President George Bush faces agonizing choices over the U.S. response to
the suicide jet attacks against New York and Washington.
Will the White House strike quickly and close the book on the bombing
episode? Or will Washington prepare for a war that could bring troops to
several areas of the Middle East?
So far, U.S. defense sources in the administration and Congress are
skeptical. They assert that Bush badly wants to destroy the Saddam regime,
but is being warned against a protracted military involvement.
"He would love to get Saddam," a U.S. defense source said. "But the
president is scared of getting egg on his face."
The sources said U.S. intelligence agencies were tipped off to the
prospect of a massive Islamic attack on the United States since the 1998
bombings by Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. The information,
confirmed by those arrested in the 1998 attacks in eastern Africa, pointed
to a network of Bin Laden agents in the United States who were infiltrating
sensitive installations around the country in preparation of an attack.
"We are not talking about suicide bombers as we see in Israel," another
source said. "These are not robots who merely push a button. We are talking
about well-trained people who underwent years of preparations."
The preparations included a thorough knowledge of each of the airports
used by the attack teams; knowledge of flight path as well as the equipment
on the jetliners; basic skills in flying; knowledge of what kind of weapons
could be smuggled aboard. The conclusion by defense sources as well as
counterterrorism experts is that the squads were assisted from either within
the airlines or airports.
One suspicion is that the attackers were linked to Ramzi Ahmed Yusef,
the Pakistani who worked for the Palestinian Hamas and was convicted in 1996
for the bombing of the World Trade Center three years earlier. Yusef, who
grew up in Kuwait and financed by Saudi nationals, planned the hijacking and
blowing up of several airliners over the United States. The operation was
never carried out.
At the time, U.S. officials said Yusef's agents were poorly trained and
failed in most of the operations with which they were entrusted. Yusef was
said to have been supported by Islamic elements in Egypt and Sudan as well
as by the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
For now, Congress and the American people are pressuring the White House
for revenge. Several congressional leaders are calling for retaliation
whatever the cost.
"The message has to be that we're gonna hunt you down and we're gonna
find you and we're gonna make you pay that price," Sen. Richard Shelby, the
ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. "We're not
gonna let you attack our people, innocent people and walk away, because if
we do there will be more attacks."
But Bush could be deterred from any sustained campaign by the reluctance
of Arab allies in the Middle East. The sources said Arab allies in the
Levant, Maghreb and Gulf are taking a low profile.
"Right now, the Arab regimes are shaking," the source said.
