NationStates Jolt Archive

A predator missile takes out Hamza Rabia in Pakistan. Pakis claim that it was a bomb explosion but US claims it was a missile strike on a safehouse.

Surprising that this news was not given much coverage at all. Maybe people are suffering from #3 fatigue what with 6 #3s being caught/killed until now

- Mohammed Atef killed by USAF in Afghanistan in 2001.
- Abu Zubaydah captured in Faisalabad, Pakistan 2002
- KSM captured in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2003
- Saif al-Adel arrested in Iran 2003
- Abu Faraj al-Libbi captured in NWFP, Pakistan May 2005

So Hamza Rabia joins the above in the list of #3s of Al-Qaeda. It remains to be seen if he is actually of some value to the group or was a photo-copier like Al-Libbi.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10303175/
Officials: CIA missile strike kills al-Qaida No. 3
Terrorist group's operational leader Rabia killed in Pakistan

While Pakistani officials publicly said Rabia died in a blast caused by explosives stored in a house for bomb-making, officials speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News he was killed by a CIA missile strike carried out by an unmanned Predator airplane.

Wow...the next guy must be saying "Uh...can we just call me #4? Or better yet #6, like Patrick McGoohan on that old Prisoner show...it would be cool, I could go around the cave complex saying "I'm not a number, I'm a free man!" and not everybody would get it. It'd be like an episode of Seinfeld!"

Wow...the next guy must be saying "Uh...can we just call me #4? Or better yet #6, like Patrick McGoohan on that old Prisoner show...it would be cool, I could go around the cave complex saying "I'm not a number, I'm a free man!" and not everybody would get it. It'd be like an episode of Seinfeld!"

Information! We need information! Give us information!
:p

I remember that show...

Al Qaida is like a hydra. You can kill as many number 3s 2s 1s or whatever, but it will always be there. It can't be defeated...easily. To defeat it would require huge resources that no on has or wants to spend.

Surprising that this news was not given much coverage at all. Maybe people are suffering from #3 fatigue what with 6 #3s being caught/killed until now.
Meh, the death of the Bali Bombmaker apparently didn't make it into international news either. Australia cared, but only for a few hours.

But I thought the same thing: "So, who's the next #3 then?"

It is not a formal org like how US projects it. So they can have any number of "#3"s they want.

This obsession with the name Al Qaeda and numbers 1, 2, 3 etc hides the involvement of other state and non-state actors in the plot. You might want to read this (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume11/narayanan.html#sect5)

the death of the Bali Bombmaker apparently didn't make it into international news either. Australia cared, but only for a few hours.


Really?

Australia has a lot more to care especially since LeT is getting flushed with earthquake funds.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17186582%255E601,00.html
SYDNEY father Khaled Cheikho is believed to have trained in a paramilitary camp run by outlawed Kashmiri group Lashkar-e-Taiba in early 2001.
..
Khaled Cheikho has been one of a group of about 15 men, most of them based in Sydney, targeted by ASIO.


http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17209810-5001028,00.html
ASIO has allegedly found material compiled by al-Qaeda on the computer hard drives of nine men charged in Melbourne with terrorism related offences.

On one of the hard drives, ASIO allegedly found a call to arms document compiled by an al-Qaeda linked group in Saudi Arabia which describes the 2002 Bali bombings as a "smart" act, The Australian newspaper reported today.

Some of the hard drives also contained information about the banned organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba as well as news articles about ASIO counter-terrorism activities, the newspaper reported.

Violent video games showing insurgents fighting western troops were also allegedly found in the homes of the nine accused men, according to well-placed sources, the newspaper said.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17238168%5E661,00.html
Three of eight Sydney men facing terrorism charges were stopped by police near the Sydney nuclear facility in December 2004, according to a police fact sheet released to the media today.

The 20-page fact sheet was initially suppressed at last week's Central Local Court appearance of Mazen Touma, 25, Mohammed Elomar, 40, Abdul Rakib Hasan, 36, Khaled Cheikho, 32, Moustafa Cheikho, 28, Khaled Sharrouf, 24, Mirsad Mulahalilovic, 29, and Omar Baladjam, 28.

All are charged with conspiring to do an act in preparation for a terrorist act and could face a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

They are among 18 men arrested in Sydney and Melbourne during and after raids last week by ASIO and police.

..
The New South Wales police document alleges group members attended "jihad" training camps in western NSW, stockpiled chemicals to make explosives and that one of them was found with 165 railway detonators at his home.
..

It is alleged Melbourne Muslim preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika, himself charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation, is the spiritual leader of the Sydney and Melbourne groups.
..
The men were allegedly stockpiling hundreds of litres of chemicals used to manufacture a highly volatile explosive called TATP, or triacetone triperoxide.

As well, a search of Elomar's property in June found instructions, written in Arabic, for the manufacture of an explosive using commercially available hydrogen peroxide, the document says.

In October, police arrested Sharrouf for attempting to steal six digital timers and 132 batteries from a large retailer at Chullora in south-west Sydney.

Police also allegedly found 165 railway detonators at Touma's home during last week's raids.
..
The statement of facts also said Cheikho received firearms training in Pakistan in 2001 from Lashkar-e-Toiba – a terrorist group which has since been banned by Australia.


But hey, let's not worry about insignificant threats like these. Statistics say coconuts kill more people than terrorism.:) Sorry could not resist.:D

It can't be defeated...easily. To defeat it would require huge resources that no on has or wants to spend.

It and it's father and its grandfather can be easily defeated.

Drop a bomb at GHQ Rawalpindi and at the house of Saud.

Al Qaida is like a hydra. You can kill as many number 3s 2s 1s or whatever, but it will always be there. It can't be defeated...easily. To defeat it would require huge resources that no on has or wants to spend.
Actually, it completely fucks with there organization and makes the overall threat much lower. They are much less likely to get there hands on any sort of major muker or chem. weap. without a certain level of organization which continually assassinating their leadership will in theory prevent from happening.