CIA tracks Al Qaeda resources from Iraq

[RamboLiberal]

Source: LA Times

A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operation.

In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan increasingly is being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.

The influx of money has bolstered Al Qaeda's leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its far-flung network. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of Al Qaeda funds, with the network's leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.

Al Qaeda's efforts were aided, intelligence officials said, by Pakistan's withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.

<snip>

President Bush is given detailed presentations on the hunt's progress every two to four months, in addition to routine counterterrorism briefings, intelligence officials said.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-bin...

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Heckuva of a good job Bushie! And excuse me, what is this every 2 to 4 months crap - IMHO that should be at least weekly or bi-weekly! Yeah, you sure don't think about him do you Bush!

[dave_p]

1. It's mindboggling

So the Iraq invasion's not only recruiting more jihadis, but locals living amid a collapsing economy are scraping their money together to fund the foreign operation that Bush saved from destruction after the loss of its main Afghan base.

It gets ever harder to imagine how future analysts are going to look back on this. I think they'll be speechless. I can't think of any more purely destructive act on such a calamitous scale in the past six decades.

[mrdmk]

2. Remember all of that missing money sent to Iraq

Lets just take plane loads of cash to Iraq, throw it around like, "there is plenty more of where that came from", and see what happens.

It does not take a genius to figure out some of that money will make it way to Al Qaeda. Mr. Bush Jr. thinks he can still buy his way out of problems of his own making.

[bemildred]

3. Apparently, being our enemy is a surefire path to success and prosperity.

Heck of a job, George.

[wellst0nev0ter]

4. Worst. President. Evar.

He thinks history will look kindly upon him? Historians won't even consider him a president. Just some asteriks guy occupying the White House.

[KG]

5. i no longer believe anything the CIA releases to the press regarding al-Q

[magellan]

6. Okay, is it just me

"Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan"

...or why aren't we currently bombing the SHITE out of and invading Pakistan?

Enquiring minds have wanted to know the answer to this question for several years now. Hello? Agent Mike?

[rodeodance]

7. Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seen ($$ coming frorm IraQ)

Source: latimes




Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seen
U.S. officials say the terrorist network's command base is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq.
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2007


WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operation.

In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.

The influx of money has bolstered Al Qaeda's leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its far-flung network. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of Al Qaeda funds, with the network's leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.

Al Qaeda's efforts were aided, intelligence officials said, by Pakistan's withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-bin...

[rodeodance]

8. "Iraq is a big moneymaker for them," said a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official.

[CGowen]

9. who writes this stuff?

Jundullah (Army of God) (Persian: جنداللہ is a militant Islamic organization that is based in Waziristan, Pakistan and affiliated with Al-Qaeda. It is a part of the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan and in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The goal of the group is to form an independent and united Baluchistan under a hardline Sunni Islamist government similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.<1> Though Baloch-dominated, the group claims to represent all Sunnis in Iran, regardless of ethnicity.<2> Iran and Pakistan have designated it a terrorist organization and banned it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah


A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran.

It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials.

U.S. officials say the U.S. relationship with Jundullah is arranged so that the U.S. provides no funding to the group, which would require an official presidential order or "finding" as well as congressional oversight.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/abc_news_ex...

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Isn't it ironic?

Dumbfuck's hideous blunder has now become a source of funding for Al Kader and His Big Band of Jihadi Thugs. So basically our tax dollars are buying bin laden's supplies. Wonderful. Heckuvajob Dumbfuck!

[Botany]

11. L.A. Times we are helping al Qaeda in Pakistan

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...