Is German captive missing al-Qaida-Iraq link?

[igloo]

GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF

Is captive missing al-Qaida-Iraq link?

Allegedly led terror plan to intimidate Europe from supporting war

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: January 22, 2004

1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: WorldNetDaily brings readers exclusive, up-to-the-minute global intelligence news and analysis from Geostrategy-Direct, a new online newsletter edited by veteran journalist Robert Morton and featuring the "Backgrounder" column compiled by Bill Gertz. Geostrategy-Direct is a subscription-based service produced by the publishers of WorldTribune.com, a free news service frequently linked by the editors of WorldNetDaily.

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Ihsan G. could be the man who once and for all proves al-Qaida's links to Saddam Hussein.

German authorities have placed the Tunisian national, who has not been further identified, into custody. The United States wants to learn more about this detainee.

The reason: Ihsan has been identified as the lead al-Qaida operative for a terror campaign in Europe that was to have been launched on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Indeed, Germany, which was the base for the 9-11 attacks, has obtained a wealth of information from several leading al-Qaida operatives captured in Europe. They have told German intelligence how al-Qaida operates and cooperates with other Islamic terrorist groups and terrorist sponsors, such as Iraq.

But first to Ihsan G. German authorities have accused him of being one of al-Qaida's key operatives in Europe and a linchpin in Saddam's effort to intimidate European allies against joining the U.S.-led war against Baghdad.

Like most al-Qaida operatives in Europe, Ihsan G. started off as a simple criminal who would do most anything for a dollar or euro. He arrived in Berlin in 1996 and began trading in illegal immigrants, mostly from North Africa to Europe.

After a few years he developed connections to al-Qaida and its Muslim satellites and was offered a job with big money. In July 2001, Ihsan was sent to an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan for training. There he learned such skills as forgery, the assembly of explosives, recruitment and operations.

But Ihsan's al-Qaida training was cut short when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the 9-11 attacks. Ihsan fled Afghanistan and ended up in South Africa, where the nation's large Muslim community harbored him. He quietly slipped into Belgium and arrived in Germany in January 2003.

This time, Ihsan was on a different mission, one that reflected cooperation between Saddam and Osama Bin Laden. The goal was to stop the U.S. war in Iraq by diverting international attention to terrorism. Ihsan was assigned to recruit cells for a series of suicide bombings on Jewish and U.S. targets in Germany.

Once in Germany, Ihsan didn't waste time. He began to recruit agents at a mosque in Berlin. At the same time, he searched the German market for chemicals and cellular phones to assemble bombs that could be detonated remotely. Palestinians have used the same technique in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to attack Israeli targets.

But something went wrong. Several of Ihsan's recruits began to sing and told German authorities about him. Ihsan was arrested during a police raid on a Berlin mosque on March 20, 2003, just before he was to have launched the first attacks in Germany.

In all, the al-Qaida plan went awry. Ihsan's was to have begun his attacks in Berlin on Jan. 19. One of the strikes was to have included a grenade attack against U.S. and Jewish interests in the German capital. But problems in obtaining material and assembling bombs delayed operations.

Under the plan, al-Qaida was to have sustained attacks in Europe until the U.S. invasion of Iraq. At that point, the attacks were to intensify and spread throughout Europe by other al-Qaida operatives.

Another operative sent by al-Qaida was Abdul Razak Mahdjoub, an Algerian national. Dubbed the "sheik," the 30-year-old worked for al-Qaida via Ansar Al Islam, headed by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi.

Mahdjoub's job was to recruit hundreds of suicide bombers and other terrorists for a holy war against U.S. soldiers in Iraq. From his base in Germany, Mahdjoub was to establish recruitment cells in Muslim communities throughout Europe, particularly Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Spain.

But German intelligence was efficient and on Nov. 28, 2003, Mahdjoub was arrested in Hamburg. Since then, Mahdjoub has been detailing al-Qaida's network in Europe and the organization's ties to Saddam's interests. Al-Qaida's network in Europe has been operated largely through Ansar.

Mahdjoub recruited a cell in Italy that operated in the Venice region, a stronghold of Islamic fundamentalism. There, hundreds of North African immigrants were recruited to fight and die in Iraq in a joint al-Qaida-Ansar operation. The volunteers were given forged passports and moved from Italy through Austria, the Balkans and finally to Syria.

From Syria, the Muslims were trained in an Ansar camp in northeastern Iraq near the Iranian border. The training focused on assembling explosives and serving as a human bomb in suicide attacks.

From the Iranian border, the suicide volunteers were led south for missions against U.S. soldiers in the Sunni Triangle.

Some of the volunteers recruited in Italy participated in the suicide strike against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. They also participated in the October rocket attack that attempted to assassinate U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

As with Ihsan, luck played a great role in Mahdjoub's capture. Spanish police arrested Mahdjoub in July 2003 but he was released several weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Mahdjoub was trying to establish a terrorist cell in Austria, where Ansar and al-Qaida possessed considerable financial assets.

European intelligence agencies expect new al-Qaida agents to emerge.

Intelligence sources said that the best of the Muslim volunteers recruited for operations in Iraq have been spared to return to Europe and head new terrorist cells. This could lead to a rash of attacks on the continent, which hasn't seen a major strike since October 2002.

"The fact that no Islamic extremist attack has been committed in the European Union should not be considered as a diminution or an absence of threat," Europol, the European Union police agency, warned in a December 2003 report.

[siceone]

Good read