In his new book, George Tenet refers to two members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad who were operating out of Baghdad for much of 2002. Tenet explains:
More al-Qa'ida operatives would follow, including Thirwat Shihata and Yussef Dardiri, two Egyptians assessed by a senior al-Qa'ida detainee to be among the Egyptian Islamic Jihad's best operational planners, who arrived by mid-May of 2002. At times we lost track of them, though their associates continued to operate in Baghdad as of October 2002. Their activity in sending recruits to train in Zarqawi's camps was compelling enough.
There was also concern that these two might be planning operations outside Iraq. Credible information told us that Shihata was willing to strike U.S., Israeli, and Egyptian targets sometime in the future. Shihata had been linked to terrorist operations in North Africa, and while in Afghanistan he had trained North Africans in the use of truck bombs. Smoke indeed. But how much fire, if any? [Emphasis Added]
Who are Thirwat Shihata [which is frequently spelled with an "r," as in Shirhata] and Yussef Dardiri? And why might they have been allowed to freely operate in Saddam's capital?
According to this account from the BBC, Shirhata is Ayman al-Zawahiri's "deputy in [the] Egyptian Islamic Jihad group." The BBC adds, "He has received two death sentences in absentia in Egypt for alleged terrorist activities." This account from MSNBC implies that his ties to Zawahiri go back some years, since he is "believed to have been part of the plot to assassinate Anwar Sadat," which occurred on October 6, 1981. MSNBC adds that Shirhata is "believed to be in Iranian control." That is, he is thought to be one of the terrorists under a loose form of "house arrest" in Iran.
Yussef Dardiri is none other than Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the presumed leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who the Iraqis reported (and this is unconfirmed) killed today. This claim has been made before, so we will wait for official confirmation. Globalsecurity.org provides a good biography of al-Masri that lists his many aliases and other important details. Globalsecurity.org says "he is the last remaining original member of the Mujahideen Shura Council." That is, he is an al Qaeda bigwig. "He has manufactured explosives in Iraq, particularly car and truck bombs" and "has also helped foreign fighters move from Syria to Baghdad, and oversaw al-Qaeda's activities in southern Iraq." Globalsecurity.org adds, "He has been a terrorist since 1982, when he joined Ayman al-Zawahri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad."
The bottom line on al-Masri and Shirhata is this: they were and are high-level al Qaeda operatives who have been loyal to al-Zawahiri for decades. Also, according to Tenet's new book and other available evidence, they were operating freely out of Baghdad long before American troops got there.
This brings us to our next question: Why were they operating out of Saddam's capital?
The answer may lie in Ayman al-Zawahiri's longstanding relationship with Saddam's regime. As the 9-11 Commission reported, al-Zawahiri had "ties of his own to the Iraqis" and attended at least a few meetings with senior Iraqi officials in 1998. At one of these encounters, the Iraqis gave him $300,000. ("For what reason?," you might ask.) Joe Klein, who is an ardent critic of the Bush administration, has confirmed that documents discovered in post-invasion Iraq demonstrate that al-Zawahiri had a long-term relationship with Saddam's regime. There is, undoubtedly, more to this story. But it is not unreasonable to speculate that al-Zawahiri himself may have played some role in arranging safe haven for two of his comrades in Saddam's Baghdad.
Cross-posted at ThomasJoscelyn.com.
