Reply #20: WP Is It Al-Qaeda? Signs Point To a Surviving Terror Network

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081001616.html
Is It Al-Qaeda?
Signs Point To a Surviving Terror Network

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; Page A01

Strong indications of an al-Qaeda link to the alleged airliner-bombing plot uncovered in London yesterday suggest that the terrorist network has survived and adapted despite heavy blows to its leadership and organizational structure over the past five years, U.S. intelligence officials said.

Possible evidence of an al-Qaeda footprint, officials said, includes the trips made by several of the alleged plotters to Pakistan, where remaining al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be ensconced, and the sophistication and scope of plans to simultaneously attack aircraft headed toward the United States. The reported plot, as outlined here and in London, closely parallels one begun and aborted by al-Qaeda a decade ago.

Neither U.S. nor British officials were prepared yesterday to proclaim definitive evidence of direct involvement by Osama bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. They acknowledged that their conclusions are to some extent inferential and are based on bin Laden's repeated warnings of another major assault, the organization's known affinity for targeting commercial airliners, and their belief that no other terrorist group has the brains or the capability to plan such an audacious undertaking.

Elements of the suspected plot reflect their assessment of a newly evolved al-Qaeda strategy that depends -- unlike the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- on the Internet; indirect, local recruitment of disaffected Muslim youth; and an emphasis on European passport-holders less likely to be stopped at airports.

"It tells you that the enemy, as the military is fond of saying, is both thinking and adaptable," one official said. "They've gone through a thorough process, given the increase of security that we've done on flying planes, of thinking, 'Is there a way we can still get on board and take airplanes down?' . . . This is an extremely talented, thinking group."......