From Qatar to Khobar

"Bin Laden visited Doha, Qatar (17-19 Jan. 1996), staying at the residence of a member of the Qatari ruling family. He discussed the successful movement of explosives into Saudi Arabia, and operations targeted against U.S. and U.K. interests in Dammam, Dharan, and Khobar, using clandestine al Qaeda cells in Saudi Arabia. Upon his return, bin Laden met with Hijazi and Turabi, among others."

At least part of this can be verified with open source material, as ABC News has previously reported that Qatari Interior Minister Abdallah bin Khalid al-Thani is an al-Qaeda supporter, as is fellow royal Abdul Karim al-Thani. These two men have harbored both Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Musab Zarqawi, two of the highest-ranking members of al-Qaeda's leadership council, the Shura Majlis, and continue to fund the organization despite the emirate's status as a "key US ally." Then again, once you take this into account it becomes a lot easier to see just how al-Jazeera manages to get its hands on all of those tapes... In any event, accepting that either member of House Thani have harbored al-Qaeda leaders in the past, the idea that they would also being willing to play host to bin Laden is not truly all that hard to fathom. Facts like these that were disclosed to the general public less than a year ago certainly adds credibility to this piece of data that allegedly comes from as far back as 1996. One further thing to point out is that the Khobar Towers bombing took place on June 25, 1996 and killed 19 Americans, so if bin Laden was in Doha to coordinate the movement of explosives into Saudi Arabia, this is unquestionably what they were being moved there for. Our "Friends" The Saudis bq. "According to sensitive CIA reporting, . . . the Saudi National Guard went on a kingdom-wide state of alert in late Dec 2000 after learning Saddam agreed to assist al Qaeda in attacking U.S./U.K. interests in Saudi Arabia." I'm sorry, I could hardly contain may laughter when I read this entry in the memo. The Saudi National Guard, as I noted in my Riyadh bombings in retrospect analysis, is the Saudi equivalent to the royal guard and is responsible for the protection of House Saud. They have also been thoroughly infiltrated by al-Qaeda and apparently provided the explosives used during the initial Riyadh bombings. Then again, if anybody knows what al-Qaeda is up to, it would be them... The U.S.S. Cole bq. "Investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000 by al Qaeda revealed no specific Iraqi connections but according to the CIA, "fragmentary evidence points to possible Iraqi involvement." This is a little ambiguous, but Vincent Cannistraro told the BBC the same thing shortly after the Cole bombing, citing that al-Qaeda had been in contact with the Iraqi military. On the other hand, UPI via ICT quoted a former CIA official in saying that the Cole bombing looked more like the fruits of al-Qaeda's robust ties to Iran and Hezbollah than anything else. Malaysian Connections bq. "According to sensitive reporting, a Malaysia-based Iraqi national (Shakir) facilitated the arrival of one of the Sept 11 hijackers for an operational meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Jan 2000). Sensitive reporting indicates Shakir's travel and contacts link him to a worldwide network of terrorists, including al Qaeda. Shakir worked at the Kuala Lumpur airport--a job he claimed to have obtained through an Iraqi embassy employee." Shakir was present at the al-Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur, chaired by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and attended by such notables as Tawfiq Attash Khallad, Hanbali, and two of the 9/11 hijackers. According to this story from USA Today from October 2, 2002, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir was present at the time of the Kuala Lumpur summit in Malaysia and is, among other things, a buddy of WTC bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef who was able to return to Iraq unmolested in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. No word on whether or not he was getting a pension and a villa from Saddam Hussein like Yousef's other associate, Abdul Rahman Yasin. In short, we can probably say with good probability from just open source documents that Ahmad Hikmat Shakir was where this tidbit of US intelligence states that he was, thereby adding to the accounts' credibility in other regards. Thursday: Part VI - Back to Iraq, & Some Conclusions