Reports are now linking
al-Qaeda to the Bali nightclub bombings. The money has been traced by American and foreign intelligence services to an account that is under a psedonym of Osama bin Laden.
However, I find it misleading to say that bin Laden himself paid for the bombing. As I’ve speculated before, I’m firmly convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead, having been killed on December 10, 2001 in the Tora Bora mountains when his hideout was hit by the US Air Force. Since that time, there has not been any communications that can be confirmably traced to bin Laden.
Al-Qaeda, on the other hand, remains a clear and present danger, and the Bali bombing as well as the Yemeni oil tanker attack and the Kuwaiti shootings all the bear the hallmark of al-Qaeda. It is clear that the daily operations of al-Qaeda have now been stabilized and new members have been brought in to replace those who were killed and captured.
The best way to deal with this threat is to continue to close down the financial ties that pay for Qaeda operations, arrest or eliminate terrorist leaders, and use military actions to prevent further attacks. Considering the source of much of al-Qaeda’s funding, that means looking not only to Iraq, but to Iraq’s southern neighbors as enemies of the United States.
