Posted on 03/03/2003 1:57:32 AM PST by kattracks
Authorities nabbed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed just in the nick of time.The Al Qaeda terror kingpin was preparing the final details of a series of spectacular new attacks on New York and other U.S. targets worldwide when his Pakistani hideout was stormed, intelligence officials said yesterday.
"We are all safer and better off because of this," said Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Mohammed, 37, a top lieutenant of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, was being grilled yesterday by U.S. agents at an undisclosed location, a day after his predawn arrest in Pakistan.
There is growing evidence that the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was behind much of the chatter that prompted last month's heightened Code Orange terror alert.
He also is believed to have primed sleeper cells to launch attacks if the U.S. invades Iraq.
Mohammed "is actively involved in Al Qaeda planning in [the U.S.]," a U.S. intelligence report warned last week. "He has directed operatives to target bridges, gas stations and power plants in a number of locations, including New York City."
The Al Qaeda operations chief plotted to turn hijacked tanker trucks into rolling bombs and to bring down bridges by slashing suspension cables, said the report obtained by Newsweek.
An Al Qaeda operative in custody revealed that Mohammed originally intended to launch those attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Now, he was planning to finish the job.
The stunning arrest also could leave other Al Qaeda foot soldiers and leaders - including Bin Laden - at greater risk than at any time since they eluded U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials believe Mohammed has been in contact with Bin Laden and knows his whereabouts, although agents were not expecting him to give up the information any time soon.
"Osama Bin Laden now is vulnerable, which I never thought before," said terrorism expert and author Steven Emerson.
Despite Mohammed's dramatic capture, some intelligence officials are concerned that it will not stop terror plots already in motion. Officials told Time magazine that Mohammed's network of operatives in Kuwait and Qatar is still intact and poised to strike U.S. and British troops if there is a war with Iraq.
Lawmakers elated by Mohammed's arrest cautioned that his threats show New York is still in the terrorists' cross hairs.
"They're consumed with New York," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.).
The Daily News reported Feb. 7 that the CIA believed Al Qaeda was organizing a "spectacular" attack that "will surprise the United States." The same day, the nation's security level was raised to Orange Alert, indicating a high risk of an attack. The national alert was lowered a level to yellow Friday.
Long road to capture
In Pakistan, agents were poring over items taken during the raid, including computer hard drives, hoping they will lead to other Al Qaeda operatives.
U.S. agents thought they had Mohammed two weeks ago, when they raided a house in the Pakistani frontier city of Quetta. Instead, they found an Egyptian man, whose E-mails led CIA agents to the house of an Islamic activist early Saturday near Islamabad, where they found Mohammed sleeping.
Law enforcement sources said that Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda leader captured last March, gave information that helped nail Mohammed.
White House aides predicted that snagging an Al Qaeda big fish would give a big political boost to President Bush, who is under assault at home for a sluggish economy and abroad for his determination to attack Iraq.
"Getting this guy couldn't have come at a better time for us," one adviser said.
With Michele McPhee and Thomas M. DeFrank
No sh_t Peter. How long did it take you to figure that one out?
He spends most of his working day writing books on Ireland, and keeping a low profile.
I'm guessing because our guys want more information out of him.
Over an open flame, I would hope.
So now all of a sudden the experts believe bin Laden is still alive?
Color me skeptical.
Something else that the people who think there is no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq have to explain.
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