The NY Times, which from time to time helps Al Qaeda understand the inner workings of our operation plans has an exclusive!

“WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (UPI) — Senior al-Qaida leaders have re-established control over the terror network and set up training camps in Pakistan, The New York Times reported.

Citing U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials, the newspaper said the senior officials, operating from Pakistan, have set up training operations in tribal regions near the Afghan border.

U.S. officials told the newspaper there is mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been putting an operations center together. Until recently, the Times said, the Bush administration had said bin Laden and Zawahri were detached from their followers and cut off from operational control of al-Qaida.

U.S. analysts said recent intelligence indicated the bases functioned under a loose command structure, operated by groups of Arab, Pakistani and Afghan militants allied with al-Qaida — with guidance from their commanders and Zawahri. Bin Laden, appears to have little direct involvement, the newspaper said.

The training camps reportedly have not reached the size and level and sophistication noted in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Color me skeptical, but this doesn’t wash with the data we’ve had up to now that showed an Al Qaeda on the run in Iraq, I just don’t see major reconstitution at this point. Besides the “unnamed sources”, and no one else that I know will confirm this story. Yet one truth of the story does bring up the point that we continually return to and that is that Pakistan’s on-going housing of Al Qaeda cells.

“During a news conference days before last November‚Äôs elections, President Bush said of the campaign against Al Qaeda: ‚ÄúAbsolutely, we‚Äôre winning. Al Qaeda is on the run.”

But in a speech several days ago, Mr. Bush painted a more sober picture of Al Qaeda’s current strength, especially inside Pakistan.

“Taliban and Al Qaeda figures do hide in remote regions of Pakistan,” Mr. Bush said. “This is wild country; this is wilder than the Wild West. And these folks hide and recruit and launch attacks.”

Officials said that both American and foreign intelligence services had collected evidence leading them to conclude that at least one of the camps in Pakistan might be training operatives capable of striking Western targets. A particular concern is that the camps are frequented by British citizens of Pakistani descent who travel to Pakistan on British passports.

In a speech in November, the director general of MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, said that terrorist plots in Britain “often have links back to Al Qaeda in Pakistan.” She said that “through those links, Al Qaeda gives guidance and training to its largely British foot soldiers here on an extensive and growing scale.”

Of course nothing new here, and Pakistan needs to have it’s feet held to the fire by the adminstration on this crap, and instead of giving lip service to supporting the GWOT, Musharraf has got to show more progress towards ridding his country of Al Qaeda’s influence.

UPDATE: Good take at Hot Air on this story. Additionally, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross at the Counterterrorism Blog, writes:

“Several factors have allowed al-Qaeda’s core leadership to regain its strength, including “[t]he emergence of a relative haven in North Waziristan and the surrounding area.” To that extent, the Times reports that officials in Washington and Islamabad are conceding that the Waziristan Accord — which was signed on September 5, and was designed as a treaty between Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and tribal leaders — “had been a failure.” This should come as no shock. In the October 2 issue of the Weekly Standard, less than a month after the Waziristan Accord was signed, Bill Roggio and I provided the following analysis:

The agreement is, to put it mildly, a boon to the terrorists and a humiliation for the Pakistani government. . . . The accord provides that the Pakistani army will abandon outposts and border crossings throughout Waziristan. Pakistan’s military agreed that it will no longer operate in North Waziristan or monitor actions in the region. Pakistan will return weapons and other equipment seized during Pakistani army operations. And the Pakistani government essentially paid a tribute to end the fighting when it agreed to pay compensation for property destroyed during combat — an unusual move since most of the property that was destroyed belonged to factions that had consciously decided to harbor terrorists. Of particular concern is the provision allowing non-Pakistani militants to continue to reside in Waziristan as long as they promise to “keep the peace.” Keeping the peace will, in practice, be defined as refraining from attacks on the Pakistani military. Meanwhile, since the military won’t be monitoring the militants’ activities, they can plan and train for terrorist attacks or work to bolster the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan without being seen to violate the treaty.

It is unsurprising that the Waziristan Accord has failed: the truly astonishing news is that so many analysts waited until now to declare it a failure.