From the New York Times
Pakistani authorities said today that they had arrested a senior Al Qaeda operative suspected of orchestrating two assassination attempts against the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Abu Faraj al-Libbi, described by some counterterrorism officials as the third-most senior leader in the Al Qaeda terrorist network, was arrested on Tuesday, the Pakistani information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said this afternoon. A native of Libya, Mr. Libbi was captured during a raid in South Waziristan, the tribal redoubt of Al Qaeda fighters and their Islamist sympathizers, Mr. Ahmed said.
“This is a big catch,” Mr. Ahmed said in a telephone interview. “We were looking for him for a very long time.”
Nevertheless, there were conflicting reports on exactly when and how Mr. Libbi was apprehended. A Reuters report quoted the Pakistani interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, as saying Mr. Libbi had been arrested a few days ago. Mr. Ahmed , however, maintained that the arrest came only Tuesday, contending that Pakistani authorities could not have concealed the capture of such a senior figure for more than a day.
In Washington, President Bush said today during a speech on Social Security that the capture of Mr. Libbi had removed “a direct threat” to the United States.
“Today’s report of the capture of a top Al Qaeda operative, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, represents a critical victory in the war on terror,” Mr. Bush said. “Now al-Libbi was a top general for bin Laden. He was a major facilitator and chief planner for the Al Qaeda network. His arrest removed a dangerous enemy who was a direct threat to America.” Pakistan has said it believes that Mr. Libbi succeeded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as head of Al Qaeda operations in the country; Mr. Mohammed was arrested in March 2003 in the nearby garrison town of Rawlapindi.
An American counterterrorism official described the arrest of Mr. Libbi as the most important blow to Al Qaeda since the arrest of Khalid Sheik Mohammed more than two years ago.
American human intelligence was involved in locating al-Libbi, FOXNews is reporting.
See, HERE is where that torture stuff comes in handy.
If it says Libbi-Libbi-Libbi
On the label-label-label
You can pound-him-pound-him-pound-him
With a table-table-table.
Turing = elements, as in these are some elements of 70s TV marketing that I don’t know why I still remember.
BAM!!
Ok, I laughed out loud for real on that one, Sanity Inspector. Thanks!
OK–I’m glad they caught him and all, but PLEASE PLEASE take his pictures off the web! I didn’t go to medical school because of film day in path micro. What the hell is that crap all over his face? shudder
We have developed tried and true methods of toture to deal with this menace.
I think he’s the 2nd person out of billions of people who have the condition that turned Michael Jackson white. Mr. Taliban looks like he’s having a blast in custody, lol.