly after 9/11 to put his retirement transition program on hold and ordered to go to Afghanistan, "capture Bin Laden, kill him, and
bring his head back in a box on dry ice."
Schroen was a member of one of the first teams of US forces to arrive in Afghanistan after 9/11. "As a former station chief in both Kabul and Islamabad," writes
BBC, "he was considered to be ideally placed for the Afghan mission."
Radio Free Europe reports that Schroen is
less than sure about Pakistan's determination to get bin Laden.
[Schroen] says bin Laden is regarded almost as a "Robin Hood" figure among certain elements of the Islamic world. He says bin Laden's popularity is so great that Pakistan may not want to risk a potentially devastating political backlash by capturing him.
On
MSNBC' s Meet the Press this Sunday, host Tim Russert asked Schroen this question: "Is there a distinct possibility that [Pakistani President Pervez] Musharraf is
afraid of capturing Osama bin Laden because he would fear that his government would be toppled?" His answer:
In my opinion, that's a real likelihood ... to take on bin Laden, there would be an uproar within that country and around the Islamic world that would really cause the foundations of the Pakistani government to be shaken. ...
And if we were able to find bin Laden, and identify that to the Pakistanis, I would suspect that there would be a great reluctance and probably a refusal to move forward.
Pakistan has consistently rejected claims it is not doing everything in its power to crush terrorist activities. The al-Libby arrest "overtly represents Islamabad's
resolute and stanch commitment against terrorism," according to an editorial in the
Pakistan Times.
The newest episode has once again proven the ability and competence of Pakistan, to deal with the menace of terrorism, on its own.
Amid such a pledge of Pakistan to annihilate terrorists, it should discount the vicious crusade of some over exuberant elements in the Bush administration that Pakistan is not doing enough to eliminate the al-Qaeda network.
In a recent interview with
U.S. News and World Report, however, Schroen was asked, "
Will we get bin Laden?" His reply:
There is no effort being spared at headquarters. The problem is that, as far as we can tell, he's in Pakistan. Unless we decide to break the self-imposed rule that we won't go in after him without Pakistani approval, we will be hamstrung.
Also...
•
Once again, the big Yalta lie (
The Los Angeles Times)
•
WMD mystery (
National Review)
•
Truth drug fails to get Al Qaeda No. 3 to talk (
The Telegraph)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Matthew Clark.
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