They're blaming it on a "gang," but Roggio thinks otherwise:
the size of the 'gang' that murdered him, suggests otherwise. We suspect Khalifa was assassinated. "They stole everything — his computer, all of his things," said Khalifa's brother. Task Force 145 has a mandate to hunt down senior al-Qaeda operatives world wide, and is known to have operated in Pakistan to destroy Osama bin Laden's Black Guard. Also, the U.S. recently deployed naval assets to the region, as well as Task Force 145, in the hunt for al-Qaeda and Islamic Courts leaders fleeing Somalia.The post documents Khalifa's "accomplishments" as a chief Al-Qaeda financier. Founding Abu Saayaf in the Philippines, the bombing of USS Cole, masterminding the foiled Millennium Plot, targeting John Paul II, financing the murder of Catholic priests, etc., etc. He was arrested in the US in 1994, but there wasn't enough evidence to hold him, Roggio concludes:
Mohammed Jamal Khalifa is perhaps the poster-child for failure in exclusively relying on the law-enforcement model for counterterrorism operations. Khalifa was detained numerous times, but each time was freed. Khalifa was released by the U.S. and deported to Jordan, where he was sentenced to death for a string of bombing in the country. The conviction was overturned after a witness recanted. "No government had enough evidence to put him behind bars," noted a CBS News report in 2003. "Khalifa was arrested in America, in Jordan, and after 9/11, in Saudi Arabia, and on each occasion was eventually released."
