The Libyan Escapee Shoots Off His Mouth

So, this Libyan Al-Qaeda insurgent who escaped from U.S. detention in Bagram, in July 2005,lashes out at U.S. and its Saudi allies. The Associated Press bureau in Cairo often reports on these Internet video postings. A 45-minute rant on video by Abu Yahia al-Libi, was monitored by IntelCenter, a U.S.government contractor.
LINK: AP Wire Story
http://fe56.news.sp1.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070530/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_saudi_video
“Al-Libi” which means “of Libya” - speaks out against the Saudi ruling family, the “House of al-Saud.”
He accuses the Saudi elites of seeking praise from the White House and allowing U.S. warplanes to launch attacks on Muslims. This Spring, the Saudi government rounded up dozens of “terrorists,” who are likely Wahabi islamic militants – who really seek to wrestle control from what they feel is an oppressive and corrupt government headed by Saudi Royals.
Al-Libi’s comments offer the enemy’s perspective – key to countering such elusive foes in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He even offers insights into how he observed U.S. troops who guarded him for years at Bagram.

LINK: More info on Al-Libi
http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications186606&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

IntelCenter now says that al-Libi has become al-Qaida's most visible face on the Internet, more than Osama binLaden's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri. He’s the spokesman, the dude who escaped from our jail – damn, we screwed up letting this guy go free – he’s become a hero for the insurgents and a black eye for us.
For more information on al-Libi, check out the April 2 posting on the Bunker: http://bunker-chatter.blogspot.com/2007/04/al-qaida-gets-their-message-outdo-we.html

Yet, because of his emotion – al-Libi’s lashing out at the Saudi Royals exposes a rift among Arabs and among Muslims that should be examined and perhaps exploited – should we ever truly seek success against global terrorism.
This sustained unpopularity that many Saudi people feel toward their oil-revenue wealthy rulers is fueled by the fundamental Wahabi movement – a clear and present threat not just to the Saudi royals, but to U.S. oil interests in the region.

LINK: Wahabism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi

Yet, how often do you hear about Wahabi insurgents on our news here in the U.S.? It’s hard to explain to average Americans what “wahabi” means. Just as difficult is discussing Hezb-Islami-Gulbuldin (HIG) fighting U.S. troops on Afghanistan or the Deobandi movement festering from Pakistani madrassas.

LINK: (HIG) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezb-e-Islami_Gulbuddin

LINK: Deobandi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deobandi

These are some of the real roots of terror – yet, Americans are clearly overwhelmed by Iraq to take time and understand who are real enemy are. While in Afghanistan, I had been reading the Robert Baer book “Sleeping With The Devil.”

LINK: Robert Baer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baer

Baer, a former covert CIA agent, details our relationship with the Saudis, dating back to the end of WWII – when we sent over oil rig experts to take the crude from Saudi land – creating fuel for America and enormous wealth for Saudi elites. This business relationship has dictated U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East for our country’s entire role as a superpower – to in clued defending Saudi Arabia in Desert Storm when we liberated Kuwait from Saddam. Most of all, our need for oil and the U.S. government and business relationships with the House of Al-Saud has the Islamic fundamentalists pissed off.

In late-2005, I had a coffee at Bagram airfield with an Iraqi-American analyst who worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). I asked him what he thought, “Are the Muslims fundamentalists more upset over U.S. support of Israel over Palestine or U.S. support of the House of al-Saud?”
The intel analyst paused, his jaw dropped. He said that very few Americans, if any, had ever discussed that topic – commonly known on the Arab street as the two main causes for terrorist hostilities.

And again, no one in America even talks about these problems.

How does this topic compare at the water cooler with American Idol?

Al-Qaida Gets Their Message Out...Do We?

This Sunday, the AP in Cairo, Egypt, filed a wire story on the latest al-Qaida video – the attack on a U.S. base in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
Apparently is was produced by As-Sahab – the terrorist production company of choice. The four-minute clip – “Holocaust of the Americans in the land of Khorasan, (what the bad guys call Afghanistan) shows the insurgents in a firefight with our guys.
These videos are apparently are a big deal in other parts of the world – yet we may see a short glimpse on the news. Are these sites screened or filtered to limit our access to seeing their propaganda? One company, Intel Center, compiles and sells these videos – mostly to government I suppose, see link below.
Last Sunday, the AP in Cairo reported on an al-Qaida Internet video posting where this thug Abu Yahia al-Libi called for Somali mujaheeden to continue a third front with gang wars in Somalia.(See link below)
Al-Libi was one of the little bastards that took part in the great escape at Bagram in July 2005. I’ll never forget waking in the early hours to the PA system to “Sweep Your Area!” They did not want to announce that four prisoners had escaped from the detention center – adjacent to the U.S. headquarters and just 50 feet from the media cell office – so they just yelled out – “Sweep Your Area!” One of the guys in my hooch, Sgt. Jackson, donned his helmet and battle rattle - still in his boxers – and took a broom to port arms – “I’m ready to sweep,” he said.
It was only a few hours later that we learned that four al-Qaida insurgents not only got out of the detention center, but they apparently moved though the base at night, crossed the Hesco barriers and razor wire – though mine fields and escaped an extensive search by U.S. forces in the air and on the ground. Not only did Al-Libi make it out – he apparently is using his celebrity status from the escape to be the mouthpiece on al-Qaida videos.
Have you ever tried to find real al-Qaida websites or videos mentioned in the press? I seem to have no luck. At times, I saw the sites blocked. Others that might be terrorists sites are in Arabic and I only understand the basics of their script.
A Yahoo search turns up news and information about Al-Sahab. But what is their actual website? Apparently, the AP in Cairo knows – they seem to do all the wire service reporting on when and where an al-Qaida video breaks.

People in the Arab/Muslim world can see and hear Al-Qaida though the Internet and satellite TV. They get weekly updates from the Taliban, terrorists/insurgents, mujahedeen/holy warriors. The enemy has spokesmen and they are hard at work spreading their message in this war or words.

Here in New Rome, we're lost in a sea of cable TV - where we allow men in expensive suits to shout at us from a glowing box in our living room decide whether we hate Dick Cheney or Nancy Pelosi more - which likely lasts just a few seconds and then we click over to a re-run of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

AP Cairo story on Al-Libi:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2980587&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

INTEL CENTER - http://www.intelcenter.com/

NPR – Story on As-Sahab (al-qaida media outreach)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5548044