p_p_man
The 'Euro' European
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"Bush knew of terrorist plot to hijack US planes
Jason Burke and Ed Vulliamy in New York
Sunday May 19, 2002
The Observer
George Bush received specific warnings in the weeks before 11 September that an attack inside the United States was being planned by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, US government sources said yesterday.
In a top-secret intelligence memo headlined 'Bin Laden determined to strike in the US', the President was told on 6 August that the Saudi-born terrorist hoped to 'bring the fight to America' in retaliation for missile strikes on al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998.
Bush and his aides, who are facing withering criticism for failing to act on a series of warnings, have previously said intelligence experts had not advised them domestic targets were considered at risk. However, they have admitted they were specifically told that hijacks were being planned.
The news comes as unease about prosecution of the war in Afghanistan grows. British troops deployed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost failed yesterday to locate any of the al-Qaeda fighters who, it is claimed, ambushed an Australian SAS patrol.
Senior sources at the Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters who were being pursued were numbered in 'tens'. Escape routes have been cut off by coalition forces, the sources said.
'There has been no combat. We have established a forward operating base and are now clearing the area,' said Lt-Col Ben Curry, spokesman for the Royal Marines at Bagram air base.
MoD sources also said that the mystery illness which has struck British troops at Bagram has been identified as the winter vomiting disease which swept Britain earlier this year. The disease is common around the world and is caused by poor sanitation and hygeine. One possibility is that food brought in by civilian contractors through Pakistan may be to blame.
An American operation in the east of Afghanistan has also been criticised after hundreds of troops deployed after a series of missile attacks on US troops in Khost failed to find the enemy or to prevent new attacks.
For the first time in the war on terrorism, which has pushed his popularity levels to almost unheard of heights, Bush and his administration are on the defensive. The White House has revealed that Bush asked for an intelligence analysis of al-Qaeda attacks within the US because most of the information presented to him over the summer focused on threats to targets overseas.
However, there are growing demands for an independent investigation. The intelligence services have already been heavily criticised for failing to act on a series of clues that might have led them to the hijackers.
Sources quoted by the Washington Post and ABC TV said that at least two names listed in a July 2001 FBI memo about an Arizona flight school had been identified by the CIA as having links to al-Qaeda. But the memo was not acted on or distributed to outside agencies.
And, while administration officials have said repeatedly that intelligence analysts never imagined that terrorists would use planes in a suicide attack, a 1999 report for the National Intelligence Council warned that fanatics loyal to bin Laden might try to hijack a jetliner and fly it into the Pentagon.
The memo received by Bush on 6 August contained unconfirmed information passed on by British intelligence in 1998 revealing that al-Qaeda operatives had discussed hijacking a plane to negotiate the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Muslim cleric imprisoned in America for his part in a plot to blow up the World Trade Centre in 1993.
Plans for ousting the Taliban and dismantling the al-Qaeda network were already under way when the terrorists struck in New York and at the Pentagon. One option was to arm Afghanistan's Northern Alliance - a ploy eventually used successfully during the war last autumn."
"The Sunday Times - World
May 19, 2002
Bin Laden film vows revenge on the UK
Dipesh Gadher
AN ENCRYPTED video containing previously unseen footage of Osama Bin Laden singling out Britain as a terrorist target has been obtained by The Sunday Times.
The 40-minute propaganda film includes an interview with the Al-Qaeda leader, recorded after the start of the West's offensive in Afghanistan, in which he compares the conflict with the medieval crusade led by Richard the Lion-Heart.
Another short section shows the terrorist warlord speaking about martyrdom against the backdrop of a fertile plain and hills that his supporters claim, was filmed just eight weeks ago. If true, it would provide the first evidence that Bin Laden survived the recent allied attacks on the Tora Bora mountain complex in Afghanistan.
The film's existence is revealed as US intelligence agencies report a number of communications among Al-Qaeda members that suggest the organisation is plotting to carry out an operation at least as big as the September 11 attacks.
Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokesman, said last night that the agencies had received "non-specific" information that Al-Qaeda could be planning to rent a flat and pack it with explosives. She said that FBI offices and local apartment managers around the country had been alerted.
Last Friday a London-based Arabic newspaper claimed that Mullah Omar, the former Taliban leader, whose whereabouts are also unknown, had confirmed in an interview that Bin Laden was still alive.
According to a Birmingham-based Islamic news agency, which obtained the film of Bin Laden, it was passed to one of its journalists by a Pakistani intelligence official who said the "new" segment had been filmed in March.
The tape arrived in Britain on an encrypted CD-Rom and was decoded by the agency last week. The "new" footage shows Bin Laden sitting under a tree outside a stone building on what appears to be a pleasant spring evening, wearing a camouflage jacket and an Afghan pakul hat. He is filmed discussing jihad and martyrdom with several armed henchmen.
In the sequence Bin Laden appears more gaunt than in previous footage and his delivery lacks some of the zeal of previous broadcasts.
"Concerning the situation that we are in, we must praise Allah that he has allowed us to follow the path of [men who are among] the best of creation," he says. Quoting from an Islamic scripture, Bin Laden adds: "I wish that I would go to jihad and die."
Whitehall sources, who have yet to view the film, said the transcript did not provide enough clues to date it. Other experts were sceptical that Bin Laden was still alive, believing Al-Qaeda would have publicised his survival more directly.
The film is interspersed with images of the attacks on the World Trade Center and footage of western leaders meeting their Middle Eastern counterparts. One clip shows Tony Blair being greeted by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The film also includes a lengthy tribute to Al-Qaeda men allegedly killed in action.
The opening sequence, however, is likely to be of greatest interest to the British authorities. It features an interview with Bin Laden carried out by a reporter from Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based television station.
Filmed by Al-Qaeda cameramen last October, it has not been broadcast to date because Al-Jazeera executives judged that they had not had sufficient control over the interview.
Bin Laden makes it clear that any country siding with Israel and America is a target for Islamic terrorists. "The war is between us and the Jews," he says. "Any country that steps into the same trench as the Jews has only herself to blame."
Referring to an earlier warning made by Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a spokesman for Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden adds that if the sheikh "specifically targeted Britain and America — this war is not confined to them — it served as an opportunity for other nations to revise their stance".
He then proceeds to draw parallels between the war on terror and the crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. "This war is similar to the previous crusades, led by Richard the Lion-Heart, [King Frederick] Barbarossa of Germany and Louis [IX] of France. In the present age, they rally behind [George] Bush," he says.
Shortly after becoming king of England in 1189, Richard I set out on the third crusade and in 1191 captured Acre, in what is now Israel. His most notorious act was ordering the execution of 2,700 Muslim prisoners.
Another part of the film features images of several Al-Qaeda "martyrs" believed to have been killed in fighting in Kandahar.
Intelligence officials in Washington who have intercepted Al-Qaeda communications say they have increased in the past month and relate to a possible attack in Europe, the Arabian peninsula or America. Some information has come from interviews with fighters captured in Afghanistan."
ppman
Jason Burke and Ed Vulliamy in New York
Sunday May 19, 2002
The Observer
George Bush received specific warnings in the weeks before 11 September that an attack inside the United States was being planned by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, US government sources said yesterday.
In a top-secret intelligence memo headlined 'Bin Laden determined to strike in the US', the President was told on 6 August that the Saudi-born terrorist hoped to 'bring the fight to America' in retaliation for missile strikes on al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998.
Bush and his aides, who are facing withering criticism for failing to act on a series of warnings, have previously said intelligence experts had not advised them domestic targets were considered at risk. However, they have admitted they were specifically told that hijacks were being planned.
The news comes as unease about prosecution of the war in Afghanistan grows. British troops deployed near the eastern Afghan city of Khost failed yesterday to locate any of the al-Qaeda fighters who, it is claimed, ambushed an Australian SAS patrol.
Senior sources at the Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters who were being pursued were numbered in 'tens'. Escape routes have been cut off by coalition forces, the sources said.
'There has been no combat. We have established a forward operating base and are now clearing the area,' said Lt-Col Ben Curry, spokesman for the Royal Marines at Bagram air base.
MoD sources also said that the mystery illness which has struck British troops at Bagram has been identified as the winter vomiting disease which swept Britain earlier this year. The disease is common around the world and is caused by poor sanitation and hygeine. One possibility is that food brought in by civilian contractors through Pakistan may be to blame.
An American operation in the east of Afghanistan has also been criticised after hundreds of troops deployed after a series of missile attacks on US troops in Khost failed to find the enemy or to prevent new attacks.
For the first time in the war on terrorism, which has pushed his popularity levels to almost unheard of heights, Bush and his administration are on the defensive. The White House has revealed that Bush asked for an intelligence analysis of al-Qaeda attacks within the US because most of the information presented to him over the summer focused on threats to targets overseas.
However, there are growing demands for an independent investigation. The intelligence services have already been heavily criticised for failing to act on a series of clues that might have led them to the hijackers.
Sources quoted by the Washington Post and ABC TV said that at least two names listed in a July 2001 FBI memo about an Arizona flight school had been identified by the CIA as having links to al-Qaeda. But the memo was not acted on or distributed to outside agencies.
And, while administration officials have said repeatedly that intelligence analysts never imagined that terrorists would use planes in a suicide attack, a 1999 report for the National Intelligence Council warned that fanatics loyal to bin Laden might try to hijack a jetliner and fly it into the Pentagon.
The memo received by Bush on 6 August contained unconfirmed information passed on by British intelligence in 1998 revealing that al-Qaeda operatives had discussed hijacking a plane to negotiate the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Muslim cleric imprisoned in America for his part in a plot to blow up the World Trade Centre in 1993.
Plans for ousting the Taliban and dismantling the al-Qaeda network were already under way when the terrorists struck in New York and at the Pentagon. One option was to arm Afghanistan's Northern Alliance - a ploy eventually used successfully during the war last autumn."
"The Sunday Times - World
May 19, 2002
Bin Laden film vows revenge on the UK
Dipesh Gadher
AN ENCRYPTED video containing previously unseen footage of Osama Bin Laden singling out Britain as a terrorist target has been obtained by The Sunday Times.
The 40-minute propaganda film includes an interview with the Al-Qaeda leader, recorded after the start of the West's offensive in Afghanistan, in which he compares the conflict with the medieval crusade led by Richard the Lion-Heart.
Another short section shows the terrorist warlord speaking about martyrdom against the backdrop of a fertile plain and hills that his supporters claim, was filmed just eight weeks ago. If true, it would provide the first evidence that Bin Laden survived the recent allied attacks on the Tora Bora mountain complex in Afghanistan.
The film's existence is revealed as US intelligence agencies report a number of communications among Al-Qaeda members that suggest the organisation is plotting to carry out an operation at least as big as the September 11 attacks.
Debbie Weierman, an FBI spokesman, said last night that the agencies had received "non-specific" information that Al-Qaeda could be planning to rent a flat and pack it with explosives. She said that FBI offices and local apartment managers around the country had been alerted.
Last Friday a London-based Arabic newspaper claimed that Mullah Omar, the former Taliban leader, whose whereabouts are also unknown, had confirmed in an interview that Bin Laden was still alive.
According to a Birmingham-based Islamic news agency, which obtained the film of Bin Laden, it was passed to one of its journalists by a Pakistani intelligence official who said the "new" segment had been filmed in March.
The tape arrived in Britain on an encrypted CD-Rom and was decoded by the agency last week. The "new" footage shows Bin Laden sitting under a tree outside a stone building on what appears to be a pleasant spring evening, wearing a camouflage jacket and an Afghan pakul hat. He is filmed discussing jihad and martyrdom with several armed henchmen.
In the sequence Bin Laden appears more gaunt than in previous footage and his delivery lacks some of the zeal of previous broadcasts.
"Concerning the situation that we are in, we must praise Allah that he has allowed us to follow the path of [men who are among] the best of creation," he says. Quoting from an Islamic scripture, Bin Laden adds: "I wish that I would go to jihad and die."
Whitehall sources, who have yet to view the film, said the transcript did not provide enough clues to date it. Other experts were sceptical that Bin Laden was still alive, believing Al-Qaeda would have publicised his survival more directly.
The film is interspersed with images of the attacks on the World Trade Center and footage of western leaders meeting their Middle Eastern counterparts. One clip shows Tony Blair being greeted by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The film also includes a lengthy tribute to Al-Qaeda men allegedly killed in action.
The opening sequence, however, is likely to be of greatest interest to the British authorities. It features an interview with Bin Laden carried out by a reporter from Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based television station.
Filmed by Al-Qaeda cameramen last October, it has not been broadcast to date because Al-Jazeera executives judged that they had not had sufficient control over the interview.
Bin Laden makes it clear that any country siding with Israel and America is a target for Islamic terrorists. "The war is between us and the Jews," he says. "Any country that steps into the same trench as the Jews has only herself to blame."
Referring to an earlier warning made by Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a spokesman for Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden adds that if the sheikh "specifically targeted Britain and America — this war is not confined to them — it served as an opportunity for other nations to revise their stance".
He then proceeds to draw parallels between the war on terror and the crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. "This war is similar to the previous crusades, led by Richard the Lion-Heart, [King Frederick] Barbarossa of Germany and Louis [IX] of France. In the present age, they rally behind [George] Bush," he says.
Shortly after becoming king of England in 1189, Richard I set out on the third crusade and in 1191 captured Acre, in what is now Israel. His most notorious act was ordering the execution of 2,700 Muslim prisoners.
Another part of the film features images of several Al-Qaeda "martyrs" believed to have been killed in fighting in Kandahar.
Intelligence officials in Washington who have intercepted Al-Qaeda communications say they have increased in the past month and relate to a possible attack in Europe, the Arabian peninsula or America. Some information has come from interviews with fighters captured in Afghanistan."
ppman
