The LWOT: Al-Qaeda acknowledges bin Laden death

Al-Qaeda acknowledges bin Laden death 

Al-Qaeda offered the first confirmation of the death of its leader today, saying in a statement posted to a jihadist Internet forum that the group will continue to target Americans and America’s allies, and that bin Laden’s blood, "will not be wasted" (AP). For a full collection of news on bin Laden’s death, the political debate and regional responses to the killing, see Katherine Tiedemann’s AfPak Channel Daily Brief here, here and here. 

Intelligence officials yesterday indicated that initial information gleaned from a store of papers and files taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan indicate that the deceased al-Qaeda leader stayed in contact with the terror network, and played a direct, operational role in planning attacks (NYT, Washington Post, Guardian). Pakistani officials asserted that bin Laden was marginalized in al-Qaeda and split with bin Laden six years ago, a claim U.S. officials dispute (WSJ).

The information gathered in the raid has already prompted an attack warning from the Department of Homeland Security, which cautioned yesterday in a release that as late as February 2010 al-Qaeda contemplated an attack on U.S. rail systems, though a DHS spokesman deemed the plot to be aspirational (CNN, Guardian, WSJ, AP). Officials have been concerned about the threat of a retaliatory attack since bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs last Sunday (early Monday in Pakistan), as the FBI went back on "war footing" and senior officials indicated that arrests of terror suspects may be accelerated, while additional names may be added to terrorism watch lists and "no fly" lists (National Journal, Washington Post, CNN, ABC, NYT). British and French officials have also expressed concern about possible retaliatory attacks (Le Monde, BBC, Telegraph).

The news comes as the White House has had to alter its account of the raid that killed bin Laden, as officials told reporters this week that bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed, toned down earlier statements about the intensity of fighting in the house, and debated and then rejected releasing photos of bin Laden’s body (NYT, Washington Post, Telegraph). The Washington Post has a must-read series on the hunt for bin Laden, and the New York Times reports on a raid carried out in 2007 in Afghanistan based on intelligence that bin Laden would be in the country (Washington Post, NYT). And Indonesian officials said this week that Indonesian terrorist Umar Patek was going to meet bin Laden when he was arrested in Abbottabad earlier this year (AP, TIME).

Bin Laden killing sparks debate on Guantánamo, torture, and targeted killings

Bin Laden’s death has fueled debate about how the information leading to the terror leader was gathered, as leading Republicans like Rep. Peter King and former Bush administration officials insisted this week that the harsh interrogation of terror suspects in CIA prisons and Guantánamo Bay, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libbi, helped lead to bin Laden’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who owned the house in which bin Laden was killed (WSJ, NYT, LAT, CNN, New Yorker, Toronto Star, FT, CBS, TIME). White House and Democratic members of Congress, as well as some Republicans, have disputed this claim, arguing that the courier’s identity was known before the capture of KSM or al-Libbi, and that it took years of intelligence gathering from myriad sources to find al-Kuwaiti’s real name and track him down (NYT, CNN, AFP, National Journal). Additionally, key information in the investigation seems to have come from cooperative detainees, such as Hassan Ghul, captured in 2004, as well as detainees seized after the most brutal interrogation practices of the Bush administration had been discontinued, such as important militant Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, who was captured in 2007 (Guardian).

International experts and officials also continue to question the legality of bin Laden’s killing, as the UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay indicated that she would like a "full disclosure" of details surrounding the operation (CNN, Guardian, Reuters, The Atlantic). U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a Congressional committee on Wednesday that the raid was "lawful" and that the United States was acting in "national self-defense" by targeting bin Laden, and implied that the Navy SEALs would have been allowed to shoot bin Laden even if he had indicated a desire to surrender (Politico, AFP). Surrenders must be accepted under international law, though Holder and others pointed to the possibility of a fake surrender as grounds for using lethal force if the SEAL team perceived bin Laden as a threat.

Many experts, however, have concluded the raid and killing was legal even if bin Laden was unarmed, pointing to the Authorization of the Use of Military Force that allows for the targeting of al-Qaeda commanders and the possibility that the room in which bin Laden was found had been booby-trapped (WSJ, Lawfare Blog). U.S. officials also assert that a plan was in place to interrogate bin Laden had he been taken alive, a move that would have doubtless raised further questions over how bin Laden would be held and eventually tried (LAT, Washington Post, National Journal)

In other al-Qaeda news…

A German-Syrian man, Rami Makanesi, confessed in a Frankfurt court on May 5 to being a member of al-Qaeda as well as receiving training from the group in Pakistan’s tribal areas (Deutsche Welle, AP, Reuters). Makanesi, who was arrested last year by Pakistani authorities and may have provided some of the information that led German authorities to issue terrorism alerts last fall, was reportedly sent back by a senior al-Qaeda member to raise funds in Germany.

Saudi Arabian officials announced on May 4 that an al-Qaeda member on the Kingdom’s most wanted list, Khaled Hathal Abdullah al-Atifi al-Qahtani, had turned himself in to Saudi authorities (Guardian, AP). And a U.S. drone has reportedly killed two brothers and members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen’s Shabwa province, the first drone strike to target Yemen since 2002 (Washington Post, CNN, FT).

Moroccan authorities have arrested three people in connection with last Friday’s deadly bombing of a popular café in Marrakesh, saying that at least one was "loyal" to al-Qaeda, and had tried to travel to Chechnya and Iraq (Guardian, AP). They also said the man had learned to fabricate explosives over the Internet.

Anarchy in the UK

The coroner conducting the inquest into the 7/7 London transit bombings announced the results of her findings (available here) today, formally recording verdicts for "unlawful killing" for the four suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters, and offering a series of recommendations for improving the practices of the internal security agency MI5 as well as London’s emergency responders (Guardian, Telegraph, BBC, AP).

British police this week arrested five men near a nuclear power plant under anti-terrorism laws, a move that prompted several raids in London but ended with the men’s release on May 4 (Guardian, NYT, WSJ). And a Manchester court heard arguments yesterday in the case of a former Taliban fighter who allegedly tried to recruit undercover security officers to fight for the group in Afghanistan and Pakistan (BBC). The man’s son and two others are also on trial.

Finally, the trial for four British police officers accused of beating a terrorism suspect began this week in London (Reuters, BBC, Independent).

Trials and Tribulations

• ProPublica reports this week that the trial of Canadian-born Chicago man Tahawwur Hussain Rana, scheduled to begin this month, will bring out new details about the alleged terrorist ties of Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) (ProPublica).
• A New York judge on May 3 upheld the verdicts of four men convicted of plotting to attack Bronx synagogues and an Air National Guard base, in what turned out to be a government sting operation (NYT, Bloomberg, Courthouse News). The men alleged that they were entrapped by a government informant who offered them money and a luxury car for their participation in the plot. 
• Czech police this week arrested nine people on charges that they helped terrorist activities in the North Caucasus region (RFE/RL).