Ridge: Al Qaeda Still Poses Big Threat
— -- 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A first draft version of Blunkett's statement — mistakenlysent to some journalists then withdrawn — was even morealarming.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.
News that Saddam Hussein might possess the often deadly virusonly adds to the urgency.
"If Iraq is one of those countries that we're pretty sure hasthe smallpox virus, needless to say, that serves you to want tohave a plan for mass vaccinations as soon as possible," said Dr.Fredia Wadley, state health commissioner.
Health officials from across the state met in Nashville lastweek to develop plans for vaccinating all 5.7 million Tennesseansin the case of a smallpox attack in the United States.
A mass vaccination plan outlined Thursday by Dr. Wendy Long, assistantstate health commissioner, calls for quickly opening and operating117 clinics throughout the state. The goal would be to vaccinateeveryone within 10 days.
Each clinic would serve 5,000 patients per day and require astaff of more than 200 — a combination of public health workers andtrained community volunteers.
"To give you some sense of the magnitude of this effort, thatmeans we need over 25,000 people statewide to staff these 117clinics," Long said.
In coming weeks, local health officials will search for possibleclinic sites, such as large high schools, and start recruitingvolunteers.
A single confirmed case of smallpox anywhere in the nation wouldconstitute an emergency and prompt Tennessee health officials toput the vaccination plan into action, said Dr. Allen Craig, stateepidemiologist.
The last U.S. smallpox case was in 1949, and the last naturallyoccurring case anywhere was in Somalia in 1977. The United Statesended routine vaccinations for smallpox in 1972. The virus wasdeclared eradicated from Earth in 1980.
All stocks of the virus, except those stored at official labs inAtlanta and Moscow, were supposed to have been destroyed.
Smallpox is a powerful weapon: It kills 30 percent of itsvictims, is highly contagious and has no known treatment.
Top U.S. officials have discussed offering voluntary smallpoxvaccinations to Americans before any attack, but no decision hasbeen made.
While the disease is frightening, so is the vaccine. It's madewith a live virus called vaccinia that can cause serious damage topeople vaccinated and those with whom they come into close contact.Health officials estimate that about 15 out of every million peoplevaccinated will face life-threatening side effects, and one or twoof those 15 will die.
On the positive side, smallpox is typically less contagious thanmeasles, flu or chicken pox and passed by close contact. Also, thevirus can be prevented in people vaccinated within three to fourdays of exposure.
But while public health officials know how to deal withtraditional smallpox, they can't account for every possiblebioterrorist scenario.
"When you have somebody trying to transmit it in an abnormalway, then that sort of changes the picture," Wadley said."Instead of talking about one case, you might be talking about athousand cases."
On top of that, smallpox is far from the only biological threat.Others include anthrax, botulinum toxin, tularemia, plague andebola.
But Long said Tennessee's smallpox disaster plan would help dealwith other threats.
"With only minor modifications, for example, a smallpoxvaccination clinic could be adapted to provide for the massdistribution of antibiotics to respond to ... anthrax or plague,"Long said.
— The Associated Press
Bush Seeks to Strengthen Relations With Muslims
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 8 — Seeking to strengthenrelations with Muslim Americans even as he heads towardpossible war with Iraq, President Bush openedthe White House on Thursday to Muslim leaders for aRamadan-season dinner.
As he courts an estimated 7 million U.S. Muslims,Bush's efforts to discourage a backlash over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are coming into conflict with increasing antipathy toIslam shown by core supporters among conservative Christians.
He also faces deep concern among Muslim Americans over whatthey see as heavy-handed law enforcement tactics used in thecampaign against terrorism, and unbalanced U.S. policies in theMiddle East.
"We've seen a significant absence or silence on the risingtide of anti-Muslim rhetoric [from conservative Christians],"said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-IslamicRelations.
"It's good in a way for him repeat the mantra of Islam is areligion of peace, but I think it would have more impact if hespoke specifically to those who are his constituents andsupporters and told them to basically knock it off," he said.
Asma Gull Hasan, author of American Muslims: A NewGeneration, said she thought Bush had done well promotingtolerance for Muslim Americans and supporting their faith.
"Thegovernment is another story," she said. "I have more problemwith his attorney general, John Ashcroft."
Bush was to host diplomats from Islamic countries andMuslim American leaders for an Iftar dinner, the traditionalmeal breaking daily fasts during the holy month of Ramadan,which started this week. He held a similar dinner last year,just weeks after the attacks blamed on Islamic militant Osamabin Laden.
"Islam is a peace-loving faith that is practiced by morethan one billion people, including millions of AmericanMuslims," Bush said in a Ramadan message this week.
Although Bush has made many such statements, a single act — a visit to a Washington mosque soon after the attacks — hadpowerful resonance across the American Muslim community. Inkeeping with Muslim tradition, Bush slipped off his shoesbefore entering the mosque.
He said there that Islam was a religion of peace, anddenounced attacks on veil-wearing Muslim women. "Everything hesaid was something I could have said," Hasan said.
"I know that he's a religious person himself and I know that he respects religious beliefs in others that he sees aresincere," she said.
The mosque visit helped him recover from early miscues,including his description of the U.S. battle against terrorismas a "crusade," which evoked the Christian warriors who foughtagainst Muslims in the Middle East.
But Bush has lost support among Arab-Americans,particularly among those who are Muslim, said James Zogby,president of the Arab-American Institute.
A poll commissioned by the institute last month found that46 percent of Arab Americans were satisfied with Bush's conducttoward them, compared with 38 percent who were dissatisfied,and down from 90 percent who were satisfied in October 2001.
Zogby said key factors in the decline are concerns overdetentions of American Muslims, and a White House failure todenounce anti-Muslim comments by conservative Americanreligious leaders including the Revs. Jerry Falwell and FranklinGraham, referring to Islam as a religion of violence.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked last month aboutsuch remarks, said Bush "has repudiated such statements everychance he can."
Hooper said the possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraqwas another source of friction. "I think American Muslimopinion is pretty much universally opposed to a war that doesnot include U.N. sanction," he said.
But Hasan was more equivocal, saying she was uncomfortablewith the prospect of war but many Iraqi refugees in the UnitedStates would be happy to see Iraqi President Saddam Hussein go."Saddam Hussein has still done worse to Muslims than GeorgeBush could ever dream of doing," she said.
— Reuters
Ex-Airport Screeners File Discrimination Suit
P O R T L A N D, Ore., Nov. 8 — A group of former Portland International
Airport screeners have filed a federal lawsuit claiming they were
not given a fair chance at new, federalized screening jobs.
Congress last year required that all airport screeners become
federal employees.
The suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland,
also claims that some former screeners were discriminated against
on the basis of their gender, race and age.
The suit asks the court to require immediate retesting of all
former screeners for the new jobs and the hiring of all who pass
the required test.
It also asks the court to certify it as a class action so it
covers about 140 former airport screeners who were not hired to the
federal jobs.
Former screeners have made similar complaints in Los Angeles,
Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Orlando, Fla., and other cities, said
Don S. Willner, the Portland attorney who filed the case.
The six named plaintiffs worked for Huntleigh USA, which
employed 337 Portland International Airport screeners before
November 2001, when Congress required that all screeners be federal
employees.
It was one of several measures designed to improve airport
security after terrorists with box cutters passed through security,
hijacked airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Federal transportation officials promised to give preference to
experienced Huntleigh employees who passed the test but hired new
screeners before testing the former ones, the suit says. When
Huntleigh screeners were tested, the suit says, most of the jobs
were filled.
At least two former screeners, both military veterans, were
denied preferential hiring treatment for veterans in violation of
federal law, according to the suit. In addition, screeners who were
women and minorities were failed by testers at a higher rate than
white male screeners, the suit says.
Transportation officials also discriminated against former
screeners who were older than 45, the suit asserts.
The suit maintains that federal transportation officials and NCS
Pearson, the company that screened the testers, devised ways to
discriminate against former screeners by making the test subjective
and giving them less time to complete it than other applicants.
— The Associated Press