US: Despite the arrest of more than 1,000 suspects in 60 countries "al- Qaeda has not yet been destroyed," the head of the CIA, Mr George Tenet, told the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. From Patrick Smyth, Washington Correspondent
He said the network was still a potent force that was seeking nuclear and biological weapons and had plans for more attacks on America and its allies.
"Al-Qaeda leaders still at large are working to reconstitute the organisation and resume its terrorist operations," he said. "We must be prepared for a long war, and we must not falter." The CIA director, attending his first Congressional hearing since September 11th, said "high-profile events such as the Olympics or last weekend's Super Bowl also fit the terrorists' interests in striking another blow within the United States that would command worldwide media attention."
Although much criticised for failing to warn the US of the attacks, Mr Tenet defended the agency saying it had disrupted "numerous terrorist attacks since September 11th, and we will continue to do so."
But he said, "There will be nothing we do that will guarantee 100 per cent certainty. It will never happen."
The CIA had known that terrorists might be planning attacks against US interests last summer, including knowing "in broad terms" that Osama bin Laden might try to attack inside the US, he said. But the CIA had no specific knowledge pointing to the September 11th attacks against the World Trade Centre or Pentagon before they happened, he said.
The CIA did thwart attacks on three or four US facilities overseas last summer, Mr Tenet said.
One Kansas Senator, Mr Pat Roberts, said that Americans, as they sit chatting in cafes, want to know why, if American Taliban John Walker Lindh could meet Osama bin Laden, the CIA couldn't get an agent near him.
Mr Tenet shot back tautly: "You'd better tell everybody at the cafe that it's not true." He declined to elaborate. He said operations against US targets could be launched by al-Qaeda cells already in place in major cities in Europe and the Middle East and that the network could exploit its connections to other groups in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia and the Philippines.
"Al-Qaeda also has plans to strike against US and allied targets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia," Mr Tenet said. "American diplomatic and military installations are at high risk - especially in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey but across the rest of the world as well," he said.
Although the group and related terrorist organisations would continue to use conventional weapons, documents found in Afghanistan showed Osama bin Laden was pursuing "a sophisticated biological weapons research programme." Evidence also points to his wish to get hold of a so-called "dirty" nuclear bomb, one that can disperse radioactive material without being set off by a nuclear explosion.
He claimed that Iraq had contacts with al-Qaeda even though "Saddam is well aware that such activity would carry serious consequences," Mr Tenet said.
- In Alexandria, Virginia, a US federal judge rejected a plea for "American Taliban" Mr John Walker Lindh to be released from custody until his trial, as lawyers insisted the 20-year-old US-born convert to Islam was not a terrorist and had never fought against his country.