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Al-Qaeda tightly meshed at the top
Terrorist group's leaders have clearly mapped duties, analysts say
10/12/2001
LONDON – Information gleaned from arrests, interviews, and a videotape have
led many investigators and analysts to refine their impressions of Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network in the month since the attacks on the United
States.
Al-Qaeda is now seen as tightly structured within its upper echelon, with
divisions of expertise that resemble those of a major corporation. Investigators
initially regarded it as a loose affiliation of cells in dozens of countries,
funded and approved by Mr. bin Laden. Some observers also believe that others share some control in policy-making
and implementation with Mr. bin Laden. These experts expressed surprise, for
instance, at the central role played by Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri in the
videotaped diatribes released Sunday by al-Qaeda. Dr. al-Zawahiri was the first to speak in that videotape, broadcast just
hours after U.S. and British forces began bombarding Afghanistan. He founded the
radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which has merged with al-Qaeda to form the
world's most fearsome terrorist alliance. "Some people believe Zawahiri is bin Laden's inspirational leader," said John
Gearson, a specialist with the Department of Defense Studies at King's College
in London. "He's older and more experienced. He may be guiding bin Laden. "What's significant is that we can see Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda as
being one and the same thing now." Unlike other terrorist organizations, Mr. Gearson said, al-Qaeda is
well-defined at its highest level but becomes diffuse and shadowy in the middle
and lower ranks. "I think at the top, the core element is tightly organized, but they have
other organizations that provide volunteers for missions. That's what makes them
so hard to break up," he said. The videotape showed four men in a cave who have distinct responsibilities
within the organization, analysts said. Mr. bin Laden, a millionaire, is the financier and the mouthpiece, according
to reports. Dr. al-Zawahiri brings decades of operational expertise dating back
to his work on the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, analysts
said. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith handles public relations, and Mohamed Atef serves as
military commander. Stephen Cook, a terrorism expert at The Brookings Institution in Washington,
agreed that al-Qaeda is more organized at the top than originally thought and
that each of the four men has responsibilities. He said, for example, that Mr. bin Laden dispatched Mr. Atef to Somalia to
look for a way to harm U.S. interests in Africa. The United States blames
al-Qaeda in the bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
"Mohamed Atef worked with people there to do it. He established a sleeper
cell in Nairobi," Mr. Cook said. "In that sense, it is a loose confederation of
people operating in different places, but clearly connected with al-Qaeda." What's also clear, Mr. Cook said, is " you have two leaders. Bin Laden has
the charisma, but Zawahiri is the intellectual and ideological backbone of this
organization." Al-Qaeda leaders have brought together a wide group of radicals from several
countries who formed ties while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan during the
1980s, Mr. Cook said. Mr. bin Laden tapped his vast wealth to help fund those
resistance fighters. It is no longer useful to think of separate groups such as the GIA, the armed
Islamic group from Algeria, because they have essentially merged with al-Qaeda,
Mr. Cook said. Just as investigators believe that Mr. Atef was used to form an ad hoc
organization for attacks on U.S. interests in Africa, French authorities say
Djemal Beghal, a highly trained operative, was being sent to Europe to plan
assaults against U.S. facilities in France before he was arrested. The pattern was similar, at least until police intervened. Authorities
believe that Mr. bin Laden and his senior associates had chosen Mr. Beghal, a
French-Algerian, to set up sleeper cells for attacks that would culminate with
the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Paris. In this case, Mr. Beghal had been trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan
before he was dispatched to France, where, investigators believe, he apparently
had a fair amount of latitude in assembling a team to carry out the attacks.
Police said he had already assembled sleeper cells in France, Spain, and other
countries when he was arrested in Dubai and told investigators about the plot.
The organization is set up "similar to a corporate structure, but without the
economic clout or reach," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer who was
deputy director of the U.S. State Department counter-terrorism office for four
years. "Unlike a GM or American Express, they don't bring in a whole group of
people with secretaries. "It's relatively small. They identify places where they would like to conduct
attacks, and then they start conducting the preparations, the surveillance, and
figure out how many people they need to pull it off." A month after the attacks, Mr. Johnson said, it's evident that Mr. bin Laden
serves as a "cheerleader" but that "Zawahiri and Atef seem to be the brains, the
planners. They can bring it all together. "That ends up being a pretty dangerous organization."