Osama's shell game

NY Daily News ^ | January 6, 2004 | Richard Schwartz

[presidio9]

Here's a hypothetical: What if all the recent terror chatter turned out to be idle? What if Al Qaeda's perceived threats to strike at America during the Code Orange Christmas season turned out to have been a grand diversion? New Year's Eve in Times Square went off without a hiccup. After all the hand-wringing over threats to international flights, no incidents. The roulette wheels still spin in Vegas.

This isn't to suggest for a nanosecond that we should let down our guard. But think about this: Either intelligence agencies have done a masterly job of disrupting the terrorist plots or the plots were mere fabrications (recall last week's search for shady characters carrying dog-eared almanacs), something to distract the intelligence community.

Half a world away, in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, mayhem rules. In the past month, Al Qaeda-linked operatives nearly twice have liquidated Pakistan's pro-American leader,, President Pervez Musharraf. Simultaneously, Osama Bin Laden's assassins have attempted to bump off a few top Saudi security officials.

Should this political terrorism succeed, the consequences would be devastating. Were the radical Islamists - aided and abetted by Al Qaeda - to grab power in Pakistan, they would have control of that nation's nuclear arsenal. If the same were to happen in the Saudi kingdom, the fanatics would command the world's biggest oil reserves.

And there would sit Bin Laden, a doomsday bomb in one hand, a barrel of oil in the other.

Pakistan, which Bin Laden now calls home, is brewing with dysfunction. Musharraf, who's looking puppy-weak, agreed in late December to step down as army chief in exchange for support from a group of extremist religious parties. Two suicide bombers tried to annihilate him the very next day.

The sad reality is that the general may be a dead man walking. Al Qaeda has a nasty habit of relentlessly pursuing its prey.

Many Pakistani scientists already lean Bin Laden's way. Some, according to The New York Times, are believed to have been merchandising nuclear secrets to rogue states such as North Korea for years. Others may have actually offered to help Al Qaeda obtain nuclear technology or enriched uranium.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear program, has been quoted as saying, "All Western countries are not only the enemies of Pakistan but, in fact, of Islam."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, with its corrupt and decrepit royal family, long has been ripe for a coup. Which Bin Laden, a Saudi native, wants to make happen. Should these rickety regimes fall, the world order could come undone. Bin Ladenism would be ascendant, instead of on the run. The terrorists, with just a few targeted executions, could take over two key nations.

If that happens, Code Orange would be a good day. Code Red would reign.

[ASA Vet]

Pakistan, which Bin Laden now calls home

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
	United Kingdom						30.00	1

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[marlon]

I don't think Osama is brave enough (assuming he's still alive) to want to sit on top of a throne regardless if he's holding the nuclear septor. If he, or his ideological puppets were to seize power in a real nations state then they would be easlily targeted. No for them it's much more fruitful to hide in caves and have their intellectually challenged minions do their bidding and dying.

[marlon]

Yes but so far Lil Kim hasn't attacked us. It would be more difficult to invade N Korea over their possesion of WMD's than it would be to follow Osama into whichever country he, in theory, takes over.

[Abynormal]

But he's still hiding somewhere and too embarrassed to show himself on videotape. hee hee. Hope it is because his kidney blew up and he is looking really jaundiced.

No, bin Laden is on the outs. He is pulling out all the stops now because his time is very limited. About time.

[Billthedrill]

Kim's decided to be lots nicer now that Saddam was pulled from his hole. He's talking about inspections again. Amazing.

As far as al-Qaeda assuming the helm in Pakistan, fuggedaboudid. We'd be racing the Indians through the streets of Karachi.

[astounded]

Bill:

Agree 100%. I assume the US has a contingency plan in place to invade Pakistan and assume control of their nuclear stockpile in the event of an Islamist coup. How it would be done is questionable, but the 400+ mile USMC air assault from the Indian Ocean into Bagram, Afghanistan in November 2001 is potentially instructive.

I also think that perhaps a Phoenix program to take out the "father", and his offspring, of the Pakistani nuclear program is on order. These fellows cannot be turned, so they really need to be eliminated. If they're not with us, they're with the terrorists, after all.