World Tribune.com


U.S., Israel both expected
major Bin Laden attack

By Steve Rodan, Middle East Newsline
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Sunday, September 23, 2001

JERUSALEM Ñ Israel and the United States were bracing for a major attack by Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden, but did not forsee a strike on either the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, intelligence sources said.

Middle East and Western intelligence sources said Israel did not provide Washington with an alert that Bin Laden was planning to attack the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. They dismissed reports that the CIA had dismissed a specific warning of a terrorist outrage in the United States.

"Israel and the United States had agreed that Bin Laden was planning a big operation," a source familiar with the issue said. "But there no specifics."

On Sunday, the London-based Telegraph newspaper reported that in August Israel warned Washington of an imminent attack on the United States. The newspaper said Mossad officials had alerted the the CIA and FBI that a network composed of 200 agents linked to Bin Laden were preparing an attack.

But the intelligence sources said Israel did not relay an alert of an imminent attack to Washington. They said a Mossad delegation was not sent to Washington over the last six weeks to review threats from Bin Laden.

Still, the sources said, Israeli and U.S. intelligence officials met several times during the last six months to discuss strategic issues, including the prospect of a major terrorist outrage in the United States.

They said Bin Laden had attempted to stage several attacks on U.S. installations in Africa and the Middle East over the last 18 months.

But Bin Laden's Al Qaida movement called off the attacks when U.S. intelligence got wind of them, the sources said. They asserted that the October 2000 strike against the USS Cole in Yemen was meant to be one of a series of attacks on U.S. installations in the Middle East and Gulf area.

The sources said Israel and the United States are examining the Sept. 11 hijackings and trying to piece together a profile of the Islamic suicide insurgent. They said about 300 people are believed to be serving in Bin Laden's network of agents in the United States.

A senior Israeli military source said Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has ordered authorities to prepare for the prospect of terrorist attacks on the Jewish state during any U.S. military campaign against Bin Laden. The source said the military is hoping that Washington will provide Israel sufficient early-warning before a U.S. attack.

On Sunday, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported that Israel has obtained reconnaissance from commercial satellites. The newspaper said Israel's spy satellite Ofeq-3 has stopped functioning.

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