The real face of Al-Qaeda
The way Al Qaeda is often presented to the public is as a clan of angry and uneducated extremists gathered in a remote cave planning a return to a fundamentalist caliphate. While Al Qaeda may well believe in a trans-national caliphate ideal, their leadership is well educated, conversant with Western society, and able to fit into European society unnoticed. We have pointed out before that the common portrait of Al Qaeda is misleading and dangerously misleading.
The latest capture of an alleged Al Qaeda operative, as opposed to a low-level fighter, is supportive of our point. Dr Hicheur was recently arrested as an Al Qaeda plotter. He works as a scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Previously, he worked at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK where he was carrying out research into nuclear physics. He was educated at a local high school in Vienne and completed his university studies with a PhD at Annecy Laboratory of Particle Physics in 2003. This breaks the image of the silhouetted man in robes carrying an AK47 against the backdrop of the Afghanistan mountains. This “terrorist” is rather a scientific expert, Western educated and close to the seats of Western power. It also calls into question the infamous Bush quote that we are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here. It appears Al Qaeda is quite well entrenched here too.
Investigators described the older man as “very high level” and said that he had been in contact with individuals linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Aqim – the North African wing of the terrorist network – about potential targets in France.
General Sir David Richards, the new head of the British Army, warned last week that if al-Qaeda terrorists managed to get their hands on nuclear weapons they would use them against Britain and the west.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said: “If al-Qaeda and the Taliban believe they have defeated us – what next? Would they stop at Afghanistan? Pakistan is clearly a tempting target, not least because of the fact that it is a nuclear-weaponed state and that is a terrifying prospect. Even if only a few of those [nuclear] weapons fell into their hands, believe me they would use them. The recent airlines plot has reminded us that there are people out there who would happily blow all of us up.”
A Whitehall source last night said: “It is too early at this stage to say how serious this situation might be.”Intelligence sources said Hicheur had expressed a “wish, a desire” to carry out a terrorist attack but had “not committed material preparatory acts”.Brice Hortefeux, the French interior minister, said both men posed a sufficient threat to halt an 18-month surveillance operation and bring them in.He also appeared to confirm reports that the suspect had drawn up a list of potential targets for terrorist attacks in Europe.
