Posted on 12/19/2006 6:42:55 AM PST by Valin
News of Sheikh Omar abd al-Rahman’s illness has raised concerns of an upcoming terror attack. While it has not been reported as such, Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki’s sudden resignation and return to Saudi Arabia is another – very different (and potentially more serious) – indicator that something may be in the works.
The Blind Sheikh is Sick
Sixty-eight years old, blind, and a life-long diabetes sufferer, Rahman is serving a life sentence in Supermax for his role in a mid-1990s plot to attack NYC landmarks. Rumor has it that he was eating chocolate to exacerbate his health problems – thereby turning himself into a martyr for the cause.
The importance of Rahman to the Jihadi movement should not be underestimated. In Egypt in the mid-1970s Islamist groups that had broken away from the Muslim Brotherhood coalesced around Sheikh Rahman into the al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, the Islamic Group (IG). The Egyptian Islamists played a major role in the international component of the Afghan Jihad and later formed the backbone of al-Qaeda. After the 1989 assassination of Abdallah Azzam, the leading international organizer of the Afghan Jihad, Rahman became the spiritual leader of al-Qaeda.
As a spiritual leader, Rahman ruled on whether or not intended actions were justified under shari’a (Islamic holy law.) In 1980 he ruled that a heretical Muslim leader could be assassinated by the faithful. In 1981 Rahman was jailed but not convicted of playing a role in Sadat’s assassination because this ruling did not mention Sadat by name. This ruling indicated an important split with Azzam, who opposed attacking Muslim regimes and wished to focus the Jihad on areas where Muslims were directly threatened by non-Muslims (such as Afghanistan and later Bosnia and Chechnya.)
After fleeing Egypt, where Rahman was suspected of conspiring to assassinate Mubarak, Rahman relocated to Jersey City in 1990. The past repeated itself, when Rahman ruled that striking the United States was acceptable – but prosecutors could not link him directly to WTC 1. Prosecutors were more successful the second time around. However, Rahman’s ruling legitimated al-Qaeda’s decision to target the United States.
Rahman’s imprisonment has been a major cause for the Islamists. Leaders of the 1997 Luxor Massacre, in which 62 people (mostly foreign tourists) were killed, demanded Rahman’s release. Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Philippines has also demanded Rahman’s release.
At a conference in April 2001, Rahman‚s attorney Muntasir Al-Zayyat stated: The U.S. will reap a bitter harvest if she continues humiliating Dr. Umar...the continuation of the Sheikh's abuse may result in an explosion of events targeted against US interests. Sheikh Umar has many followers. In October Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq issued an audiotape statementurging jihadis to capture Westerners to exchange for Rahman and telling listeners that Rahman was: “subjected to the worst kinds of torture and to physical and psychological harm... To our teacher ['Umar 'Abd Al-Rahman], I say: Do not grieve, for Allah brings relief after hardship... Your loyal children remain as you left them. They haven't changed, and, if anything, have only become more aware of the true nature of the forces of disbelief...”
Despite Rahman’s importance to the Jihad, his death would necessarily be a trigger for a major terror attack (serious attacks take substantial planning) but it will add fuel to an already blazing fire. But if there is a major event, his illness and possible death will certainly be cited as a cause.
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Prince Turki Flies
There is another indicator that something may be in the works – Prince Turki’s abrupt resignation from his position as Saudi Ambassador to the United States.
When Turki was appointed to be Ambassador to the United States, in July 2005 I noted that his movements seem to closely track major terror strikes.
- In July 1998, as head of Saudi intelligence, Turki reportedly traveled to Afghanistan and met with Taliban leaders (and possibly bin Laden) in Kandahar and arranges to send them 400 new pickup trucks. On August 7, 1998 al-Qaeda struck the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-el-Salaam. Between the two bombings over 250 are killed and 5000 injured.
- In August 2001, two weeks before 9/11, Turki abruptly stepped down as head of Saudi intelligence (a position he had held since 1977) and shortly thereafter became the Saudi Ambassador to the U.K.
- In July 2005 he left his position in London to become the Saudi Ambassador in Washington – only two weeks after the London Tube bombings. None of this is to imply that Turki plotted these terror attacks, but it is also more than coincidence. As one of the regime’s top fixers, Turki’s movements track situations that have reached crisis levels.
The reasons behind this move by Turki are tough to discern, the Saudi regime operates in ways that are impenetrable to outsiders. Speculation focuses on two issues, one relates to family politics: Turki’s brother Saud, the current foreign minister, is ill and Turki is being positioned to replace him. The other relates to the collapsing situation in Iraq. Nawaf Obeid, a Saudi analyst linked to Turki, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post suggesting that Saudi Arabia would intervene heavily in Iraq by supporting Sunni militias, in the wake of a U.S. withdrawal and the attendant Sunni-Shia civil war. Obeid was fired (although what that means for a wealthy Saudi is unclear). The piece was probably a trial balloon letting the United States know that a rapid withdrawal would turn Iraq into the main front of a region-wide Sunni-Shia war and that in that event Saudi Arabia would not set idly by. The Saudis have raised the bar a bit since. One leaker claimed that the Saudis would respond by “cleaning up” Anbar province. This is big talk. Although the Saudis have invested in expanding their counter-insurgency forces these capabilities remain limited and the Saudis struggled to contain their own Islamist uprising in the last few years. What saved them was the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which was a more attractive Jihad to Saudi radicals.
Perhaps Turki just wishes to spend more time with his family, but when that family is the al-Sauds, history tells us there is a great deal more going on.
"Rumor has it that he was eating chocolate to exacerbate his health problems – thereby turning himself into a martyr for the cause. "
Isolate him completely from any contacts who might spread word of his condition, make a bunch of videotapes and start releasing them periodically after he dies. Works for bin Laden and Castro.
My fantasy is that the Blind Sheikh, bin-Laden, and al-Zawahiri all hold hands and jump off a 102 story building.
Do a Google search "Super Max", and you'll soon discover that he is pretty much isolated from the outside world.
Florence, Colorado Super Max Is NOT Club Fed.
It will be a great day when he croaks.
Do you suppose he'll really be surprised when he finds himself in hell?
He'll be among friends.
Wasn't there a bug-out of Saudi royals over here right before 9-11?
This article is not even factually correct - he's not at Supermax, but I think he IS isolated.
SUPERMAXED.COM
FEDERAL SUPERMAX (ADX) PAGE
http://www.supermaxed.com/Federal-SM-Page.htm
Scroll down
INFAMOUS INMATE LIST: Prisoners at ADX Florence
List of prisoners at ADX Florence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prisoners_at_ADX_Florence
This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
This is a list of prisoners at ADX Florence, the United States supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado. This list includes both former and current prisoners:
Omar Abdel-Rahman, leader of the New York City landmark bomb plot.
Mahmud Abouhalima, involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Ahmad Mohammed Ajaj, involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.
Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad, helped to finance al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Mirssa Araiza-Reyes, drug smuggler and illegal alien; killed inmate Frank Melendez.
Nidal Ayyad, involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Abdul Aziz
Hanif S. Bey (B. Gereau),
Tyler Davis Bingham , conspiring to order multiple killings and assaults from Florence ADX
Maynard Campell, a white separatist with ties to militia groups; was stabbed to death.
Ruben "Nite Owl" Castro leader of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, being convicted on similar gang racketeering charges in 1997
Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, Lucchese crime family figure and killer of at least 35 people.
(snip)
He may even be blind when he wakes up there,but I imagine the heat will clue him in soon enough.
Death by chocolate. Were do I sign up?
LOL.
Heard on the local news that he is at the Federal Prison Health Center in Springfield, Missouri.
Yeah, it must be hard to get bomb making materials in prison. Please, not a lot of women & children to kill.
"Florence, Colorado Super Max Is NOT Club Fed."
The bleeding heart criminal sympathizers in Wisconsin are constantly filing lawsuits against our Super Max prison for "human rights abuses." *Rolleyes*
In my eyes, that means they're doing their job and punishing these animals as completely as they can.
He should be reminded that "Stop, drop and roll" does not work in hell. He can try it though. There is no escape. Rahman will die 3 thousand deaths. Each more painful than the last.
Same here.
The bleeding heart criminal sympathizers in Wisconsin are constantly filing lawsuits against our Super Max prison for "human rights abuses."
Well everyone should have a hobby. Some collect stamps, some go to NASCAR races, some do knitting...and some make complete and total fools of themselves.
I stand corrected.
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