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Al-Qaida
Reportedly
Plans
Big
New
Attack
(archive) http://www.alhayat.com DOHA,
Qatar
(AP)
-
An
Arabic
weekly
is
reporting
an
interview
with
a
purported
new
spokesman
for
al-Qaida
who
claims
the
terror
network
has
completely
reorganized.
He
says
old
operatives
have
been
replaced
by
new
ones
who
are
planning
an
attack
against
the
United
States
on
the
scale
of
Sept.
11. The
claims
were
based
on
e-mail
interviews
conducted
this
week
by
the
London-based
magazine
Al
Majalla
with
al-Qaida
spokesman
Thabet
bin
Qais,
the
magazine
reports
in
an
issue
to
appear
Friday. The
magazine
provided
The
Associated
Press
with
an
advance
copy
of
the
story. ``The
Americans
only
have
predictions
and
old
intelligence
left,''
the
magazine
quoted
bin
Qais
as
saying.
``It
will
take
them
a
long
time
to
understand
the
new
form
of
al-Qaida.'' The
magazine
quoted
bin
Qais
as
saying
al-Qaida
remains
``way
ahead
of
the
Americans
and
its
allies
in
the
intelligence
war,
and
American
security
agencies
still
are
ignorant
of
the
changes
the
leadership
has
made.'' U.S.
officials,
speaking
on
condition
of
anonymity,
said
they
were
aware
of
the
report
and
that
bin
Qais
has
been
authorized
in
the
past
to
communicate
messages
on
behalf
of
Osama
bin
Laden's
terrorist
network.
The
officials
cautioned,
however,
that
e-mail
interviews
can
be
difficult
to
authenticate. Western
officials
remain
convinced
that
al-Qaida
poses
a
threat
despite
the
arrests
of
key
figures
and
the
loss
of
its
base
in
Afghanistan. The
FBI's
counterterrorism
chief,
Pasquale
D'Amuro,
told
a
congressional
committee
in
Washington
on
Tuesday
that
while
al-Qaida
may
very
well
be
in
disarray,
``it
is
a
severe
threat
to
this
nation.'' Top
legal
and
security
officials
from
the
United
States
and
seven
other
major
nations,
meeting
this
week
in
Paris,
said
al-Qaida
has
apparently
moved
its
operational
centers
to
new
locations
in
central
Asia. Al
Majalla
correspondent
Mahmoud
Khalil,
who
conducted
the
interviews,
told
AP
he
received
an
e-mail
two
months
ago
from
the
man
purporting
to
be
bin
Qais,
saying
he
was
the
new
spokesman
and
was
using
a
list
of
contacts
maintained
by
his
predecessor,
Abdel
Rahman
al-Rashed. Khalil
said
he
was
suspicious
until
bin
Qais
reminded
him
of
a
private
exchange
between
him
and
al-Rashed
about
an
interview
he
was
trying
to
arrange
with
an
al-Qaida
operative. Khalil
said
bin
Qais
gave
no
information
on
his
own
background
but
claimed
he
took
the
job
of
media
contact
as
part
of
al-Qaida's
restructuring,
which
followed
the
international
crackdown
after
the
Sept.
11
attacks. In
a
message
received
Tuesday,
bin
Qais
warned
of
plots
``the
size
of
the
Sept.
11
attacks''
being
devised
against
the
United
States.
``A
strike
against
America
is
definitely
coming,''
he
said. Bin
Qais
said
the
arrests
of
key
al-Qaida
figures,
including
suspected
Sept.
11
mastermind
Khalid
Sheikh
Mohammed,
would
have
little
effect
on
the
organization
because
old
timers
had
been
replaced
by
newcomers
``who
have
a
very
good
security
cover.''
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