Al Qaeda Chiefs Are Seen to Regain Power

Pakistani soldiers monitored the border with Afghanistan in the North Waziristan tribal area. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have strengthened their presence there recently.
By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID ROHDE
Published: February 19, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 — Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.
A Pakistani Army helicopter over a military outpost near the Afghan border in the North Waziristan region.
American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan. Until recently, the Bush administration had described Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri as detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of Al Qaeda.
The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan.
Another convenient coincidence? More of the propaganda machine in action? I can't help but wonder that we have heard so little about AlQaeda in the past few years but as we near closer to war with Iran, volia up pops AlQaeda! And now the invocation of that most hated terrorist Osama bin Laden, bravo to the Bush's publicists for this one! Fogive me if I sound cynical, but that's My View of It!

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