Meanwhile, on the Battlefield..

Rumors have been swirling since early fall that a very big al Qaeda honcho that very few know--Saif al-Adel--has been released from 'house arrest' in Iran and has returned to the battlefield in Waziristan:

Saif al-Adel enjoys a truly outstanding reputation among Islamic militants around the world. The Egyptian, whose nom-de-guerre means "sword of justice," is considered a seasoned operational planner and an experienced field commander. He is often mentioned together with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Among other things, the United States accuses him of involvement in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa in 1998. The last position Saif al-Adel held within Osama bin Laden's terror network was that of a very senior al-Qaida military chief, a role which put al-Adel at the very pinnacle of international jihadist terrorism.

He's wanted for the African Embassy bombings and was a good friend of Abu Hafs, aka Mohammed Atef, who was killed by a CIA drone in late 2001. He was also involved with Zawahiri's "Vanguards of Conquest", aka Egyptian Islamic Jihad, before they rolled into al Qaeda in 2001. Recall that EIJ members were summoned to Baghdad for a confab before our tanks rolled in but of course Saddam would have never worked with religious fanatics, so never mind.

Al-Adel's Wiki site is mainly propaganda, as if written by either bin Laden or Adel himself, and includes this quote:

We say to those who want a quick victory, that this type of war waged by the Mujahideen employs a strategy of the long-breath and the attrition and terrorization of the enemy, and not the holding of territory.

In other words, he's not giving a timetable for departure.

Surely his release will cause about as much public commotion as the release of Yazid Sufaat, the Malaysian chemical engineer whose condo was used for the 'terrorist summit' in Kuala Lumpur in 2000. From Isikoff:

The 9/11 Commission report also details Sufaat's efforts to make weapons for Al Qaeda. The terror group's leaders sought Hambali's help in finding a scientist to "take over" Al Qaeda's biological-weapons program. Hambali introduced Sufaat to Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In 2001, the report says, Sufaat spent "several months attempting to cultivate anthrax for Al Qaeda in a laboratory" he helped set up near the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan.

And now he's free because the Malaysians say he's a new man, all reformed. Note also that around the same time the rumors began about al-Adel returning to Pakistan there was an uptick in terrorist warnings regards the German plot.

Yes, most Americans remain enthralled with politics or dancing with stars or football (don't mention the Titans picking up Randy Moss) but as we live our lives these nuts are still out there writing verse and planning our demise via terrible means. The package bombs were just calling cards.