Guest Thinkers — December 21, 2010

al-Fayfi’s role

I saw this story in Arabic yesterday, and today the BBC has it, saying that Jabir al-Fayfi the surrendered or captured al-Qaeda member (either way he is in Saudi custody) was the key link in disrupting the plot. I have my doubts.

As, I spelled out in this post, al-Fayfi’s arrest was announced by AQAP on September 4, 2010, which at least by my rudimentary math skills would have given AQAP plotters more than enough time to switch plans or alter the plot. Surely, they must have known – given how much they rail about Saudi interrogation methods – that anything that al-Fayfi knew was compromised.

So, then, what to make of the story? Disinformation or is AQAP stupid enough to go forward with a plot they should have suspected was compromised? Or is there some other possibility that the brain trust at Waq al-waq is too sleep deprived to think of?

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