It is easy enough to understand how the FBI might have originally mistaken Makkawi for al-Adel.
A tip may have come from a detainee at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, who told investigators he met with a “Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, aka (al-Adel),” according to secret documents released by WikiLeaks. Others who say they know both men say al-Adel might intentionally be using Makkawi’s name as revenge for Makkawi’s pointed criticism of al-Qaida and other jihadist groups.
But photographs provided to the AP by people who say they knew both al-Adel and Makkawi show two different men. The FBI’s photo of al-Adel shows a slender man with thin hair, full lips and delicate features; a picture of Makkawi shows a stout man with a round face, bulbous nose and thick, curly hair.
Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida and now an analyst at the London-based Quilliam Foundation, says he has met both al-Adel and Makkawi.
Describing Makkawi as “well-educated, short-fused and unpredictable,” Benotman said the last time he saw Makkawi was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, around 1994.
Benotman said the last time he saw al-Adel was in 2000 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He said he was impressed with his knowledge of military strategy and country profiles.
“The big difference between them is that Makkawi hates al-Qaida, hates these jihadist groups, and in particular hates the Egyptian jihadist groups where Zawahiri came from,” said Benotman, referring to the Egyptian eye doctor who has succeeded bin Laden as head of the terror network.
Both Egyptian, but there the similarity ends
Both al-Adel and Makkawi are Egyptian, reportedly served in the Egyptian army and were accused of links to jihadist groups.
But Makkawi reportedly severed all ties with extremist groups after growing disillusioned with their goals and strategies.
Specializing in counterterrorism operations, Makkawi was one of several army officers accused in 1987 of forming a jihadist group. Although he was released without charge after six months in jail, he was sacked from his army job and struggled to find consistent work afterward. In 1988, he reportedly sued the Egyptian interior ministry and demanded compensation. When the suit failed, he went to see family in Saudi Arabia, then went to Afghanistan, and eventually settled in Pakistan.
Two British officials, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss intelligence matters, confirmed that Makkawi is a different man from al-Adel and said he is not wanted as a terror suspect by the British government. Britain has no such public “most wanted” terrorist list.
“Makkawi is a different man to el-Adel,” one of the officials said.
El-Zayat, Makkawi’s lawyer in the 1987 case, also told the AP the men were two different people and that al-Adel’s real name is Mohammed Salah Zidan.
The name “Mohammed Salah Zidan” is not mentioned on al-Adel’s profile.
Yasser el-Siri, founder of the Islamic Marsad Center in London, a research center for Islamic and jihadist affairs, said he met Makkawi in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca between 1989 and 1990. He offered some key differences in the men’s lives.
Al-Adel was born in the 1960s, is tall, comes from the Nile Delta and married the daughter of a well-known Egyptian journalist-turned-jihadist, Abouel Walid, who was editor-in-chief of The Islamic Emirate magazine, an extremist publication, el-Siri said. The editor was one of an early generation of jihadists who fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Western intelligence officials believe al-Adel is living in Iran but travels frequently to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was a reservist in the Egyptian army.
Makkawi, who was born in the 1950s, also comes from the Nile Delta but had a Saudi father and Egyptian mother. He graduated from military college in 1972, became a lieutenant and then joined the special forces. He is reportedly short compared al-Adel.
Makkawi joined jihadist groups in Afghanistan but then criticized them for their poor tactics and planning, describing their battles as “the war of the goats.”
It is unclear when al-Adel formally joined al-Qaida or an affiliate, but he is thought to be one of the group’s most experienced military strategists. Prior to the U.S. Embassy bombings, he allegedly had a hand in operations against U.S. forces who entered Somalia in 1993 in an attempt to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and some of his top lieutenants. In the end, 18 U.S. troops died in the operation.
Murky waters
On the surface, the truth is still unclear.
The shadowy world of intelligence has long been built on knowns and unknowns, truths and half-truths and spider webs of good, bad and old information that can take years before it is investigated, if at all. New leads often eclipse old information even as that old data lives on.
Bob Ayers, a former U.S. intelligence officer, told the AP that intelligence “is a business like anything else.”
“When the Sept. 11 terror attacks hit, the intelligence community wasn’t prepared,” Ayers said. “It scurried around and it tried to make do. Old leads should and could be followed up if there were enough resources, but it’s unlikely you’re going to shut your best analysts in a dark room for months just so they can investigate information that is sometimes 10 years old.”
Richard Barrett, a U.N. representative responsible for monitoring al-Qaida and the Taliban, also confirmed to the AP that the FBI mistakenly identified al-Adel as Makkawi — and neglected to say on his profile that al-Adel’s real name, according to people in the intelligence community, is thought to be Mohammed Salah Zidan.
“We have no information that Makkawi is one of the aliases that Saif is using, so it’s a question mark why that name is on the FBI list,” said another European security official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk publicly about the issue.
Officials at Egypt’s newly established National Security apparatus, which is now the gatekeeper of all documents and records related to the Islamic jihadists, declined to provide any details or information about al-Adel or Makkawi.
The new body is replacing Egypt’s State Security apparatus, which was dissolved after the toppling of Hosni Mubarak.
Should Makkawi ever come forward and try to get his name off the most-wanted terrorist list, it won’t be easy.
But there are a few possibilities. Those include being tried, having the charges dropped — or dying.
“The individuals listed on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorist page will remain wanted in connection with their alleged crimes until such time as they have been arrested, charges are dropped or when credible physical evidence is obtained, which proves with 100 percent accuracy, that they are deceased,” the FBI said.
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Contributing to this report were Maggie Michael from Cairo, Kathy Gannon from Islamabad and Karl Ritter from Stockholm.