(CNN) Source: Egyptians killed in strike (had links to al-Zawahiri)

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/17/pakistan.strike.foreign/index.html

Source: Egyptians killed in strike
Clerics 'had invited 10 to 12 foreign militants to dinner'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some of the foreigners killed in last Friday's U.S. airstrike in the remote Pakistani village of Damadola were of Egyptian origin, according to a knowledgeable source.

U.S. officials have said "very solid" intelligence indicated that senior al Qaeda members were expected to attend a dinner celebrating the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid and that Osama Bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, could very well be among them.

Although these officials believe a number of "significant" al Qaeda figures were killed in the attack, there is no evidence so far that al-Zawahiri was among them. Pakistani officials have said he apparently was not there.

The knowledgeable source -- who declined to be identified more specifically -- on Tuesday was not clear how many foreigners were killed by the airstrike, but said, "certainly some of them were of Egyptian origin," and had direct ties with al-Zawahiri.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. Missed Him By this much

Almost got the #2 guy again. Close but no cigar.

[rocktivity]

2. The "knowledgeable source who declined to be identified more specifically"

was probably Scott McClellan!

:rofl:
rocknation

[pinniped]

5. LOL!

He is in cahoots with Fleisher, the co-minister of propaganda.

[NewJeffCT]

12. and here I thought it was Steven Hadley!

Or maybe John Bolton through his UN connections.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Death to all foreigners!

The bullshit just keeps going and going. First they had solid evidence that al-Zawahiri was invited over for dinner, only the evidence was so solid that they had to blow up three houses. Hmm....

Now forget about al-Zawahiri, there were Egyptians in those houses and we all know what THAT means. Heck if we want to blow up Egyptians wouldn't it make more sense to bomb Cairo?

[lyonn]

8. The "Official" said we got some Egyptians with our bombing

Naturally that means they were terrorist?? All this hoopla about getting a few bad guys rather than the No. 2 is only to cover up the fact that Pakistan is pissed because we dropped bombs in their country. We are not allowed to do that are we according to some sort of international law. How we going to keep Pakistan on our side if we keep bombing them?

[pinniped]

4. All brown people killed have connections to al-Zawahiri and al-Zarqawi.

- Believed
- Declined
- Very Solid
- al-Zarqawi
- al-Zawahiri
- Knowledgeable Source

When one or more of these keywords appear in a news story, the BS alert goes on.

[daleo]

6. Knowledgeable source = Curveball II

Or is is Curveball III?

Maybe: Curveball N, as N increases without bound.

[uppityperson]

7. evidence they may have plans that #2 may have plans for? maybe?

[onager]

9. Checking in from Egypt...

...which I hope pResident $hithead doesn't bomb any time soon...

The mAdministration is not fooling anybody over here. (As I've ranted in other threads.)

They are making Egyptians very paranoid. One of my Egyptian co-workers said he kept hearing the same theory yesterday, when Cheney visited Egypt and then Saudi Arabia:

Everyone thinks Cheney is visiting Saudi Arabia to talk about invading Syria. Then Bush will invade Iran. Then Egypt will be next.

And someone else chimed in with: During Desert Storm in 1991, the Egyptian army went in right along with your soldiers. We are not with you in Iraq. And never will be.

Also a re-rant for those who didn't see it: one of the most popular Egyptian movies of last year was The Night Baghdad Fell.
In it, an Egyptian falls asleep watching the news from Iraq. He dreams of Cairo's ancient monuments being burned by an invading American army, and Friday prayers at a mosque being led by a CIA agent.

I think Egyptians are partly worried because they may face a Succession Crisis before long, which would be a ripe time for an invasion to "stabilize" the country. By that I mean Hosni Mubarak has been President since Sadat was assassinated in 1981. And Mubarak spent a long time being groomed for the job, as Sadat's right-hand man.

However...according to my Egyptian friends...Mubarak hasn't groomed anyone to take his place. What he's trying to do is foist his oldest son off as his natural successor.

One of my Egyptian friends summed that up by saying something like: This is not a kingdom. We do not need a second Bush family running Egypt forever...

:rofl:

The same guy predicted that Egyptians will be furious if Mubarak's son takes over. Just like our own country, Egypt is already facing the destruction of its middle class and an economy veering between the wealthy 5% at one end and the desperately poor at the other.

Anyone who wonders what the Egyptians are capable of should do a little googling on the 1952 Revolution. And keep in mind that 1952 marked the first time in over 2,000 years that an Egyptian was actually running Egypt.

[sabra]

11. thank you for the report... what is the nature of your visit?

work, pleasure, research, etc... ?

peace.

[onager]

13. I'm working here...

Thank you for asking, sabra.

:hi:

I spent much of last year in Egypt, partly in Cairo and partly in Alexandria. I've been in Alexandria since October, which I like much better. Lots of interesting history and the Mediterranean right outside my hotel room. That history helps make Alex one of the most tolerant and liberal cities in this country.

My job site is out in the Nile Delta, near a bunch of little farming villages where life hasn't changed much in the past millenium or so. It's an interesting experience.

[The Stranger]

10. Tell me again what constitutes "ties" and "links"?

Is that like knowing of someone whose counsin's cousin knows someone else, who once was at dinner with a third person way back when?

Or is being Egyptian good enough?