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Junkie
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ustwo
How do you know how much damage to Al Quaeda was done?
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So i googled and actually, i was wrong. The u.s. did cripple al quaeda, but delivered no deathblow. They are apparently regrouping and now reside in georgia where they are training with the atlanta falcons. OBL will start next sunday for an injured micheal vick. 
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/W...eda030520.html
Quote:
Al Qaeda Reborn
Saudi, U.S. Officials Warn of New Attacks; Revamped Al Qaeda May Be Operating From Republic of Georgia
May 20— The FBI warned that al Qaeda could launch new attacks in the United States or against U.S. interests overseas, and ABCNEWS has learned that Osama bin Laden's terror network is regenerating and has been training operatives in the Republic of Georgia.
In a sign that al Qaeda may be adopting new tactics, the terror trainees are being smuggled into Europe, sources told ABCNEWS.
In Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh today announced it would close some missions in the kingdom on Wednesday. The move comes in response to growing warnings of imminent attacks in the oil-rich Gulf state.
"In response to information that some strikes may be imminent, the embassy and consulates general in [the Saudi cities of] Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed on May 21, 2003," said a statement released by the embassy. Because of previously scheduled holiday closings, the facilities would not reopen before May 25, the statement added.
Hours later, the British Foreign Office also announced it would close its embassy and other offices in Saudi Arabia for a few days from Wednesday, citing "credible information" of imminent terrorist attacks.
In Riyadh, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, told reporters late Monday that Saudi intelligence had reported a "high level of chatter regionally and in other international spots" about possible attacks in Saudi Arabia or America.
Following an FBI alert last week to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country, the Bush administration today raised the federal threat level from yellow, or "elevated," to orange, or "high."
While President Bush and the FBI have repeatedly stressed that al Qaeda is being dismantled, bombings last week in Saudi Arabia indicate that the terror group is still active — and authorities in London, Paris, Madrid and Washington are predicting more attacks.
Despite indications that al Qaeda had been badly affected by Washington's war on terror, sources told ABCNEWS there were concerns that with al Qaeda wounded, the terrorist network might be flailing about, possibly making it more dangerous.
New Military Chief and New Tactics
Although al Qaeda's operation has been crippled by the U.S.-led war on terrorism, it has shifted its tactics and taken on new commanders and adopted new routes of travel, ABCNEWS has learned.
From new training camps in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, sources told ABCNEWS, al Qaeda operatives are being smuggled across the Black Sea before settling into safe houses in Turkey.
Employees of these safe houses do not hesitate to protect these al Qaeda operatives. "I'm not going to call police against Hezbollah, al Qaeda," one desk clerk at the Interyouth Hostel in Turkey told ABCNEWS' Brian Ross. "I don't do this."
Bin Laden's whereabouts remain a mystery to U.S. authorities, but officials told ABCNEWS one of his former bodyguards, Saif el-Adel, is his new military chief.
Al Qaeda operatives are being smuggled from training camps in Georgia via the Black Sea into Turkey, sources tell ABCNEWS. (ABCNEWS.com/ Maps.com)
Sources said el-Adel is operating out of Iran, where he and other al Qaeda operatives are being protected by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
"It [al Qaeda] has a management council that has sanctuary inside of Iran," said ABCNEWS consultant and former U.S. counterterrorism official Richard Clarke. "It has tens of thousands of trained operatives that were trained in camps in Afghanistan who are still at large. So, although we've done a lot of damage to al Qaeda, it's still a potent force."
The FBI has offered a $25 million reward for el-Adel's capture for his alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Last week's deadly attacks in Riyadh showed new terror tactics, which included simultaneous attacks on multiple targets. In the attacks, which claimed 34 lives, armed operatives used multiple vehicles packed with explosives against various "soft" targets that promised many casualties.
FBI officials believe these tactics could be a harbinger of things to come on U.S. soil.
"The al Qaeda network remains active and capable," according to an FBI bulletin released Friday and detailed to ABCNEWS. "The U.S. intelligence community assesses that attacks against U.S. and Western targets overseas are likely … attacks in the United States cannot be ruled out."
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