Another al Qaeda #3
By Steve Benen Thursday Jan 31, 2008 7:10amOnce again, al Qaeda's #3 man has been killed.
A senior al Qaeda terrorist who allegedly plotted and carried out attacks against U.S. and coalition forces was killed in Pakistan, a knowledgeable Western official and a military source told CNN Thursday.
He was identified as Abu Laith al-Libi, 41, who was on the military's most wanted list.
Al-Libi was thought to have been involved in the February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting.
The knowledgeable Western official said al-Libi was "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" -- Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
CNN Middle East analyst Octavia Nasr called al-Libi the third-ranking terrorist in al Qaeda and fourth in the world.
This is certainly welcome news. I'm curious, though, if anyone has a record of al Qaeda #3s who've been captured or killed recently. I was keeping a list for a while, and I think al-Libi is the seventh, following Hamza Rabia, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Saif al-Adel, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mohammed Sheikh Mohammed, and a senior operational leader identified in court documents as "C-2."
You'd think, after a while, al Qaeda's #4 guys would stop seeking promotions.
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Well I guess number four just got promoted.
There is no war on terror
This is PR marketing campaign to 'cover' the GOP/Big Oil/Old Energy geopolitical energy endgame (don't take it from me...just look at Shell's Chairman/CEO who just stated publicly that Peak Oil will be here in 7 years...psst...its been here since 2005)
I am thinking number three is anybody who has actual al Qaeda affiliations If you're a goat herder who happens to get your ass blown up in a misguided bombing Put him down as an al Qaeda soldier
You'd think by now they've got enough practice going after number 3s that they might try their hand at a number 2. or, god forbid, the big cheese.
Katy Kay wet her pants on this one last night. If this rates top billing on her show, can we bring the troops home now?
Since Spin is all the Bush White House is good at, I believe I have found a way to get Bin-Laden. We need Bush to launch an all out mud slinging attack against Bin-Laden in the Arab media.
If they SwiftBoat well enough to get him demoted to 3rd in command, he's ours!
This is off topic, but is anyone else who uses Earthlink/ Roadrunner having issues accessing this site? I have to load it twice before it opens. Yet if I use my wireless card( which is slower) opens right up. Makes me think that someone is putting a block on C&L... hmmm.
This "#3 Al Qaeda" tag is becoming kind of a joke, isn't it? It's like being the drummer in Spinal Tap, or one of the red shirts on Star Trek. You won't last through the first reel!
Another #3?
When are we gonna start seeing pictures of Osama Ben Laden's kisser on milk cartons?
And another thing I would like to know is exactly when did this happen? I dont suppose the smirking chimp would time the release of this information for some propaganda value?
There will continue to be #4's and #3's until we make it unprofitable for people to advance within the organization. And until we stop lying to ourselves about 'six more months' in Iraq, which, for all that it's the 'central battleground,' we aren't catching any top al-Qaeda members there (not since Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and AQI is not the same as bin Laden's group). We're catching them in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Truth is, this administration is getting more mileage from an al-Qaeda on the loose, and Giuliani-style invocations of 9/11.
Shit, even James Bond didn't blame SPECTRE for everything.
Why Al-Queda (or someone else) will always be a "threat" as justification of more wars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080201/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_exxon_mobil
tballou @ 10:
The reporting of this "success" is rather coincidental isn't it? Just two days after the President warned that if Congress didn't pass the telecommunications immunity provision with the extension of the revised F.I.S.A. law that we put Americans in serious danger.
This administration just can't help itself when it comes to fomenting propaganda.
Anyone else see the irony of this guy's name being Al Libi?
Alibi? Heheh,..do they even need to try to be funny anymore?
Now if someone could just bring Bush BinLaden to justice we might be gettng somewhere.
G*d bless war president Bush for his leadership against the forces of Evil!
I quit.
-Abdullah Al Campbells.
P.S. Nice work on Keith O. Mr. Amato.
Phoenix Justice @ 13:
Yeah, they're always fomenting at the mouth.
You know, this is all great but Al Qaeda unfortunately doesn't operate like the Bush Administration. Bin Laden actually has subordinates that know what they are doing and are competent enough to fill that slot. If Al-Libi is indeed dead then he will be replaced by another, possibly more experienced and lethal commander. After all, Al Qaeda has obtained more than enough recruits and experience due to Bush's wars.
He is third unless you count Bush?
Just another boogie man designed to scare the public.
Republicans are the biggest babies on the planet, scared of their own shadow.
Invest in adult diapers cause republicans shit their pants every time terrorists are mentioned.
Joe O. @ 19:
This was touched upon during the Millennium Challenge, a military exercise held in 2000 (and chronicled in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell). When General Paul von Riper used non-standard tactics to decapitate the Blue team leadership, he was told he couldn't do that, and the exercise was restarted with von Riper's achievements negated.
Forced to work within the Pentagon's preconceptions, the exercise was a great success for Blue forces, and it was determined we had total command of the battlefield.
Too bad reality has that liberal bias.
Samo Umer @ 16:
Forces of Evil? Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom are who we're fighting? No wonder Bunt Laden had that bald head and evil smirk.
Another corner turned http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/world/middleeast/02iraq.html?_r=1&hp&o...
I understand there were 12 people killed in this attack. If this guy had been in an office building would we have launched the missle? This guy attacked a military base and is called a terrorist while we killed 11 other people while killing him and we call it a military action. George Bush is a non compus mentis and should be kidnapped without charge and sent to Gitmo.
Shadowgm @ 22:
Of course it's easy to win a war.....
when you fix it so you can win. Unfortunately Rule #1 of Wartime states: that The Enemy never does what you want. Or do you think the WWII Army suspected Hitler would launch the Ardennes Offensive, or that Lee would send Longstreet to aid Bragg at Chickamauga, or that the Soviets would hit Army Group Center in Bagration? Jesus, no wonder we're losing this damn war(s).
Samo Umer @ 16:
I agree. GD Bush!
Samo Umer @ 16:
you read too many comic books..........ISP
Ruthless People @ 24:
Puts on Wingnut cap/ GASP!!! Logic and Reason!!! There's still bombings!!! Better kill the desert monkeys and have done with it!!!!! / takes off wingnut cap.
Jesus, I have to wash myself now.
BTW, something I never seem to get an answer from the Righties about: If the damn war is won, why are we still there using organized killers as policemen?
U.S. casualties increase in Iraq
The U.S. death toll in Iraq increased in January, ending a four-month drop in casualties, and most of the deaths occurred outside Baghdad or the once-restive Al-Anbar province, according to military statistics.
In all, 38 American service members had been reported killed in January by Thursday evening, compared with 23 in December. Of those, 33 died from hostile action, but only nine of them in Baghdad or Al-Anbar.
A total of 3,942 American service members have been killed in Iraq as of Thursday, according to icasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks the statistics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9GEJWRLsog
General_Rennenkampf @ 23:
Quick call out the League of Super Good Friends!!!
More Suicide Despite Efforts
At least 30 U.S. soldiers killed themselves in Iraq in 2007 — the highest number since the war began — despite the Army's myriad efforts to improve its suicide prevention and mental health programs.
Or even Stretch Dude & Clobber Girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01tzgUychBU
Has anyone ever done a graph to show the number of US military killed in action in Iraq, along with the number of Iraqi civilians killed, along with dollars spent per the number of actual, consequential, terrorist bad guys captured and/or killed? I just love how Iraq is the central front on terror, but all the Al Quaeda bad guys who get killed are nowhere near Iraq.
PurplePatriot @ 35:
You can't do a graph like that. The raw data is missing. Everyone we kill is a "suspected terroist" some even before they learn to walk.
ysbaddaden @ 32:
Here I come to Save the Day..............................................................
I thought Zarqauwi would've been on that list of #4s
Meanwhile, this morning's economic news stated that non-farm payroll jobs fell by 17,000 last month. Analysts expected a 65,000 gain. The last time NFP numbers were negative was 4 1/2 years ago.
Iraq Coalition Casualties is the source for American Deaths.
Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building has the money spent.
This site will tell you what it wants you to think about the terrorists.
So....does Al-Libi's death mean we've won? Or are we still just winning? Or making progress?
AQ in Afghanistan is hardly the issue is it? NATO (especially US forces apparently) have killed more civilians than AQ or the Taleban have killed because of being underresourced and having no strategic goals or support. The Taleban is the biggest problem there, not AQ.
Did the death of Hussein solve anything? No.
Will the death of Bin Laden solve anything? No.
This is all pointless bollocks.
xoites defends Constitution @ 40:
Great... looks like we're about to reach the next "milestone": 4,000 troop deaths. And this doesn't include the number of
contractorsmercenaries killed or those who killed themselves or injured.we are so good at getting no. 3 but i want to know what is the problem with getting no. 1 or no. 2
what about that AQ Khan guy? how come we can't get him?
Blue Buddha @ 42:
If you look at the top of the page you can find some of that out too.
Contractor deaths.
flatearth friedman @ 44:
He has a better agent.
Britisher @ 41:
Yes we know.
All too well.
General_Rennenkampf @ 26:
Good points. I recall that Millennium Challenge and the tactics Major General Van Riper used in it. After I read it, I was proud to have served under his command. He was and is a Commander that knows strategy and tactics and that filtered down to us. We were taught to learn the next two billets above our current one so that if a higher ranking person was killed or incapacitated then someone would be available to fill that billet and carry on with the given mission. Heck, at one point we had a Corporals filling Lieutenant's and Platoon Sergeants billets because we had no one else to fill them and they turned out to be competent at them. Al Qaeda works in a similar fashion. Lets just hope that Al Qaeda will make the mistake and select a Michael Brown type to replace Al-Libi.
See
xoites defends Constitution @ 49:
Agreed.
Reminds me of the Admiral who called "foul" when the pilots first demonstrated they could sink a ship by dive bombing it way back before World War II.
"You can't do that!"
"We just did!"
right wing hater @ 2:
And Exxon/Mobil topped their previous record high profits posted in 2006 with a $41 BILLION profit in 2007! WHY are we paying $3+/gallon of gas? To pad the wallets of Warpig's croneys!
Once again, Osama proves his mastery of strategy and tactics. Knowing the incompetence of the US administration. he purposely staffed his organization with over one hundred 'Number 3's', so he would not run out no matter how lucky the invaders got.
Don't you wish Bush had just a little Osama in him, we'd have 'won the war' by now if he had. (And if Osama had been a 'Number 3')
xoites defends Constitution @ 45:
If you look at the top of the page you can find some of that out too.
Contractor deaths.
Missed that. That number is just over 1000. So if we count the mercs as well, that makes close to 5,000 US deaths.
I wonder if the Number 3 has a tough interview process? I wonder how many AQ guys are clamoring for that number 3 position. I'm guess thing the number 4 guys is shitting is his pants wondering when he is the next dead guy....
sounds like the number 3 guy is a no win position. Man I hate being at a job when there is no upward mobility
Mighty Mouse @ 37:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeLw-jWx3-0
Well timed again during the primaries. Could this be some sort of a coincidence? This seems to happen a lot. For all we know this may have never happened or the news was released to coincide with the primaries.
xoites defends Constitution @ 40:
Damn, xoites, does the WH have former Pravda writers on staff working on their website??? Sheesh!
Ruthless People @ 15:
Ruthless People @ 15:
it's refreshing to see someone who feels that justice should prevail and hasn't at least not so far.Pakistan a nation of nuclear capabilities and yet still flying under the radar on our current candidates agendas. if not now, when ? al-quaida is present in pakistan and is looking to take over this country but every candidate appears to be putting their heads in the sand and also other unmentionable places. the time is now. it's not to late in 2008. www.disappointedvoter.com. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFELY.
Dr. Acula @ 58:
Osama is dead. The only way that could not be the case is if he's being held in some black ops CIA site somewhere hooked up to a dialysis machine. He was an operative back when we hired him to beat up on those mean old Soviets who invaded Afghanistan - a soverign nation - tsk, tsk!
As long as the political and financial elites of the US and the world need to complete their pillaging of third-world countries and destroying the middle classes of western nations, Osama or some other Figment (of their Imagination) will be necessary. You must be kept afraid, very afraid. Are you afraid yet??!!
Flatulent stupidity.
I'd be far more impressed if the qualifications for such a position were more than anyone possessing a violent personality, a hatred of social progression, a hatred of women, a love of guns, and an undying infatuation with using irrational spiritual conjecture in social and political application.
Hell, we know that 29% of Americans are easily qualified.
This sounds really familiar, all these "#3"'s.
I sure hope #6 makes it off the island one day.
Tom (Not Tom) @ 63:
Not if the white balloon has anything to say about it.
xoites defends Constitution @ 64:
Great, now I'm going to have nightmares.
It's worse than that! This isn't only the seventh time we've gotten the number three person in al Qaeda, this is aprox. the fifth time we've gotten al Libi.
Do a search on his name and count the number of times this guy has been killed by 'coalition' forces. It's staggering.
Osama to new recruit, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we welcome you into al Qaeda. The bad news is you're my new #3 guy."
For those who ignore the Dubya spin mill, an al Qaeda #3 guy is knocked off every time Dubya's numbers get too close to 30%. Another #3 bit the dust today.
Are we THAT stupid?
Yeah, some of us are.
If Kerry started to move ahead of Dubya in the 2004 polls, the Homeland (Fatherland?) alert code went from orange to fuschia. And it worked. People were overcome by fear and finally voted for the guy who talked the talk, but had never walked the walk.
Let's not be fooled just because the candidate talks tough.
Tom (Not Tom) @ 65:
Then instead of sleeping you can watch a video.
"I AM THE NEW NUMBER TWO"
-The Prisoner
You'd think they skip that number like motels skip room 13 or building skip floor 13. Seems like an unlucky number!
The War of Terror is a farce. What happened to the hunt for the Nine Eleven "Conspirator" Osama Bin Laden? What about the U.S. Military Grade Anthrax "Terrorist"? What about the 'Al Qaeda' in Pakistan? I know about Iraq, PNAC, the OSP. The entire U.S. Government should be 'brought to justice' for war crimes against humanity. The U.S. "Homeland" is a nation of cowards, otherwise they would bring down the Government, They don't speak for us. I'll take a quiet life. There is a real shitstorm over the horizon of civil unrest, economic collapse, nookular war. The end of the wargame.
I am not a number I am a man, oh wait I'm Number 5. #5 is alive!
This is such a fraud and I can't believe people are still continuing to eat it up. Come on.
As long as the rethugs have this "war on terror" canard, fascists like Bush or McCain will find ways to exploit this overused meme. I'm glad the British are ending their use of this outdated rhetoric.
Wake the hell up and start telling the good damn truth.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2008/020108_second_time.htm
This isn't some kind of joke that is funny. They are getting away with everything because good men are failing to act.
Sorry, don't believe it. Sounds like Government propaganda to me. It's the same old modus operandi. When the Bush Regime takes some kind dive in the opinion polls, videos from Bogey Men turn up or one is all of the sudden captured or killed. Besides, if it's true, I wonder how many people were tortured to find this guy? Considering all the secrecy that Bush$Co surrounds itself in concerning the so-called 'war on terror' how can it really be confirmed?
Dar al Hayat 10/04/06:
One AQ leader allegedly killed.
By a 'drone'.
Who knows how much 'collateral damage' was inflicted by the big, brave American who was sitting in safety and comfort back at the base.
How many new AQ foot soldiers and leaders will emerge from the bereaved?
Its rather like the Monarch's (one of the villains) numbered henchmen in the adult cartoon series 'The Venture Brothers'
I had vague notion of that things existence, recently got lent the season one DVD by my BIL, OMFG very very funny.
Perfect parody of all the 60s 70s and James Bond, Hollywood spy uber crook films, well worth watching.
Orangutan. @ 75:
In case this little tidbit was missed....here it is again
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2008/020108_second_time.htm
Tom (Not Tom) @ 63:
Dammit, I got here too late! Excellent reference.
"The new number 2"...and if you think about it, all these #3s are actually #2s, since Zawahiri has been #1 since late 2001.
JerryO @ 80:
Reminds me of how Zarqawi rose from the dead more than Dracula thanks to the media and the Pentagon...
Al Qaeda Org Chart:
Osama
|
Al Zawahiri (sp)
|
-----------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |
#3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #3
You are number 3.
Who is Number 1?
You are number 3.
I have a question - Every time someone brings up Bin Ladin and Al Zawahiri to Bush or another right-winger, they say that it won't change anything if we capture or kill them anyway. However, every single time we capture or kill the #3 guy, it's important for them to point that out as making progress. Why is the #3 guy more important than the top 2?
It's like being the drummer for Spinal Tap!
When I hear about #3 in al Quaeda, all I can think is that maybe the ranking is all a big popularity contest and it's a title like "the fifth Beatle" or "the next Dylan."
Yippee! Libi has finally been punished for his evil deeds!
Wait, it's not Scooter?
Never mind.
To all who actually believe in the Al Queda fairytale, I have some oceanfront property in Utah I can sell you, REAL CHEAP.
And the link is?
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