Groundbreaking Stuff
I now direct your attention to an article in this month's Atlantic titled "Inside Al-Qaeda’s Hard Drive" by Alan Cullison. Cullison was one of the first reporters in Kabul after the invasion, and he had the fortune of aquiring two computers that used to belong to al-Qaeda. He managed to copy the hard drive from one before the CIA siezed it, and spent the better part of the last two and a half years decrypting, analyzing, and translating the data contained inside.
As Bob said, it's amazing they managed to organize going to a phone booth, let alone a major terrorist attack, but some of the other important things there are:
Absolutely zero connection to Iraq, period.
An anticipation of liberal / leftist response to American retaliatory action against al-Qaeda, and how that response would drive America apart. They've played both sides of the political specrum like a harp from hell (they know how Bush would respond, and they knew how lefties like me would respond to Bush).
Extensive instructions on how to act if captured; I feel much less sympathy for detainees in Cuba, because they were apparently trained to eke as much sympathy as possible, to create a psychological resistance to their detainers.
I'm going to buy an issue tonight and go over it in much more detail than I can here at the office, but it looks like a unique piece of journalism.
3 comments:
I feel much less sympathy for detainees in Cuba, because they were apparently trained to eke as much sympathy as possible, to create a psychological resistance to their detainers.I think the problem here is that the detainees in Cuba have yet to have their affiliations with Al-Queda proven. Some of the detainees, therefore, may not have received this training.
I think people would be more okay with their poor treatment if they had been given an opportunity to assert their innocence.
Rama
An excellent point, and one I failed to take into consideration.
The article address the members of Al-Qaeda located in Afghanistan (and just among some select leaders at that) and not Al-Qaeda as a whole. Al-Qaeda has always been a loosely knit group of terrorists with a similar goal. CIA, FBI, and even the 9-11 commission have all reported that some members of Al-Qaeda met with members of Saddam Hussein's regime. Those meetings may very well have lead to nothing (as most people readily concede); but saying "zero connection" is an attempt to make a political point that is not in scope with the extent of this article.
That being said, I don't believe anyone can logically make a direct connection to Iraq and Al-Qaeda... and I am not attempting too. I am simply trying to put into context the listing of "Absolutely zero connection to Iraq, period." in the category of "other important things" in your post.
Bobby (like you were wondering who wrote this)
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