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CIA chief: Al Qaeda can still do 9/11 style attack
Washington, Feb 25: CIA director George Tenet said that despite strides made against al Qaeda it remained capable of conducting an attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, and he warned of dangers from broader anti-American sentiment among Muslim extremists.
Washington, Feb 25: CIA director George Tenet said that despite strides made against al Qaeda it remained capable of conducting an attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, and he warned of dangers from broader anti-American sentiment among Muslim extremists.
''We are still at war,'' Tenet said yesterday at an annual
Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on world-wide threats. Al Qaeda
remained committed to attacking the united states and its allies, he
added.
''Across the operational spectrum -- air, maritime, special weapons -- we have time and again uncovered plots that are chilling,'' tenet said.
Authorities had uncovered aircraft plots that included new plans to recruit pilots and evade new security measures in south east Asia, the West Asia and Europe, he said.
''Even catastrophic attacks on the scale of 9/11 remain within al Qaeda's reach,'' Tenet said.
Al Qaeda was blamed for the Sept. 11 hijacked aircraft attacks that killed about 3,000 people. U.S. forces have been hunting down members of the network but have not yet found leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding in the mountainous border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tenet said al Qaeda continued to lose safe havens from which to operate and bin Laden ''has gone deeper underground”.
Pakistani troops yesterday detained 25 people in raids on hide-outs of al Qaeda and Taliban militants in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border.
Also, an audio tape of bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, which the CIA said was probably authentic, was broadcast yesterday by al Jazeera television in which he warned President George W. Bush to prepare for more attacks.
FBI director Robert Mueller described al Qaeda as flexible and adaptable with the capability to strike ''with little or no warning'' inside the United States and overseas.
''There are strong indications that al Qaeda will revisit missed targets until they succeed, such as they did with the World Trade Center,'' Mueller said. ''The list of missed targets now includes the White House as well as the Capitol.''
Bureau Report
''Across the operational spectrum -- air, maritime, special weapons -- we have time and again uncovered plots that are chilling,'' tenet said.
Authorities had uncovered aircraft plots that included new plans to recruit pilots and evade new security measures in south east Asia, the West Asia and Europe, he said.
''Even catastrophic attacks on the scale of 9/11 remain within al Qaeda's reach,'' Tenet said.
Al Qaeda was blamed for the Sept. 11 hijacked aircraft attacks that killed about 3,000 people. U.S. forces have been hunting down members of the network but have not yet found leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding in the mountainous border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tenet said al Qaeda continued to lose safe havens from which to operate and bin Laden ''has gone deeper underground”.
Pakistani troops yesterday detained 25 people in raids on hide-outs of al Qaeda and Taliban militants in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border.
Also, an audio tape of bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, which the CIA said was probably authentic, was broadcast yesterday by al Jazeera television in which he warned President George W. Bush to prepare for more attacks.
FBI director Robert Mueller described al Qaeda as flexible and adaptable with the capability to strike ''with little or no warning'' inside the United States and overseas.
''There are strong indications that al Qaeda will revisit missed targets until they succeed, such as they did with the World Trade Center,'' Mueller said. ''The list of missed targets now includes the White House as well as the Capitol.''
Bureau Report