LONDON TIMES
November 15, 2002

Leading article: Al-Qaeda resurgent

Menacing, flush with funds and investing in terror

The disembodied words may be authentic, or may be an ingenious morphing of
Osama bin Laden’s voice. A video would have been less open to doubt, and
would therefore greatly have amplified the menace of the message. For that
reason, quite aside from stylistic oddities, it is uncharacteristic of a man
for whom publicity is a weapon. In the absence of a corpse, there is no
proof either way. But it seems at least possible that al-Jazeera got the
tape from al-Qaeda.
Three things follow. The first is that his senior lieutenants are intent on
persuading the world that their leader is alive. That is why the tedious
manhunt must go on — and why it is wrong to argue that bin Laden’s fate is
irrelevant because others can fill his shoes. His partners in crime realise
that he provides malevolent inspiration.

Secondly, if al-Qaeda can hand over tapes in Islamabad and slip off
undetected, that points to its reorganisation in the almost unpoliceable
northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan and Karachi. It now has more than
tacit support from the Islamists who scored so heavily in last month’s
Pakistani elections, some of whose campaign leaflets bore the purported
signature of bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda poured an estimated $1 million into their campaign, which leads to
the third point, that starving global terrorists of funds is as necessary as
depriving them of geographical bases. Al-Qaeda has thousands of well-drilled
“graduates” from its Afghan boot camps, including the planners of the
Tunisian and Bali bombings. It has never been the only Islamist terrorist
group in town but, long before September 11, the “Afghan connection” was the
key element in an upsurge of terrorist atrocities. Al-Qaeda was run out of
Afghanistan and, crucially, was seen to be defeated there; but it will not
be run out of business so long as its lieutenants can finance a global
terrorist franchise.

The campaign to choke off al-Qaeda funds has gone quiet. The latest report
from the UN Security Council’s financial monitoring group believes it has
access to up to $300 million, more than enough to bankroll the barbarity
lauded in the “bin Laden tape” and future attacks. The UN points out that,
within weeks of the September 11 attack, $112 million in al-Qaeda assets was
frozen but that in recent months seizures have been a mere $10 million.

Tighter controls have forced al-Qaeda to “reposition” and disperse its
assets; but still, in addition to gem smuggling, credit card fraud and
extortion, it rakes in some $16 million a year from wealthy donors via
dubious Islamic “charities” based not only in Riyadh, Tehran or Mogadishu
but in Chicago.

Co-operation needs to be closer even in the West, where rules on reporting
suspicious transactions are toughest. The US is rightly incandescent that EU
rules allow donations to the “political” wing of Hamas, and that Luxembourg,
for example, reported to the UN monitors that it released funds linked to
al-Barakaat, a group high on the UN list, with the excuse that it was denied
adequate intelligence.

Countries as respectable as Canada have failed to submit names of operators
and groups to the UN suspect list, inhibiting global freezing of their
assets.

Washington asserts that “terrorists can no longer safely use the
international banking system”. Yet the quadrupling of overseas remittances
to Pakistan in the last year requires close analysis. On Tuesday the US
extended its Rewards for Justice initiative, designed to elicit tips leading
to terrorist finances. Not before time, this underlines the multidimensional
nature of counter-terrorist strategy. Al-Qaeda was never the only threat; it
still is not. Another dimension is Iraq, and the timing and content of this
latest tape makes the connection plain.

Not bin Laden's lieutenant, authorities say

Friday, November 15, 2002 Posted: 10:43 PM EST (0343 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A senior al Qaeda leader described as "a big catch" is
in American custody, U.S. government sources told CNN Friday.

Authorities refused to give the name of the al Qaeda leader, but said the
capture came in recent weeks and the man is one of the top two dozen al
Qaeda terrorists sought by the U.S. government.

They did say the suspect was not among the top three most wanted al Qaeda
leaders: Osama bin Laden; his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri; or the
terrorist group's operational leader, Khailid Shaikh Mohammed.

But one source termed the man "a big catch, definitely a big catch."

Word of the arrest comes as the FBI is warning that al Qaeda might be
planning "spectacular attacks" in the United States that will cause "mass
casualties" and "severe damage" to the economy.

Senior al Qaeda leaders in U.S. hands include Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi
Binalshibh, both of whom are being held by the CIA at undisclosed locations
overseas, according to U.S. officials.

Sources said White House officials were debating Friday how much information
to make public about the latest capture.

U.S. officials denied a report that the man is in the process of being moved
from the country where he was caught to another location. Further details
were not immediately available.

Last March, al Qaeda operations chief Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan and
Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni accused of involvement in the September 11
attacks, was nabbed last month.

And last week, a U.S. missile strike in Yemen killed six suspected al Qaeda
members. Sources identified one of the dead as Abu Ali, also known as Qaed
Senyan al-Harthi, a former bin Laden security guard who was believed to have
played a major role in the October 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole that
killed 17 sailors.

Also in U.S. custody is Zacarias Moussaoui who faces six conspiracy counts,
and a possible death penalty, for his admitted involvement with al Qaeda,
the Islamic terrorist group behind the September 11 attacks.

The new terror warnings have not caused the homeland security threat level
to be increased from yellow -- elevated -- and FBI officials said the
bulletin was not issued because of any new intelligence.

"The warnings that have gone out recently really are a summary of
intelligence, not a new warning," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice
said Friday in a news briefing.

The bulletin, issued Thursday by the FBI in its weekly law enforcement
bulletin, stems from the release this week of an audiotape that is believed
to contain Osama bin Laden's voice.

LONDON TIMES, 16 November, 2002

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor

Iraqi dictator plans escape route in face of US and British offensive

SADDAM HUSSEIN has made secret plans for his family and leading members of
his regime to be given political asylum in Libya in the event of a war with
America or a successful internal coup in Baghdad.

The extraordinary steps taken by the Iraqi leader to provide an exit
strategy for key relatives and associates, which includes paying $3.5
billion (£2.3 billion) into Libyan banks, provide the first evidence that
Saddam is now facing up to the prospect of being toppled from power.

Even as he makes public statements of defiance and vows to defend his
country against an American invasion, The Times has learnt that Saddam’s
secret emissaries have been visiting Libya and Syria to ensure that there is
an escape route for his family and top cronies.

The deal with Tripoli does not include providing refuge for Saddam or for
Uday, his eldest son. If either were to seek political asylum in Libya,
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would come under intense international pressure,
particularly from Washington, to hand them over for war crimes.

Word of Saddam’s deal with the Libyan leader has emerged from diplomatic
sources in Tripoli following a visit to the Libyan capital on September 8 by
General Ali Hasan al-Majid, a cousin and trusted member of Saddam’s clan.

General al-Majid is known by the Kurds of northern Iraq as “Chemical Ali”
because he was in charge of the Iraqi forces which launched a chemical
weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. He was also initially
the “Governor” of Kuwait after Iraq’s invasion of the Gulf state in August
1990, and is now one of the Baath Party regional command leaders. He is
believed to have travelled to Tripoli to deliver a personal missive from
Saddam to the Libyan leader, confirming the arrangements for his family.

The sources said that in return for the $3.5 billion deposited in Libyan
bank accounts, Colonel Gaddafi has agreed to give sanctuary to members of
Saddam’s family and to about a dozen senior officials of the Baghdad regime,
with their families.

The sources said they believed the regime members would include Tariq Aziz,
the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Naji Sabri, the Foreign Minister, and Izzat
Ibrahim al-Duri, deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. The
other officials were believed to be less well known members of the ruling
Baath Party’s regional command.

In a separate arrangement, said to have been agreed in October during a
visit by senior Iraqi officials to Damascus, an overland escape route was
devised. It would involve Saddam’s family members and regime leaders
travelling from Tikrit, home of the Saddam clan, to the Syrian border via
the Badiyat al-Sham desert which divides Syria from Iraq.

It is not clear whether the sanctuary deal includes Qusay Hussein, the Iraqi
leader’s second — and favourite — son.

However, the diplomatic sources said that if Saddam felt his regime was
about to collapse, he would do his utmost to see that his family escaped,
especially Qusay, as well as Ali, his youngest son, and his grandchildren.

Western intelligence services assume that Saddam will stay “to the bitter
end” if Iraq is attacked by a US-led coalition. Two months ago, Abbas
Khalaf, Iraq’s Ambassador to Moscow, denied that Saddam would ever abandon
his country in time of need. This followed reports in France that Uday
Hussein had gone to Moscow to seek a future refuge for him and his father.

Intelligence sources said yesterday that the French reports were not
credible. But they confirmed that the evidence of a deal for Saddam’s family
to go to Libya fitted in with information gleaned in recent weeks.

The intelligence sources said that individual members of Baghdad’s Baath
Party were known to be looking for potential “boltholes” in North African
countries. They said that Libya made sense as a place to seek sanctuary,
because many of the countries in North Africa were friendly to the West and
would probably hand over wanted members of the Iraqi regime.

The relatively uncontroversial list of people to be granted political asylum
if Saddam’s regime is toppled may have helped to persuade the Libyan leader
to agree to the asylum deal.

Friday, November 15, 2002 Posted: 9:32 PM EST (0232 GMT)

MACDILL AFB, Florida (CNN) -- Coalition aircraft patrolling the southern
"no-fly" zone in Iraq struck an air defense communications facility Friday
after the planes came under heavy fire, an action the United States said
violates the latest U.N. resolution.

Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice, a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman, said the
coalition strike "came as a result of Iraqi forces firing anti-aircraft
(artillery) and surface-to-air missiles."

The Pentagon said the hostile action by Baghdad was a breach of U.N.
resolution 1441, Section 8, which says "Iraq shall not take or threaten
hostile acts directed against any representative or personnel of the United
Nations or ... any member state taking action to uphold any Council
resolution."

However, military officials said, it is ultimately up to the United Nations
to decide if the action was a "material breach."

At the White House, a Bush administration official said, "We consider this
to be a violation of the resolution."

This official said the United States could take its complaint to the
Security Council, but refused to disclose the administration's plans.

National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said, "Iraq should stop
firing on U.S. and U.K. warplanes flying in the no-fly zones, not only to
ensure the safety of inspectors flying into Iraq, but also to demonstrate
its willingness to comply with its obligations under the U.N. Security
Council resolution."

Earlier this week, both Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld said they were considering whether to declare such
actions by Iraq as a material breach of the resolution, which calls Baghdad
to disclose its weapons of mass destruction and to disarm.

The United States has said it would use military force to disarm Iraq if it
commits such a breach.

None of the coalition planes was hit during Friday's incident, Balice said.

The strike -- which used precision-guided weapons -- hit the radar facility
near An Najaf, about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad, at 2:50 p.m. ET.

"Today's strike came after Iraq moved the SAM (surface-to-air missile) sites
into the "no-fly" zone in violation of U.N. resolutions. Presence of the
sites is deemed a threat to coalition aircraft," a CENTCOM statement said.

Iraq has fired on coalition aircraft more than a dozen times since last
Friday, when the United Nations adopted the latest resolution against
Baghdad. Friday's strike was the first since Baghdad reluctantly accepted
the terms of the resolution, which came in a defiant, nine-page letter
Wednesday.

U.S. intelligence officials said that Iraq has also added boosters to some
of its missiles to increase their range. Coalition aircraft are adjusting
for this modification, officials said.

FBI cites bin Laden tape but cautions no new intelligence
Friday, November 15, 2002 Posted: 11:14 AM EST (1614 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Al Qaeda may be planning "spectacular attacks" in the
United States that will cause "mass casualties" and "severe damage" to the
economy, according to a federal law enforcement bulletin.

Even so, the warnings have not caused the Homeland Security threat level to
be increased from yellow, or elevated risk, and FBI officials said there is
no new intelligence that led to the strong wording of the bulletin.

The bulletin, issued Thursday by the FBI in its weekly law enforcement
alert, stems from the release of the audiotape that is believed to contain
Osama bin Laden's voice added to earlier intelligence reports.

That audiotape, along with previous intelligence and a "resurgence of al
Qaeda operational activity" has spurred law enforcement to review the manner
in which al Qaeda is operating.

FBI officials tell CNN that there is no specific information about the time,
place or method of such attacks and no new intelligence that sparked the
bulletin. FBI officials, in fact, believe the message in the bulletin is
being overplayed and overstated by the media.

Nevertheless, the language in the document is more ominous than in other
bulletins.

"In selecting its next targets, sources suggest al Qaeda may favor
spectacular attacks that meet several criteria: high symbolic value, mass
casualties, severe damage to the U.S. economy, and maximum psychological
trauma," the bulletin said. "The highest priority targets remain within the
aviation, petroleum, and nuclear sectors as well as significant national
landmarks.

"However, target vulnerability and likelihood of success may be as important
to a weakened al Qaeda as the target's prominence," said the bulletin.

'Summary of intelligence'
U.S. officials urged vigilance and caution and said that security efforts
were being made.

"A lot is being done to bring additional protective measures, particularly
the critical infrastructure locations around the United States," said
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice during a Friday briefing. "There
is a very active ... program of coordination on this particular period of
time with both public and private entities and at the federal, state and
local levels."

"The warnings that have gone out recently really are a summary of
intelligence, not a new warning," she said.

The report says that the next attack could rely on conventional bombs and
"low-technology platforms such as truck bombs, commercial or private
aircraft, small watercraft or explosives easily concealed and planted."

In addition, it said: "Sources also suggest that small-scale terrorist
operations against softer targets would be easier for sleeper cells already
in the U.S. to carry out and would minimize the need to communicate with
central leadership, lowering the risks of detection."

A U.S. official characterized the alert as simply an effort to advise law
enforcement on the current thinking of al Qaeda, and in line with public
testimony last month from CIA Director George Tenet.

During October 17th testimony before the Congressional Joint Intelligence
Committee, Tenet had said "the al Qaeda terrorist network has reorganized
after being pushed out of Afghanistan and "intends to strike us here and
overseas." (Full story)

The message that helped spur the bulletin, suspected to be from bin Laden,
was broadcast Tuesday on the Arabic-language Al Jazeera TV network.

In it, the reader "praises the recent attacks against Western interests
worldwide: firearms attacks against U.S. Marines in Kuwait, the fatal
shooting of an American diplomat in Jordan, the bombing of a nightclub
district in Bali, the attempted sinking of the French oil tanker Limburg,
and the taking of hostages by Chechen guerrillas at a Moscow theater. The
speaker also threatens further attacks against the United States and its
allies should the United States attack Iraq."

The U.S. government is analyzing the audiotape "to determine its
authenticity," but coalition sources have told CNN the voice is apparently
bin Laden's and the tape was not fabricated.

The bulletin has been posted on the National Infrastructure Protection
Center Web site. Located in the FBI's headquarters building in Washington,
the NIPC "brings together representatives from U.S. government agencies,
state and local governments, and the private sector in a partnership to
protect our critical infrastructures."

On November 6, NIPC also issued a bulletin noting that al Qaeda may strike
during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that began last week and
continues through December 5.

"Al Qaeda and sympathetic jihadists may view Ramadan as having religious
incentives and symbolic and operational advantages for conducting terrorist
attacks. Nonspecific intelligence reporting also indicates al Qaeda may
strike this Ramadan," the bulletin said.

It notes that the terror network "attempted to execute attacks during the
Ramadan time period in the past." They include the "thwarted millennial
plots in December 1999 and the aborted attack against the USS Sullivans in
January 2000."

Also, the November 6 bulletin says, plots to attack U.S. ships and the U.S.
Embassy in Singapore in late 2001, since disrupted, might have been planned
for Ramadan.

Saturday, November 16, 2002 Posted: 8:02 AM EST (1302 GMT)

HEBRON, West Bank (CNN) -- The Israeli army reoccupied all Palestinian areas
of Hebron on Saturday, after Palestinian gunmen ambushed a group of Israeli
Jews in the divided city Friday evening, killing at least 12 people and
wounding 16 others, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli forces had pulled out of Palestinian-controlled areas of Hebron two
weeks ago.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, in
which three civilians and nine Israeli police and soldiers died. Palestinian
Islamic Jihad is a militant group dedicated to the creation of an Islamic
Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel.

The gunfight that followed the ambush was itself followed early Saturday by
an Israeli helicopter attack on a workshop in central Gaza City. Four
missiles reduced the workshop to rubble, witnesses there said.

The IDF confirmed it struck the workshop, saying it has been used for
terrorist attacks against Israelis. The IDF alleged that weapons used in
terror attacks, including mortar shells and rockets, were built at the
facility. Palestinian leaders were not immediately available for comment.

The Israelis who were attacked were returning from a Jewish service marking
the beginning of the Sabbath at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to
both Jews and Muslims. The group was escorted by Israeli security officers,
according to the IDF.

The gunmen opened fire from atop a hill in a Palestinian-controlled section
of Hebron, the IDF said. The victims were in an Israeli-controlled section.
Hebron was divided under a 1997 agreement.

As Israeli soldiers rushed to help the victims, the gunmen attacked again,
killing several of the rescuers, including the region's highest ranking
military official.

The IDF said the bodies of three of the Palestinian gunmen had been
recovered from the scene. According to the IDF, the 12 Israeli fatalities
include two IDF officers, two IDF soldiers, four border police troops, a
border police officer and three settlers.

Abdallah Shalah, head of Islamic Jihad's operations in Syria, said Friday's
attack was revenge for Israel's killing of Iyad Sawalcha last Saturday.

Sawalcha was believed responsible for orchestrating attacks that left dozens
of Israelis dead and many more injured. Israeli forces said they shot and
killed him after he opened fire on them while they were attempting to arrest
him.

In the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, a teenage son of Jenin's Islamic
Jihad leader was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 8 a.m. Saturday,
according to Palestinian security sources. The Israeli army entered the
Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank with tanks and armored vehicles, the
sources said.

The Israeli army said soldiers exchanged fire with three armed Palestinians
near the camp, killing one of them.


A wounded soldier is carried from an ambulance in Jerusalem folllowing
Friday's killings in Hebron.



Israeli forces reportedly beefed up their troops in the Nablus area after
Friday's attack. According to the Palestine Red Crescent, a 21-year-old
woman was shot and killed inside her home Saturday morning just outside the
Balata refugee camp as Israeli forces and tanks entered the camp in the West
Bank, firing their weapons to clear the way.

The attack came five days after a Palestinian gunman attacked a kibbutz in
northern Israel, killing five people, including young children.

"What we see here is that there is no end to the Palestinian terror, there
is no limit really to the barbarity of the Palestinian terror campaign,"
Israeli ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon told CNN after Friday's
attack. He insisted that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian
officials "do encourage it, they do finance it."

Arafat and some other Palestinian leaders have publicly condemned the
killing of civilians.

Ayalon pointed out that Israeli forces had withdrawn from the area of the
attack. "Whenever we leave an area the terror bounces back," he said.

The Hebron attack is "part and parcel of the wave of international terror --
whether in Bali or the U.S. or in Russia," Ayalon said. As for whether there
would be an extensive military response, Ayalon said, "Democracies have the
right to self-defense."

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a written statement, said he
was "horrified by the despicable terrorist attack." He appealed to "all
Palestinian groups to stop all such acts of senseless violence."

About 450 Jewish settlers live in Hebron, surrounded by 130,000
Palestinians. About 30,000 Palestinians living near Jewish enclaves are in
Israeli-controlled areas and are frequently subject to curfews.

By the way - I was less than a mile away in a car headed in the direction of
this attack by this crazed Pakistani in 1993 when he murdered CIA employees
in the driveway to the Langley CIA officees.  I was working in McLean and
headed past Langley to another government meeting.  It has taken 9 years for
this criminal terrorist to face American justice.

=================================================
Thursday, November 14, 2002 Posted: 1:09 PM EST (1809 GMT)

JARRAT, Virginia (CNN) -- The planned execution Thursday of a Pakistani man
convicted of killing two CIA employees has prompted the State Department to
issue warnings that his death may trigger retaliatory attacks against U.S.
interests overseas.

The state of Virginia is moving ahead with the scheduled execution of Aimal
Kasi, 38, for 9 p.m. EST.

"We are proceeding for 9 o'clock. We have not been told to step down," said
Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
"We're aware of the security issues, and we're dealing with those issues."

Kasi's attorneys have filed two appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court, one for
his conviction and the other for the death penalty sentence. The Supreme
Court refuses to stay execution tonight of the Pakistani man who killed two
CIA employees.

Kasi went on a 1993 shooting rampage outside CIA headquarters -- an attack
he said was motivated by his anger toward Washington's Middle East policies.

Kasi was convicted in 1997 for the killings of two CIA employees -- Frank
Darling, 28, and Lansing Bennett, 66 -- as they sat in their cars in morning
traffic outside CIA headquarters. Three other CIA employees, all in separate
cars, were wounded in the attack.

Around 8 a.m. on that day, Jan. 25, 1993, Kasi walked among the automobiles
with an AK-47 firing randomly. The cars were stopped at a red light, waiting
to turn into the CIA entrance.

When he got to Darling's vehicle, he shot out the rear window, striking
Darling in the torso. Kasi then walked to the front of the car and fired
again, blowing off part of Darling's head.

"I was real angry with the policy of the U.S. government in the Middle East,
particularly toward the Palestinian people," Kasi said in a prison interview
with CNN affiliate WTTG.

Kasi worked for a local courier service at the time of the shooting and was
familiar with the area around the CIA headquarters. He fled the scene and
remained on the run for more than four years, until FBI agents in a hotel in
Pakistan captured him in June 1997. According to prosecutors, he spent most
of his time hiding in Afghanistan, with only occasional stops in Pakistan.

On the flight back to the United States, authorities said, he gave an oral
and written confession to FBI agent Bradley Garrett after signing a written
rights waiver form. He was found guilty after a 10-day trial in Fairfax
County in November 1997.

U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, based on his appeal, stayed Kasi's
execution in July 2000 but a magistrate judge threw out that ruling on
September 11, 2001, saying there was no error in the way Kasi was arrested
and transported to the United States. That had been one of Kasi's key
contentions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals later dismissed Kasi's appeal as well.

Asad Hayauddin, press attaché for the Embassy of Pakistan, said Kasi's two
brothers met with embassy officials last week and asked for its support to
spare Kasi's life. The embassy then wrote a letter to the Virginia governor
seeking a stay of execution based on humanitarian grounds.
"We endorse the clemency request of the Kasi family," Hayauddin said.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Virginia Attorney General's Office, said
they expect the execution to go forward.

"We think justice will be served," he said.

The State Department last week issued an advisory that the execution could
prompt attacks against Western interests. "The potential exists for
retaliatory acts against U.S. or other foreign interests in response to the
execution," the advisory said.

Kasi himself referenced that possibility in the recent interview.

"In Pakistan, a lot of people like me. So I believe there will be big
chances for retaliation against Americans there. But personally, I don't
encourage anyone to attack Americans," he said.
Kasi is to die by lethal injection at the "L Unit," a high-security facility
located at the rear of the Greensville Correctional Center, said Traylor,
the corrections spokesman.

Kasi will be allowed to meet with family members until 3 p.m. At that time,
the relatives will then be moved to a common area on the prison grounds
where they will have to wait for the execution to be over.

Six people --all residents of the state who request to see an execution and
are chosen at random -- and four members of the news media in one room will
witness the execution. The room has a two-way window in which the defendant
can see the witnesses and they can see him.

Relatives of the victims will be in a separate room, sitting behind tinted
glass through which Kasi cannot see.

Kasi is to be the fourth person executed in Virginia this year, Traylor
said.

Thursday, November 14, 2002 Posted: 7:02 AM EST (1202 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The FBI has alerted hospitals in four
major U.S. cities -- Washington D.C, Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco --
to be aware of a unsubstantiated and unverified threat that could come
around the holidays.

A statement issued to medical providers on Nov. 12 detailed the threat: "On
or about December 15, explode bombs/restart anthrax crisis/will do harm in
one of the hospitals in Washington, Chicago, and San Francisco."

According to a statement from the FBI office in Chicago, the timing of the
possible attacks "is mid-December and the holiday period." The attacks would
be in reaction to "the continued arrest of a Pakistani national by Pakistani
authorities," according to the statement.

Houston was also on the list, according to Bob Dogium of the FBI office in
Houston. He called it a "general, blanket threat" that is neither
corroborated nor specific. Nevertheless, Dogium said the FBI was releasing
news of the threat to urge people to be alert and diligent in reporting any
suspicious activity.

"We're not talking about specific measures, we're not talking about
specifics in time, we're also not talking about a specific plan," Dogium
told CNN affiliate KPRC-TV in Houston.

"Anthrax and bombings are included in that vague information that could
quite possibly be the way the attack may be carried out," he said. "It's
uncorroborated information."

Dogium pointed out there have been many similar vague threats made in the
past year, none of which has panned out, including threats against oil
refineries and general economic targets.

FBI headquarters in Washington received the information and passed it on to
its divisions Wednesday. The four cities in question have notified local
authorities and emergency management systems, Dogium said.

People in those cities, he said, "need to realize that as we are putting out
this information, we also have the systems in place to gather this kind of
information, to analyze this kind of information, to disseminate this kind
of information."

WHAT'S NEXT?
Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its weapons.
Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin.
===================================================================

Wednesday, November 13, 2002 Posted: 12:13 PM EST (1713 GMT)

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Iraq on Wednesday accepted a U.N. resolution calling fot it
to allow weapons inspectors to return.

In New York, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Al-Douri,
delivered a reply to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"We are eager to see them [the inspectors] perform their duties in
accordance with international law," Al-Douri said. "We are prepared to
receive the inspectors within the assigned timetable."

In a letter from Baghdad accepting the terms, said Al-Douri, "We try to
explain our position saying Iraq will not have mass destruction weapons. So
we are not worried about the inspectors when they will be back in the
country. Iraq is clean."

Senior White House Correspondent John King said the ambassador's words may
hint at bad news in the future.

"If that is the position of the Iraqi government 23 days from now when Iraq
must produce a list of its weapons of mass destruction -- if Iraq produces
no list and says it has no weapons of mass destruction -- then what appears
at this moment to be a diplomatic breakthrough could quickly turn into a
military confrontation," King reported.

Asked why the Iraqi government had decided to accept the resolution,
Al-Douri said, "We are always opting for the path of peace."

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Bush -- who was scheduled to meet with Annan
later Wednesday -- repeated his warning that the United States would have
"zero tolerance" for any Iraqi interference with U.N. weapons inspectors.

"There's no negotiations with Mr. Saddam Hussein. Those days are long gone,
and so are the days of deceit and denial," Bush said.

If Saddam fails to comply, "We will disarm him," he said.

An advanced team of inspectors is due to arrive in Baghdad Monday. That
team, which will spearhead the establishment of the new inspection program,
will be headed by Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, and Mohamed
El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.S. accuses Baghdad of possessing weapons of mass destruction --
biological, nuclear or chemical -- in violation with a cease-fire it signed
after losing the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

On Tuesday, Iraq's National Assembly voted to reject the resolution but
Saddam's son Uday Hussein recommended approval.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to approve the
resolution and gave Iraq a week to accept it.

New York Times
Tuesday, November 12, 2002.
By JUDITH MILLER

Iraq has ordered large quantities of a drug that can be used to counter the
effects of nerve gas, mainly from suppliers in Turkey, which is being
pressed to stop the sales, according to senior Bush administration
officials.

The officials said the orders far outstripped the amount Iraq could
conceivably need for normal hospital use, and they said Turkey had indicated
in talks with the State Department that it was willing to review the matter.

"If the Iraqis were going to use nerve agents," an official said, "they
would want to take steps to protect their own soldiers, if not their
population. This is something that U.S. intelligence is mindful of and very
concerned about."

Iraq has ordered, mainly from a Turkish company, a million doses of the
drug, atropine, and the 7-inch autoinjectors that inject it into a person's
leg, the officials said.

It is not clear how much, if any, of the drug has actually been delivered.

Atropine is highly effective at blocking such nerve agents as sarin and VX,
both of which Iraq has acknowledged having made and stockpiled. Iraq claims
to have destroyed those stockpiles, but American intelligence agencies doubt
it has done so.

One official said Iraq had also placed orders for another antidote for
chemical weapons, obidoxime chloride.

Officials said hospitals and clinics around the world commonly stocked
atropine to resuscitate patients who have had heart attacks. As a result,
atropine was not included on a list of thousands of "dual use" items that
the United Nations Security Council members drafted in May that inspectors
must review more carefully before they can be sold to Iraq.

The bulk purchases of autoinjectors and atropine, however, have raised
concerns among chemical weapons experts, intelligence analysts and senior
White House officials, who argue that atropine to counter heart attacks is
normally given intravenously and in much smaller doses. Obidoxime chloride
is not used at all for that purpose, one expert said.

All this, the officials and experts say, illustrates how hard it is to
control dual-use products — those that have civilian purposes, yet also can
strengthen a country's military. That is true even when the seller is an
ally, they said.

The United States renounced the use of nerve agents and other chemical
weapons in the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, pledging not to use such
weapons in war, and saying it no longer has them in its arsenal. But the
American armed forces do carry atropine and autoinjectors in first-aid kits
in case of attack.

Iraq has not ratified the treaty that bans the production, stockpiling and
use of chemical weapons. It used chemical weapons during its war against
Iran in the 1980's and to suppress dissent among its own Kurdish citizens in
the north.

White House officials have recently considered the Iraqi orders at meetings,
and the State Department has tried to stop the sales through discussions
with Turkey in the last two months. One official said Turkey, a NATO member
and staunch American ally, had agreed to review the orders and consider the
request.

In a telephone interview, Turkey's ambassador to Washington, O. Faruk
Logoglu, said he was unaware of such discussions. But he added that they
might well have been conducted by American Embassy and Turkish officials in
Ankara, the Turkish capital, bypassing his embassy.

Administration officials declined to identify the Turkish supplier, but one
official characterized the company as an important regional producer of
bio-defense products and equipment with international customers.

"Atropine and autoinjectors are common products," an official said.

Administration officials said the contracts demonstrated deficiencies in the
system put in place last summer to simplify the shipment of aid to Iraqi
civilians under the United Nations "oil for food" program. Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell extolled the new system as "smart sanctions."
Under the previous system, shipments of food, medicine and other goods that
Iraq said were for civilians were routinely delayed for months while
Security Council members and United Nations weapons inspectors pored over
contracts to determine whether the sales could strengthen Iraq's military.

The new system adopted in May allows for the sale and shipment of most goods
without extensive review unless they are on the list put together by the
United States, Russia, France, and other Security Council members. It took
almost a year for negotiators to develop the list, because the United States
wanted it to be as comprehensive as possible, while Russia and France, both
large exporters to Iraq, lobbied for a shorter list.

The United States has yet to conduct a formal assessment of the new system,
now just a few months' old. But officials said in interviews that they
feared that Iraq was already exploiting omissions from the list.

American officials said it was becoming obvious that some items that should
have been included, like the atropine and autoinjectors, had been omitted.

Iraq's military capabilities, "though far less impressive than they were
before the 1991 gulf war, are becoming better through such purchases every
day," a senior administration official said. "And we're seeing that the
traditional mechanisms for controlling the transfer of such items — export
controls, border patrols, and other sanctions — are still porous."

Technically, the list can be reopened for changes every six months, but
administration officials said the State Department was reluctant to do so.
"If we try to add items to that list," an official said, "Russia and France
will demand that other items be subtracted from it, and we'll be back again
to square one."

But the Pentagon is more willing to seek a change, officials said. If any
Security Council member does want to change the list, the deadline to do so
is late this month.

Dave Franz, a former director of the Army's bio-defense lab at Fort Detrick,
Md., and Frederick R. Sidell, a chemical agents expert who worked at the
Army Medical Institute of Chemical Defense, agreed that Iraq's orders raised
concern because there were virtually no peaceful uses for that much
atropine. "The Iraqis must know that we are not going to use such agents
against them, because we don't have chemical weapons," Dr. Franz said.

Dr. Sidell said obidoxime chloride was not used for anything in the United
States. Furthermore, autoinjectors contain five times the amount of atropine
normally administered intravenously to treat malfunctioning hearts.

Tuesday, November 12, 2002 Posted: 7:42 AM EST (1242 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's parliament has voted to reject the U.N.
resolution threatening possible military action if Baghdad does not disarm,
ignoring pleas from Saddam Hussein's son to accept the text.

Parliament's unanimous vote is a recommendation and leaves the final
decision on whether to accept the U.N. edict -- approved unanimously by the
U.N. Security Council last week -- to the Revolutionary Command Council,
Iraq's highest authority which is led by Saddam.

The 250-member parliament accepted in a vote on Tuesday a recommendation
from its foreign relations committee to reject the resolution.

But it also urged the "political leadership" to "adopt what it considers
appropriate to defend the Iraqi people and Iraq's independence and dignity
and authorizes President Saddam Hussein to adopt what he sees as appropriate
expressing our full support for his wise leadership."

Parliament speaker Saadoun Hammadi asked deputies to vote three times by a
show of hands, once on each clause of the resolution and once on the entire
proposal.

After each vote, Saadoun announced unanimous approval. It was not clear how
many MPs were present for the vote, The Associated Press said.

Earlier Saddam's son Uday sent a working paper to parliament urging: "We
should, as a National Assembly, accept the U.N. resolution which is under
debate in these sessions."

CNN's Jane Arraf in Baghdad said it was unlikely parliamentarians would face
any repercussions for going against Uday's wishes, calling the vote part of
a "really interesting drama." Arraf said it was expected that Saddam would
accept the resolution, but said the vote was a signal that "they're not
going to do it without a fuss."

Con Coughlin, author of "Saddam: King of Terror," called the vote a
"political maneuver by Saddam," possibly an effort to prompt last minute
diplomatic intervention from Russia or France. But Coughlin said he
"personally will be very surprised" if Saddam does not accept the resolution
on Friday.

Uday, himself a parliamentarian, argued acceptance of the U.N. text should
take place "under the umbrella of the Arab League," which backed the
resolution during a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.

"The parliament should accept the resolution in accordance with certain
procedures and without restrictions because the initiative is not in our
hands," Uday said.

Uday echoed Arab League calls for Arab weapons experts to be involved in
U.N. inspections, but criticised Syria for supporting the resolution. Syria
is the only Arab nation on the U.N. Security Council, which voted 15-0 to
pass the resolution.

Uday urged parliament in his statement to deny the United States a chance to
wage war on Iraq.
"We should not wait until the arrows are fired at us to confront them with
our shields. As we know the Americans are cowards, deceitful and wicked and
we should deny the wicked and the mean this opportunity," he said.

Uday urged Arab countries to cut oil supplies to any countries involved in a
war on Iraq, including those that offer logistical support or let U.S. and
British warplanes to use their bases for an attack.

He also said Arab countries should not let warships or military shipments
pass through their territory.

Earlier, Saadoun outlined a motion before the assembly to reject the U.N.
text.

CNN's Rym Brahimi in Baghdad said: "The parliament went through all the
reasons why it was unacceptable to accept the resolution on the grounds of
protecting Iraq's sovereignty.
"But the leadership has indicated it is prepared to respect it -- even if it
does so under protest."

Iraq has until Friday to accept the terms of the U.S.-promoted Security
Council resolution demanding Baghdad allow U.N. arms inspectors unhindered
access to any site suspected of producing chemical, biological or nuclear
weapons -- or face "serious consequences."

Washington has been adding to the pressure on Iraq with senior Bush
administration officials warning the U.S. would be ready to take unilateral
military action should Iraq violate the resolution.

The Iraqi National Assembly reconvened after deputies met for three hours on
Monday and heard Saadoun denounce the measure as a "preamble for war."

CNN's Jane Arraf says there was heavy criticism of the U.N. resolution from
the lawmakers at Monday's session.

They said the inspections order was unworkable, it imposed "impossible
demands" on Iraq, and that it was mostly a plan to launch a U.S. strike on
Iraq

Thursday, November 7, 2002 Posted: 10:32 PM EST (0332 GMT)

CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay (CNN) -- The area of South America known as the
tri-border region, which drew the attention of antiterrorism experts after
September 11, has again become a point of concern.

CNN has learned from coalition intelligence sources that several top
terrorist operatives met recently in the area -- where the borders of
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay intersect -- to plan attacks against U.S. and
Israeli targets in the Western hemisphere.

Sources said the meetings, which took place in and around Ciudad del Este,
were attended by representatives of Hezbollah and other groups sympathetic
to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.

Two weeks ago, Argentina's security agencies issued a strong terrorist
warning.

"We had intelligence that pointed to increased terrorist activity," said
Miguel Toma, who runs SIDE, the Argentine equivalent of the U.S. CIA. "It is
not unrealistic that there could be some action to prevent or to react to an
attack on Iraq. So we need to react because of the global conflict."

Other indications of the threat came from intelligence sources in the Middle
East, who told CNN of a new terrorist effort aimed at U.S. and Israeli
interests and coordinated by a man named Imad Mugniyeh.

The sources say Mugniyeh -- working from his bases in Iran and
Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon -- is directing the activities of
terrorists in South America, planning to hit U.S. and Israeli targets if the
United States attacks Iraq, or if Israel is drawn into the conflict.

Mugniyeh is suspected of being the mastermind in a long list of attacks
against U.S. and Israeli targets over the past 20 years -- including the
1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and the 1992
car bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina's Toma met recently with intelligence officials in Washington to
discuss the possibility of a new terrorist offensive launched from South
America.

"This was a central theme discussed in recent trips to Washington," Toma
said. "There is a direct correlation between terrorism here and the U.S."

Argentine authorities have connected Mugniyeh to such groups as Hezbollah,
Gamaa al Islamiya, and Islamic Jihad, all of which have been identified by
the U.S. State Department as terrorist organizations.

Argentine intelligence documents obtained by CNN last year spell out links
between those groups and mosques and businesses in the area.

Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are Arab-based groups which have directed the
bulk of their activities against Israel. Gamaa al Islamiya, an Egyptian
group, has publicly allied itself with al Qaeda.

Warnings about terrorist activity in the tri-border region are not new. The
lush jungle region is known for its porous borders and thriving black
markets.

The region quickly fell under the anti-terrorism dragnet cast after
September 11. Ten days after the attacks, police in Paraguay raided several
businesses and rounded up 20 suspects, 14 of whom were later released.

In a second raid in October 2001, Paraguayan police attempted to capture
Assad Ahmad Barakat, whom Argentine and Paraguayan prosecutors said was the
regional operative for Hezbollah. Prosecutors believe he played a major role
in the Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires.

Barakat evaded capture and is believed to be hiding in Brazil or to have
escaped to Lebanon.

Argentine officials point to more evidence they say indicates terrorist
activity in the tri-border area -- thousands of U.S. dollars bearing stamps
from Lebanese currency exchange banks, tens of thousands of dollars in phony
bills, and receipts from wire transfers made between the tri-border area and
the Middle East.

While international intelligence agencies have focused on the tri-border
region since the war on terror began, many of the people they were looking
for may have moved on.

Argentina's counter-terrorism police assert that terrorist operatives have
dispersed east, to the remote jungles of Brazil and to Brazil's financial
capital, Sao Paulo; and west, to the free trade zone of Iquique in Chile's
northern desert.

Last year, U.S. officials requested that Chile investigate terrorist
activity in Iquique. Police there recently seized 48 fake Pakistani
passports, which they believe were destined for use by terrorists.

Iraq, N. Korea Named, Two Officials Say

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 5, 2002; Page A01

A Bush administration intelligence review has concluded that four nations --
including Iraq and North Korea -- possess covert stocks of the smallpox
pathogen, according to two officials who received classified briefings.
Records and operations manuals captured this year in Afghanistan and
elsewhere, they said, also disclosed that Osama bin Laden devoted money and
personnel to pursue smallpox, among other biological weapons.

These assessments, though unrelated, have helped drive the U.S. government
to the brink of a mass vaccination campaign that would be among the
costliest steps, financially and politically, in a year-long effort to
safeguard the U.S. homeland. Public health authorities in and out of
government project that the vaccine itself, widely administered, could kill
more Americans -- 300 is a common estimate, and some are higher -- than any
terrorist attack save that of Sept. 11, 2001. It has been left to President
Bush to resolve a deadlock among his advisers. Vice President Cheney is said
by participants in the debate to be pressing for rapid, universal
inoculation, while Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson
prefers a voluntary program that would wait at least two years for an
improved vaccine.

In public, the White House has described its smallpox concerns in only
hypothetical terms, and until now the gravity of its assessment has not been
known. Bush administration officials did not share their evidence with a
panel of outside scientists established to advise them on smallpox. Some
officials said the reticence results from unwillingness to compromise
intelligence sources. Others cited fear of provoking public demands for
action the government is not yet prepared to take.

Washington's anxiety about smallpox, and limited intelligence-sharing with
friendly governments, have prompted urgent requests from allies in the
Middle East -- including Jordan and Kuwait -- for assistance in obtaining
vaccine before the outbreak of war with Iraq. The National Security
Council's Deputies Committee, a panel of officials just below Cabinet rank,
met last Tuesday to weigh the allies' requests.

Smallpox, which spreads by respiration and kills roughly one in three of
those infected, took hundreds of millions of lives during a recorded history
dating to Pharaonic Egypt. The last case was in 1978, and the disease was
declared eradicated on May 8, 1980. All but two countries reported by Dec.
9, 1983, that they no longer possessed the virus, but the World Health
Organization had no means to verify those reports. Seed cultures are now
held officially in only two heavily guarded laboratories, one in Atlanta and
the other in Koltsovo, Siberia. The United States renounced germ warfare in
1969 and has undertaken no known offensive program since.

An authoritative official said there is "no reason" to believe bin Laden
succeeded in obtaining the smallpox pathogen. Bin Laden's efforts are
significant chiefly because U.S. policymakers believe he would use it.

"Al Qaeda is interested in acquiring biological weapons, to include
smallpox," according to a classified intelligence summary prepared for
senior officials debating options on the scope of a preventive vaccination
campaign. Officials who read the homeland security briefing said bin Laden's
organization spent money on the effort, but gave higher priority to other
biological and chemical agents. The "top five list" for al Qaeda, one
official said, included anthrax, the nerve agent ricin, and botulinum toxin.

The U.S. government has known since the early 1990s about Soviet-era
smallpox weapons, and collected circumstantial evidence of programs
elsewhere. But substantial new reporting has circulated in recent months.
"This is not an issue where once every two years we put out an intelligence
estimate," one official said. "There's an ongoing requirement to assess the
threat. I see reports on this every other week."

The CIA now assesses that four nations -- Iraq, North Korea, Russia and, to
the surprise of some specialists, France -- have undeclared samples of the
smallpox virus.

The agency's Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control Center
(WINPAC) described a sliding scale of confidence in those assessments in a
briefing prepared last spring. The briefing circulated among senior homeland
security, public health and national security officials. Though the quality
of its information varied from "very high" to "medium," one official said
the report covered only nations for which "we have good evidence."

WINPAC placed Russia in the top category, saying that contrary to diplomatic
assurances, Russia retains covert stocks of the virus. The Soviet Union
produced smallpox by the ton -- a laborious endeavor, since the standard
method is to grow cultures in the lining of chicken eggs. Ken Alibek, who
was second in command of "black biology" at Biopreparat before he defected
in 1992, said in an interview that he supervised production of the virus in
liquid form, suitable for delivery on intercontinental missiles. U.S.
officials said they generally accept his account.

Iraq and France are assessed to have smallpox with high, but not very high,
confidence.

U.S. officials said the French program is believed to be defensive in
nature, and some of them expressed consternation that its inclusion in the
WINPAC report was disclosed to a reporter. It could not be learned whether
the Bush administration has objected to, or sought information about, the
French program. France is one of five members of the U.N. Security Council
with a veto, and it is the linchpin of U.S. diplomatic efforts to establish
a legal basis for war with Iraq.

Jacques Drucker, who stepped down recently as director of France's National
Public Health Surveillance Center, said his country favors research with
live smallpox that is forbidden under present conventions. France recently
opened one of the world's only Biological Containment Level 4 facilities.
Drucker said the Jean Merieux Laboratory in Lyon works with viruses that
"could be used for bioterrorist purposes," and mentioned hemorrhagic fevers
such as ebola, Marburg and lassa. The lab is "equipped for smallpox," he
said, but "I would suspect that if there was variola virus left in France it
would be on the military laboratory research facilities."

Some of the evidence on Iraq emerged from unpublished discoveries of the
U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM), which searched for prohibited weapons
after the Persian Gulf War. In 1995, David Kelly, a British inspector, led a
team to the maintenance shop of the State Establishment for Medical
Appliances on the edge of Baghdad. There he found a freeze drier labeled
"smallpox." Two years later, on Oct. 7, 1997, inspector Diane Seaman seized
a document on the grounds of the Al Rasheed Military Hospital describing
vaccines currently in use for Iraqi troops. Third on the list was smallpox.
Confronted with other evidence on pox research, Iraq's chief bioweaponeer,
Hazem Ali, told UNSCOM inspectors that he had considered camelpox as a
weapon because Iraqis, unlike Americans, spent enough time near camels to be
immune.

Richard Spertzel, UNSCOM's chief biological inspector, said that explanation
was laughable. "Only one person ever died of camelpox," Spertzel said in an
interview. Ali was "much too good a scientist to believe the story."

On Jan. 14, 1991, the Defense Intelligence Agency said an Iraqi agent
described, in medically accurate terms, military smallpox casualties he said
he saw in 1985 or 1986. Two weeks later, the Armed Forces Medical
Intelligence Center reported that eight of 69 Iraqi prisoners of war whose
blood was tested showed current immunity to smallpox, which had not occurred
naturally in Iraq for 20 years. The same prisoners had been inoculated for
anthrax, a well-established Iraqi bioweapon.

More recently, according to the WINPAC report, a former Soviet scientist
told U.S. officials that his country "transferred [smallpox] technology in
the early 1990s to Iraq." Northern Iraq suffered one of the last known
smallpox epidemics in 1971-72. The WINPAC report assessed that Iraq
"retained samples from the 1971 outbreak."

The last country on WINPAC's list is North Korea, which the authors wrote
"has a longstanding and active biological weapons program." Though assessing
that Pyongyang has the smallpox pathogen, WINPAC said its evidence was of
"medium" quality.

On March 5, 1993, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reported that
"North Korea is performing applied military-biological research" with
"pathogens for malignant anthrax, cholera, bubonic plague and smallpox."
Gordon Oehler, then head of WINPAC, told Congress that the Russian report
was "not a bad summary." Much more recently, sources said, the United States
has obtained reports of ongoing pox research and manufacture of vaccine.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to understand the biological weapons
threat," one policymaker said in an interview, "and I have concluded on a
very personal basis that there is a small chance that we will have
definitive evidence, smoking gun evidence, for countries like North Korea,
very closed societies."

Confidence about the smallpox evidence varies somewhat among the 14 U.S.
intelligence agencies and departments.

"The assessment is, they have it," said one official, speaking as he held
his own office's written summaries of evidence on North Korea and Iraq. "We
don't say 70 percent certainty. We assess that they have it."

Officials who agreed that the evidence is not decisive said few differences
exist in the ultimate judgment of national security and homeland defense
officials. One person who has access to the compartmented intelligence on
smallpox offered to "bet my next year's salary" that the four countries
named in WINPAC's report have live seed cultures.

Bush administration officials with central roles in smallpox policy said the
government-commissioned Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was
unequipped for its ostensible role of balancing the risks of vaccination
against the risks of a smallpox attack. The committee recommended against a
broad vaccination campaign, but many members said they would change their
views if they knew a rogue nation possessed the virus.

"They give the scientific assessment of what the risks of vaccination are,"
a senior administration official said. "They do not have the same amount of
information that is circulated around this issue here."

Those who disclosed the intelligence assessments described above, speaking
on condition of anonymity, were not authorized by the White House to do so.
Those assigned to speak for the administration's views, who also declined to
be identified, would not discuss intelligence reports. They hewed to their
public position, as one of them put it, that "there is a concern with regard
to North Korea and Iraq that they may have smallpox."

U.S. allies' smallpox fears come in part from U.S. reports and -- especially
in Jordan -- from independent intelligence on the Iraqi threat. In an
interview, Kuwaiti ambassador Salem Abdullah Jaber Sabah acknowledged that
his government asked for vaccine last summer "in readiness for any
eventuality."

Two U.S. officials called the requests unlikely to be granted. The scarcity
of vaccine, and likely repercussions in domestic and coalition politics,
permit Bush to do no more, they said, than offer assurances of help if
Iraq's neighbors suffer an outbreak.

Cheney, who confronted biological threats as defense secretary years ago,
was energized about smallpox by a videotape and briefing shortly after Sept.
11, 2001. In a war game called Dark Winter, former senator Sam Nunn played a
president who failed to contain a fictional smallpox outbreak that began in
Oklahoma City. It spread in less than two weeks to 25 states and 15
countries overseas, inflicting "massive civilian casualties."

"It's a dramatic briefing," Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby,
recalled, "but we were well on this road already." Libby said Cheney favors
"a forward-leaning position on protecting Americans from this threat," but
declined to describe his advice to the president.

At Health and Human Services, officials said, Thompson has been influenced
by doubts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"If you look at the vice president's office, they're thinking strategic, not
public health," said one debate participant. He cited the swine flu debacle
of 1976, when President Gerald Ford had to abandon plans for universal
inoculation after people starting dying of the vaccine and others developed
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare and occasionally fatal paralysis. "If
something bad happens, the public is not going to be blaming Dick Cheney,
they're going to be blaming Tommy Thompson. And the fact is they're going to
be blaming the president. That's why the political people are weighing in,
and that's why the decision is still sitting on his desk."

Staff researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 Posted: 3:28 PM EST (2028 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Elements of a U.S. Marine division are being sent to the
East Africa nation of Djibouti to search for al Qaeda leaders, Pentagon
officials said Tuesday.

Members of the 2nd Marine Division will join other U.S. forces already in
the Horn of Africa to search for members of the terrorist network behind the
September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the military said.

The troop movement had been rumored for some months, and it could begin
moving within the next several days, sources told CNN.

The news follows reports in September that about 800 U.S. troops, including
about 200 personnel from special operations units and the CIA, had assembled
at a French base in Djibouti.

U.S. officials say al Qaeda leaders may be hiding in a variety of places
throughout the Horn of Africa after the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan last
year destroyed the terrorist network's base in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military asked last May to use Djibouti to train and acclimate
American forces for missions in the region, Djibouti's President Ismail Omar
Guelleh told CNN in September.

Topping the list of suspected hideouts is Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama
bin Laden's family. Al Qaeda is also blamed for the October 2000 suicide
attack on the destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, in which 17
U.S. sailors were killed.

Other spots in the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, are also thought to be
potential al Qaeda hideouts.

Hostages die in Moscow operation
Saturday, October 26, 2002 Posted: 7:28 AM EDT (1128 GMT)

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Sixty-seven hostages died during an operation to
free hundreds of captives held by Chechen rebels in a Moscow theatre and two
hostage-takers remain at large, Russian officials have said.

Thirty-four hostage-takers were also killed after Russian special forces,
the Federal Security Service, stormed the building at 5.30 a.m. local time
on Saturday after the Chechens began executing those being held, Russia's
deputy interior minister, Vladimir Vasilyev, said.

Movsar Barayev, the ringleader of the Chechen group, is confirmed dead and
at least two other members of it are being interrogated.

"We are grieving with those close to the 67 hostages who were lost. We
couldn't save them... We saved more than 750 people," Vasilyev said outside
the theatre, adding that there were no children among the dead.

But he said: "Two of the terrorists escaped and we are combing the
territory. They are hiding themselves in houses."

"Up to the last moment -- even now -- we were afraid there could be a major
explosion. This we managed to prevent," he said. "These people we're dealing
with are real scoundrels. They were constantly giving their threats. They
were threatening to start executions which they did. They threated to
explode the building."

Refering to reports that a gas injected into the theatres by special forces
ahead of the operation may have contributed to the deaths of some of the
hostages, he said: "This is not so.

"Of those who died, some were through stress, hunger and lack of medical
supplies that they needed."

All 75 foreign nationals, from 14 countries including Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, Britain and the United States, are
alive, diplomats said after the raid that ended the three-day siege.

Russia's Interfax reported two of the hostages were killed in the hours
before the activity intensified, and two others -- a woman and man --
suffered head injuries, a rescue official told the news agency.

About 20 bodies were seen being removed from the building in the heart of
the capital.

Some of the victims are feared to have choked to death on their own vomit
after special forces are reported to have used sleeping gas before raiding
the building, The Associated Press reported.

Many of the freed hostages appeared unconscious or in shock as they were
loaded into waiting buses and ambulances.

It was later reported that about 40 former hostages have been taken to
hospital in a "poor condition" after suffering from gas poisoning.

State Security chief Nikolai Patrushev had earlier claimed all the remaining
Chechens had been taken captive. "None of them managed to get away," he was
reported by Reuters as saying.

Pictures taken inside the theatre by Russian television showed some bodies
slumped in theatre seats or with their heads down on their arms as if they
had passed out. Bombs lay on seats or were still strapped to some of the
women hostage-takers' waists.

The building had reportedly been booby-trapped with mines laid at entrances
and exits and a huge bomb was said to have been placed in the centre of the
theatre.

Some explosions were heard as special forces deactivated the devices or
carried out controlled explosions.

Russia's deputy interior minister, Vladimir Vasilyev, said the Russian
forces were able to save many lives by preventing the explosion of the
building.

The end of the drama, which brought the distant Chechen war to the heart of
Moscow, will be a relief to President Vladimir Putin whose own position was
being tested by the crisis.

He called at one of Moscow's top hospitals to visit survivors before being
whisked away in his motorcade.

A senior envoy to Chechnya's rebel president on Saturday condemned the siege
by Chechen guerrillas.

Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy of elected Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov, told
Reuters: "We cannot come down to the level of our opponents, targetting
innocent people," alluding to alleged human rights abuses by Russian forces
in Chechnya.

He added: "We offer our condolences to the families of people that died in
these dramatic events."

The standoff, which had begun on Wednesday, had been a test for Russian
President Vladimir Putin who had refused to give in to the rebel
hostage-takers' demands that Russian military forces be removed from the
breakaway republic.

Explosions and gunfire heard
As troops moved in, loud explosions and heavy gunfire could be heard.

The rebels had said they were prepared to die for their cause, taking with
them as many "sinners" as possible.

"Most of the hostages have been saved and medical assistance is being
provided to the persons who were wounded during this operation," Vasilyev
said.

A Russian official said the rebels had started shooting their hostages
before the raid.

After the two hostages were killed several hostages attempted to escape and
came under fire from the rebels.

At this point, the Russian official said, special forces troops opened fire
to aid the escaping hostages and the full-scale assault on the theatre
followed.

The activity began with a single blast and was followed by a series of
explosions of different sizes. Bursts of automatic gun fire went on for a
period of about 15 minutes before dying down.

Heavily armed Russian security forces had the complex surrounded since
shortly after the siege began Wednesday night.

The audience had arrived at the theatre to see "Nord Ost," a popular
production of a classic Russian musical, when the rebels suddenly took over
the building during the second act on Wednesday evening.

Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya after a 1994-96 war but they returned
in 1999 and have since occupied most Chechen territory.

Moscow blames Chechen militants, who say they are fighting for independence,
for a series of bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people.

State of alert remains at "yellow," or "elevated"
Friday, October 25, 2002 Posted: 9:05 AM EDT (1305 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI is warning state and local law enforcement
officials that al Qaeda terrorists may be planning to target railroads in
the United States, including passenger trains and trains carrying hazardous
materials.

According to an FBI statement, the warning was prompted by information
obtained from al Qaeda detainees in mid-October, as well as recently
captured al Qaeda photographs of railroad engines, cars and crossings.

The information indicates that the group has considered targeting U.S.
passenger trains, possibly using operatives with a Western appearance, the
FBI said.

But no specific targets were mentioned, and the overall state of alert
remains at the "yellow," or "elevated" level.

The FBI said additional "protective measures" have been implemented along
railroads, "including increased presence of law enforcement officers,
increased surveillance of critical areas and improved physical protections."

Amtrak has increased patrols of its facilities and trains, and freight
railroads have also stepped up security, the FBI said.

The FBI said the information suggests that terrorists could try a number of
"attack strategies, such as destroying key rail bridges and sections of
track to cause derailments or targeting hazardous material containers."

On Tuesday, security chiefs from U.S. railroads received a briefing from the
Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency
contracted organizations representing chemical and petroleum companies, the
FBI said.

Office of Homeland Security reviewing the report
Friday, October 25, 2002 Posted: 2:15 AM EDT (0615 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The next terrorist strike against the United States could
be more deadly and disruptive than the September 11 attacks, former top
government officials, academics and business leaders warn in a new report.

"America remains dangerously unprepared to prevent and respond to a
catastrophic terrorist attack on U.S. soil," said the task force chaired by
former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colorado, and Warren Rudman, R-New Hampshire. The
report was released late Thursday.

Few ships, trucks and trains that enter the United States each day are
searched, the report said. Emergency personnel are unprepared for chemical
or biological attacks. Oil refineries and energy distribution lines could be
sabotaged. State and local police still lack access to State Department
terrorist watch lists.

"When it comes to combating terrorism, the police officers on the beat are
effectively operating deaf, dumb and blind," it said.

The report comes a week after CIA Director George Tenet warned that Osama
bin Laden's al Qaeda network is likely to strike against the United States
sometime soon and that the current situation is similar to what existed
before the September 11 attacks. Tenet previously said a terrorist attack
would be more likely if the United States takes military action against
Iraq.

Because a year has passed without a major terrorist attack against the
United States, the report says, "there are already signs that Americans are
lapsing back into complacency."

Rudman and Hart had led a previous commission whose warnings in January 2001
of the likelihood of catastrophic terrorist attacks seemed prophetic eight
months later. That commission, created by Congress, said the threat of
international terrorism was growing and recommended creating a Homeland
Security agency.

President Bush created a Homeland Security office shortly after the
September 11 attacks and has proposed creating a full Cabinet department,
but Congress has not yet approved it.

Hart and Rudman's latest panel was formed by the Council on Foreign
Relations. Its 17 members included former secretaries of State Warren
Christopher and George Schultz, former FBI and CIA Director William H.
Webster and retired Adm. William J. Crowe, former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.

In a forward, Leslie H. Gelb, the council's president, noted that federal,
state and local officials have taken many steps to strengthen homeland
security, but their effects won't be seen for some time. "You cannot turn a
nation as large and complex as this one on a dime," Gelb wrote.

The Office of Homeland Security is reviewing the council's report, said
spokesman Gordon Johndroe. He said many of its suggestions are similar to
what Bush has proposed.

"We continue to implement what we can and are hopeful that Congress will
appropriate and enact the homeland security initiatives that the president
placed before them," Johndroe said.

Among the panel's recommendations:

•Establish 24-hour operations centers in all states to provide terror watch
list information.

•Provide federal funds to clear the backlog of state and local government
requests for protective gear, training and communications equipment.

•Strengthen security for sea and land transportation.

•Evaluate areas of vulnerability for energy supplies and develop a stockpile
of backup components so energy operations could be restored if damaged.

•Strengthen health agencies' ability to detect disease outbreaks.

Iraq orders foreign journalists out
Thursday, October 24, 2002 Posted: 1704 GMT

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government will expel all foreign
journalists from the country next week, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

The move comes after furious complaints from the Iraqi government about the
reporting of several foreign journalists on assignment in the country.

Iraqi officials said that after the foreign journalists' dismissal they will
admit a small number back at some point under tough new rules.
Those new restrictions will limit foreign news organizations allowed into
Iraq to one non-Iraqi journalist per organization, and each visiting
journalist will be permitted to remain in Iraq for a maximum of 10 days at a
time.

Until foreign journalists are permitted back into Iraq, the only news
reporting from territory controlled by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- the
opposition Kurds hold much of northern Iraq -- will come from Iraqi
journalists, who are unable to report freely.

Among the journalists being expelled from Iraq is the only Western
correspondent permanently based there, CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf,
as well as CNN correspondents Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi.

Their expulsion follows Iraqi government outrage over CNN's Iraq reporting
and repeated Iraqi official allegations that CNN is a mouthpiece of the U.S.
government.

Iraqi officials were livid about CNN's reporting this week on an
unprecedented anti-government demonstration outside the Iraqi Information
Ministry in Baghdad. The officials said CNN lied when it reported Iraqi
authorities fired one or more guns into the air to disperse the protesters.

Iraqi officials said they also objected strongly to the presence and
reporting of a CNN team in Kurd-controlled northern Iraq -- reporting that
Iraqi officials said is unauthorized and offensive.

The expulsion order effectively will close CNN's 12-year-old Baghdad bureau.

Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive, said the planned expulsion is "a
draconian measure that will sharply curtail the world's knowledge about what
is happening in Iraq."

Jordan said CNN stands by Arraf and all of CNN's Iraq reporting, saying it
is "accurate, fair, and forthright."

Jordan dismissed as "absurd" Iraqi allegations that CNN is a U.S. government
propaganda service. Jordan added that "while CNN remains committed to
reporting to the extent possible from Iraq, CNN will not compromise its
journalistic principles in exchange for CNN access to any country."

From CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel
Monday, October 21, 2002 Posted: 6:36 PM EDT (2236 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a move sure to anger millions of Muslims in
Indonesia, the Bush administration will add Indonesia's radical Islamic
group Jemaah Islamiya to a list of foreign terrorist organizations this
week, a senior administration official told CNN.

CNN has also learned the Indonesian government, the largest Muslim country
in the world, has assured the United States it intends to make some
significant arrests of JI members in coming days.

Last week Indonesian authorities arrested the group's leader, Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, who instead of showing up for police questioning, checked himself
into a hospital.

The United States believes the JI network was behind this month's deadly
bomb attack in Bali.

The United States says JI linked to the al Qaeda network and some of its
members are known to have trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan

Powell says president would still be able to act unilaterally

NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
Oct. 20 —  The United States plans to introduce a resolution on Iraq to the
U.N. Security Council this week calling for full weapons inspections, the
destruction of weapons of mass destruction and spelling out the consequences
if Baghdad chooses not to comply, Secretary of State Colin Powell said
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
        “EARLY THIS WEEK, we will be putting down a full resolution for
consideration by all members of the council,” Powell told “Meet the Press”
host Tim Russert.
        However, Powell made it clear that the resolution would in no way
limit the power of President Bush to take military action alone.
        “The president has said clearly that if in that instance the United
Nations will not act, then the United States, with other like-minded
nations, will act,” he said. “And the resolution that’s under consideration
would in no way affect the president’s ability to do that in a negative way
if that’s what he chooses to do at the time.”
        Powell, who has spoken of “regime change” in Iraq for at least 18
months, also said Sunday the United States might not seek to remove Saddam
Hussein if he abandoned his weapons of mass destruction.
        It was the latest in a series of recent comments by Powell that
seemed to back away from the goal of deposing the Iraqi president, which
remains Bush administration policy.
        “We think the Iraqi people would be a lot better off with a different
leader, a different regime,” Powell said. “But the principal offense here is
weapons of mass destruction, and that’s what this (U.N.) resolution is
working on. The major issue before us is disarmament.”

RESOLUTION PROGRESSES
        On Friday French President Jacques Chirac said that U.N. talks on
Iraq were “making progress,” signaling that key Security Council members may
resolve the month-long stalemate on a resolution dealing with Iraq’s alleged
buildup of weapons of mass destruction. France has led the opposition to
initial U.S. proposals calling for immediate use of force against Iraq if
Baghdad does not meet demands for weapons inspections.
         The United States has softened its position, saying it would give
the Security Council a chance to react first if arms inspectors ruled that
Iraq was obstructing them.
        “What I don’t want in this matter is that it is described as a clash
... that’s not the issue,” Chirac said. “There’s no opposition between the
French thesis and the American thesis. There’s simply a French affirmation
of what it believes to be international law and common sense.”
        NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported earlier that France remained
dissatisfied with part of the compromise text offered by the United States.
        Although Washington has dropped its demand on an explicit trigger for
military action if Baghdad fails to comply with disarmament demands, France
remained wary of any threat before Iraq has a chance to prove its
willingness to grant weapons inspectors full access to its installations.
        U.S. diplomats insist on the need for only one resolution, instead of
France’s desire for two.
        But, according to Mitchell, the U.S. text will suggest that the
Security Council convene immediately if inspectors report difficulties or
failure by Iraq to cooperate.
        The language will not say that a second U.N. vote is necessary,
although it won’t rule it out, a strategy aimed at appeasing both sides.
        The U.S. compromise was drawn up with the help of its close ally
Britain. It was aimed at winning support from France, Russia and China, the
other three of the five members of the U.N. Security Council with veto
power.

U.N. CALLED BEST VENUE
        Meanwhile on Sunday, leaders of French-speaking nations concluded a
summit in Beirut where they affirmed the primacy of the United Nations in
dealing with Iraq.
        “We defend the primacy of international law and the primordial role
of the United Nations,” the summit’s final communiqué said.
        “We call for collective responsibility to resolve this Iraqi crisis,
and we call on Iraq to fully respect its obligations. We note with
satisfaction that Iraq has officially accepted the unconditional resumption
of United Nations inspections,” it added.

RUSSIA WEIGHS IN
        For its part, Russia suggested it was ready to support the United
States. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday that Moscow would support a
scenario in which the Security Council could pass a resolution authorizing
the use of force against Iraq if weapons inspectors run into problems.
         “If the inspectors began to work in Iraq and in the course of this
work problems appear, the inspectors should report what problems have
arisen. Then the U.N. Security Council should again consider this issue and
decide whether harsher measures, right up to the use of force, are
  required,” Ivanov said at a news conference in Moscow.
        A proposal to that effect is being put forward by the United States.
It calls for inspectors to “report immediately to the council any failure by
Iraq to comply with its disarmament,” according to excerpts of the new U.S.
proposal obtained by The Associated Press.
        If a failure is reported, the Security Council would convene
immediately “to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with
all the relevant council resolutions in order to restore international peace
and security.”

‘GATHERING DANGER’
        The crisis began five weeks ago when Bush addressed the U.N. General
Assembly and told skeptical world leaders to confront the “grave and
gathering danger” posed by Iraq — or stand aside as the United States acts.
        Iraq responded to the escalating threat of U.S. military action by
suddenly inviting U.N. weapons inspectors to return after barring them for
nearly four years. The inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 ahead of
U.S. and British airstrikes punishing Iraq for obstructing their work.
        Inspectors must certify that Iraq’s chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons programs have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after
its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted.
        The standoff among the five permanent, veto-wielding members has
dragged on for weeks behind closed doors. On Wednesday and Thursday, the
council held a public debate on the Iraq crisis for the first time.
        More than 60 countries spoke during the debate, which was requested
by the Non-Aligned Movement comprising 115 mainly developing countries
pressing for a peaceful solution.
        Ambassadors from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America
warned that a new war would add to the suffering of Iraqis, possibly engulf
the Middle East and have dire consequences for global stability. With the
exception of Britain and Israel, they refused to endorse the original U.S.
demand.

Israel bus blast: At least 8 dead
Monday, October 21, 2002 Posted: 12:19 PM EDT (1619 GMT)

Police said they suspect the blast was caused by suicide bombing

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- At least eight people are reported by Israeli television
to have been killed when a car exploded next to a bus in Karkur Junction
near the city of Hadera in northern Israel.

About 30 people were injured, Israeli police said.

"We can guess that it was a suicide bombing; all we know is a car came very
close to a bus and exploded," said Chaim Ponyamunski, a police spokesman.

After the explosion, the remains of the bus lay at a 90-degree angle to the
highway, its sheet-metal exterior stripped away, revealing its blackened,
smoking skeleton. Nearby cars, too, were damaged in the blast.

Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz said the explosion was reported just after 4:30
p.m. (1330 GMT) Monday, halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

"I heard an explosion and the entire bus burst into flames," one witness,
who gave his name as Avi, told Army Radio, The Associated Press reported.

In Jericho, Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat condemned the attack.
"We condemn on behalf of the Palestinian Authority this attack as much as we
condemn the killing of civilians, whether they are Israelis or Palestinians.
And we reiterate that the only way to break this vicious cycle of violence
is to restart a meaningful peace process."

"We are getting mixed messages from the Palestinian Authority and their
leader," said Ra'anan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"On one hand, [they are] calling publicly for peace, but on the other hand
continuing to support ... those suicide bombers who conducted the attack
today."

Thursday, October 17, 2002 Posted: 8:51 PM EDT

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Philippine authorities say Islamic extremists
may be behind a bombing attack in the southern Philippines.

Six people were killed and 144 injured after bombs exploded in two
department stores in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.

According to Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, a Philippine military spokesman,
there were a total of seven bombs. Police either defused or detonated five
of the devices, but two others exploded.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident is the latest
in a wave of attacks to hit the Philippines this month.

The first bomb went off at the Shop-o-Rama department store in the city at
about 11:40 a.m. local time (0340 GMT), killing at least three people.

Shortly afterwards, as police were defusing another bomb at the same
location, a second bomb exploded at another department store about a block
away, killing at least one person and wounding several others.

Police described the bombs as incendiary explosive devices and believe they
may have been detonated by timers. There has been no immediate claim of
responsibility for the blasts.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo immediately condemned the latest terrorist
strike to hit her impoverished country.

Rescue teams have rushed to the scene to treat the wounded.

One unidentified teenager, pressing a white towel to her forehead at the
medical center, told ABS-CBN television that she was walking in front of
Shop-o-Rama when she heard a loud explosion.

"I fell down and blood was oozing from my forehead," The Associated Press
reported her as saying, adding that she had soaked through three towels and
also had an arm injury but was being sent home after treatment, apparently
to make room for more seriously injured victims.

Recent attacks

An October 2 blast in Zamboanga killed four people, including a U.S. Green
Beret commando, and injured about two dozen others.

Officials blamed the attack on the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf -- tied
to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network -- which warned a week earlier it
would mount attacks on civilian, military and U.S. targets to retaliate for
the ongoing government offensive against Muslim rebels in the southern
Philippines.

Just over a week later, on October 10, an attack in a crowded bus station in
Kidapawan city -- also in the southern Philippines -- killed six people and
wounded ten others

The latest bombings come on the heels of a deadly terrorist attack on the
Island of Bali in Indonesia that killed more than 180 people over the
weekend.

Indonesian Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil has implicated al Qaeda for
the Saturday night explosions in a Bali entertainment district.

October 17, 2002

By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA Director George Tenet said on Thursday al Qaeda
has reorganized, is in an "execution phase" and intends to attack Americans
overseas and on U.S. soil, amid a threat situation as serious as in the
months leading up to last year's Sept. 11 attacks.

Tenet, at a joint hearing before the congressional intelligence committees,
also said the CIA and the FBI could not be flawless all the time in fighting
the terror threat.

"The threat environment we find ourselves in today is as bad as it was last
summer, the summer before 9/11," Tenet told the committees. "It is serious,
they've reconstituted, they are coming after us, they want to execute
attacks."

He issued a dire assessment.

"When you see the multiple attacks that you've seen occur around the world,
from Bali to Kuwait, the number of failed attacks that have been attempted,
the various messages that have been issued by senior al Qaeda leaders, you
must make the assumption that al Qaeda is in an execution phase and intends
to strike us both here and overseas, that's unambiguous as far as I am
concerned," Tenet said.

Earlier this month American troops were attacked in Kuwait and a bombing in
Bali killed more than 180 people. Qatar's al Jazeera television recently
broadcast tapes it says are of Osama bin Laden and his top aide Ayman
al-Zawahri.

The United States launched a war on terrorism last year with a military
campaign in Afghanistan to destroy bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which it
blamed for the hijacked plane strikes that killed 3,000 people on Sept. 11,
2001.

Despite routing al Qaeda forces and making some key arrests around the
world, the United States has not found bin Laden.

Code Red and the ReadyPrep BioRad Anti-Terror Preparation Kits are
listed under the "Links" on the LEFT hand side of this Yahoo Group,
and the Contents of these kits are described in Microsoft Word files
under "Files"

CIA Report is included in "Files" Link

see these in the "Files" link on this Yahoo Group

-- PUBLIC-Safety_Plan.doc
Safety Plan in Preparation for Terror Attack with Evacuation Options from MD
Suburb of Washington DC and Evacuation from Manhattan NYC - Size: 2740 KB

-- Personal Preparedness Guide (Folder)
Anti-terror Preparedness Guides from Washington Post (Adobe PDF Files)

-- UK-Dossier-on-Iraq-Threat.doc - Size: 241 KB

-- smallpox-vax-clinic-guide.pdf
Smallpox Vaccination Guide for Clinics - Size: 950 KB

U.S.: North Korea admits nuke program
From Andrea Koppel and John King
CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, October 17, 2002 Posted: 9:07 AM EDT (1307 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- North Korea has revealed to the United States that it
has a secret and active nuclear weapons program begun years after it
promised to never again to pursue such a course, the White House said late
Wednesday.

One senior administration official said Pyongyang made the acknowledgment
only after it was confronted with evidence that it has a uranium-based
program and enough plutonium for at least two nuclear weapons.

The North's admission prompted urgent consultations among the United States,
Japan and South Korea -- the three nations that North Korea had promised
under the so-called "agreed framework."

The diplomatic term describes the 1994 agreement under which North Korea
said it would no longer seek to develop nuclear weapons.

In exchange, the United States and others agreed to help build two light
water nuclear reactors to replace the plutonium-producing reactors Pyongyang
was using, The Associated Press reported.

The reactors were being financed mostly by South Korea and Japan.
Construction of the
reactors began just two months ago.

The agreement also called for inspections to verify that the terms were
being adhered to, but so far Pyongyang has blocked all attempts to make such
inspections.
North Korea confirmed U.S. suspicions earlier this month during a high-level
U.S. visit to Pyongyang, led by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state
for Asian affairs.
The senior official said the revelation came in a meeting between Kelly and
a top North Korean official, Kang Suk Ju, described as the equivalent of
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's right-hand man. These were the first such
high level discussions between the two nations in two years.

The official said Kelly told Kang that the United States knew the country
had a secret nuclear weapons program using "different technology" from that
used prior to 1994, and that North Korea had saved enough plutonium for at
least two nuclear weapons.

The North Korean official then shocked Kelly when he looked at him and said
"something to the effect of, 'Your president called us a member of the axis
of evil. ... Your troops are deployed on the Korean peninsula. ... Of
course, we have a nuclear program,'" according to the senior administration
source, who was briefed on the meeting.

"They are in material breach of the agreed framework," said White House
spokesman Sean McCormack.

"We seek a peaceful resolution of this situation," McCormack said, according
to the AP. "Everyone in the region has a stake in this issue and no peaceful
nation wants to see a nuclear-armed North Korea."

This statue of the late longtime North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, graces a
plaza in Pyongyang.

"The United States and our allies call on North Korea to comply with its
commitments under the nonproliferation treaty and to eliminate its nuclear
weapons program in a verifiable manner," he said.

Following North Korea's admission, McCormack said a series of internal
administration meetings about how to respond were held, culminating in a
National Security Council meeting on the issue Tuesday.

President Bush is scheduled to meet jointly with the prime ministers of
Japan and South Korea later this month at the annual Asian Pacific economic
summit.

The development means the United States must end efforts to improve
relations with North Korea, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

"The United States was prepared to offer economic and political steps to
improve the lives of the North Korean people, provided the North were
dramatically to alter its behavior across a range of issues, including its
weapons of mass destruction programs, development and export of ballistic
missiles, threats to its neighbors, support for terrorism, and the
deplorable treatment of the North Korean people," Boucher said in a
statement.

"In light of our concerns about the North's nuclear weapons program,
however, we are unable to pursue this approach." (Full statement)

Another senior administration official said the United States has told North
Korea it had "violated" the agreed framework and that the agreement was now
"nullified."
Boucher said Pyongyang also has violated the Nonproliferation Treaty, its
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement, and the Joint
North-South Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea told U.S. officials it was no longer bound by the anti-nuclear
agreement, U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the
AP.

A CIA report in January said that during the second half of last year, North
Korea "continued its attempts [to] procure technology worldwide that could
have applications in its nuclear program," the AP reported.

"We assess that North Korea has produced enough plutonium for at least one,
and possibly two, nuclear weapons," the report said.

Another senior U.S. official told CNN that Washington received intelligence
"back over the summer months" indicating that North Korea had a nuclear
weapons program involving the use of highly enriched uranium.

The intelligence, the official said, indicated the program was launched in
the late 1990s -- several years after North Korea signed the agreement with
the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The official said that when Kelly confronted the top North Korean official
with information about the nuclear weapons program on October 4, the North
Koreans were "belligerent" but did not dispute the U.S. claim and "showed
not a hint of remorse."
The administration had already shared some of its intelligence with key
congressional committees.

In his State of the Union address earlier this year, Bush referred to North
Korea as a member of the "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran -- a
statement rejected by Pyongyang.

Previously, U.S. fears over North Korea centered on its sale of ballistic
missile technology to other countries, including Iran and Syria.

In August 1998, North Korea launched a rocket that flew over Japan. The
launch prompted Japan to start work on an anti-missile shield, and the
United States agreed to cooperate with the project.

At first, U.S. intelligence agencies told lawmakers in private briefings the
North Koreans fired a three-stage ballistic missile. Analysts later
concluded the rocket was a failed satellite launch, as North Korea reported
at the time.

After months of tension with South Korea, the North resumed high-level talks
in August that restarted stalled reconciliation efforts on the Korean
peninsula -- divided by the most heavily armed border in the world, the AP
reported.

The Koreas were divided following World War II and continued that way at the
end of the inconclusive Korean War from 1950 to 1953. The United States
still stations about 37,000 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against
North Korea, according to the AP.

Sunday, October 13, 2002.  8:55 AM EDT.
KUTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Described as the worst act of terrorism in
Indonesia's history, a massive car bomb is believed responsible for a blast
that tore through a nightclub in Bali, killing more than 180 people -- most
of them thought to be Australian tourists.

The death toll from the bombing stood at 182 late Sunday afternoon, with at
least 250 people injured, many with severe burns, stretching local hospital
and medical facilities to breaking point.

Reports Sunday night indicated the death toll could exceed 210.
Saturday night's explosion virtually destroyed the Sari Club in the Kuta
Beach tourist area, a destination popular with international visitors, and
swept through an entire city block.

In what police believe was a coordinated attack, another bomb exploded
almost at the same time near the island's U.S. consular office. There were
no reports of casualties in that blast.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, which were condemned by
Australian Prime Minister John Howard as "wicked, cowardly and barbaric
acts."

Act of terrorism
Howard said that it was the view of both Australian and Indonesian
authorities that the explosions in Bali were an act of terrorism.
His counterpart, Indonesian President Mewgawati Sukarnoputri -- whose
government has been accused of failing to respond fast enough to terror
threats -- flew to Bali and promised to cooperate with the international
community in the fight against terrorism.
"The bombings once again, should be a warning for all of us that terrorism
constitutes a real danger and potential threat to the national security,"
Megawati told reporters on Sunday.
She toured hospitals in Bali before returning to Jakarta.
Investigators at the scene in Kuta were analyzing a huge 1.5-meter crater
and a car engine block at the blast site looking for clues to the type of
bomb.
Although Jarkarta has been cautious in publicly labeling the bombings a
criminal attack rather than an act of terrorism, top Indonesian security
officials say they are investigating any links between the attack and the al
Qaeda terrorist network.
"This is a terrorist and not a criminal act," a top security source told
CNN.
"I believe it was the work of local people who may have links or were
working with foreign groups," the official added. (Indonesia probes al Qaeda
links)
Al Qaeda connections?

Police and other authorities at the bomb site in Kuta
Indonesian national police chief Dai Bachtiar said the bomb blasts were
proof of the existence of terrorist acts in the country and apologized for
the deadly incident.
"This is the worst act of terror in Indonesia's history," he said. "We have
to be more alert for other acts of terror."
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there were "preliminary
indications" that an Islamic radical group could be behind the attack.
"We have been very concerned about terrorist organizations operating in
southeast Asia , including Indonesia, organizations such as Jemaah Islamiah,
and there are at least preliminary indications that one of those types of
organizations is behind this," Downer told CNN.

Jemaah Islamiah -- a group that authorities believe is al Qaeda's network in
Southeast Asia -- is blamed for a September 23 grenade explosion near a U.S.
Embassy warehouse in Jakarta.
International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation late Sunday that Jemaah Islamiah, or JI, was the
most likely culprit for the Bali attack.
The head of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), Abu Bakar Baasyir, has
denied any involvement in the Bali bombing. Baasyir's name has been linked
in the past to al Qaeda, a linkage he has rejected.
In September, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta closed for six days due to threats
linked to al Qaeda.
Ambassador Ralph Boyce told CNN the Bali attack was "a despicable act of
terrorism" and that over recent weeks new details had emerged that "more or
less confirm" al Qaeda's presence in the country.
Asked about Indonesian efforts to crack down on terrorism, Boyce said: "I
think the efforts are going to have to be redoubled, if not more so, in
response to this terrible act, and I think I see every evidence that they
are intent on doing so."

Death toll
Authorities believe the death toll is likely to rise. Identifying victims is
proving difficult with many bodies charred beyond recognition.
Among the dead, injured and missing are nationals from Australia, Britain,
France, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Indonesia.
As at 7:00 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) the Australian Department of Foreign
Affairs had confirmed that seven Australian nationals had been killed in the
explosions. Approximately 40 were injured, 15 seriously, and a large number
remain missing.
Two Britons have been confirmed killed and 27 others injured, the British
Foreign Office said. The victim's families had been informed, but no further
details were released. Twelve of the injured Britons have left hospital and
six are still being treated, although there was no immediate word on their
condition.
Bali is a popular holiday destination and particularly popular with
Australians. Many of the tourists in Bali over the weekend were attending an
international rugby tournament.
Downer said he believed the Sari Club was targeted because it was popular
with Australians and other international tourists.
The Australian air force sent two aircraft complete with medical and
evacuation teams to Bali on Sunday to take some of the injured to hospitals
in Australia. The first one arrived in Bali late Sunday and was due back in
the northern Australian city of Darwin about midnight local time. (1430 GMT)
(Medical teams rush in)
Another Australian two air force aircraft are being readied in Darwin for
possible despatch to Bali.
A shortage of supplies and facilities in Bali have prompted appeals for
urgent medical assistance.
Extra flights have also been scheduled to ferry Australian and other
tourists to Australia.

Plots, evidence and chatter put U.S. on alert House of Representatives Gives
Bush Authority to Go To War
Kuwait warns of attacks on U.S. schools, military

Thursday, October 10, 2002.  9:04 PM EDT.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With al Qaeda "chatter" on the rise, senior U.S.
officials are increasingly concerned about possible terrorist attacks
against U.S. interests, including an alleged plot targeting American
schoolteachers and their schools within Kuwait.

The concern was reinforced Thursday when French and U.S. investigators
reached a preliminary conclusion that Sunday's explosion aboard a French oil
tanker in Yemen was the work of terrorists. One crewman was killed in the
blast, which spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the sea.

U.S. investigators said TNT residue, fiberglass and small marine engine
parts were found aboard the Limburg -- appearing as if the explosion
mirrored the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000, when a bomb-laden
dinghy blew a hole in the side of the ship, killing 17 U.S. sailors.

A junior officer aboard the French tanker reported a boat quickly
approaching shortly before the explosion, said a spokesman for the ship's
operator, France Shipmanagement.

One senior Pentagon official said a local newspaper in Yemen received a
communication from an Islamic group claiming responsibility for the tanker
explosion. It was not immediately known if the group has direct ties to al
Qaeda.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said the ministry
directed all French diplomatic missions in the region to take all necessary
steps to avoid risk.

House of Representatives Gives Bush Authority to Go To War

The House of Representatives voted to give President Bush authority to go to
war to disarm Iraq. The measure authorizes him to use U.S. troops to enforce
U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring Iraq to give up weapons of mass
destruction

U.S. issues 'worldwide caution'

The level of concern over a potential attack on U.S. interests has only
intensified since two taped al Qaeda statements -- one purportedly from
Osama bin Laden, the other possibly from his top lieutenant -- were released
within the past week.

Senior U.S. officials said the two messages are "cause for concern."
U.S. intelligence officials give more credence to the tape from bin Laden's
top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, because he names current events, including
the September 11 anniversary and potential U.S. military action against
Iraq. Analysts estimated the tape was made as recently as July.

On the tape, the man believed to al-Zawahiri -- a key al Qaeda strategist
who was indicted in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa -- warns of
fresh attacks against the United States, its economy and its allies. France
was among the allies named as targets.

Senior-level detainees in the war against terrorism told U.S. officials the
al-Zawahiri tape would never have been released if there was not already
another attack planned, the officials said.

Senior officials in the U.S. intelligence community also are concerned about
the current high level of "chatter" and communications between suspected al
Qaeda members.

With the threats swirling, the State Department issued a new "worldwide
caution" warning Americans abroad to be on alert for a possible attack by
the al Qaeda terrorist network.

"The U.S. government continues to receive credible indications that
extremist groups and individuals are planning additional terrorist actions
against U.S. interests," the advisory read.

The FBI overnight Wednesday sent a terrorist threat advisory to law
enforcement agencies nationwide telling them to "implement additional
prudent steps to detect, disrupt, deter, and defend against potential
attacks."

Of particular concern to counterterrorism officials are the threats
associated with the al-Zawahiri tape because it cites a threat to U.S.
economic interests.

"The coordinated release of these statements, coupled with our knowledge of
ongoing plotting by al Qaeda members and threat information described by
detainees, strengthens previous assessments that al Qaeda continues to plan
major attacks against U.S. interests," the FBI advisory said.

Kuwait finds diagrams, plans for attack
In another development, senior military officials said the Kuwaiti Ministry
of Interior told the U.S. government it believed American schoolteachers and
their schools in Kuwait are targeted for terrorist attacks as well as U.S.
military and diplomatic installations.

Pentagon officials said Kuwaitis warned them the next possible attack would
be a "multi-story" target. Kuwait is a tiny nation tucked between Iraq and
Saudi Arabia.

An independent Kuwaiti newspaper also reported investigators uncovered
diagrams and plans for an attack, possibly against an embassy facility or a
school.

The new warning came days after a U.S. Marine was killed on a Kuwaiti island
Tuesday and another wounded when two assailants -- believed to have ties
with al Qaeda -- opened fire on Marines during a training exercise. Both
shooters were killed by U.S. military police.

Kuwaiti officials said the attack may have been the "first response" to the
messages on the tapes.

Since the Tuesday attack, Kuwaiti authorities have rounded up more than 200
people, including about 30 Islamic fundamentalists who admitted going to
Pakistan or Afghanistan for training.

Five individuals in custody admitted to a direct role in the attack, and
Kuwaiti authorities said they were searching for three or four others.
One of those under investigation is the head of Kuwait's main mosque, which
essentially serves as the state mosque.

Well-placed Kuwaiti sources said Yasser al-Failakawi -- the imam of the
Grand Mosque of Kuwait where politicians and royalty come to pray -- may
have helped the two assailants get on the island to carry out the attack.
On Wednesday, gunmen pulled up next to a U.S. military Humvee on the Kuwaiti
mainland and drew a weapon. One of the two U.S. troops in the Humvee fired a
shot, forcing the assailants to swerve off the road. The U.S. forces were
not injured.

Later, two occupants of the vehicle told investigators they had only a cell
phone when they approached the Humvee.

Thursday, three Marines participating in a training exercise in Kuwait were
wounded when a piece of ordnance exploded when they either walked or drove
over it.

Pentagon officials said they believed the incident was an accident, although
they were investigating. It was not immediately clear what kind of device
went off.

In other developments:
The House of Representatives voted to give President Bush authority to go to
war to disarm Iraq. The measure authorizes him to use U.S. troops to enforce
U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring Iraq to give up weapons of mass
destruction

Enaam Arnaout, executive director of the Benevolence International
Foundation, based near Chicago, will be arraigned next week on charges of
funneling money to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. (Full story)
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr, Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena
and producers Elise Labott, Mike Mount and Hugh Williams contributed to this
report.

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