Rising Al Qaeda star is preacher who got away

On the night of July 10, 2005, an obscure militant preacher named Abu Yahya al-Libi escaped from an American...

On the night of July 10, 2005, an obscure militant preacher named Abu Yahya al-Libi escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan and rocketed to fame in the world of jihadists.

The breakout from the Bagram Air Base by Libi and three cellmates 8212; they picked a lock, dodged their guards and traversed the base8217;s vast acreage to freedom 8212; embarrassed American officials as deeply as it delighted the jihadist movement. In the nearly three years since then, Libi8217;s meteoric ascent within the leadership of Al Qaeda has proved to be even more troublesome for the authorities.

Libi, a Libyan believed to be in his late 30s, is now considered to be a top strategist for Al Qaeda, as well as one of its most effective promoters of global jihad, appearing in a dozen videos on militant Web sites in the past year, counterterrorism officials said. At a time when Al Qaeda seems more inspirational than operational, Libi stands out as a formidable star whose rise to prominence tracks the group8217;s growing emphasis on information in its war with the West.

8220;I call him a man for all seasons for AQ,8221; said Jarret Brachman, a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency who is now research director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. 8220;He8217;s a warrior. He8217;s a poet. He8217;s a scholar. He8217;s a pundit. He8217;s a military commander. And he8217;s a very charismatic, young, brash rising star within AQ, and I think he has become the heir apparent to Osama bin Laden.8221;

The secrecy that envelops Al Qaeda8217;s leadership structure makes such estimates speculative, other analysts noted. But one Islamist insider said that in addition to youth and charisma, Libi possessed one skill that Al Qaeda8217;s leaders had been lacking: religious scholarship. Perhaps with this in mind, Al Qaeda is featuring Libi, who spent two years in Africa studying Islam, in as many of the videos as the group8217;s top leaders, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

8220;Bin Laden is an engineer and Zawahri is a medical doctor,8221; said Dr Muhammad al-Massari, a Saudi dissident who lives in London.