Ridge: Al Qaeda Still Poses Big Threat

ByABC News
November 11, 2002, 11:44 AM

— -- Ridge: Al Qaeda Still Poses Serious Threat

L O N DO N, Nov. 8 Al Qaeda militants still pose themost immediate threat to the United States and its alliesdespite the heavy blows Western forces have struck against them,U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said.

He echoed earlier comments from America's most seniormilitary officer, who declared the al Qaeda network able tolaunch a "major terrorist operation," whether its leader Osamabin Laden was dead or alive.

And British Home Secretary David Blunkett, who had talkswith Ridge in London, said intelligence from around the globesuggested the radical Islamic organization, blamed for lastyear's Sept. 11 attacks, was continuing to evolve.

"Al Qaeda remains our most immediate and serious threatdespite the damage we have done to their network in Afghanistanand elsewhere," Ridge said Thursday in a speech at King's College,London.

Although hundreds of its members had been killed orcaptured, last month's Bali bombing, an attack on a French oiltanker off Aden, Yemen, and the killing of a U.S. Marine in Kuwait allshowed it retained the ability to strike.

"The modus operandi of this organization emphasizes carefulplanning, tight operational security and exhaustive fieldpreparations the prerequisites for spectacular operations,"Ridge said.

Blunkett warned Britons to remain vigilant.

"There is a considerable amount of intelligence from variousparts of the world to indicate that al Qaeda and the cellsassociated with them are engaged on a continuing, evolvingpattern of terrorist activity," he said in a statement.

"Whatever damage we have done to al Qaeda, they continue tooperate. They are dedicated fanatical extremists who have noregard for the loss of human life, including their own," hesaid. "We cannot be sure where or when they will strike. But wecan be certain they will try."

A first draft version of Blunkett's statement mistakenlysent to some journalists then withdrawn was even morealarming. "Maybe they will try to develop a so-called dirtybomb, or some kind of poison gas; maybe they will try to useboats or trains rather than planes," it warned.

Earlier on Thursday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of theU.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told BBC radio al Qaeda's networkwas so diffuse that even if its leader was dead it could andwould strike again.

Ridge agreed, saying that some European sceptics about U.S.action needed to realize that this was a threat unlike any otherfaced before.

He said the U.S. administration would reshape domestic lawenforcement organizations to focus on counterterrorism and wasworking to break down barriers between its intelligence and lawenforcement agencies.

The FBI and CIA were heavily criticized after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks onNew York and Washington in which more than 3,000 people died.

Reuters

Tennessee Develops Smallpox Immunization Plan

N A S H V I L LE , Tenn., Nov. 8 Amid heightened concerns aboutbiological warfare, the Tennessee Health Department detailed plansto fight an enemy once thought eradicated: smallpox.

U.S. officials said this week that they believe Iraq is amongfour nations that have unauthorized samples of smallpox; the othersare Russia, North Korea and France.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, statehealth officials already were preparing for a possible bioterroristattack involving smallpox.