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Dr. Walid Phares
A Belgian Victory Over al Qaeda
December 15, 2008
Agence France Presse
and the
Associated Press are reporting that Belgian
authorities have arrested 14 suspected Al Qaeda
terrorists including a jihadi who was allegedly
planning a suicide attack. Sixteen raids were
executed by 242 police officers in Brussels and in
the eastern city of Liege. Security and judicial
sources described the arrests as the “most important
anti-terrorism operation in Belgium.”
Citing the Federal prosecutor’s office, AFP reported
that the move was targeting “a Belgian Islamist
group involved in training as well as fighting on
the Pakistan-Afghan border in cooperation with
important figures in Al Qaeda.”
Expanding on the arrests campaign, Le Parisien wrote
that since 2007 four Belgians and individuals from other nationalities
joined a middleman by the name “M.G” in Pakistan (to undertake jihadist
activities). A few months ago, two of the men came back to Belgium and
were put under surveillance. A third man joined them on December 4. The
initial investigation began last year based on information related to a
plot to liberate Tunisian Nizar Trabulsi, an Al Qaeda cadre who is
currently serving 10 years for preparing an attack against a Belgian
base.
Sources added that a woman by the name of Malika al
Aroud “has played an important role in the investigation.” Al Aroud was
married to the assassin of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the anti-Taliban
commander in September 2001. Her second husband is a member of the
arrested group.
The Nouvel Observateur wrote that the current
investigation which was opened in December 2007 “may have prevented an
attack in Brussels.” Based on reports in France Info, Le Figaro and
other specialized sources, the most likely target of the Al Qaeda
network could have been European institutions in Brussels. It should be
noted that the arrests were made on the eve of an important European
economic summit scheduled to take place in Brussels.
What should we learn from this preemptive strike in
Belgium aimed at Al Qaeda’s European network? Based on the scope of the
operation, its precision and its timing and my own knowledge gleaned
from four years of meetings with European counterterrorism officials as
well Belgian national security officials, the short answer is we can
learn a lot from this December 11 strike against terror:
1) Belgian authorities have demonstrated significant
success by waging an all out investigation against Al Qaeda for over a
year without being infiltrated. This accomplishment alone is a victory
at a time when jihadists are trying to penetrate Western security
systems. Knowing the enemy, its ideology and its tactics are paramount
elements for gradual victories. In this case the Belgian security forces
and judicial authorities got it right. For example, Glen Audenaert, the
director of the Federal Belgian Police, as well as his counterterrorism
deputies have educated themselves on the nature of the beast they are
dealing with inside this small European democracy. They were aware of
the ideological nature of the group and thus were equipped to pursue it.
This is a lesson for other democracies in general and the U.S. in
particular: Know your enemy, learn about its ideology and make sure your
institutions aren’t penetrated.
2) The arrests and just released reports about them
reveals the link between European-based cells and overseas Al Qaeda
battlefields. The detained Al Qaeda members have traveled back and forth
to Pakistan. One of their members was killed as he assassinated a major
anti-Taliban leader in 2001. His wife was also involved with the group
and remarried a member of the network. — Female jihadists have been
indoctrinated in Belgium for suicide operations in the Middle East,
including a convert married to a jihadist and the list goes on. There is
a highway between the “jihad lands” in the region and the “jihad bases”
in the West, including in Belgium. They also exist between the UK,
France, Germany and Spain. This should only call for increased
international cooperation against a “world jihadi network.”
3) The issue isn’t local. This is yet another example
that demonstrates that while many assert that the root causes for
terrorism are found in suburban disenfranchisement, in this case
Brussels, revelations from the dismantled network prove otherwise. The
jihadists’ “cause” is not the socio-economic situation in Brussels. They
most likely were aiming at the Place Luxembourg in order to crumble the
political will of the European Parliament. Their aim was not to send a
message on social security or healthcare. They were targeting Greens,
socialists and liberals as well as conservatives; they had marked
democracy as a whole, not one of democracy’s debates.
4) Last
but not least, this episode should remind strategists that the campaign
against jihadism is much bigger than the wars in Iraq or in Afghanistan.
Like India, Belgium was opposed to the invasion of Iraq and isn’t a main
partner in Afghanistan. Yet it was and remains a target for the combat
Salafists. This is further evidence that the jihadi threat is truly
global and that the response must also be global. Today the Belgians
have scored a daring victory for the international community. |
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