Post by ppyenews on Jul 18, 2007 2:55:12 GMT -5
Welcome to Talkback Topic – I’m Phillip Pye.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Fugitive ‘al Qaeda’ Chief Osama bin Laden is easily the worlds most wanted, and feared man. He has been on the run since US-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Bin Laden was last heard of in an audio clip posted on the Internet in July 2006, in which he accused Iraqi Shiites of waging "genocide" against the minority Sunnis. He has been relatively quiet until only a few days ago when he appeared in an undated video posted on the Internet, in which he praises martyrdom. Bin Laden appears outdoors against a background of hill and shrubs in the footage, included in a video titled ‘Winds of Martyrdom’. As a result of the latest Video the US Senate has doubled the bounty on bin Laden to $US50 million.
The latest bin Laden clip, posted last Sunday on a militant Web site lasts less than a minute, and is part of a 40-minute video featuring purported ‘al Qaida’ fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who have been killed in the country. In the Video Tape Bin Laden says: "The happy man is the one that God has chosen to be a martyr." He says the Prophet Mohammed "wished upon himself this status". Some however dispute the authenticity of the Tape being recently produced as it makes no reference to recent events. In recent years, the notion of ‘al Qaeda’ as a decentralised organisation - a group that inspires attacks rather than organising and planning them itself - has gained common currency but now senior UK counter-terrorist officials claim that they have seen evidence that this is no longer the case and that a renewed threat has evolved.
It is believed that ‘al Qaeda’ has in fact regrouped in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region and now pose a more direct threat, particularly to the UK. Its communication channels and training facilities, which were heavily disrupted after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have been rebuilt and it is once more able to recruit members, communicate internationally and direct attacks. Officials also believe that the close connections between communities in the UK and Pakistan mean that even though ‘al Qaeda’ would also like to attack the United States and other countries, the UK is likely to be the primary target because of the volume of travel and contact between the two countries. What concerns the authorities is the ease with which ‘al Qaeda’ has regrouped. They have become increasingly aware of the attempts by authorities to conduct surveillance activity and are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to evade eavesdropping.
Irrespective of the authenticity of the Video Tape there is strong evidence to support that previous attempts to disband ‘al Qaeda’ have failed and the Western World will continue to live in fear of the evil hand of a bunch of extremists.
I’m Phillip Pye.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Fugitive ‘al Qaeda’ Chief Osama bin Laden is easily the worlds most wanted, and feared man. He has been on the run since US-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Bin Laden was last heard of in an audio clip posted on the Internet in July 2006, in which he accused Iraqi Shiites of waging "genocide" against the minority Sunnis. He has been relatively quiet until only a few days ago when he appeared in an undated video posted on the Internet, in which he praises martyrdom. Bin Laden appears outdoors against a background of hill and shrubs in the footage, included in a video titled ‘Winds of Martyrdom’. As a result of the latest Video the US Senate has doubled the bounty on bin Laden to $US50 million.
The latest bin Laden clip, posted last Sunday on a militant Web site lasts less than a minute, and is part of a 40-minute video featuring purported ‘al Qaida’ fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who have been killed in the country. In the Video Tape Bin Laden says: "The happy man is the one that God has chosen to be a martyr." He says the Prophet Mohammed "wished upon himself this status". Some however dispute the authenticity of the Tape being recently produced as it makes no reference to recent events. In recent years, the notion of ‘al Qaeda’ as a decentralised organisation - a group that inspires attacks rather than organising and planning them itself - has gained common currency but now senior UK counter-terrorist officials claim that they have seen evidence that this is no longer the case and that a renewed threat has evolved.
It is believed that ‘al Qaeda’ has in fact regrouped in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region and now pose a more direct threat, particularly to the UK. Its communication channels and training facilities, which were heavily disrupted after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have been rebuilt and it is once more able to recruit members, communicate internationally and direct attacks. Officials also believe that the close connections between communities in the UK and Pakistan mean that even though ‘al Qaeda’ would also like to attack the United States and other countries, the UK is likely to be the primary target because of the volume of travel and contact between the two countries. What concerns the authorities is the ease with which ‘al Qaeda’ has regrouped. They have become increasingly aware of the attempts by authorities to conduct surveillance activity and are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to evade eavesdropping.
Irrespective of the authenticity of the Video Tape there is strong evidence to support that previous attempts to disband ‘al Qaeda’ have failed and the Western World will continue to live in fear of the evil hand of a bunch of extremists.
I’m Phillip Pye.