"The sweep of death and destruction gave fresh evidence of how the Islamist terrorist threat has managed to survive the global war waged against it. New networks of jihadists emerge faster than the U.S. and its allies can arrest or kill them. Counterterrorism experts believe that the old al-Qaeda organization commanded by bin Laden may be expiring and that a new, more elusive generation of extremists apparently inspired by al-Qaeda's ruthless vision—men like Jamal Zougam, 30, a cell-phone salesman arrested for the Madrid bombings, and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, 37, the Jordanian suspected of orchestrating violence in Iraq—has taken up the banner. Barely recognizable even to officials who make a living tracking terrorists, the new jihadists proved in Madrid that they can evade detection while they hatch their plots. And no one knows where they will strike next.
THE SPANISH CONNECTION
Nobody thought Islamic terrorism would happen in Spain. Much of Europe is known to be a logistical base for the militants but rarely a theater of operations. "We knew there were Islamist networks in Spain, even knew who most of the people involved were," says a French counterterrorism investigator. "But we had no idea these networks and cells were operational in planning and staging attacks." "
Who's the Enemy Now?
By JOHANNA McGEARY
Posted Sunday, March 21, 2004
Along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, there is no shortage of spies and informers. In that mountain lair where al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are burrowed in amid local tribes that pay little heed to the government in Islamabad, at least five rival Pakistani agencies run networks in search of Osama bin Laden and his cohort. The snitches seemed to have come up with gold last week. TIME has learned that Pakistani troops, already engaged in an offensive to flush out foreign fighters, pounced on an informer's tip that al-Qaeda sympathizers were hiding with foreign militants in the village of Kalosha. Before dawn last Tuesday, 400 members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps swooped in, only to be ambushed by heavy fire; at least 22 troops died. In response, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ordered 8,000 troops to converge on a cluster of villages deep in South Waziristan, drawing a cordon around 20 sq. mi. of hills and apple orchards dotted with mud fortresses. Somewhere inside, Musharraf announced, his forces had surrounded a "high-value target." Soon a variety of sources were giving the target a name: Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda and bin Laden's closest aide.
The Army's spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, acknowledged that no one had definitively spotted al-Zawahiri in the area since fighting flared on Tuesday. Lieut. General Safdar Hussain, the Frontier Corps commander, told journalists that a vehicle that may have been carrying al-Zawahiri managed to crash through militia roadblocks and escape. Yet what made the military believe they might still have a trophy in their gunsights was that al-Qaeda fighters normally vanish when confronted with a sizable force. This time they resisted fiercely, as if to protect someone special. Somewhere between 200 and 400 militants kept 8,000 Pakistani soldiers half a mile away with a steady barrage of small-arms fire, anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades. After a day of battle, the army commander called in helicopter gunships, jets and artillery. By Saturday night a cloud of dust hung over the area, but the army had still not defeated the militants. "We've tightened our cordon," said Sultan. "Nobody will escape."
As the battle raged, Bush Administration officials played down expectations. Officials said U.S. intelligence could not confirm reports of al-Zawahiri's whereabouts. But the possibility that he might be cornered sent pulses racing. Since the late '90s, the Egyptian has served as bin Laden's chief tactician, personal doctor and spiritual guide. His elimination would mean the al-Qaeda command structure that plotted the 9/11 attacks would be almost completely wiped out.
No one hoped he was caught more than George W. Bush. A picture of al-Qaeda's second in command dead or in chains would give a boost to the President's insistence that, even as chaos mounted in Iraq and the world reverberated from the shock of the commuter-train bombings in Madrid, the U.S. is winning the war on terrorism. With Bush's election campaign picking up speed, the stakes for finding al-Zawahiri and bin Laden have never been higher, especially now that terrorist forces seem to have developed a keen eye for political calendars. The Islamists charged with slaughtering more than 200 Madrid commuters struck on March 11. Three days later Spanish voters tossed out the ruling party allied with the U.S. in the war in Iraq.
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