Al-Qaeda in the USA

by Joe Katzman at June 19, 2003 7:00 AM

Stephen Emerson and others have drawn well-deserved attention to this phenomenon before, and Dan Darling's analysis is worth reading. As usual, Dan shows why he's a valued team member and Winds of War host. I'm still wondering how this squares with the inferences related to the Muhajir case, though.

Special Analysis: Al-Qaeda in the US
by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis

One of the most dangerous post-9/11 realities for Americans has been that within our own country and abroad there appear to be at least a sizeable number of people who have sworn what they consider to be a sacred oath to fight and destroy our way of life at every turn. Originally that number was considered as high as 5,000, but it appears to have been chopped down to several hundred. Still, that's far too many al-Qaeda operatives still walking the streets for comfort...

Al-Qaeda's US network has suffered a number of blows ever since 9/11 that are probably best captured by MSNBC's "The Global Dragnet" interactive. If you click on the "Nationwide" section, you'll discover the names and rationale behind the arrest of 48 individuals on charges relating to membership in al-Qaeda. Some are dedicated, others are wannabes, still others acted in a support capacity.

All in all, about 23 actual al-Qaeda operatives (which I classify as having received the necessary training and ideological indoctrination to launch mass casualty terrorist attacks) have been arrested since 9/11. Among the non-operatives, the biggest fish caught thus far appears to be Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, an alumni of Bradley University who is alleged to be an associate of both Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, the paymaster for the 9/11 attacks who was captured with Khalid in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on March 1 of 2003. Al-Marri is described as a major figure within the US al-Qaeda network, though the Newsweek article from which most of this information stops just short of identifying him as the United States operations chief. One other thing that bothers me about this is that al-Marri was arrested in December 2001, a fact that Khalid would have likely known when told the name to his interrogators.

Al-Marri is hardly alone. Other known al-Qaeda operatives inside the US include the now-infamous Adnan el-Shukrijumah, who operates under the nom de guerre of "Jaffar the Pilot" and has been described as "the next Mohammed Atta." Another group of individuals said to have entered the US in February 2002 from Yemen according to Rohan Gunaratna's book Inside Al-Qaeda is said to be planning an attack against US interests in America or Yemen, led by a son-in-law of bin Laden's close associate Ahmad Mohammed Alia al-Hada. There is likely much more to it, but from what we know at this point, there at least two dangerous al-Qaeda cells active within the US, one led by el-Shukrijumah and another by Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei.

Until these men are both apprehended and their cells disrupted, the American people will continue to endure the seemingly ubiquitous state we now know and love as "Code Orange."

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Ralph Phelan's quick thinking, a couple of mug shots to go with this article: Adnan el-Shukrijumah, and known members of the al-Rabeei cell.

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