Expert(?) Warns of al-Qaida-Linked Groups

[DoYouEverWonder]

AP Wire

By YEOH EN-LAI
Associated Press Writer

January 7, 2004, 10:03 AM EST

SINGAPORE -- Al-Qaida-linked groups are training and recruiting militants to carry out suicide attacks that have become Osama bin Laden's "greatest achievement" as his brand of extremist Islam spreads around the world, a terrorism expert said Wednesday.

The greatest threats include Al Ansar Al Islami in Iraq, Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia, Al Ansar Mujahidin in Chechnya, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Salafi Group for Call and Combat in Algeria, Rohan Gunaratna told a Southeast Asian outlook forum.

<snip>

Gunaratna, author of "Inside al-Qaida: Global Network of Terror," said the bulk of the terrorist attacks expected in 2004 will come from these groups -- trained and financed by bin Laden and not the network itself.


Has anyone else noticed that most of the reports lately about al Qaeda treats are not coming from the FBI or CIA sources but rather from a new breed of 'terrorist experts" who have cropped up like a bad case of measles on the planet? Today, the main source for this AP WIRE report is a man named Rohan Gunaratna. Gunaratna must have gone to the Ahmed Chalbi school of disinformation. He's another one of these 'experts' who has a lot of imagination but few credible facts. These 'experts' need to be exposed for who and what they really are. They are the ones who are really terrorizing us.


More info abot Rohan Gunaratna


http://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/Sachi_9_12_03.htm


Edit: Fixed link

[Aidoneus]

1. the guy is a professional bullshitter

short dissection, not very proper or scholarly but to the point:--I'd spit on his work, but it'd be a waste of perfectly good spit.

[demdave]

2. He appears to specialize in the Sri Lanka area

War & Peace in Sri Lanka, with a Post-Accord Report from Jaffna
1987
Sri Lanka, a Lost Revolution : The Inside Story of the JVP
1990
The Maldives, Home of the Children of the Sea
1990
Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka : The Role of India's Intelligence Agencies
1993

[jpak]

3. Al Ansar Al Islami in I-raq???

In his infamous Liefest before the UN last year, Colin Powell used satellite imagery to identify an AAAI "chemical weapons factory" in the Kurdish controlled No-Fly Zone of northern I-raq.

Shortly after Powell's speech, dozens of international journalists descended on this alleged "chemical weapons factory".

They found NOTHING to substantiate Powell's claim - no chemical weapons, no biological weapons or the means to produce them.

This "compound" was heavily bombed during the Great Patriotic War and the handful of AAAI fighters located there fled to nearby mountain hideouts in I-ran (they are not welcome there either).

When US forces searched the remains of Powell's "chemical weapons factory" - they also found NOTHING.

In addition, there is NO hard evidence connecting AAAI to al Queda.

More lies and bullshit from the VRWC.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. I'm starting to wonder

if there really is such a thing as al Qaeda?

[leesa]

8. I agree. I think there is no Al-Qaeda. Or if it exists it is a tiny

outfit...remember even when they were pulling off the Afghanistan war scam, Al-Qaeda was estimated world-wide as having about 2000 members. Recently I saw an estimate of 200 members.

[Aidoneus]

6. Ansar's "chemical weapons factory" was their film studio

Ansar exists, but it's only one of several small Islamic/Independent movements that operate in the area. The Halabja area was one of the only places in south Kurdistan not occupied by the collaborationists (KPD/PUK), so several independent movements existed in the area. That they are a lightning rod for some of the most ridiculous propaganda of the crusade is something else altogether.

[xchrom]

5. must be related to that gertz

fellow at the washingington times.
there's always a paycheck for enquirer type writers looking to stir up nationalistic type trouble.

[Barrett808]

7. I did a couple of phone interviews with Dr. Gunaratna

He seemed quite knowledgeable, and he went on record to say that the US had provided "no proof" of an Iraqi connection to al Q'aida.

He supported the intervention, but he also made the commendable comment that the US should only invade Iraq with UN approval, because the US enjoys such a bad reputation internationally.

He also said that we can not approach the issue of terrorism only militarily -- we must teach that terrorism is not Koranic, that it is heresy. If we don't, he warned darkly, "We will be fighting terrorism for the next hundred years."

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Sounds like he can talk a good game

He's even been on PBS and CNN. However, it seems that the Australian press is much more familiar with this character and have found that most of his allegations are easily discredited. He also lied about his own credentials and work history. Seems the closer you look at this guy the less reliable he becomes. He's probably just another BCF operative whose job is to spread fear and hype terror.