ABC New is reporting that a "new" Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan may be planning an attack against the United States:
Pakistani officials told ABC News that they believe they have indications that a new terrorist attack against the United States is being planned there. They told ABC News that while their intelligence does not give any specific details as to a target or time, it does indicate that an emerging al Qaeda figure is making plans.
Pakistani military officials say Matiur Rehman, 29, a Pakistani militant, is behind the new plans for an attack against the United States. Pakistan has posted a 10-million rupee (about $166,000) award for his capture.
"He is probably Pakistan's most wanted right now," says Alexis Debat, a former adviser in the French defense ministry and now an ABC News consultant. "He is extremely dangerous because of his role as the crucial interface between the brains of al Qaeda and its muscle, which is mainly composed these days of Pakistani militants."
Pakistani officials said Rehman helped train thousands of fellow Pakistani militants at al Qaeda training camps during the late 1990s.
If it is true that Rehman trained other Al Qaeda terrorists in the late 1990s (when he would have been 23 years old or younger), then he is not "new" to Al Qaeda. He may be a new leader. Perhaps the successful attacks that have taken out at least five senior Al Qaeda leaders within the past few months have forced Al Qaeda to turn to the 29-year-old Rehman as the next highest available terrorist mastermind.
In any event, the U.S. can safely assume that further terrorist attacks on American soil are being planned, whether by Rehman or someone else. We are in the midst of a war. The surprising success of the Bush administration preventing, to date, another September 11th level tragedy -- as unlikely as that seemed four years ago -- does not obscure the fact that America's economic and cultural success will continue to make America a prime target of terrorists.
Comments