Author: Philip Webster and Roland
Watson
Publication: The Times, UK
Date: October 26, 2001
URL: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001350025-2001372097,00.html
Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda
network have acquired nuclear materials for possible use in their terrorism
war against the West, intelligence sources have disclosed.
The Western sources say that the
suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks on America does not have
the capability to mount a nuclear attack but fear he would do so if he
could.
They believe that he obtained the
materials illegally from Pakistan, which has a nuclear capability.
The knowledge that bin Laden has
components for a nuclear weapons device in his arsenal is believed to lie
behind the regular warnings from President Bush and Tony Blair that he
would commit worse atrocities than the suicide assaults on New York and
Washington if he were able to.
They may also explain the speed
with which the decision was taken to go after bin Laden and his terrorist
network, even if that meant toppling the Taleban regime in Afghanistan
first.
The disclosure comes as MPs prepare
to learn today the details of British troops earmarked for deployment to
Afghanistan. They will include a commando group of about 1,000 Royal Marines,
currently on exercise in Oman, as well as a large contingent of special
forces and specialist support units. The force will be based on ships that
have also been participating in the huge tri-Service exercise. They are
expected to include the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, stripped of her
Harrier jets so she can be used as a platform for helicopters, or HMS Ocean,
a dedicated helicopter carrier, two anti-aircraft destroyers to protect
the carrier, the assault ship HMS Fearless, and two Royal Fleet Auxiliary
support vessels.
Yesterday Mr Blair sought to reassure
Muslim leaders that the military action in Afghanistan should be over as
quickly as possible. He told the Islamic Response to Terrorism Conference
in North London: "I hope you understand that what is important is that
we make sure at the same time we take the action necessary now in order
to hold to account those who committed the actions of September 11."
There has been clear evidence for
several years that bin Laden's agents have been trying to buy, steal or
smuggle nuclear systems in order to attack the West. He has said that it
was his "religious duty" to seek to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons of mass destruction.
An informed source has told The
Times that bin Laden appeared to have amassed a "terrifying" range of weapons
although he was insistent that he did not have the capacity to launch a
nuclear attack.
Intelligence sources, however, have
voiced concerns about bin Laden obtaining radioactive material for a "dirty
bomb". Rather than being used in an atomic weapon, the material would be
dispersed in a way that would seriously contaminate a small area. In an
urban environment hundreds of people could die and thousands more be exposed
to radiation poisoning.
In 1993 a senior bin Laden operative,
Jamal al-Fadi, met a Sudanese military commander in Khartoum to try to
negotiate the sale of a cylinder of enriched South African uranium for
a black market price of $1.5 million (£1.2 million). A separate al-Qaeda
attempt to buy weapons-grade nuclear material through the Russian mafia
was foiled in Prague when several kilograms of highly enriched uranium
were seized, according to a German TV report last week.
Earlier this week two former government
nuclear scientists in Pakistan were detained amid fears about their links
with the Taleban. Bashir uddin Mahmood was project director in Pakistan's
nuclear programme before its 1998 tests. Since retiring from the Pakistan
Atomic Energy Commission three years ago, he ran a group which carried
out relief work in Afghanistan, and was known to be supportive of the Taleban.
Chaudry Abdul Majid was a director of the commission in 1999.
Intelligence officials have long
been aware of the potential for contraband uranium to be turned into an
atomic "suitcase bomb". An easier outcome is a radiological weapon - a
conventional weapon with a radioactive core - which has the ability to
contaminate large areas.
George Tenet, Director of the CIA,
told the Senate Intelligence Committee last year that bin Laden was trying
to obtain nuclear materials.
However, some are convinced bin
Laden already has a nuclear capability. According to a book about the terrorist
leader, The Man Who Declared War on America, Chechen rebels facilitated
the sale of nuclear suitcase bombs in the late 1990s from a range of former
Soviet republics including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
Quoting Russian and Arab intelligence
sources, the author, Yossef Bodansky, says that bin Laden's go-betweens
paid the Chechens $30 million in cash and gave them two tonnes of heroin
with a Western street value of up to $700 million for a number of bombs.
In 1998 bin Laden issued a statement
entitled "The Nuclear Bomb of Islam", which said: "It is the duty of Muslims
to prepare as much force as possible to terrorise the enemies of God."
