Al Qaeda Claims Obscure, May Be Islamist 'Branding'

[windansea]

BERLIN (Reuters) - Messages claiming responsibility for the Madrid bombings in the name of al Qaeda are hard to verify and may be attempts by obscure factions to identify themselves with the world's leading militant "brand."

Security analysts said Sunday the discovery by Spanish police of a videotape with a purported al Qaeda claim was still inconclusive, although it added to mounting evidence of an Islamist link to the attacks that killed 200 people.

The speaker on the tape was named as Abu Dujan al Afgani and described as al Qaeda's military spokesman in Europe, although Spain's interior minister said neither Spanish nor foreign intelligence officials had heard of him.

It came days after a similar statement from a group called Abu Hafs al-Masri, claiming links to al Qaeda, in an e-mail to a London-based Arab newspaper. Basque separatist group ETA, originally blamed by Spain, has denied involvement.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SWCJMF1KHDRDKCRBAEZSFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=4562586

edit fixed link

[Frances]

1. Bush stirred up a hornet's nest when he went into Iraq

and now people who would never have attacked others are doing so under the name al quaida.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Can't say Junior wasn't warned repeatedly...

...particularly by his father, Poppy Bush, who got this Iraq thing all wound up in the first place.

George Tenet of the CIA told him that getting into Iraq was quite a bit easier than getting out, and that any invasion would probably result in an Iraqi civil war. Tenet also told Junior that Iraq had no verifiable WMDs. Tenet repeatedly advised that certain language regarding WMDs used by Junior in his State of the Union address and Powell in his UN speech not be used at all.

The CIA was repaid for their reluctance to go along with the NeoCon flow by Rummy discrediting the CIA at every turn, and demanding publicly that the CIA report to the DoD.

And then they decided to "out" Valerie Plame which resulted in the exposure of her, her network, and the front company from which she was working. And, by the way, Plame's global network tracked the materials used in the making of WMDs...I thought Junior was concerned about stopping the spread of such weapons and the materials used to make such weapons.

And now, in addition to Al Qaeda (if it actually exists), we've created a worldwide terrorist network that has a big target painted on the U. S. Nice job, Junior.

[keopeli]

2. So, lemme get this straight. The news is: This attack in Spain may NOT be

Al Qaida. "Security Analysts" are obviously skeptical about this assertion. Simultaneous and multiple explosions may have been a ragtag operation of Islamic 'factions' instead of Al Quaida.

Isn't Al Qaida a faction of Islam? Aren't they organized so loosely as to be very difficult to trace through traditional methods? Wouldn't an Islamic 'faction' that has the resources and brainpower to organize several explosions to happen simultaneously be a likely suspect as an Al Qaida cell?

This is all to state the obvious. If Al Qaida is becoming more active, then Bush* is in big trouble. He was supposed to have seriously handicapped their organization.

And, it never hurts to run a denial report from "security analysts" (Sounds like the OSP, eh?) to try to frame the Spanish tragedy as beyond what Bush* could have foreseen, because this could have been perpetrated by an islamic "faction" instead of Al Quaida (an Islamic faction).

We will NOT be bowled over by this news spin cycle again.

Keo

[PassingFair]

3. Holy Cow!

BushTV is spinning away from AlQaeda as fast as they can. Saw Condi on MTP this morning, burping the initials ETA as many times as she could. When the bombings went off, they buried the story in the interior pages of the Detroit News here.
They definately DON'T want to report on this. Note the total (I haven't seen it) or near total lack of coverage of grief marches in Madrid and elsewhere. This is bad news for Bushies.

[windansea]

5. Al Masri also claimed responsibility for US blackout

It should be noted that the Abu Hafs Al-Masri Brigades claimed responsibility for the August 2003 blackout in the U.S. (which was a large-scale technical failure), calling it "Operation Quick Lightning in the Land of the Tyrant of This Generation."

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Did they really?

Got a link for that info? That sure is interesting if they did?

Either way, W sure has stirred up the hornet's nest. Expect a lot more of this sort of thing. As they say, payback is a mother.

[windansea]

7. here you go

http://english.daralhayat.com/arab_news/08-2003/Article-20030818-14bdd659-c0a8-01ed-0079-6e1c903b7552/story.html