March 17, 2008
Rising Terror Chief Worries U.S. Officials
Baitullah Mesud, Accused Bhutto Assassination Mastermind, Emerges As Global Nemesis
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Play CBS Video Video Photos Of A Dangerous Threat Photographs of Pakistani warlord Baitullah Mesud have emerged for the first time. U.S. intelligence officials call Mesud "one of the most dangerous people on the planet." Bob Orr reports.
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Sources say Pakistani warlord Baitullah Mehsud threatens to eclipse Osama bin Laden as the world's top terrorist. (CBS)
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Photo Essay Pakistan Blasts Two massive suicide bombs ripped through a federal police headquarters and a home in Lahore.
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Photo Essay Bhutto Killed In Bombing The bomb went off just minutes after Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto spoke to thousands of supporters.
He is Pakistani warlord Baitullah Mehsud, the accused mastermind of the Benazir Bhutto assassination. An emerging leader, sources say, who threatens to eclipse Osama bin Laden as the world's top terrorist.
Terrorism analyst Christine Fair says Baitullah Mehsud is running a training camp for suicide bombers in Pakistan's off-limits tribal region -- a magnet for radical Islamic recruits from Europe and potentially the United States.
"He may not be out there cultivating people to send them abroad, but people abroad may seek him out for the operations that they conduct back home or elsewhere," Fair says.
Officials suspect that's precisely what happened in the recent foiled suicide bombing plot targeting transit systems in Spain and four other European countries.
Operatives rounded up in Barcelona have been linked to terror training camps in the same Pakistan region where Mehsud is the supreme commander and where al Qaeda has found safe sanctuary.
Robert Grenier was a top official at the CIA.
"Given the fact that he is able to control territory that is extremely important to al Qaeda, that makes him a very important player," Grenier says.
Unlike al Qaeda leaders bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who use very public propaganda to assert their power and build fear, Mehsud is a secretive tribal fighter who rarely shows his face outside his inner circle.
But Mehsud's message is just as threatening.
With his identity protected, Mehsud told the Arab network al Jazeera, "We want to eradicate Britain and America ...We pray that Allah will enable us to destroy the White House, New York, and London."
"He's saying the same thing that bin Laden said then years ago," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said. "And it doesn't mean that the attack's coming tomorrow, but yeah, it's certainly, he's the kind of person and his group is the kind of group that we need to mindful about."
While Mehsud's emergence from the shadows is worrisome, U.S. officials hope there's an upside. As one intelligence analyst put it, if he makes himself more visible, he'll be easier to eliminate.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 80 CommentsCan he step into the sandles of the dead Osama and freak out the fat folk lied up outside the Cheese Cake Factory at America''s malls? When he says "Boo!" will Americans jump? Can we justify spending billions to tear him down with cruise missiles and smart bombs after our PR machine builds him up? Stay tuned...and lets see how he struts his terrorist stuff on the CIA''s International Terrorist Catwalk.
Our Marines, who have captured Taliban fighters, all reported that nothing calms down a Taliban fighter faster and longer, than a Girly Magazine. The prisoners even trade their food with eachother for Girly Magazines.
Our Psy-Ops guys need to get busy and start collecting as many girly-mags as possible for distribution in Taliban areas. They either will not fight that hard against us, or will fight very hard against each other. Their will to fight will be lost, if we give "candy" to the Talibans.
You would think that if Mehsud was that much opposed to the United States, that he would be trying to help any opponents of Musharraf, since Musharraf is a solid US supporter, not kill them. As it is, that assassination helped the United States out - it''s not the kind of thing that is likely to have been the work of an anti-US terrorist.
"Terrorism analyst" Christine Fair, is a tool of the global propagandist organization known as the RAND Corporation.
Obviously her analysis can not be taken seriously.
I was hoping that the two of them would tout the success of our invasion of Iraq announced by Cheney with a ticker tape parade through Sadr City so that Iraqis could show their appreciation for their million murdered fellow citizens...their four million refugees...their destroyed infrastructure and their malnourished children.
Merck!! hands down!! But, the kicker is that Merck and al Qaeda are run by the same Demopublican corporatist thugs!!
IF THE WASHINGTON REGIME SERVED THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES AND NOT THE CORPORATIST PIGS...THEY WOULD BE SENDING THE 101ST AIRBORNE AFTER KRAFT AND ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND!!--not having our SFs and Rangers protecting drug lords in Afghanistan.
The real terrorists in America are the Corporatists!
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Absolutely correct!
"Radical Islam" lacks the means and the resources, to pose much of a threat to the U.S., and they lack any substantial organizing network, outside of the CIA, Mossad, etc.
Meanwhile, the Christian leaders in the U.S., and Jewish leaders in Israel, ARE working in tandem, DO have nuclear weapons and other WMD, constantly threaten, invade, terrorize, and attack their neighbors, are habitual and chronic liars, and are intensely greedy.
We also know that the "19 Hijacker" conspiracy theory is nonsense, and is riddled with more holes than a Fallujah ambulance after a U.S. "liberation" operation.
There are millions of Muslims currently living in the U.S., yet how many heads have been chopped off here so far? That''s right- ZERO!
The global threat of Muslim extremism is insignificant as compared to U.S. and Israeli extremism, and this latest "rising terra chief" is another tale in the neo-conservative/neo-liberal book of ooga-booga fables.
If he was a real threat, then the regime apologists would most likely be ignoring it rather than hyping it, as it would only seem to highlight the failure of our puppet-Fuhrer in dealing with this supposed menace.
I must admit I do have a hatred for America''s policies around the world. We bully, pick on, pick dictators etc. *** don''t we leave other people to stew in their own juices instead of trying to run the world? When a-holes like you get over the fact that we''ve caused people around the world to hate us due to our meddling in THEIR countries affairs everything will get better. I mean withold everything, no aid, no support no involvement when natural disasters occur. We are not as good or as smart as you moron''s seem to think we are. Just a classic schoolyard bully!!!
Not at all. I believe that radical islamics need to be eliminated completely. That being said it doesn''t include innocent civilians caught in the middle. Why didn''t your hero Ronnie the R.etard go after the militants who spanked us in Lebanon? I supported that action. Why didn''t George the ******* get OBL? I support that. In fact I support going after the training camps wherever they are. Now why hasn''t that been done by your Cowardly Cowboy? I want to see OBL''s head on a Pike. But why don''t we go after the real criminals but we attack Iraq which had no involvement with 9/11? Why spend trillions on innocent ragheads in Iraq? I want those responsible for the attacks to be eliminated, not innocent Iraqi''s. Why can''t you see that I want revenge but only on the guilty parties. What is so hard for you to understand this simple concept? When Japan attacked us in ''41 did we retaliate against the Samoans? NO!!! At the same time why should I be afraid here in America that we''ll be attacked again by ragheads. Will they come on the Iraqi navy ships? Oh my gawd protect our shores at any cost! What Maroon''s all of you fraidy cats are!!
Posted by jwind11 at 11:12 AM
Gee jwind(bag) with all your self proclaimed finacial self reliance--too bad you can''t buy an IQ with that statement.. Nice addition to the other posts!
As a historical note, Maddog Albright said that it was one of the strong points of AMerican foreign policy that it didn''t change with the party in power...Condmmlizzard Lice the ''Republican'' SEcretary of State''s mentor was Maddog Albright''s father.
VOTE DEMOPUBLICAN! WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO ELECT HUMAN GARBAGE TO LEAD US!!
I guess we are planning an all out Religious war for this century,
I guess we are planning an all out Religious war for this century,
We support Musharaff...We have ignored the head of the ISI...our leaders have even said that the financing of the 9-11 plot was unimportant!! (Don''''t look behind the curtain!)
Bhutto was denied foreign security personnel by the Musharaff regime...they were denied visas. The sunroof story of the Regime was an absolute lie. The US did not want Bhutto to follow her idea to sit down with the tribes and come to a peaceful close of this situation. The plan of the US is "Order out of Chaos"...It served our imperial interests to ice her...
Posted by Prinzowhales at 11:36 AM : Mar 18, 2008
If only Clinton had killed Bin Laden when he had the opportunities.
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