After 9/11, few would have predicted that the American homeland would not be struck again in short order. Indeed, the more we learn about al Qaeda’s designs the more we understand that was the terrorist organization’s intent. Al Qaeda operatives had already been dispatched to U.S. soil for follow-on attacks, while al Qaeda’s commanders stationed overseas continued to plot new terrorist attacks against America. How many al Qaeda terrorists were being positioned for this second round of attacks? We will probably never know. But one of the most interesting findings to come out of the intelligence collected at Guantanamo involves the number of detainees who had at least some of the requisite skills for such attacks. Paul Rester, who is the director of the Joint Intelligence Group at Guantanamo, has investigated this aspect of al Qaeda’s operations. In Inside Gitmo, Gordon Cucullu explains:
Teams of five al Qaeda terrorists hijacked three planes on 9/11. The fourth plane was hijacked by a team of four, but Qahtani and/or Moussaoui were most likely intending to be the fifth. Thus, we know that when Rester found that there were “four additional hijack teams” at Guantanamo, we know that he and his staff probably identified 19 or 20 detainees who could have taken part in another hijacking operation. From our vantage point as outsiders, we know who some of the detainees identified by Rester are. For example, one of them is Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, whom I discussed in my piece today. Cucullu says that al Sharbi was identified as one of the “primary fantasy hijackers.” Al Sharbi had taken flight lessons with at least one 9/11 hijacker in Arizona and worked for the upper echelon of al Qaeda’s hierarchy in plotting attacks against Americans. As the Obama administration decides what to do with the remaining detainees, it would be prudent for the president’s advisers to ask: Who are the other detainees Rester and his team identified as potential hijackers? Keep in mind that these detainees are not likely to be among the most senior al Qaeda terrorists who are considered to be “high value.” Notorious, high-level detainees such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah could plan from afar, but there was little to no chance they would or could be part of a “hijack team.” Their presence would surely have set off alarm bells, and they would not sacrifice their skill set for a single operation. This means that in addition to the 16 high-value detainees currently held at Guantanamo, all whom are directly tied to large-scale terrorist plotting, there are likely another 20 or so detainees who intelligence officials believe could have been slated to take part in a future round of hijackings. The Obama administration would be wise to find out who they are, and how the Bush administration neutralized them.
