The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

Mar. 24, 2004 -- The Clinton administration had "no higher priority" than combating terrorists while the Bush administration made it "an important issue but not an urgent issue," former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke said in testimony in front of the national commission investigating the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In a two and a half hour question and answer session, Richard Clarke told the bipartisan commission that "although I continued to say it (terrorism) was an urgent problem I don't think it was ever treated that way" by the current administration in advance of the strikes two and a half years ago, the Associated Press reports.

And a report to the 9-11 Commission reveals that there were at least three occasions on which U.S. officials believed they had sufficient intelligence to plan for a military strike against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

THE WAR ON TERROR

INVESTIGATIONS

U.S.Ex-Adviser: Terrorism Not Urgent for BushThe government's former top counterterrorism adviser testified Wednesday that the Clinton administration had "no higher priority" than combatting terrorists while the Bush administration made it "an important issue but not an urgent issue." (AP)

Panel: CIA Uncertain of Bin Laden Action

The CIA did not believe it had the authority to kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal commission said Wednesday during high-visibility hearings on missteps in U.S. counterterrorism policies. (AP)

Missed Opportunities

Report: U.S. officials could have toppled bin laden pre-9/11. (ABCNEWS)

Conclusions of 2 Reports

Following are excerpts from the conclusions of reports issued yesterday by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States on efforts to counter the danger posed by al Qaeda and the role of military force in combating terrorism before Sept. 11, 2001. (NY Times)

Full Text: Public Testimony Before 9/11 Panel (NY Times)

United Arab Emirates

U.S. Embassy Closes in Emirates

U.S. embassy and the American Consular office closes in Emirates after receiving 'specific threat'. (AP)

The Hunt for Al Qaeda

In Osama's Back Yard

Green Berets employ Vietnam-era tactics in bin Laden hunt. (ABCNEWS)

U.S. Sets Up Base in Afghan Mountains

AP Exclusive: U.S. sets up base in Afghan mountains, playing lead role in hunt for al Qaeda. (AP)

Rockets Hit Northern Pakistani City As Al Qaeda Hunt Enters Ninth Day

Pakistani troops and gunmen linked to al Qaeda fought new gun battles near the Afghan border as rockets hit the city of Peshawar in an apparent retaliation for the military offensive, officials said. (AFP)

Pakistani Army Enters Tribal Areas for First Time

For the first time since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947 Pakistani troops entered the tribal areas yesterday and searched homes for al Qaeda fugitives. Meanwhile, Afghani tribes on the other side of the border threatened to interfere in the conflict and support the Pakistani tribes against the army if the operations do not stop. (Al Hayat)

Taliban: Our Forces 'Alive And Kicking'

The Taliban has denied reports that the Islamist group is in negotiations with U.S. officials and claimed that its regrouped forces are giving foreign troops an increasingly rough ride. In an exclusive interview with Aljazeera, Mulla Abd al Latif Hakimi said the rumour had begun after U.S. forces decided to release prominent Taliban member, Mulla Mutawakkil Akhondzada. (Al Jazeera)

Spain

Madrid Police Hunt Bombing Mastermind

Almost two weeks into the Madrid train bombing investigation, Spanish police are fairly certain Moroccan Islamist radicals carried out the attack but they are far from concluding who ordered it. (Reuters)

Madrid Train Bombing Toll Lowered to 190Spanish officials revised the death toll in the March 11 Madrid train bombings to 190 from 202. (LA Times)

Italy

Madrid Bomb Probe Extends to Two Lombard Provinces in Italy

The 11 March massacre investigation has taken on a new twist — one that leads to Italy and more precisely to Como and Cremona. Spanish investigators have asked their Italian counterparts for urgent information on Islamic fundamentalist groups which live and work in the two Lombard province … Some of the Madrid bombing suspects, including at least 10 people who have already been arrested, are thought to have had more than just telephone contact with possible supporters living in Italy. (Corriere della Sera — Translated by BBC Monitoring)

U.K.

Report: Qatada Was Key Al Qaeda Operative in Britain

Abu Qatada, a suspected leading member of al Qaeda now held in London, was a key figure in the group's British operations, according to an immigration tribunal, it was reported. (AFP)

Al Hayat: Interview With Mohammed Al Karbouzi

Mohammed Al Karbouzi, beter known as Abu Issa, rejected in an interview with Al Hayat newspaper accusations that the was the founder of the Moroccan Combatant Group and said he never met the Madrid attacks suspect Jamal Zougam. Moroccan authorities had convicted al Karbouzi of being involved in the Casablanca bombings in May of last year. Al Karbouzi, who lives in London, rejected all charges and denied any relations or meetings with al Qaeda members. He condemned the Madrid and Casablanca attacks and said he thinks a third party may be behind the train bombings in Madrid, not Islamists nor ETA. (Al Hayat)

COUNTER-TERRORISM

U.S. Law Puts World Ports On Notice

The law set a July 1 deadline for all of the world's ships and ports to create counterterrorism systems to help secure America against an attack. (NY Times)

GUANTANAMO

Release Plea for Guantanamo Four

Defense lawyers for the four British men still held in Guantanamo Bay are to raise concerns about their possible military tribunals. (BBC)

ON THE WEB

New Audio Tape by Al Qaeda's Alleged Leader in Saudi Arabia Soon

In its 13th issue, the bi-monthly online magazine Sot Al Jihad announced that a new audio message by Abdel Aziz Al Muqrin, the number one suspect on the Saudi most wanted list, will be released soon. "A Message To Those Who Have Given Up On Fighting" is the title of the message. Al Muqrin, aka Abu Hajar, is believed to have succeeded Khaled Al Haj, who was killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces recently, as al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia. Al Muqrin had appeared masked in a video released by the group about a suicide attack on a residential compound in Riyadh last November. Sot Al Jihad is issued online allegedly by "al Qaeda network in the Arabian Peninsula" and focuses on issues related to "jihad" in Saudi Arabia. (ABCNEWS Investigative Unit)

THE WAR IN IRAQ

Insurgents Attack U.S. Convoy, Three Dead

Insurgents attack U.S. convoy, ensuing battle leaves three civilians dead and three wounded. (AP)

Nine Iraqi Police Killed

Nine Iraqi police officers and trainees died yesterday when gunmen sprayed bullets into a minivan in which they were traveling. (The Guardian)

Yemenis Secretly Recruiting Former Iraqi Army Officers

A senior Iraqi officer revealed there were secret communications between a number of Yemeni individuals and former members of the Iraqi army who are being lured to move to Yemen and join the army there. The focus is on the senior officers who served in the former Iraqi army and have no hope of joining the new army, he added. (Asharq Al Awsat)

Army is Quickly Reinventing Itself

With insurgents' bombs striking in Iraq on a regular basis, U.S. Army begins the most ambitious restructuring in 50 years. (LA Times)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

For a Day, Terrorism Transcends Politics as Panel Reviews Failures

The setting was a nondescript Senate hearing room, but the scene was as singular as democracy itself: successive secretaries of state and defense with more than 14 years' combined service across Democratic and Republican presidencies being questioned by a bipartisan citizens' commission of familiar faces. (NY Times)

Harsh Light On 9/11 Errors

Top national security officials of two consecutive administrations agreed Tuesday before the 9/11 commission headed by former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean that they weren't responsible for the failure to disrupt al Qaeda's operations in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001. (LA Times)

Enemies of the Truth

Among members of Congress and Washington journalists, George Bush's administration was already a byword for discipline and secrecy even before 9/11. Whistleblowers in any field of policy were beneath its contempt. Once Mr Bush reinvented himself as a war president, however, the White House code of omertà became more unforgiving still. (The Guardian)

Al Qaeda Bluffing About Having Suitcase Nukes, Experts Say Ayman al Zawahri, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, has bragged that the terrorist group bought suitcase nuclear bombs from former Soviet nuclear scientists in Moscow and Central Asia, but experts on Russia's nuclear program dismiss the statements, saying Osama bin Laden's deputy is bluffing. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Military Injustice

The appalling treatment of Capt. James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo, casts doubt on prosecutions carried out in the name of national security. (NY Times)

The Pakistani Link

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, President Pervez Musharraf had to take a difficult and critical decision by answering a difficult question: where would Pakistan stand in the 'war on terror'? Musharraf had to take many factors into consideration. (Al Hayat)

The Insider Daily Terrorism Report (DTR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to international terrorism and the war in Iraq. The DTR is edited from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman, and Brinda Adhikari of the ABCNEWS Investigative Unit. The outside views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.