The al Qaeda terrorist organization was building a serious weapons program with a heavy emphasis on developing a nuclear device, according to an exhaustive review of documents discovered in Afghanistan.
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The apparent al Qaeda documents were found in a Kabul house reportedly used by al Qaeda operatives. Afghan police took CNN to the house soon after the Taliban withdrew from the city in November. "I don't have any doubt that al Qaeda was pursuing nuclear, biological and chemical warfare capabilities. It's not our judgment at the moment that they were that far along, but I have no doubt that they were seeking to do so," U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told CNN on Thursday. "It underlines just how serious the threat of the use of these weapons of mass destruction could be, and why it's such an important part of the global campaign against terrorism."
(snip) Suspected al Qaeda operatives have been arrested recently in possession of some of the explosives mentioned in the documents. Philippine authorities recently arrested a man they called a key al Qaeda bomb-maker who was hiding 2,000 pounds of explosives. In Singapore, members of a Malaysian terrorist group linked to al Qaeda were arrested after they sought to purchase 17 tons of ammonium nitrate -- enough to construct several truck bombs. (snip)
One document, labeled "Super Bombs," appears to be a plan for nuclear device experts said is unworkable. But the author clearly is knowledgeable of various ways to set off a nuclear bomb. For example, the document describes a little-known short cut to initiate a nuclear explosion. But Albright cautioned there is no indication that al Qaeda's nuclear work has gone beyond theory. To create a nuclear weapon, Albright said a designer must learn a whole set of manufacturing steps not mentioned in al Qaeda's manual and develop confidence in the weapon's design. "Even a terrorist group that's going to go to the trouble of working on a nuclear weapon wants to have some certainty that it's going to explode as a nuclear explosive and not just explode as a high explosive," Albright said. Al Qaeda also may have had some help in its efforts to develop a nuclear device. Two Pakistani nuclear scientists, Bashir Ud-din Mahmood and Abdul Majeed, are suspected by U.S., Pakistani and other coalition intelligence agencies of having provided some of their nuclear knowledge to al Qaeda. |
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 Arabic letters on the front of this manual spell the word "Super Bombs." |
Mahmood and Majeed ran a charity in Kabul called Ummah Tameer-e-Nau. In an office at Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, CNN found a document apparently written last May showing Mahmood agreed to a partnership with Barakat General Trading and Contracting Company, which is on the U.S. list of groups suspected of aiding terrorists. Another document showed plans to set-up a bank with Barakat, expand an artificial-limb factory and explore the mining of minerals -- including uranium -- inside Afghanistan. |
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U.N. weapons inspectors said Iraq used similar companies as fronts to disguise its nuclear weapons program in the mid-1990s. The Bush administration put Ummah Tameer-e-Nau on its terrorist watch list last month. The families of the two men continue to say they have done nothing wrong. CNN's repeated efforts to speak with the men have been unsuccessful. No charges have been filed against the two men, but the Pakistani government says the investigation is not over. The government has ordered them confined to their homes; they are not allowed to speak to anyone outside their families. (snip)
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