Media reports are emerging that Osama Bin Laden “personally approved” of the “Mumbai-style” attack plot that was itself the subject of speculation earlier this week. His ties to the plot, which itself seems dubious, is based on “assumption” by experts.
“Senior al-Qaeda terrorists have been involved in many recent attack-planning efforts. It wouldn’t be surprising in the least if bin Laden were involved in some of that,” one unnamed US official was reported as saying.
Officials issued the urgent but ridiculously vague “alert” earlier this week, claiming the plot might involve “potential operatives” from virtually anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere and involve an attack almost anywhere in Western Europe or North America.
The “plot” was cited as the reason behind the massive number of US drone strikes against Pakistan in the past few weeks, though Pakistani officials said it appeared to be more a vague aspiration by some people than any concrete plot by any organization.
Though officials insisted a Mumbai-style plot would be impossible without bin Laden’s assistance, the original Mumbai attack in November 2008 was never connected to al-Qaeda, with Indian officials blaming the Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e Taiba for it.
