The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: Al-Qaida planned a 12,000-strong army

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Al-Qaida planned a 12,000-strong army

Men who said they were former al-Qaida members said on Saudi television the network planned to set up a 12,000-strong Islamic army to oust "infidel" regimes.

The men who appeared on Saudi television Tuesday night confessed that their leaders assured them that "an army of 12,000 diehard Muslim believers could not be defeated."

They said they had been misled by al-Qaida preachers who recruited them by exploiting their religious zeal and then dispatched them to Afghanistan through various countries in order to conceal their destination.

They said they were placed in military camps where hundreds of young Muslims were being trained in the use of arms and fighting techniques. Training lasted between two weeks and six months, depending on each person's capacities.

"The military camps were divided as there was a camp for Libyans and Egyptians and other camps for other nationalities," they said.

They noted the special camp of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden hosted only a few elite groups.

They said al-Qaida coordinators - who lived in a variety of Arab and Islamic countries - had the mission of arranging the travel of recruits to Pakistan where other network members coordinated their travel to Afghanistan.

"The military camps in Afghanistan were fertile grounds for mobilizing the zealous Muslim youth and mounting them against their governments and regimes," they added.

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