Bin Laden & Al Qaeda Sought to Exploit Racial Tensions in US

Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden sought to harm the US by "attempting to inflame race and class tensions in hopes of tearing down the country from the inside out," sources who have seen the evidence recovered from Bin Laden's compound have told ABC News. In addition to traditional terrorist attacks, Bin Laden wished to "create a divisiveness that would cause more damage than al Qaeda could ever do on their own." This included recruiting blacks in the US, "to capitalize on them to further the jihadi cause."

The Rev. Al Sharpton is quoted in the story as saying that the such tactics "would be the most cynical abuse of African-Americans and America in general," while a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations calls the idea of a race war a "fantasy" and a "fundamental misunderstanding of American society." However it is worth noting that the Ground Zero Mosque controversy was a boon for the Taliban, providing them with "more recruits, donations, and popular support."

As more details of the lead-up to the raid in Abbottabad materialize, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post recounts how a phone call made to the compound last year tipped off the CIA that there was a high probability that Bin Laden was hiding there. His main courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti told a friend that he was "back with the people I was before," and one US official is quoted as saying "This is where you start the movie about the hunt for bin Laden."

Analyzing the intelligence leading up to the raid, the US is attempting to pinpoint what officials in Pakistan knew about Bin Laden's whereabouts and whether or not they were knowingly hiding him, the Times reports. One senior administration member says that he doubts Pakistan's leaders knew his exact location, but "there are degrees of knowing, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that someone close to [Pakistan's Army Chief] knew." Still, "the administration sees its relationship with Pakistan as too crucial to risk a wholesale break."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Christopher Robbins in News on May 7, 2011 2:35 PM

Comments [rss]

Mordicai

& sadly all to many of the intolerant American theocrats were willing to take the bait. Distressing.

Z Z

When a journalist quotes CAIR, it shows the world how ignorant they are of the HAMAS linked co-conspirator terrorist group. CAIR members have also been convicted of terrorism, fraud and other crimes. Since 2004 they have been linked to at least 6 fake hate crime reports.

Google: CAIR fake hate crime

On another note, there is no surprise reading about Sharpton and OBL in the same article. They both exploit racial and religious divides, although Sharpton

Farrakhan do it for money. OBL did it for Islamic supremacy and his failed caliphate.

LazyNanny

Sharpton calling someone else's tactics a "cynical abuse"! Pot, meet kettle.

He's just angry he didn't figure out a way to ring out a few bucks for himself.

ANGRYGOD11

Al Qaeda should have realized we have people and corporations with decades of racial tension exploitation experience already.

neuroradical

Yeah, seriously Bin Laden, we've got the
creating "a divisiveness that would cause more damage than al Qaeda could ever do on their own" thing covered

Joe Smith

LIBYAN REBELS
EXECUTE, LYNCH & BEHEAD ALL BLACK LIBYANS MEN AND RAPE AND KILL THE WOMEN
AND THE MEDIA SAYS NOTHING!!!!!!!! ...................AND THE European Union
funded rebels YOUTUBED THE KILLINGS OF SOME POWs!!!!! AND THE REBLES HAVE AL
QAEDA TIES!!!

NEED I REMIND YOU
THAT IT WAS KADDAFI WHO PUT OUT THE FIRST ARREST WARRANT FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN.

AMERICA IS PLAYING WAR GAMES & ROBBING AFRICA AS USUAL AND MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE WILL DIE!!!!

Z Z

F*CK Gaddafi & Farrakhan and any other scumbag that keeps company with them.

Gaddafi was murdering people in Europe and giving funerals for terrorists in 1972. It's a shame that drone only killed his son and not him too.

ANGRYGOD11

Shhh.

Just take your medication.

Its good for you.

neuroradical

Despite our friend Joe's obvious over excitement, it is worth noting that sexual violence committed by both sides against non-combatants has been widespread in the fighting in Libya and it would require a special kind of almost willful naivety to dismiss the allegations of links between the rebels and Al Qaeda offhand. In fact, I'd be shocked if there weren't Al Qaeda fighters siding with the rebels. Gaddafi has long been an outspoken enemy of Al Qaeda (even more so than Saddam Hussein). Not saying the guy isn't a scumbag, just stating the facts. Unfortunately, the world is more complex than simple "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mindsets.

schmeep

It's just fascinating that you didn't use caps lock for four words. They stand out more than the rest of your nonsense. Seven exclamation points are as effective as negative twenty.

SonnyBobiche

Start the movie with the phone call because, obviously, nothing was done before that, including the constant listening for that call. Or the interrogations that led to identifying the courier that got that phone call.

/sarc

neustreber

Just like the city inflames the divisiveness between cyclists and motorists for revenue.

Paint a line, remove parking.

Congestion pricing, parking tickets, bicycle moving violations, bicycle registrations and insurance all soon follow...

...and the pets get mad at each other and support all of these new revenue streams to their own detriment.

Mordicai

The city is JUST LIKE HITLER! Or, "maybe comparing bike lane policies to terrorists plotting to cause a race war is not the best rhetorical direction to take in your comment."