November 25, 2007

The Turkish Laundry

The Times of London has an intriguing article today based on a series of interviews with a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative currently detained near Istanbul. Louai al-Sakka could be the biggest terrorist of which no one has heard, or an egomaniacal lunatic given to flights of fancy. If the former, he may hold the key to a number of AQ plots, including 9/11, and show how AQ uses Turkey as a terrorist laundromat (via Memeorandum):

Since being convicted as an Al-Qaeda bomb plotter last year, Sakka has decided to reveal his alleged role in some of the key plots of recent years, providing a potential insight into the unanswered questions surrounding them. His story is also one of a globetrotting terrorist in an organisation that is truly multinational.

He is an enigma and, despite his involvement in three terrorist outrages involving British citizens, he is virtually unknown in this country.

By his own account he is a senior Al-Qaeda operative who was at the forefront of the insurgency in Iraq, took part in the beheading of Briton Kenneth Bigley and helped train the 9/11 bombers. He has been jailed in connection with the bombing of the British consulate in Istanbul.

Certainly, the intelligence services have shown a keen interest in the 34-year-old Syrian who says he was in Iraq alongside Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious insurgent who was killed last year in a United States air-strike.

But, as with many things in the world of Al-Qaeda, there might be smoke and mirrors. Some experts believe that Sakka could be overstating his importance to the group, possibly to lay a false track for western agencies investigating his terrorist colleagues.

The latter could certainly prove true. After all, Sakka doesn't have much left at risk, and the extent of his jihad now would be to misdirect Western intelligence and/or spread propaganda. The media would make a particularly easy target for this kind of mission, much more credulous than Western intelligence agents that have learned how to differentiate Shinola from other substances.

Still, the Turks know that Sakka has connections to AQ through its independent investigations. Sakka first came to their attention when his apartment exploded. They discovered all sorts of nasty projects in Sakka's lab, including vats of hydrogen, plastic explosives, and bags of aluminum powder. It doesn't take a chemist to understand that Sakka wanted to build a lot of bombs, and they discovered that he intended to use them against Israeli cruise ships in attacks that closely resemble the attack on the USS Cole in Aden.

Sakka provided the Times with a memoir of how he became a terrorist, and that in itself should prove instructive. Instead of being filled with rage over the infidels of the US or Israel, Sakka became a radical after Syrian dictator Hafez Assad razed Hama and killed thousands of people (including Sakka's father) to put down a rebellion from the Muslim Brotherhood. This blood vengeance could not get slaked in the jihad of Bosnia, a jihad assisted by US and European troops, and so Sakka went to Chechnya and eventually Pakistan.

Not only did Sakka begin recruiting jihadis from across the globe for AQ, but also became an expert forger. He regularly had recruits pass through Turkey so that he could alter their passports to remove any hint of their stay in Pakistan, which he knew would set off alarms in Western nations. He provided that service for some of the 9/11 hijackers, who had to rid themselves of their Pakistani ties to avoid detection by American security officials. Six of the hijackers, including one who may have piloted the plane that hit the Pentagon, took Sakka's physical training in the mountains of Turkey.

Most of these accounts have corroboration in international investigations. The 9/11 report does not mention Sakka, but it notes that a number of the 9/11 hijackers were bound for Chechnya until the Turkish-Georgian border closed in 1999. Sakka trained many jihadis who went on to participate in a wide range of plots, and Sakka has been convicted for his roles in those attacks and attempts in several countries.

Sakka's account shows how intricately this network has developed -- and how resilient it could remain. The international alliance against AQ has to remain firm in its resolution to destroy it. If we let up, it can and will rebuild itself. Instead of assuming we are its cause, we should focus on becoming its end.

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