Dec 23 2007

Is UK Airline Terrorist Suspect Rauf Vacationing At GITMO?

The news of the ridiculously simple escape by a terrorist suspect in Pakistan struck me as very bizarre in every detail, as I noted in my first post. I tend to not want to speculate too much because some possible scenarios have interesting potential for our side. But reporting in the UK Times today does add one interesting scenario which I can speculate on which also implies something happening on our side:

FRIENDS of Rashid Rauf, the man wanted in Britain for last year’s Al-Qaeda plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, believe that he did not escape from custody last weekend but was kidnapped by Pakistan’s military intelligence agency (ISI). They fear he may be shot.

Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in August last year at the same time as 25 men were held in Britain after police uncovered an alleged plot to blow up 12 airliners flying to the United States from Heathrow and Gatwick.

The arrests led to widespread changes in airport security and a ban on liquids being taken onto planes in hand luggage.

Since then Rauf has been held with other Al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan’s highest-security unit in Rawalpindi until his “escape” last weekend.

The Pakistan government has blamed junior policemen escorting Rauf back to jail after a court hearing in Islamabad where he was fighting moves to extradite him to Britain in connection with the murder of an uncle.

The officers had allowed him to stop for lunch at a McDonald’s restaurant and later in the journey permitted him to pray at a mosque. His handcuffs were removed to allow him to pray freely. When the guards entered the mosque to check on the prisoner, he had escaped through another door.

The Keystone Kop nature of the getaway has always had me thinking something else was going on and this was a made for media story. But the idea the ISI let Rauf escape has one interesting possibility. The man has information on some of al-Qaeda’s most dangerous and bold attack plans since 9-11. So there is the possibility the man was given an opening he could not resist and is now undergoing some serious interrogation, or even now cooling his heals in GITMO. There are lots of scenarios – including answering the question “was there someone on the inside of the UK airline bomb plot who tipped authorities?” One thing is for sure, something is happening under the covers on this story.

5 responses so far

5 Responses to “Is UK Airline Terrorist Suspect Rauf Vacationing At GITMO?”

  1. MerlinOS2 says:

    I would have to believe if he had gotten away and hooked back up with the bad guys that by now they would have had a video release or at least confirming chatter on the web net that somebody would have picked up on.

  2. clarice says:

    More likely if this scenario is true, he’s being interrogated in Afghanistan, isn’t it?

  3. crosspatch says:

    I think there is a lot going on under the covers in Pakistan. It is frustrating that one can’t seem to get a good picture of what is going on (that not being a completely bad thing). It isn’t for lack of information but more like information overload. One can find validation in the media for any scenario they wish to concoct. That he escaped is just as likely as that he was placed under the control of a different agency.

    We have no idea where Osama is or we know exactly where he is. We can’t find him or we are “closing the noose”. It is amazing.

  4. Terrye says:

    I think someone paid off the cops. It all reminds me of this country back in the 20’s and 30’s when the mobsters used to routinely buy off cops. They got let out of jail, luxury accomodations in jails, misplaced, let loose, exonerated, etc all the time. And everyone knew they were criminals.

  5. clarice says:

    Well, that is a common thru out the Third World and Louisiana.