Al Qaeda’s Pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction In 1. Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared that acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was his Islamic duty — an integral part of his jihad. Systemically, over the course of decades, he dispatched his top lieutenants to attempt to purchase or develop nuclear and biochemical WMD. He has never given up the goal; indeed, in a 2. Islamic caliphate. The modus operandi has been top- down — more similar to the 9/1. Flight 2. 53. For instance, al Qaeda deputy chief Ayman al- Zawahiri personally shepherded the group’s ultimately unsuccessful efforts to set off an anthrax attack in the United States. Based on the timing and nature of its WMD- related activity in the 1. Qaeda hoped to use such weapons in the United States during an intensified campaign following the 9/1. There is no indication that the fundamental objectives that lie behind its WMD intent have changed over time. The organization has not pursued simpler, cheaper, and easier- to- use technologies, like crude toxins and poisons, with anything like the same fervor. To be sure, experimentation with and training in such agents was standard fare in al Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan before 9/1. But bin Laden and his top associates left the initiative to lower- ranking planners and individual cells. Once, Zawahiri even canceled a planned attack on the New York City subway in lieu of . This chronology provides the knowable extent of al Qaeda’s interest in, plans to obtain, and efforts to use the world’s most deadly weapons. Other founding members include Jamal al- Fadl, Abu Ayoub al- Iraqi, Ayman al- Zawahiri, and Dr. According to Federal Judge Kevin Duffy, the goal of al Qaeda mastermind Ramzi Youssef was to . By Marcus Duvenhage (Email address: [email protected]) PREFACE GLOSSARY. After matriculating from Fochville High.This is the first evidence of bin Laden’s plans to purchase nuclear material for an improvised nuclear device. He testifies in court that former Sudanese President Saleh Mobruk attempted to help al Qaeda acquire uranium of South African origin. Fadl says he heard later that the uranium, which al Qaeda acquired for $1. Cyprus, was . There is unconfirmed speculation that Zawahiri was seeking nuclear weapons or material there. According to testimony from senior al Qaeda officials, he was seeking nuclear material in southern Africa. Zawahiri and EIJ bring technological know- how about chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons to the more ideological al Qaeda. Zawahiri takes control of nuclear and biological weapons development for the whole organization. Bin Laden issues a fatwa against the United States, saying, . Al Qaeda initiates simultaneous suicide truck- bomb attacks at the U. S. At least 2. 30 civilians, mostly locals, die. The FBI places bin Laden on its . The United States destroys the Al- Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, based on suspicions that the plant might be producing the nerve agent VX for the Sudanese government and al Qaeda. Sidney Poitier makes his long-overdue return to films in the 1988 thriller Shoot to Kill. Poitier plays an FBI agent, on the trail of an elusive killer. Osama bin Laden states in an interview with Time. The outspoken proponent of using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons in attacks against the United States tells authorities that al Qaeda had made a mistake by not utilizing WMD on Sept. He is provided with a laboratory in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Neither program knows of the existence of the other; each reports to Zawahiri independently. This collaboration between al Qaeda and JI is likely the first instance of Islamist terrorist groups jointly developing WMD. Comprehensive and meticulously documented facts about racial issues. Learn about discrimination, affirmative action, education, crime, politics, and more. Lethal Weapon is a 1987 American buddy cop action film directed by Richard Donner, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as a mismatched pair of L.A.P.D. Sufaat, a more trusted JI member, focuses on developing the anthrax pathogen. He has been described as the . He is an explosives expert and chemical engineer by training, reportedly self- taught on things nuclear. Bashiruddin Mahmood, the former head of Pakistan’s Khushab plutonium reactor, is its chair; the former head of Pakistan’s Inter- services Intelligence directorate, Hamid Gul, is on its board. He pens controversial books predicting an imminent apocalypse, offering a radical interpretation of the Quran. Sufaat provides a false Malaysian address for Zacarias Moussaoui, who was arrested shortly before 9/1. United States. 2. UTN’s Mahmood discreetly offers to construct chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons programs for al Qaeda and the Libyan government. The United States gathers intelligence on the offers and passes it to the Libyan intelligence service office in London. The head of the London office later confirms to the United States that Libya will have no dealings with UTN. He separately meets with Sufaat for a weeklong briefing on the reportedly successful efforts to isolate and produce a lethal strain of anthrax. WMD figures, including al Qaeda’s Adnan Shukrijumah.
According to the FBI, Shukrijumah cases targets in New York City for possible attacks; he is later associated with multiple nuclear and . After 9/1. 1, the FBI approaches every U. S. Moussaoui is detained with crop duster manuals in his possession; Jdey has biology textbooks. They might have been involved in planning a second wave of attacks for immediately after 9/1. Nineteen members of al Qaeda board two passenger planes in the United States, hijacking them and piloting them into the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Most senior operatives and their families flee Afghanistan in anticipation of an imminent U. S. 7, 2. 00. 1: The United States launches Operation Enduring Freedom, invading Afghanistan to neutralize and destroy al Qaeda and bin Laden. Pakistani intelligence services detain a long list of UTN members and associates, at the request of the U. S. Musharraf reportedly responds, . Musharraf and Pakistan’s intelligence services follow through with the promise. Nuclear bomb designs are found on the computer of a European supplier working with the Khan network. Al Qaeda reportedly contacts associates of Khan for assistance with their weapons program. The Khan network rejects them, for unknown reasons. Bin Laden states in an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir. We have the weapons as a deterrent. They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow to Tashkent to other central Asian states, and they negotiated and we purchased some suitcase bombs. Bush meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Crawford, Texas. Bush presents a briefing on the proliferation threat posed by UTN. Bush asks Putin if he is certain that all Russian nuclear weapons and materials are secure. Putin responds that he can only vouch for the safety of nuclear materials since he gained power. He says they discussed how al Qaeda could build a nuclear device. He drew a very rough sketch of an improvised nuclear device, but advised bin Laden that it would be too hard to develop weapons- usable materials for it. Bin Laden reportedly said, . Pakistani authorities arrest Ahmed, his Afghan counterpart, at his home in Islamabad. Ahmed confesses his involvement in the project and provides substantiating evidence. During interrogation by Egyptians, al Libi claims al Qaeda operatives received chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons training in Baghdad. He claims several small containers of nuclear material were smuggled into New York City by the Russian mafia. Al Libi later recants this statement. During interrogation, he reveals a plot by an American associate of al Qaeda, Jose Padilla, to explode a . Padilla is subsequently identified and arrested in Chicago. The CIA officer attempts to determine whether they were involved in al Qaeda’s nuclear and biological weapons programs. He was directly involved in al Qaeda’s attempt to purchase uranium in 1. Al- Duri, an agronomist, also received his degree at the University of Arizona. He told the CIA officer, . You made us what we are. Nuclear and biological weapons- related references begin to appear in communications between top- level al Qaeda leaders and the Saudi cell. One authorizes attacks on infidels other than Americans, including the Saudi royal family. The other justifies the use of WMD. Al Qaeda- associated extremists start to case Saudi targets, including the city of Ras al- Tanura and facilities belonging to oil giant Aramco. The commanders include men who served with Zarqawi at the Herat camp. Zarqawi has close ties with al Qaeda, but is an independent operator who never swore loyalty (bayat) to bin Laden. Abu Khabab al- Masri led the gruesome efforts, testing the lethality of cyanide creams, ricin, mustard, sarin, and botulinum. A tape shows al Qaeda associates gassing dogs to death. Al- Masri later laments that his students did not take the training to heart by using the toxic weapons in terrorist attacks. They begin coordinating and planning ricin and cyanide attacks via a loose association of cells. Over the course of several briefings, U. S. 5, 2. 00. 3: In a bloody raid on a safehouse, Britain arrests seven extremists plotting to use ricin poison on the London Underground. This represents the first in a wave of arrests of Zarqawi- network terrorists in Britain, continental Europe, and beyond. The arrests confirm intelligence reports, producing forensic evidence of planning for crude- poison and toxin attacks. Secretary of State Colin Powell gives a speech to the U. N. Security Council, naming the Herat camp leadership, including Zarqawi. He identifies poison- attack cells across Europe. Confronted with the evidence found during the raid, KSM confirms some details of al Qaeda’s nuclear and biological weapons programs. He later recants some of his testimony. They plan to purchase three . Another radical cleric, Ali al- Khudair, endorses it. Cyanide is found in an al Qaeda safehouse in Riyadh. This is allegedly a sample of a larger cache, due to be sold to an unknown customer, possibly in the Middle East. He provides confirmation of his role in the anthrax program. Even though the passage of time has enabled more of the story of al Qaeda’s WMD efforts to be told, much detail remains too sensitive to reveal, even in the years covered by this chronology. Sentinel Projects: 9. BATTALION SWATF9. BATTALION SWATFBORDER DUTY 1. By Marcus Duvenhage(Email address: marcduv@xtra. PREFACE GLOSSARYINTRODUCTIONAfter matriculating from Fochville High School in 1. I began my university studies at Potchefstroom University, completing my studies in 1. The following two years I did my two years national service, commencing at Infantry School outside Oudshoorn in January 1. The two years spent in the army would be some of the most fulfilling but also some of the most heartbreaking times of my life. From the age of sixteen all white male South African citizens received call- up instructions once a year. If you were still at school or busy with tertiary education you could apply for exemption from military duty for that year. If, on the other hand, you had completed your schooling or studies, you had no option but to report for military service usually to the station or designated assembly point nearest your home. From these assembly points the conscripts would be sent to different training units across the country. During my last year at university I received my final call- up papers. Most national servicemen were sent directly to one of eight South African Infantry Battalion camps, the so- called SAI- camps. National servicemen who had completed one or other form of tertiary education were sent, if possible, to military units that corresponded to their line of study. Engineers for example, were sent to the School of Engineers outside Kroonstad, while doctors, dentists and the like were sent the South African Medical Services training establishment outside Potchefstroom. The majority of teachers were sent to Infantry School in Oudshoorn. So it was that several of my university friends and I found ourselves reporting for duty at Infantry School's main gate on the afternoon of 1. January 1. 98. 7. Little did we know what the following two years would hold in store for us. Most of the teachers in the January 1. Infantry School intake were placed in Bravo Company. In the beginning of the year there were more than six hundred recruits in Bravo Company. At the end of the year the number would only be about three hundred. All the recruits in Bravo Company were automatically streamed onto the officer's course, while most of the other companies at Oudshoorn were on the Non- Commissioned Officer's course. After completing the eleven- month course, members of Bravo Company would be promoted to second lieutenants while most of the other recruits in the unit received the rank of Lance Corporal. Memories of Infantry School are mixed, some positive but mostly negative. An opinion I still hold today is that emphasis was placed on the wrong type of training for recruits at Infantry School. If the recruit was earmarked to join an SAI training camp the following year as a platoon commander or platoon sergeant the training received at Infantry School was sufficient. If on the other hand, the new Officer or NCO was slated to go to the operational area the training he received at was inadequate. At Infantry School recruits were taught how to train new recruits during their second year of national service. The new cadre of junior leaders was not properly taught nor trained how to lead their troops in an operational environment. That would only be learnt the hard way at their respective operational units the following year. An anomaly and irritation to many troops at Infantry School was Foxtrot Company. Although not acknowledged as such for obvious reasons by camp authorities, Foxtrot Company was nothing more than a sports company. If a new recruit was good at some or other sport but especially rugby, he was immediately placed in Foxtrot Company. Here the recruits lived under better conditions and had more privileges that the rest of the troops. But for a few exceptions, hardly any member of Foxtrot Company ended up on the border in an operational unit. Most of them completed their second year of national service at one of the major Command Headquarters to play rugby or one of the other national sports. The duration of the officer's course was eleven months. During that time about two and a half months was spent on the border. During 1. 98. 7 Infantry School deployed to 5. Battalion HQ. From there we did foot patrols in the area around Ogandjera about fifty kilometres south of the border. Ogandjera's main claim to fame was that it was the birthplace of SWAPO leader Sam Daniel Nujoma. After our deployment we returned to Oudshoorn to complete our Candidate Officer's course. At the end of 1. 98. South African forces were embroiled in the bloody fighting in the South Eastern area of Angola. The South African troops were supporting Jonas Savimbi's forces in their struggle for survival against Cuban and Angolan forces. The now famous battles at the Lomba River and Cuito Cuanavale were fought during this time. The South African code names for these battles were Operations Hooper and Moduler. The Chief of the Army had promised the national serviceman taking part in the protracted battles that they would be home for Christmas. This seemed unlikely as the battles continued unabated, dragging on till the end of the year. A large percentage of the junior leaders taking part in these battles were national servicemen, and would be finishing their national service in the middle of December 1. An urgent need arose to replace the outgoing junior leaders with new ones. The answer was to dispatch the 1. For those of us earmarked for border duty it meant we received our rank a week before the rest of our comrades did. At our passing out parade we received our . This meant we were now Officers with the rank of Second Lieutenant. After a short, two- day pass, we began preparing for our final journey to the border. On the Wednesday after we had received our rank all those officers and NCO's destined for SWA climbed aboard two SAFAIR Hercules C- 1. Oudshoorn's airport. We had hardly left the ground when a bunch of SWATF parabat lieutenants began chanting and singing. They were going home while we were leaving home. A new and exiting adventure lay ahead of us. After a flight of just over two hours we touched down at J. G. Strydom airport outside Windhoek. As the C- 1. 30 taxied to a halt on the apron in front of the terminal building the large rear clamshell cargo door slowly started to open. The first thing we noticed was the heat. It rushed into the cool cargo hold of the aircraft like an express train. The captain of the aircraft did not even bother to cut the C- 1. With the aircraft's four Allison turboprops still running, our . With everybody out of the plane, the cargo door slowly started closing again. A minute or two later the aircraft started to roll forward to its takeoff point. The total time for the aircraft on the ground could not have been more than ten minutes. With a whining roar the Hercules rushed down the runway, lifted gracefully into the air and disappeared into the clear blue sky. All of a sudden everything was deathly quiet. Rohan De Beer, a friend from Infantry School and I stood unhappy and forlorn, feeling very, very lonely. Eventually we and several other officers who had also de- planed with us were greeted by a Commandant wearing unfamiliar rank insignia. We soon to learnt that this was the insignia of the South West African Tertiary Force (SWATF). After a pleasant introduction far removed from Infantry School's formal and bombastic ways, we were taken to Sector 4. HQ at Luipardsvlei on the outskirts of Windhoek. After being welcomed and duly processed we were taken to our allotted units where we would serve for the rest of the year. For the next thirteen months my home would be 9. Battalion, South West Africa Territory Force, situated sixty kilometres south of Windhoek at Oamites an old disused copper mine. The Officer Commanding 9. Battalion was Commandant Gert Uys. During the following days we were made to feel at home in our new unit. The first few days were spent getting to know everybody and learning the day- to- day routine of the Battalion. Our initial welcoming phase was completed with a game of golf at the Windhoek golf club. Many of our fellow Infantry School officers were not so lucky. When they arrived at their new units they were issued with overalls, web- belt and water bottle and made to go through a gruelling physical initiation that lasted up to three weeks for some. After we had been accepted into the Battalion we were assigned our individual duties. After an interview by a board comprising the CO, Chaplain, welfare officer, Battalion second in command and the Regimental Sergeant Major, I was appointed second in command of Alpha Company. At that time of the year Alpha Company were still busy with operational duties on the border. After they had returned from the operational area their national service officers would finish their national service and return to the Republic. The rest of the Company where granted a few week's leave. After the troops return from leave we, the new 1. In essence they would become our Company. All we were waiting for was our new company commander who was yet to arrive. In due course Captain Willem Prins, our new Company Commander arrived and we began to prepare for our first border deployment. Willem Prins was a short man with black hair and black moustache. He would turn out to be a brilliant CO, whom we all respected and learnt a great deal from. We were extremely fortunate to have him as our CO. Battalion was made up of various ethnic groups in SWA. We had Hereros, Damaras, Tswanas, Basters and Coloureds in our unit. The Battalion had a reputation for being an undisciplined bunch that would not think twice before shooting one of their own officers, and in fact this had actually happened in the past. The future looked daunting. To contend with not just the enemy but also with our own troops did nothing to improve our self- confidence. PHOTO 1 - PHOTO 4. Photos one to four depict 9.
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