title: The New Al-Qaeda, Part 2 (2005)
air date: 01/08/2005
release date: 05/08/2005
size: 699MB
runtime: 58:03
source: DVB (BBC TWO)
audio: Lame 3.90.3, VBR MP3, 160kbit
video: XviD 1.0.3, 1516kbit, 592x336 (1.76)
notes: The Madrid train bombings of 11 March last
year killed 191 commuters - the most
devastating terrorist attack ever carried out
on mainland Europe. It was the bloody calling
card of the new Al Qaeda, a loose network of
jihadi groups, locally recruited and acting
independently of Osama Bin Laden.
What also makes the new Al Qaeda different is
the recruitment of criminals and drug dealers
into its cells. Many are known as Takfiris,
who adopt Western dress and lifestyle as
cover for their terrorist activities.
The Madrid cell got away with its attack because Spain's intelligence
agencies missed a series of blatant clues and failed to realise that Al
Qaeda had changed. They also failed to make vital connections between the
Madrid attack and the Casablanca suicide bombings the previous year.
In the most thorough investigation yet into the Madrid train bombings,
award winning reporter Peter Taylor pieces together the new Al Qaeda jigsaw
and unravels the history of the key members of the Madrid cell - the drug
dealer, the estate agent and the telephone man.