Author: Pepe Escobar
Publication: Asia Times
Date: July 20, 2005
URL: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GG20Aa02.html
It could be that corner shop selling
beer after hours, or that bakery. It could be a kiosk offering cut-rate
fees for calls to Morocco or Egypt: they could all be al-Qaeda sleeper
cells, only a five-minute walk from Brussels' Gare du Midi - the central
train station. European Union terrorism analysts and Moroccan experts
on Islamism agree that al-Qaeda's
operational headquarters in Europe are now located in Belgium and the Netherlands.
According to Moroccan analyst Mohamed
Darif, Moroccans are now positioned at decision-making levels in al-Qaeda
cells operating in Europe, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Logistical and financial
support networks for al-Qaeda in Europe now transit among the 300,000-strong
Moroccan diaspora in Brussels and Amsterdam. Recruitment is on the rise
- among the pious as well as among born-again Islamists, among the delinquent
as well as among young immigrants who see jihad as the way to redeem themselves
from their sins. At the same time, the exodus to jihad lands is also on
the rise. It's not only destination Iraq; more and more so-called "white
Moors" - white Muslims carrying European Union passports - are leaving
for jihad training in Chechnya.
Both German and French secret services
are now concentrating on young, EU Muslims who leave for jihad training
in Iraq and come back to Europe to join or start sleeper cells. The British
for their part are concentrating on individual jihad - extremely autonomous
groups who either manage to contact or be contacted by an al-Qaeda operative
so they can discuss targets and logistical support.
Abdallah Rami, another Moroccan
expert, says there's one thing more important than the rush towards the
Iraqi training ground and its wealth of information regarding urban warfare,
clandestine networks and the privatization of means of mass destruction.
Even more powerful, Rami says, is the appeal of "individual jihad": "Thanks
to the Internet, an individual may become radical, acquire a terrorist
education and prepare and execute an attack all by himself, without ever
being in contact with al-Qaeda." This is what self-service jihad is all
about.
The moderate Sunni Arab world could
not but panic. The spread of self-service jihad has led major Arab-language
media like al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat to start debating "Islamo-fascism".
But the debate would be more profitable if it concentrated on al-Qaeda's
foreign policy. Just like Washington neo-conservatives, al-Qaeda seems
to be engaged in regime change - fighting to place rulers, especially in
the Arab world, who do not clash with its political ambitions, even if
such leaders don't subscribe to al-Qaeda's worldview.
Contrary to the official line of
both the George W Bush and Tony Blair governments, it's not hatred of Western
values and freedom that drives the Salafi-jihadis. This is a fight for
political power. Al-Qaeda is profiting immensely from the fact that average,
moderate Muslims in the Middle East as well as in Europe have become so
enraged by the excesses of the US imperial adventure in Iraq that for them
the only counter-measure is to become a jihadi.
The big picture
As far as the London bombings are
concerned, the al-Qaeda-Pakistani connection is now firmly established.
The operation may have been planned in Pakistan in March 2004, immediately
after the Madrid bombing. Muhammad Siddique Khan, the oldest of the bombers
(it's not proven they were suicide bombers; they may have been deceived)
has been linked to Libyan Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a high-profile new generation
al-Qaeda operative recently captured in Pakistan.
EU analysts are seriously considering
what in intelligence circles is regarded as al-Qaeda's master plan, a document
called "Al-Qaeda strategy up to the year 2020", probably written by Egyptian
war strategist Muhammad Mekkawi. Mekkawi talks about the establishment
of a jihadi battleground ranging from Afghanistan to Syria and Lebanon.
Iraq of course is crucial in the overall strategy. Al-Qaeda wants nothing
less than control of Baghdad. In the past few days, the numbers once again
have proved that what happened one day in London is what reality is all
about in Iraq: 17 bombings in 72 hours, more than 40 suicide bombings -
and counting - in July alone, including the ghastly spectacle in Musayyib,
south of Baghdad, where more than 100 people were killed and 130 injured
when a suicide bomber blew up a fuel tanker near a crowded marketplace,
right in front of a Shi'ite mosque.
Last week, the interior and justice
ministers of the 25 EU members gathered in Brussels for an extraordinary
summit on terrorism. They decided to enforce an EU-wide mandate to obtain
evidence, keep individual cellphone records for one year, and improve EU-wide
information exchanges between police, surveillance and justice bodies.
But the EU is still far from adopting
a US-style Patriot Act. EU-based humanitarian or charity organizations
are not as controlled as they are in the US.
Dutchman Gijs de Vries, in effect
the EU's Mr Counterterrorism, is worried: what has been decided has to
be put in practice as soon as possible. Many of the 25 still have not approved
their own anti-terrorist legislation. On the other hand, some members,
like France, are toughening the police state. Nicolas Sarkozy, France's
controversial interior minister, wants to intensify the expulsion of preachers,
accelerate the education of "made in France" imams, keep all video-surveillance
tapes in stock and expand to the whole EU the conservation of telephone
records. French jihadi candidates to Iraq recently discovered in a northern
Paris neighborhood might as well relocate, probably by taking the Thalys
train to Belgium or the Netherlands.
Most new-generation jihadis didn't
care about Islam before they became born-again Islamists. Most are well-educated,
middle class and even married - like the London bombers. They may continue
to cause terror inside Europe because of the policies of the governments
there - be they Spanish, British, Italian or Danish - which they consider
humiliating to Muslims, not because they have been indoctrinated by a fiery
Salafi cleric in London or Paris. Al-Qaeda has never cared about Western
"values" or "freedom". One just has to listen carefully to Osama bin Laden
and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. They've always repeated the same themes:
if you bomb our cities, we will bomb yours; if you leave our lands, stop
planting corrupt leaders and stop plundering our resources, we will stop.
