# Could the real perpertrators be someone other than Laden? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868 "2001-09-15T20:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/21 "2001-09-18T21:14:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*ElvisL1ves wrote: > > > [@](#): > > > > But that’s the only group we’ve been told about > > … except for the terrorist cell in Hamburg. \*\* As far as we know, or think we know. So far. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/22 "2001-09-18T21:19:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Andy \* > One small curiosity: if, just for arguments sake, OBL was arrested by a european power, would the european human rights laws come into play? What I mean is could he be legally extradited to the US where the death penalty could be used? Now _there_ would be the world champion of ironies. > [@](#): > > Not so long ago, a British guy who murdered a family member in the US fled back to Britain. He was contesting the legality of the extradition order through the (european?) court(s), but I don’t know what came of this. > Sorry for the hijack. Recalling from news reports, other extraditions of accused murderers to US states have been made under prior agreement with the state that the death penalty will not be requested (for states that have it). Earlier refusals by state governments left Charles Ng in Canada and Ira Einhorn in France longer than necessary. The federal death penalty for crimes other than treason is a recent innovation - I haven’t heard of a test case with the federal government yet. I’m sure a real lawyer will be along shortly. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/23 "2001-09-18T22:53:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > Well, I at least expect a terrorist group to have a name that doesn’t sound **quite** so much like it belongs in Monty Python’s _Life of Brian_. 😉 Hey, **tracer** , didn’t you ever wonder where they got the idea for that joke? By the way, excellent comments earlier. I’d just add that it seems like a fair number of people are also willing to take down the Taliban as well. And some are even willing to destroy Afghanistan, as if everyone Afghani had personally provided Osama with a place to stay for the night. Then those same people might wonder why terrorism didn’t stop when they took him out. If anything, it seems more likely that expending resources toward taking out the wealthy figurehead will mean less to prevent the inevitable response from the terrorist member groups of his organization. It’s unfortunate that most media coverage is on the preparations for a war against a country while little is mentioned on the intensive investigations and work on eradicating the terrorist groups. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/24 "2001-09-19T00:48:57Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by coosa \* \*\* > [@](#): > > I would like to point out that Osama bin Ladin is NOT an ‘elderly scholar’, and it is dangerous to think of him that way. He was born in 1957, so is only a year older than me (and I ain’t ‘elderly’ yet!). He is the well-educated and privileged son of an immensely wealthy Saudi family, and supposedly a formally well-trained demolition expert. Before taking up his current ‘trade’, he was employed in the family’s large and very successful construction company as, I believe, a demolition engineer. \*\* Good point. If anyone else is having trouble reconciling the notion of rich dilettantes using their family fortunes to fund the “struggle against Western oppression” then welcome to the world of sane and realistic critical thought. My own ability to accept these claims at face value is somewhat degraded by the rather luxurious living conditions from which they make their claims and the relative poverty of most of their fellow countrymen. People should keep in mind that bin laden is not the stereotypical poor oppressed freedom fighter whose parents were killed in an Israeli jet attack. The people who lead and provide weapons and funding for these terrorists exist for the most part in countries outside of Afghanistan and have lived their lives in positions of power and priviledge. Bin Laden is well-educated, methodical and understands the consequences of his actions. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/25 "2001-09-19T01:45:21Z")
One of the possibilities that occurred to me was that it was some American militia group taking revenge for the execution of Timothy McVeigh. The apparent evidence reported on the news has led me to drop this hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Boxcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Boxcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boxcar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/26 "2001-09-19T14:37:12Z")
The Drudge Report had a great link to the Jane’s Security Article [Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view](http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr010919_1_n.shtml) From the article > [@](#): > > Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden. Don’t focus too much on the individuals. They must be exterminated, but their capture or death can’t stop us from the primary goal, to root out and destroy any and all members of those organizations which have perverted Islam into a religion of death. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/27 "2001-09-20T03:14:57Z")
Interesting article, Boxcar, but Israel doesn’t seem to provide any evidence for this hypothesis other than unnamed Israeli sources who “claim to see Mughniyeh’s signature” on the attacks. Pardon me for being skeptical, but I suspect that there’s a political motive for Aman’s actions. It’s obviously better for Israel if they can pin the blame on someone from Lebanon rather than Bin Laden. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868/28 "2001-09-20T03:41:55Z")
I dunno about this. Did anyone read the article Wired For Death in Readers’ Digest that just came out, about suicide bombers? (Someone posted about this in another thread, but I haven’t figured out how to link things yet.) As this article was no doubt written before the attacks, I find it extremely unnerving. There are several quotes from a Sheik Hasan Yosef, a leader in a Palestinian terrorist group called Hamas, some of which, with 20/20 hindsight, certainly could indicate some knowledge of last Tuesday’s attack. There is no mention of Osama bin Laden nor any terrorist groups that I’ve heard anyone link to bin Laden. The main targets of the Hamas so far have been Isrealis, but it’s already been pointed out that the terrorists protest US involvement in Isreal… are/were we also a target for Hamas? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-real-perpertrators-be-someone-other-than-laden/81868.md?page=1)