Reporting on the Blotter, the official ABC News blog, Brian Ross says the teams, assigned to carry out attacks in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Germany, were formally introduced at a June 9 'graduation ceremony' conducted by Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
A Pakistani journalist was reportedly invited to 'cover' the 'ceremony', at which roughly 300 trained suicide bombers, some still in their teens, 'graduated'.
The report is accompanied by pictures and a videotape that shows Taliban military commander Mansoor Dadullah introducing and felicitating each of the teams, and exhorting them to go after Americans, Canadians, British and Germans, who 'come here to Afghanistan from faraway lands.'
Dadullah's brother Mullah Dadullah, rated the Taliban's top commander in the southern Afghanistan region, was killed while battling US and NATO troops last month.
Ross quotes US intelligence officials as saying the 'ceremony' was just another example of Al Qaeda/Taliban's 'aggressive and sophisticated propaganda campaign.'
Former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke, who now among other things consults on terrorism issues for ABC News, however is quoted as saying 'It doesn't take too many who are willing to actually do it and be able to slip through the net and get into the United States or England and cause a lot of damage.'
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