Aryavartha
15-07-2005, 23:22
Interesting if you are of the sort looking for symbolism.
http://www.saag.org/papers15/paper1457.html
LONDON BLASTS INVESTIGATION: AN ANALYSIS
by B.Raman
In a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the Madrid explosions of March 11,2004, written on March 31,2004, Juan Avilés, Director of the Spanish Instituto Universitario de Investigación sobre Seguridad Interior (University Institute for Research into Homeland Security), had drawn attention to an intriguing coincidence.
2. On September 11,2001, terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda had hijacked four aircraft for their terrorist strikes in the US. Three of the hijacked aircraft hit the intended targets. The fourth failed. On March 11,2004, terrorists belonging to a Salafi organisation of Morocco, believed to be linked to the Al Qaeda, caused four explosions in Madrid trains. Why the number four? Was it just a coincidence without significance? Or, was there something more to it?
3. These questions have become even more intriguing after the London blasts of July 7,2005. The perpetrators of these blasts too caused four explosions---three deliberately in metro trains and the fourth---either accidentally or deliberately--in a bus. One theory under consideration by the London Police is that the fourth explosive device was also probably meant for a metro train, but the person responsible for the strike could not make it to the targeted train.
4. Why this number four again---for a third time? Does it have any significance for the AL Qaeda and other jihadi terrorist organisations associated with it in the International Islamic Front (IIF)? These are questions worth exploring.
http://deccanchronicle.english.indiapress.info/
New Delhi, July 15: Is the number four auspicious for Al Qaeda? The terrorist network has hit four targets in each of three major attacks in recent years. Former RAW hand and additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat B. Raman has pointed out this strange coincidence, which, he says, was first noticed by Spanish expert Juan Aviles in an analysis of the Madrid explosions last year.
Mr Raman, when contacted by this newspaper in Chennai, said the number was very curious and wanted to know if it had any particular significance.
Islamic scholars do not attach particular religious significance to the number four, but pointed this correspondent towards several references in Islam that could have a bearing on the Al Qaeda psyche.
For instance, Allah and Prophet Mohammed are each spelt in Arabic in four letters. There are references in Islam to the four elements, the four winds, and even the system of four colours of red, yellow, green and blue, each representing the elements of fire, air, water and earth. The Sunnis believe in the four “rightly guided” Caliphs.
There is also the well known Hadith under which Prophet Mohammed specifies a reward of she camels for those reciting or teaching ayats of the Quran in the mosque.
According to this Hadith, he specifies two she camels for each ayat, and goes on to list the specific reward till four ayats, after which the reward is open to interpretation. The number four is thus considered of some significance here amongst scholars seeking to interpret this Hadith and the words used by the Prophet at the time.
The Quran refers to the four sacred months of the year. The relevant quote is: “Verily, the number of months with Allah is 12 months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are Sacred.”
Again, according to scholars, there are four references in the Quran to Prophet Mohammed, and four to the Shariat.
Mr Raman has also drawn attention to observations by the Spanish counter-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon, who investigated the involvement of terrorist elements in Spain, and has written of a strategic summit of Al Qaeda’s office-bearers in northern Iran in November 2002.
Osama bin Laden and his aide Ayman al-Zawahiri were reportedly not present. The meeting was reportedly chaired by Syrian Al Qaeda leader Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, who has a FBI reward of $5 million on his head after the 9/11 attack.
Nasar, according to the judge, told the meeting that “the Al Qaeda could no longer exist as a hierarchy, an organisation, but instead would have to become a network and move its operations out over the entire world”.
Nasar is correct. The London suicide bombers were all trained not by AQ but by LeT, although the idea of attacking targets in London was apparently AQs.
See here for more details,
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=431950
http://www.saag.org/papers15/paper1457.html
LONDON BLASTS INVESTIGATION: AN ANALYSIS
by B.Raman
In a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the Madrid explosions of March 11,2004, written on March 31,2004, Juan Avilés, Director of the Spanish Instituto Universitario de Investigación sobre Seguridad Interior (University Institute for Research into Homeland Security), had drawn attention to an intriguing coincidence.
2. On September 11,2001, terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda had hijacked four aircraft for their terrorist strikes in the US. Three of the hijacked aircraft hit the intended targets. The fourth failed. On March 11,2004, terrorists belonging to a Salafi organisation of Morocco, believed to be linked to the Al Qaeda, caused four explosions in Madrid trains. Why the number four? Was it just a coincidence without significance? Or, was there something more to it?
3. These questions have become even more intriguing after the London blasts of July 7,2005. The perpetrators of these blasts too caused four explosions---three deliberately in metro trains and the fourth---either accidentally or deliberately--in a bus. One theory under consideration by the London Police is that the fourth explosive device was also probably meant for a metro train, but the person responsible for the strike could not make it to the targeted train.
4. Why this number four again---for a third time? Does it have any significance for the AL Qaeda and other jihadi terrorist organisations associated with it in the International Islamic Front (IIF)? These are questions worth exploring.
http://deccanchronicle.english.indiapress.info/
New Delhi, July 15: Is the number four auspicious for Al Qaeda? The terrorist network has hit four targets in each of three major attacks in recent years. Former RAW hand and additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat B. Raman has pointed out this strange coincidence, which, he says, was first noticed by Spanish expert Juan Aviles in an analysis of the Madrid explosions last year.
Mr Raman, when contacted by this newspaper in Chennai, said the number was very curious and wanted to know if it had any particular significance.
Islamic scholars do not attach particular religious significance to the number four, but pointed this correspondent towards several references in Islam that could have a bearing on the Al Qaeda psyche.
For instance, Allah and Prophet Mohammed are each spelt in Arabic in four letters. There are references in Islam to the four elements, the four winds, and even the system of four colours of red, yellow, green and blue, each representing the elements of fire, air, water and earth. The Sunnis believe in the four “rightly guided” Caliphs.
There is also the well known Hadith under which Prophet Mohammed specifies a reward of she camels for those reciting or teaching ayats of the Quran in the mosque.
According to this Hadith, he specifies two she camels for each ayat, and goes on to list the specific reward till four ayats, after which the reward is open to interpretation. The number four is thus considered of some significance here amongst scholars seeking to interpret this Hadith and the words used by the Prophet at the time.
The Quran refers to the four sacred months of the year. The relevant quote is: “Verily, the number of months with Allah is 12 months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are Sacred.”
Again, according to scholars, there are four references in the Quran to Prophet Mohammed, and four to the Shariat.
Mr Raman has also drawn attention to observations by the Spanish counter-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon, who investigated the involvement of terrorist elements in Spain, and has written of a strategic summit of Al Qaeda’s office-bearers in northern Iran in November 2002.
Osama bin Laden and his aide Ayman al-Zawahiri were reportedly not present. The meeting was reportedly chaired by Syrian Al Qaeda leader Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, who has a FBI reward of $5 million on his head after the 9/11 attack.
Nasar, according to the judge, told the meeting that “the Al Qaeda could no longer exist as a hierarchy, an organisation, but instead would have to become a network and move its operations out over the entire world”.
Nasar is correct. The London suicide bombers were all trained not by AQ but by LeT, although the idea of attacking targets in London was apparently AQs.
See here for more details,
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=431950