World Tribune.com


Cohen cancels trip due to terror threats

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, July 19, 1999

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen skipped a visit to Albania out of concern that he would be the target of an assasination attempt by agents of the Saudi multimillionaire bomber, Osama bin Laden.

U.S. officials confirmed that Cohen, who was on a European six-nation trip, did not arrive in Tirana last Tuesday as a result of this alert.

On Friday, Albanian authorities arrested and deported an Iraqi and two Syrians suspected of planning terrorist acts against U. S. Sixteen of their family members were also deported.

An Albanian police statement said the men, who had been employed as supervisors of an unamed charity organization, were suspected of planning a "terrorist" attack on the U.S. embassy in Tirana.

Bin Laden has been indicted by a U.S. federal court for the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last October.

U.S. officials believe bin Laden, in hiding since missile attacks on his Afghanistan base camps last August, has since regrouped and is in the advanced stages of planning a major attack.

The U.S. recently slapped economic sanctions on the Afghan Taliban who admitted to harboring bin Laden but denied knowledge of his exact wherabouts.

Pentagon officials acknowledged that evidence from wiretaps and satellite surveillance indicated the movement of equipment and personnel within his network.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that the U.S. was concerned over possible attacks by bin Laden.

"We have obviously been concerned about the increase in terrorism and the security of various facilities, embassies and others. And we do consider Osama bin Laden a worldwide threat, and we are taking and have been taking the necessary measures to deal with it," she said.

An "open letter" to bin Laden from radical Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad was read during Friday prayer services at several European mosques.

"The opportunity is here and we must not let it pass by ... the Muslim brothers are firm in their Jihad, so we must not lose time aimlessly and act now," the London-based Bakri, an ideological comrade of bin Laden, wrote in the letter.

Yosef Bodansky, staff director of the House Unconventional Warfare Committee, said the letter is significant because it gives bin Laden a way to launch new attacks without violating agreements with his Taliban hosts.

"His agreement with the Taliban is that he won't instigate anything. But being asked to do something is a different issue," Bodansky said.

On Saturday, U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen sent a message to the Albanian Minister of Defense, Luan Hajdaraga, saying that he planned to reschedule a visit to Tirana.

"My aim is that the U.S. has active relations in the field of defense with Albania and I am happy to work with you to carry ahead the common interests of security and stability in Albania and in the region," Cohen said.

Monday, July 19, 1999


Return to World Tribune.com front page