Deja Vu all over again

Bojinka part deux is gaining more publicity than the original version, which is a good thing. It gives the bloggers (and perhaps some in the media) a chance to highlight the life and times of one Abdul Basit Karim, aka Ramzi Ahmed Yousef. His influence on our present predicament, along with that of 'uncle' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, should be fully understood by all.

If you want a compelling read about Yousef consider "The New Jackals" by Simon Reeve. He paints Ramzi more an Islamic James Bond than some religious nut.

As to liquid explosives, Evan Kohlmann from the Counterterrorism Blog had a recent feature on Yousef. Kohlmann is involved in a serious truth-seeking venture about 9/11 (the opposite of Loose Change). Their new website, which he links to from here, has a feature on liquid explosives and includes a copy of a Philippine government document detailing an interrogation of Yousef's Manilla bomb shop accomplice Abdul Hakim Murad.

Murad said Yousef had identified a rich Yemeni businessman as his financier, presumably UBL. He also tied him to the Abu Sayyaf group, in which Ramzi likened to a bunch of local yahoos. He had planned a few attacks in their name to boost their image, providing an insight into his personality. Keep in mind some of the Project Harmony documents link Baghdad with Abu Sayyaf, once again laying down a carpet of circumstantial evidence regarding Saddam's role in all this.

Reeve's section on Bojinka describes Yousef's first seat bomb:

A fraction of a second later, at precisely 11:43a am local time, Ramzi Yousef's tiny device exploded, mutilating the bottom half of Ikegeme's body and nearly tearing him in two. The blast blew a small hole in the floor and severed the aileron cables that controlled the plane's flaps."

This occurred in 1994, therefore Yousef had plenty of time to improve the device, made with liquid nitro using a casio watch as the timer.

Roughly 18 months later an explosion occurred on TWA Flight 800, another 747, and in the same general area of the plane. The FBI later found traces of explosive residue on some seat backs. Knowing what he knew about Bojinka, and knowing that the FAA had done nothing to mitigate for it (checking for liquids and shoes) Clinton was probably sweating bullets about that time. The 1996 presidential election was looming and a terrorist attack would surely have ruined the campaign season and given war hero Bob Dole a boost.

Removing any political motives, the airlines were teetering and a government admitted terrorist attack of that nature could have tanked the economy and forced some type of destablizing military response. Sometimes the public good can outweigh the truth, at least in the short term.

But miniature seat bombs were not the entire story on Yousef. His affiliation with the bombing of the World Trade Center and his odd relationship with uncle Khalid, or for that matter his teamwork with Baghdad-boogeying Abdul Rahman Yasin, has garnered scant little interest from the mainstream press. One might think the perpetrators of two spectauclar attacks and the brainchildren of a failed one the size of Bojinka would warrant a few more 60 Minute excursions to Pakistan, or perhaps Kuwait or Britain. Or this. Inquiring minds and all.

Regardless of Yousef's state affiliations, if indeed he had any, his legacy and importance continue to be widely misunderstood. Perhaps this latest flare up will change that picture, but don't hold your breath.

MORE 8/13/06

Had the new Bojinka gone off as planned many predictable things would have happened. Like 9/11, the FAA would probably have shut down the National Airspace System. With several airlines in bankruptcy and with the current price of jet fuel, that might have been crippling. By itself that suggests an al-Qaeda operation, since their attacks are usually multi-faceted with intended economic side effects.

Think about the restriction of all trans-ocean travel for a moment. Pat Buchanan has, and he opined about them today in a Townhall column, some worth quoting:

Had the plot succeeded, and five, seven or nine planes been blown up over the Atlantic, the initial U.S.-British reaction might have been to rally behind the president and prime minister. But then the questions would have begun.

"Who failed us?" "Who was asleep?" "Who told us we were safe?" "Who said we were winning the War on Terror?" "What are we doing in a civil war in Iraq when Americans are being slaughtered by the thousands over the Atlantic?" Americans would have been battling over these issues until Election Day.

Pat asks for truth, not propaganda, which he says all sides are engaging in here. Good luck. The truth has been doled out in small quantities in the GWoT, probably for a legitimate reason. But it's frustrating, and in the case of Iraq the lack of facts has severely damaged our morale and willingness to fight the fight.

MORE 8/13/06

Both Yousef and KSM had ties to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorist group in Pakistan, now thought to be involved in the Bojinka part deux plot. This makes some sense, as KSM spent his last free days in Pakistan and could have transferred a lot of their 'work' to others. The KJ guys appear to be fierce Wahabists, just like bin Laden.

What does the above mean regarding any Iraqi tie-ins to Yousef? They both had the Saudi Royals and Shi'a Islam on the hit list, along with the Iranians. Any relationship would have simply been in an exploitation capacity. But as you can see, it's a fairly tangled web.