Posted on 08/13/2006 8:19:25 AM PDT by knighthawk
A SMALL group of American "jihadists" uses paintball guns to conduct weapons training in the woods of northern Virginia.
A Californian is convicted of providing support to terrorists. Extremists are arrested in raids across Australia before they can allegedly stage attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Increasingly, such seemingly disparate cases involving "homegrown" terror groups share connections to one place – Pakistan.
The alleged plot to blow up US-bound, trans-Atlantic jetliners foiled by British officials adds another and potentially more significant entry to the growing list.
It could also add a dimension not seen since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in terms of scale, sophistication and leadership being provided from abroad for a seemingly local group of terrorist "self-starters".
Until recently, many counter-terrorism officials believed that extremist enclaves in Pakistan largely offered inspiration, ideological inculcation and limited training for a new generation of militants living in the West who had become radicalised or inspired by al-Qaeda propaganda.
The danger of these cells ranged from the apparently innocuous, such as the so-called paintball jihadists in Virginia, to the extreme, including the London Underground bombers who killed themselves and 52 others last year.
But the nature of the alleged trans-Atlantic plot foiled last week, a scheme that appears to have required substantial technical expertise and detailed planning, suggests "homegrown" groups may now be receiving significant support, if not direct co-ordination, from within Pakistan.
Current and former senior US intelligence officials say Pakistan clearly serves as a bridge.
"The moment I heard the first news about the airline plot I knew it was just a matter of time until we heard the word Pakistan," a US intelligence agent told The Times.
"Whether it's 9/11, the Bali bombs, 7/7 and now this, Pakistan is always the connection. That's gotta raise some questions."
On one side are militants from the West who want to join the global jihad. On the other are more experienced extremists who can help fulfil those wishes, offer guidance or serve as conduits for al-Qaeda instructions.
With or without direct ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network, Pakistan's status as a seemingly unshakeable haven for militants taking aim at targets in the West is likely to complicate the already delicate relationship the US maintains with the regime of President Pervez Musharraf.
As the recent arrests of Rashid Rauf, a British national of Pakistani descent, and others show, Musharraf has been a key ally in fighting extremists. But those same arrests also prove his nation continues to offer sanctuary for terrorists.
US officials also are well aware that their support for Musharraf can endanger his power, or even his life.
Extremists have twice tried to assassinate him since he began targeting militants inside Pakistan.
Citing a Pakistani connection to virtually every so-called homegrown terror cell that has recently come to light, a second senior intelligence official in Washington said one significant mystery remained: Are al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan recruiting would-be terrorists or are the would-be militants going to Pakistan on their own to find guidance?
Clearly, the senior intelligence official said, there is evidence of a "reverse underground railroad" of militants flowing into Pakistan before returning home to sow mayhem.
Officials worldwide have been preoccupied for more than two years by a fear of terror groups consisting of "self-starters" – people who become radicalised on their own and decide to conduct operations without the support of an extremist network, or with only tenuous connections.
Instead of taking orders from al-Qaeda these terrorists act on what they believe is al-Qaeda's behalf.
Although bin Laden has always seen the incitement of terrorism as one of his primary roles, al-Qaeda has been viewed for the past couple of years as more of a global ideology than an actual terror network.
The March 11, 2004, synchronised bombings of trains in Madrid, attacks that left 192 people dead, were viewed as the first significant such assault.
John McLaughlin, the Bush administration's former acting chief of central intelligence, says a viable al-Qaeda network exists along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan – and is drawing militants from across the globe.
For his part, Musharraf has repeatedly dismissed ties between his nation and global terror plots, although current and former intelligence officials say his claims are politically based and demonstrably false.
In the wake of the Underground bombings he declared that his security services had "completely shattered al-Qaeda's vertical and horizontal links and smashed its communication and propaganda setup"
Ping
On 911 the intelligence service of Pakistan was full of Taliban and alQuaeda sympathizers. Their copperation and arrests in this instance suggest to me that that has changed and they are more reliable allies.
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