Saturday, May 14, 2005
"Al Qaeda number three" is number two. posted by Richard Seymour
And this is taking the number one. Yes, The Guardian has discovered that a captured AQ member may be in a position to reveal details about any attacks being readied against Britain or Europe:A top al-Qaida suspect arrested in Pakistan could have vital information about possible terrorist attacks on Britain, intelligence sources believe.
British security and intelligence officials are seeking information from Abu Faraj al-Libbi, believed to be number three in the al-Qaida leadership, to find out what he knows about any operations planned against Britain or British interests abroad.
Mr Libbi had no direct contact with al-Qaida sympathisers in the UK, officials say. But, as the controller of a number of overseas networks, he would be in a position to know what attacks, if any, were being prepared against Britain and other western targets.
Which is presumably why he is being held in Pakistan first - the 'ticking clock' scenario so beloved of torture enthusiasts lurks under the surface of this story, if you ask me. And Musharraf's security forces are unlikely to be softies.
However, the problem with the story is that al-Libbi is not "number three in the al-Qaida leadership". He isn't even in the top ten .
It is an unfortunate habit, the passive voice: with little evidence, you can say that someone "is believed" to be this and that. Much worse, of course, is when the BBC reports that "the Prime Minister passionately believes", or "the Home Office believes" when it would be glaringly apparent to anyone outside the myopic media village that what is purported to be believed and what is actually believed often do not coincide.