This old man? US account branded 'ridiculous'
Source: Agencies |
May 9, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IT didn't add up in Pakistan. The United States released footage of a grey-bearded, dishevelled figure wrapped in a shawl and wearing a woollen hat, and then it said this same old man had been calling the shots on al-Qaida's plots around the globe.
There was doubt and derision in Pakistan yesterday at the suggestion that Osama bin Laden's hideout north of the capital Islamabad was somehow an "active command and control centre" for al-Qaida.
"It sounds ridiculous," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official. "It doesn't sound like he was running a terror network."
For one thing, there was no internet connection or even telephone lines into the compound that US commandos raided a week ago, killing the world's most-wanted man.
More critically, analysts have long maintained that, years before bin Laden's death, al-Qaida had fragmented into a decentralized group that operated tactically without him.
"It's bullshit," said another senior Pakistani security official, when quizzed on a US intelligence official's assertion that bin Laden had been "active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions" of the Islamist militant group from his secret hide-out in Abbottabad.
"They will say whatever they like. I can say tomorrow that he was planning to make nuclear or chemical weapons ... Would you believe it? I think there's an element of exaggeration. They're playing it up," he said.
Analysts said that bin Laden's centrality to the network had already faded. While the man behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US served as an inspirational figure, strikes on Western targets were increasingly plotted and instigated by autonomous splinter groups.
"As a matter of leadership of terrorist operations, bin Laden has really not been the main story for some time," said Paul Pillar, a former senior US Intelligence official.
Talat Masood, a Pakistani defence analyst and retired general, said bin Laden distributed videos occasionally and he might have passed computer disks with ideas for strikes to his couriers, but it was hard to see how that would put him at the nerve center of operations.
"The only thing he could have done in that house is to record video and audio messages," a senior security official said in Islamabad.
"How could he control the whole of al-Qaida from there while he had no communications system? How could he control the entire al-Qaida when he was living with two guards, an 18-inch television and no big weapons? It's just an exaggeration."
There was doubt and derision in Pakistan yesterday at the suggestion that Osama bin Laden's hideout north of the capital Islamabad was somehow an "active command and control centre" for al-Qaida.
"It sounds ridiculous," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official. "It doesn't sound like he was running a terror network."
For one thing, there was no internet connection or even telephone lines into the compound that US commandos raided a week ago, killing the world's most-wanted man.
More critically, analysts have long maintained that, years before bin Laden's death, al-Qaida had fragmented into a decentralized group that operated tactically without him.
"It's bullshit," said another senior Pakistani security official, when quizzed on a US intelligence official's assertion that bin Laden had been "active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions" of the Islamist militant group from his secret hide-out in Abbottabad.
"They will say whatever they like. I can say tomorrow that he was planning to make nuclear or chemical weapons ... Would you believe it? I think there's an element of exaggeration. They're playing it up," he said.
Analysts said that bin Laden's centrality to the network had already faded. While the man behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US served as an inspirational figure, strikes on Western targets were increasingly plotted and instigated by autonomous splinter groups.
"As a matter of leadership of terrorist operations, bin Laden has really not been the main story for some time," said Paul Pillar, a former senior US Intelligence official.
Talat Masood, a Pakistani defence analyst and retired general, said bin Laden distributed videos occasionally and he might have passed computer disks with ideas for strikes to his couriers, but it was hard to see how that would put him at the nerve center of operations.
"The only thing he could have done in that house is to record video and audio messages," a senior security official said in Islamabad.
"How could he control the whole of al-Qaida from there while he had no communications system? How could he control the entire al-Qaida when he was living with two guards, an 18-inch television and no big weapons? It's just an exaggeration."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
