How can you tell if al Qaeda is winning, or losing, the war on terror? How
do you even tell who the major players are in al-Qaeda? Like baseball, one?s
best bet is to use a scorecard. The scorecard for al-Qaeda (?The Base?) is
pretty complex.
Al-Qaeda was originally built like a large corporation. It has a board of
directors of 24, with Osama bin Laden as the CEO (official title is
Emir-General). Bin Laden also has 15 people in what could be described as his
?inner circle? of aides. Al-Qaeda also had training camps in six countries in
September, 2001 (Afghanistan, Indonesia, Chechnya, Albania, Sudan, and the
Philippines), with eight commanders. Al-Qaeda also maintained cells in numerous
Arabian and European countries.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks,
the United States and allies have been hunting down the leadership of al-Qaeda.
Among the big fish (the ?Board of Directors?), seven are dead and ten are in
custody. Four members of the ?inner circle? are also in custody. This is 53
percent of the senior leadership for al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is still at
large, along with Ayman al-Zawahiri (the deputy commander of al-Qaeda) and Abu
Mohammed al-Masri (the planner of the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania). However, five out of the eight training camp commanders are dead or
in custody.
Other statistics of note: Eighteen al-Qaeda financiers are
dead or in custody. Among those still at large, though, are two of bin Laden?s
sisters, two of his brothers-in-law, and a Swiss banker by the name of Ahmed
Huber. Huber also has extensive connections with neo-Nazis in Europe. The real
financial resource for al-Qaeda remains untouched ? the dozen or so Saudis who
are called the ?Golden Chain.? All are at large, and all can still provide
enough resources for bin Laden to regroup and strike again.
Al-Qaeda?s
military committee has also been decimated. One is dead (killed by a CIA
Predator firing Hellfire missiles), fourteen, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
and Ramzi Yousef, have been captured. These include the commanders in Singapore,
Java, Southern Europe, and Japan. Several are at large, including the operations
chiefs in Kosovo, Tunisia, and Somalia.
Subordinate networks in several
countries have been rounded up or decimated. In Jordan, five out of the six
major al-Qaeda figures are in custody; in Syria, only five major terrorist
figures are still at large ? dozens of al-Qaeda members are currently
incarcerated, but three major Hezbollah figures are still on the loose. Syria,
however, remains a sponsor of Hezbollah. Egypt has rounded up all of the major
al-Qaeda figures, as have Italy, Belgium, Germany. The United Kingdom, Spain,
and France have rounded up many al-Qaeda figures as well. Many of the major
al-Qaeda figures in Saudi Arabia are dead or apprehended, but a number of
figures involved in the Khobar Towers bombing are still at large ? some with
connections to Hizbollah. In Turkey, 75 percent of the big fish connected with
al-Qaeda are dead or in custody. Most of the support structure for the
9/11attack, including Mukhabarat agent Ahmad Khalil Ibraham al-Ani (who the
Czechs insist met hijacker Mohammed Atta in Prague), are in custody.
But
in some places, the network is pretty intact. Many major Taliban figures are
still on the loose. So are all three members of al-Qaeda?s WMD Committee, and
all of those involved in a Bolivian hijacking plot.
Short version,
al-Qaeda is on the run throughout most of the globe. Even Abu Musab Zarqawi, in
charge of all al-Qaeda elements in Iraq, is on the run ? as elements of his
infrastructure are taken apart. Eight of Zarqawi?s top aides are dead. Twenty
others have been captured. Zarqawi was unable to disrupt the elections on
January 30, a serious loss for the terrorists. Al-Qaeda is still potent, as the
attacks in Madrid proved, but they are clearly reacting to the multi-pronged
offensive in the United States. ? Harold C. Hutchison
(hchutch@ix.netcom.com)
Link to Terrorist Scorecard (by ?Straight
Vermonter?):
http://www.angelfire.com/ultra...
