The Hindu : Frenzied hunt for terrorists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

International

International

Frenzied hunt for terrorists

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington March 3. Officials of the Central Intelligence Agency are said to be working overtime to get to the bottom of what Khalid Sheik Mohammad knows, in particular if the Al-Qaeda has been planning more terrorist attacks against America at home or abroad. Further there are reports that the arrest of Mohammad and his quick spiriting out of Pakistan on Saturday has led to some kind of a frenzied hunt for members of the terror outfit, both inside the U.S. and overseas.

Officials of the CIA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who were involved in the Rawalpindi Raid on Friday night are said to have e-mailed several names and information of what had been gleaned from documents and computer files taken away from the home of Mohammad, the USA Today is reporting. "We have lots of names and lots of information'', a senior intelligence officer has told the paper making the point that at this time there is a "mad scramble going on'' to track and arrest members of the Al-Qaeda.

The U.S. Government has been particularly concerned about overseas installations in such countries as Kuwait and Qatar. Intelligence and law enforcement officials in this country have been making the point that Mohammad, who went to college here in the early 1980s, is the highest ranking leader of Osama's terror outfit who possess deep knowledge of the organisation's operations and future plans.

Mohammad, according to authorities here, was very much involved in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen three years ago. Mohammad has not been officially charged in the September 11,2001 terror attacks but he is believed to be the master-planner.

According to one piece of information, Mohammad has been taken to an overseas facility for questioning and this could be one of the detention centres run by the CIA in Jordan, Uzbekistan or Diego Garcia. Domestic laws prohibit torture as a way of obtaining confessions or information which is one reason why the government here would not mind interrogations at foreign locations if that is going to "break down'' or "wear down'' a suspect. "Allies'' of the U. S. are not exactly known for their straightforward interrogations.

What is being pointed out at this stage is that anything that Mohammad says can be cross checked with other Al-Qaeda top operatives now in custody.

But the bottom line is that investigators and intelligence operatives wish to get "inside'' the mind of Mohammad with a view to learning more, not just about future plans but about the Al-Qaeda itself. One assessment has been that while the Rawalpindi Raid has made a major dent into the Al- Qaeda, that outfit is far from being finished.

The raid in Pakistan and its first implications has brought rave reviews from senior law makers in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, especially from those members of Congress who oversee Intelligence matters. "This is equal to the liberation of Paris in the second world war'', remarked Porter Goss, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "This is a giant step backward for the Al-Qaeda'', said Senator Pat Roberts, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Meanwhile The Washington Times is reporting that terrorists linked to the Al-Qaeda have targeted American naval facilities in Pearl Harbour that would include attacks on nuclear powered submarines and ships. Unnamed intelligence officials have told The Times that the Al-Qaeda is planning to attack Pearl Harbour because of its symbolic value and because the military facilities are open from the air. The attacks would be carried out of airplanes hijacked from the Honolulu Airport and flown in suicide missions, officials have told the paper. The report of Al-Qaeda's plan for Pearl Harbour was one of the reasons for the recent heightened security alert which has since been lowered.

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