With all the talk about Iraqi aspect of the War on Terror, it's nice to see a joint venture between CIA officials and Pakistani officials produce a MAJOR victory in the War on Terror in general.

I think we should all remember that this battle to go after individuals like the Al Qaeda leaders and other big terrorists is a venture that is going to last a long time, no doubt one that will span several administrations, as it should. To me, it's time well spent, and our patience will pay off.

It's also interesting that, according to several people's testimony, this captured Al Qaeda chieftain was primarily responsible for the death of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearle. Plus, several sources here are saying that the main reason we went to Orange Alert last month was precisely because of the impending capture of this man. The same intelligence that led us to capture him revealed increased activity from his communications. IMHO, I give a thumbs up, then, to our intelligence community. It seems they should be commended for this interrelated stuff.

Despite what differing opinions on Iraq may be, I think we can all agree that capturing those behind the 9/11 attacks is a big positive, so let's celebrate it:


Suspected Sept. 11 mastermind caught

March 2, 2003

BY KATHY GANNON

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan--In a spectacular victory for the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a senior operative in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, was captured Saturday in a joint raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, officials said.

Mohammed was handed over to the United States and was taken to an undisclosed location outside the country, a senior Pakistani government official said today.

''He's no longer in Pakistan,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said Mohammed was turned over to U.S. authorities after being interrogated by Pakistani officials.

Mohammed was arrested along with an unidentified man of Middle Eastern origin and a Pakistani identified as Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, 42, a member of one of the country's main religious parties, Jamaat-e-Islami.

The other foreigner captured in the raid was ''also proving to be an important man,'' the official said without disclosing his identity. That man and Qadoos were still in Pakistan.

Their arrests outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad are likely to hurt the terrorist organization's ability to strike and could provide the United States with new clues in the hunt for bin Laden.

''It's hard to overstate how significant this is,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ''It's a wonderful blow to inflict on al-Qaida.''

Mohammed, 37, is perhaps the most senior al-Qaida member after bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

A naturalized Pakistani who was born in Kuwait, Mohammed is on the FBI's most-wanted list and allegedly had a hand in many of al-Qaida's most notorious attacks. The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture.

Mohammed is the third senior al-Qaida figure to be arrested in Pakistan. He was taken Saturday in Rawalpindi, a city near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, who heads Pakistan's National Crisis Management Cell, said Mohammed and the others were arrested in a residential neighborhood called Westridge, which is populated mainly by retired military officers.

''The raid was conducted on a tip to our law enforcement personnel,'' Cheema said.

CIA officers and Pakistani authorities carried out the operation that led to Mohammed's capture, according to American officials.

The arrest came a day after a gunman killed three policemen and injured seven others outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital.

''This is a great success today, but the war on terrorism goes on tomorrow,'' said Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. ''There's still a lot of work to do.''

U.S. officials say Mohammed organized the Sept. 11 terror mission that sent hijacked passenger jets crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing more than 3,000 people.

Even before that, Mohammed was wanted in connection with plots in the Philippines to bomb trans-Pacific airliners and crash a plane into CIA headquarters. Those plots were broken up in 1995.

He also has been linked to the bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia in April in which at least 19 tourists, mostly Germans, were killed.

Mohammed narrowly escaped capture in a raid about a week ago in the southwestern town of Quetta, a Pakistani government source said.

During that raid, a Middle Eastern man, possibly of Egyptian origin, was arrested, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

''At the time of that raid in Quetta, the authorities were looking for Khalid Shaikh, but he escaped and from there they followed him to Rawalpindi,'' the official said. ''They got information from the man they picked up in Quetta and from phone calls until they tracked him down to Rawalpindi.''

Senior government officials said the three men were arrested at a house where Qadoos lives with his father.

But Omar Qadoos, Ahmed's cousin, said only Ahmed, his wife and two children were in the house. There also was a guard outside, he said.

''The police pounded on the gate, and then they rushed through. There was some firing, but no one was hurt, and then they beat the guard and broke the lock on the front door,'' Omar Qadoos said.

He said police held the family at gunpoint while they collected cassettes, a computer and computer discs, leaving the floor littered with clothes, papers and other items.

Mohammed's ties to terrorism are deep. He is the uncle of convicted 1993 World Trade Center conspirator Ramzi Yousef, and one of his older brothers also belongs to al-Qaida.

Another brother died in Pakistan when a bomb he was making exploded.

He also is said to be close to bin Laden's son Saad.

In Washington, the FBI refused to confirm Mohammed was arrested or say whether the bureau was involved.

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has said a small number of FBI agents are in Pakistan but only to provide intelligence on al-Qaida or Taliban fugitives from neighboring Afghanistan.

However, Pakistani police and intelligence officials say FBI agents have been involved in nearly every important terror arrest in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government says it has handed over more than 420 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects to the United States.

Until now, the biggest catch was the arrest last March of al-Qaida's suspected financier, Abu Zubaydah, who was taken into custody in a raid in the central Pakistani city of Faisalabad. Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian, was said to be a link between bin Laden and many of al-Qaida's operational cells. Abu Zubaydah ran the Khalden camp in Afghanistan, where U.S. investigators think many of the Sept. 11 hijackers trained.


AL-QAIDA LEADERS

The status of some major al-Qaida figures:

Osama bin Laden Saudi, supreme leader: At large, on FBI most wanted terrorists list

Ayman al-Zawahri Egyptian, bin Laden's doctor, spiritual adviser: At large, on FBI most wanted terrorists list

Mohammed Atef Egyptian, military chief: Killed in U.S. airstrike

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Saudi, Persian Gulf operations chief: Captured

Abu Zubaydah Palestinian-Saudi, terrorist coordinator: Captured

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Kuwaiti, suspected mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks: Captured

Saif al-Adil

Egyptian, bin Laden security chief: At large, on FBI most wanted terrorists list

Shaikh Saiid al-Masr Egyptian, bin Laden chief financier: At large

Tawfiq Attash Khallad Yemeni, operational leader suspected of plotting USS Cole bombing in 2000: At large

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi Yemeni, Yemen operations chief: Killed in U.S. airstrike

Omar al-Farouq Kuwaiti, Southeast Asia operations chief: Captured

Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi Libyan, training camp commander: Captured

Saad bin Laden Saudi, bin Laden's son: At large

Abu Mohammad al-Masri Egyptian, training camp commander: At large, on FBI most wanted terrorist list as Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah


AP, with UPI and Bloomberg News contributing

[ March 02, 2003, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: MIB ]

I think they should let Kiefer Sutherland (24) interrogate him!

This is excellent news! When people--like me--ask repeatedly about Osama b., it's in part to point to the necessity of catching people like this guy. We NEED partnerships and international links with the other nations out there to catch these hateful crackpots. Anything we can do to foster links so that we can catch the Khalid Shaikh Mohammads of the world--and the Osamas and Al-Zawahiris, etc.--is critical. I give not only our intelligence services, but those of Pakistan, many props on this one.

this is, indeed, big news, and good news. and it comes at a time when a very tense populous could use a little good news, and some reassurance that the world is becoming a safer place.

hats off to the pakistani and american intelligence communities, and to the pakistani operatives who carried out the capture. let us hope this is the beginning of the end for al qaeda!

Good news indeed, hopefully bin Laden is next.

I wouldn't hold my breath for bin Laden's capture, if I were you...

- - - - -

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

Bomb in Lebanon Kills Suspected Qaeda Figure

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/internat.../02LEBA.html?th

"The officials said the man, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, an Afghan war veteran who moved to Ain el-Hilweh six years ago, was killed as he left his bean shop to walk to a mosque to pray."

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

[ March 03, 2003, 09:07 AM: Message edited by: bluebird48234 ]

I am thrilled they have gotten this guy, and may he prove as talkative as other Al Queda members - although may he only tell the truth.

Is it just me, or is this guy a little laughable. I mean, I have no doubt of his power in Al Queda, or his willingness to do harm to the US, but it is good to remember these guys are humans too, and not always in a good way.

I mean, this guy was a SLOB - have you seen the pictures of the apartment they found him in, or his picture after he was captured? I mean, here we are fearing and hating this monolithic group Al Queda and it turns out the number 2 guy is Ralph Kramden?