Blare the Lie, Whisper the Retraction

Captured Al-Qaeda kingpin is case of 'mistaken identity'

The capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W. Bush as "a critical victory in the war on terror". According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists' third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as "among the flotsam and jetsam" of the organisation.

Al-Libbi's arrest in Pakistan, announced last Wednesday, was described in the United States as "a major breakthrough" in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Bush called him a "top general" and "a major facilitator and chief planner for the Al-Qaeda network". Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, said he was "a very important figure". Yet the backslapping in Washington and Islamabad has astonished European terrorism experts, who point out that the Libyan was neither on the FBI's most wanted list, nor on that of the State Department "rewards for justice" programme. ...

No European or American intelligence expert contacted last week had heard of al-Libbi until a Pakistani intelligence report last year claimed he had taken over as head of operations after Khalid Shaikh Mohammad's arrest. A former close associate of Bin Laden now living in London laughed: "What I remember of him is he used to make the coffee and do the photocopying."

But all the Moron-Americans will remember (or even hear) is that Bush bagged another bad guy. Which I guess is the whole point of these silly exercises. They just hope that when the truth comes out, no one is paying attention anymore.

If too many people start asking questions, well, there's always another nervous bride or Jacko update or cat up a fucking tree to broadcast about 24/7.