- BBC

Some 70,000 people received weapons training and religious instruction in al-Qaeda camps, German police says.

The claim came at the retrial of Mounir al-Motassadek, a Moroccan man accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which were partly planned in Germany.

A German police officer told the court recruits at the camps were taught they had a duty to kill US citizens.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the 70,000 figure is accurate. Osama Bin Laden would have to be able to effectively communicate with heads of various cell leaders in order for the terrorist group to operate. We have learned Al Qaeda in the past has communicated via email extensively, though reports now indicate the majority of communications are being made via couriers. How many of these 70,000 terrorists are just couriers?

I do make the presumption that Al Qaeda has trained couriers, communications experts, hackers, etc. in the art of warfare based upon a key part of the training camps being indoctrinating jihadists with the ideology. The training camps do not just teach bomb making and marksmanship, they teach those willing to participate who their enemy is and why their enemy threatens Islam.

We do know this based upon the outreach program that has reached Europe, where hundreds of terrorists are attending mosques and learning the ways of jihad. The operational methods of Al Qaeda are most likely similar to that of the military of most nations. There are grunts, leaders, engineers, etc., but they are all trained with at least the basic combat tactical methods.

Cross-posted at In the Bullpen

Posted by: Chad at 01:37 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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