Qaeda Is Seen as Restoring Leadership
By MARK MAZZETTI
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Much is still not known about the backgrounds of the new Qaeda leaders; some have adopted noms de guerre. Officials and outside analysts said they tend to be in their mid-30s and have years of battlefield experience fighting in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya. They are more diverse than the earlier group of leaders, which was made up largely of battle-hardened Egyptian operatives. American officials said the new cadre includes several Pakistani and North African operatives.
Experts say they still see Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as largely independent of Al Qaeda’s hub in Pakistan but that they believe the fighting in Iraq will produce future Qaeda leaders.
“The jihadis returning from Iraq are far more capable than the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets ever were,†said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the C.I.A. “They have been fighting the best military in the world, with the best technology and tactics.â€
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But officials say they believe that several other important Qaeda figures may be operating in Iran, including an Egyptian known as Abu Jihad al-Masri and a Libyan explosives expert named Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who is thought to travel between Iran and Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Top American officials said that, despite the damage to the structure of Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11 attacks, concern is still high that the group is determined to attack globally.
“We have been very concerned that over time the leaders of Al Qaeda would try to rebuild a chain of command and an organizational structure,†said Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I, in a statement provided for this article.
Mr. Mueller said Al Qaeda was clearly committed to carrying out “major complex operations.†Some experts who have studied the group since its inception said American officials had in the past too readily assumed that Al Qaeda’s decision to wait long periods of time between attacks was a sign of weakness.
“To say that Al Qaeda was out of business simply because they have not attacked in the U.S. is whistling past the graveyard,†said Michael Scheuer, a former head of the bin Laden tracking unit at the C.I.A. “Al Qaeda is still humming along, and with a new generation of leaders.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/world/middleeast/02qaeda.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
