[angelize56]

I'd like to rephrase "two heads are better than one" to "two deadheads are better than one!" I sure hope our Homeland Security remains effective....

Bin Laden Enlisting Al-Zarqawi for Attacks

February 28, 2005 8:00 p.m. EDT

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - New intelligence indicates that Osama bin Laden is enlisting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his top operative in Iraq, to plan potential attacks on the United States, federal officials said Monday.

Al-Zarqawi has been involved in attacks in the Middle East. He has not been known to have set his sights on America.

The Homeland Security Department issued a classified bulletin to officials over the weekend about the intelligence, which spokesman Brian Roehrkasse described as "credible but not specific." The intelligence was obtained over the past several weeks, the officials said.

The government has no immediate plans to raise its national terror alert level, Roehrkasse said. But, he said, the intelligence "reiterates the desire by al-Qaida and its associates to target the homeland."

Bin Laden was in contact with al-Zarqawi within the past two months in an effort to enlist him in attacks, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The move may reflect the al-Qaida leadership's desire to involve al-Zarqawi in activities outside Iraq, the official said.

Events in Iraq, officials noted, have limited al-Zarqawi's ability to undertake attacks elsewhere.

Al-Zarqawi, who is blamed for scores of attacks in Iraq, pledged allegiance to bin Laden and the al-Qaida network last year. Yet he has had differences with bin Laden, and his efforts are considered somewhat distinct from central al-Qaida operations.

A Bush administration official with access to the Homeland Security Department's bulletin said the intelligence indicates that al-Qaida has continued to encourage al-Zarqawi, who was born in Jordan, to get involved in terrorist actions against Americans outside Iraq, including in the United States.

"The intelligence continues to be analyzed by the intelligence community and all appropriate information will be passed on to homeland security partners," Roehrkasse said. "The department has no plans at this time to raise the threat level based on this nonspecific information."

The agency sent the bulletin to state homeland security directors. A Justice Department official said the FBI was not involved and that the information that led to the bulletin was gleaned by CIA intelligence. (Yeah...why coordinate efforts!)

In the United States, al-Zarqawi rivals bin Laden as public enemy No. 1. He has a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head and is believed to have orchestrated car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi has run an increasingly dangerous, but diffuse, network of operatives in Iraq known by a number of names. He is blamed largely for attacks in the Middle East, including numerous attacks in Iraq and foiled plots targeting U.S. and Israeli targets in Jordan at the millennium.

In October, he made a first-ever pledge of loyalty to bin Laden, by posting a message on a Web site known for carrying militant Islamic content. At the time, U.S. officials believed al-Zarqawi was hoping to appeal to a larger audience and adopt bin Laden's broad objective to attack the United States.

Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, is thought to communicate with his deputies by courier, taped messages and other means. In January 2004, Kurdish forces in northern Iraq detained one courier, Hassan Ghul, who was carrying a letter written by al-Zarqawi to bin Laden. In it, al-Zarqawi proposed starting a civil war between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslim populations.

Last year, the Jordanian government stopped a Zarqawi-linked plan to use chemicals and explosives to blow up Jordan's secret service agency, the prime minister's office and the U.S. Embassy.

The Jordanians are also after al-Zarqawi, who was convicted last year for assassinating U.S. aid worker Laurence Foley in Amman in 2002. The Jordanians have issued a death sentence for al-Zarqawi.

At a Senate hearing this month, CIA Director Porter Goss warned that al-Zarqawi has "sought to bring about the final victory of Islam over the West." Goss said al-Zarqawi hopes to establish a safe haven in Iraq from which his group could operate against "'infidel' Western nations and 'apostate' Muslim governments."

[Ciberblade]

What is there to say?

"There can be only one"

[izme]

Well, they are all going straight to hell regardless of who they affiliate themselves with.... via U.S. Miltary round right between the eyes

[angelize56]

That or at the hands of their own suicide bombs...either way...no loss to our world! God can forgive them....I'm glad it's not my place! I detest people who kill innocent people...and especially children....cowards!!

[izme]

Originally Posted by angelize56

That or at the hands of their own suicide bombs...either way...no loss to our world! God can forgive them....I'm glad it's not my place! I detest people who kill innocent people...and especially children....cowards!!

We live in a dark time, with people so fanatical and willing to destroy all in their path for a so called holy war, So heavily conditioned to hate and so lost on what is love and peace. So into making the prophecies a reality by their own hands. Perhaps someday human's will quit killing eachother for such stupid reasons...A hope that all humankind will live in peace and understanding of one's neighbor etc. Instead of this barbaric mentality that plagues this planet.

[linskyjack]

Why would it shock you--we invade and destabalize the area, we can't protect the borders and Bin Laden is on the run---Why would anyone be surprised that these two hoodlums would join forces? We made it happen!

[angelize56]

It's not shocking...it's not unexpected...it's just a plain shame...and there's probably nothing the U.S. can really do to prevent the inevitable!

[rawmeat]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

Why would it shock you--we invade and destabalize the area, we can't protect the borders and Bin Laden is on the run---Why would anyone would be surprised that these two hoodlums would join forces? We made it happen!

Yeah, its all our fault! They would be lovely neighbors who you would have over for tea if we would just be nice to them!

Linsky, you're an idiot!

[coderitr]

That's just naive. The heavy handed isolationist US foreign policy is at least in part responsible for the rise of global terrorism. Did you think that the Islamic world would ignore our "Israel can do no wrong" attitude forever? I hate these terrorists and the slaughter of innocents as much as anyone else but come on, lets not hide our heads in the sand and pretend that we're totally innocent.

[linskyjack]

Rawmeat, you are a transcendent moron! But what would one expect from someone who calls himself "RawMeat"! Would you inform us about the relationship of Al Zar'qawi and Bin Laden before the invasion of Iraq? Of course you can not! I rest my case.

[coderitr]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

...and Bin Laden is on the run

No he isn't. He's resting comfortably in Pakistan enjoying the protection of the illegal Musharraf government. That Bush has done nothing about it is criminal.

[linskyjack]

I'm so tired of these knee-jerk righties who have this obession with making up the facts to support their program.

[coderitr]

Unmadeup Fact 1: The government of Pervez Musharraf is an illegal one. Musharraf is a general who seized power.
Unmadeup Fact 2: The Pashtun region of Northern Pakistan is a well-known stronghold of Islamic extremists.
Unmadeup Fact 3: The aforementioned government of Pakistan has refused permission for US forces to enter Pakistan.

Now, where do you suppose Bin Laden would run to?

Under US law, that is known as "aiding and abetting."

[coderitr]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

I'm so tired of these knee-jerk righties who have this obession with making up the facts to support their program.

.... and I am not a knee-jerk rightie.

[izme]

Originally Posted by coderitr

.... and I am not a knee-jerk rightie.

That's exactly why I don't get involved with most of these threads..the insults start flying...the testosterone get's pumping..the right hates the left and the left hates the right...blah blah blah

best to stay away from it Not a healthy way to boost the ego if you ask me