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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