Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper (which manages to admire the Qatari government, Usamah Bin Laden, and Saddam Husayn simultaneously) published today an interview with Abu Jandal (a former Yemeni bodyguard for Bin Laden). In it, he has some interesting things to say. He says that Al-Qa`idah operates on the doctrine of "Centralism in Decisionmaking and Decentralism in Implementation." Reading the account of the 9-11 Commission, I happen to agree. In fact, if you read the report, you realize that Khalid Shaykh Muhammad planned and plotted, and obtained blessings and money (no more than $400,000) from Al-Qa`idah. Abu Jandal was one of the early members of Al-Qa`idah having joined in 1996. He makes the interesting point that most members of Al-Qa`idah are Yemenis, not Saudis. As is well-known, Bin Laden is a Yemeni family from Hadrawmawt (also written as Hadrawmut--there is a very interesting paper (unpublished I think) by historian Kamal Salibi on whether you should say Hadramawt or Hadramut). This Abu Jandal was sent by Bin Laden to Yemen in 2000 to pay for Bin Laden's 4th wife (I do not think that he had even seen her before, and it may be against his version of religion) (also from Yemen). The mahr (I think it is bride's price in English?) was $5000.00, which is very little for somebody with Bin Laden's wealth, but then again he has squandered most of it on his activities. Abu `Abdullah (Al-Qa`idah members call Usamah bin Laden Abu `Abdullah--his eldest son's name is `Abdullah) used to refer to his early Yemeni supporters as the "founders." Lately, many Arabs have been denying the very existence of Abu Mus`ab Az-Zarqawi, and claiming that he is the figment of US government's propaganda imagination. Abu Jandal, however, says this: "Abu Mus`ab Az-Zarqawi was present in Afghanistan, and he used to meet frequently with Shaykh Usamah Bin Laden. But the story that he is the number one Al-Qa`idah man, I do not buy that because Al-Qa`idah has Iraqi cadres in Iraq, and does not need Abu Mus`ab Az-Zarqawi."