World Tribune.com

Experts still see Bin Laden's 'transnational' network as major threat

By Steve Rodan
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, February 23, 2000

TEL AVIV -- The United States and Israel remain targets of terrorist groups despite a decrease in state sponsorship, a senior U.S. official says.

U.S. State Department counterterrorism coordinator Michael Sheehan told a conference that Washington and Jerusalem are the target of Islamic terrorism around the world. He said these include suicide terrorist attacks.

Sheehan said the U.S. focus is on terrorism in south Asia and particularly on the capture of Saudi fugitive billionaire Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden is accused of masterminding the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa.

"Bin Laden represents the most alarming trend in suicide terrorism," Sheehan said. "He has created the first transnational Islamic terrorist group. This organization has the avowed intention of obtaining weapons of mass destruction."

But Sheehan said Bin Laden and other terrorist groups are not expected to deploy such weapons soon. He said despite their expertise these groups have encountered difficulty in weaponizing poison gas or deadly germs.

Counterterrorist experts, however, said Bin Laden is still capable of launching deadly attacks despite restrictions placed on him by the Afghan ruling Taliban militia. "We believe that Osama Bin Laden and his people have great capabilities," said Yoram Schweitzer, a former intelligence officer and now head of the institute's education project. "I think Bin Laden is operating under restrictions by the Afghans. He is doing whatever he can under the restrictions."

Schweitzer said Bin Laden sustained a serious blow in April when Egypt obtained several of his aides extradited by Albania and other allies.

Abdul Hadi Palazzi, a professor and director of the Rome-based Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic community, said Bin Laden seeks to build a network that will continue the struggle against the United States even if he is killed or captured.

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

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