Posted on 09/12/2001 6:09:38 PM PDT by Uncle Bill
Report: Extent of fugitive leader's arsenal 'no longer a doubt'
WorldnetDaily
By Jon Dougherty
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
April 28, 2001
Fugitive Saudi terrorist-sponsor Osama bin Laden is now known to have nuclear weapons, putting to rest previous speculation that left the possibility open, according to a weekly intelligence newsletter.
A report published in this weeks Geostrategy-Direct.com newsletter, edited in part by Washington Times staffers Bill Gertz and Robert Morton, indicated that bin Laden's possession of nuclear devices "is no longer a doubt."
"Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama bin Laden has nuclear weapons. The question is how many," the report said.
Gertz told WND he didn't write the assessment, but that the newsletter's primary editor, Morton, had a stringer in the Mideast who verified the information. Morton was out of his office and could not be reached for comment.
"Russian intelligence sources who are fighting bin Laden members in Chechnya believe [he] has a handful of tactical nuclear weapons," said the report. "Arab intelligence sources say the Al Qaida head has as many as 20 weapons."
Al Qaida is the name of the terrorist group bin Laden leads.
The report says "both sides agree" that the Saudi terrorist managed to acquire his weapons by supporting the Chechen cause with money and volunteers, in exchange for nuclear materials and technology.
Bin Laden "received [it] from Chechen insurgents who raided [Russian] nuclear installations for fuel and components around the former Soviet Union," the report said.
"With that came the recruits from among scientists from the former Soviet Union. The rest was easy," said Geostrategy-Direct.com.
The report said the actual location of the weapons is unknown, but "the assessment by both Arab and Russian sources is that bin Laden has managed to sneak at least some of the components to his lair in Afghanistan."
Bin Laden is one of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. He is wanted in connection with the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa -- one in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the other in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 200 were killed in the attacks.
He is believed to have a connection to the Oct. 12 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen, WND reported Oct 26.
The State Department had no comment on the report, but other intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND that any reports dealing with bin Laden are taken seriously.
"Reports regarding bin Laden are always taken seriously and investigated," the official said. "He clearly poses a threat to U.S. interests around the world, so you can't dismiss every rumor out of hand. It wouldn't be prudent to do that."
In January, the New York Times -- quoting U.S. officials -- said bin Laden's organization was making attempts to manufacture chemical weapons and "buy enriched uranium," one of the main components of a nuclear device.
But as far back as August 1999, counter-terrorism experts said bin Laden may have acquired "up to 20 nuclear devices."
"Yosef Bodansky, a researcher of the House Task Force for Counter-terrorism and author of a new book on bin Laden, told a news conference on Friday that bin Laden has been seeking to follow up on his bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa one year ago. Echoing U.S. officials, Bodansky said bin Laden was thwarted in plans to blow up the U.S. embassy and two consulates in India last December and January," WorldTribune.com reported.
"It was also reported that bin Laden has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and has received technical help from Iraq, Bodansky said. The nuclear weapons include suitcase bombs acquired through Chechen rebels," the paper said.
"The Russians believe that he has a handful [of nuclear weapons]. The Saudi intelligence services are very conservative. ... They are friendly to the United States [and] believe that he has in the neighborhood of 20," Bodansky said, as quoted by the Internet paper.
Bin Laden reportedly obtained and purchased the suitcase bombs from multiple sources, he said. He has a "collection of individuals knowledgeable in activating the bombs" and "is recruiting former Soviet special forces [to learn] how to operate the bombs behind enemy lines," Bodansky said.
He noted that, according to his research, most of the weapons had been transferred through Pakistan.
Related stories:
Oklahoma City Blast Linked To Bin Laden
Suspect Pegged In Cole Bombing
Bin Laden Calls For War Against U.S.
FBI Admits That Russian Nuclear Suitcases Hidden In Secret Locations In U.S.
Are Suitcase Nukes on the Loose?
FRONTLINE: Atomic Suitcase Bombs
Former Soviet spy: Small nuclear devices planted in U.S. "A hooded, former Soviet spy with tales of threats to U.S. security was the star witness at a congressional hearing this week in California. The one-time military intelligence colonel testified that suitcase-sized nuclear devices are hidden on U.S. soil. "
Saudi Money Aiding Terrorist bin Laden
USA TODAY
By Jack Kelley
10/28/99- Updated 11:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON - More than a year after the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa, prominent businessmen in Saudi Arabia continue to transfer tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts linked to indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden, senior U.S. intelligence officials told USA TODAY.
The money transfers, which began more than five years ago, have been used to finance several terrorist acts by bin Laden, including the attempted assassination in 1995 of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia, the officials said.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to raise the issue with Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, during his visit to Washington next week. Saudi Arabia, the main U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, has pledged to fight terrorism.
According to a Saudi government audit acquired by U.S. intelligence, five of Saudi Arabia's top businessmen ordered the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom's largest, to transfer personal funds, along with $3 million diverted from a Saudi pension fund, to New York and London banks.
The money was deposited into the accounts of Islamic charities, including Islamic Relief and Blessed Relief, that serve as fronts for bin Laden.
The businessmen, who are worth more than $5 billion, are paying bin Laden "protection money" to stave off attacks on their businesses in Saudi Arabia, intelligence officials said. Bin Laden, whose family runs the largest Saudi construction firm, has called for the overthrow of the Saudi government.
The money transfers were discovered in April after the royal family ordered an audit of NCB and its founder and former chairman, Khalid bin Mahfouz, U.S. officials say. Mahfouz is now under "house arrest" at a military hospital in the Saudi city of Taif, intelligence officials said.
His successor, Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi, also heads the Capital Trust Bank in New York and London, which U.S. and British officials are investigating for allegedly transferring money to bin Laden. Amoudi's Washington lawyer, Vernon Jordan, could not be reached for comment.
Mahfouz's son, Abdul Rahman Mahfouz, is on the board of Blessed Relief in Sudan. Suspects in the Mubarak attack are linked to the charity.
Bin Laden faces U.S. criminal charges for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Bin Laden, who is in Afghanistan, denies the charges.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan declined to comment on the reports.
[End of Transcript]
Bin Laden Funneled Money Through UAE Bank
Bin Laden Getting Financial Support - Links
Osama Bin Ladens International Terror Network
Orrin Hatch Was BCCIs Mouthpiece
Gold Depositories Buried Beneath Trade Center Rubble
..
..
In 1999, I presented the K.S. Wu information to Colonel Lunev for his evaluation. According to Col. Lunev, Russian and Chinese army operatives in the U.S. have created large stockpiles of arms for use in time of war. These communist weapon caches are reportedly hidden all over America. According to Lunev, the Chinese and Russian weapon stockpiles include explosives, nerve gas, anthrax and as many as 120 "suitcase" nuclear bombs!
I have confirmed Colonel Lunev's story with several members of Congress. Red China and Russia have pre-positioned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on American soil with the intent of destroying our nation. President Clinton and Congress are aware that China and Russia have smuggled nuclear bombs into the United States."
Col. David Hackworth
"In fact, since the Soviet Union stroked out, it's no longer a question of if WMD will be used on Main Street USA, but rather when. Suitcase-size nukes capable of doing a Hiroshima or Nagasaki and other mass weapons of horror according to several sources have already become the newest, trendiest terrorist tool.
Is the Pentagon ready for superterrorism? They move their lips about it, but it's not the highest priority. As usual, they're preparing for the last war, Desert Storm. Except for a few maverick thinkers, the Washington establishment is brain-dead or into deep denial.
In 1995, a Pentagon study called Terror 2000 predicted the wave of terrorism we're now seeing. The report was buried by presidential aides who didn't want to panic the people. The White House view was, if we don't talk about it, maybe it'll go away. Unfortunately, many of predictions featured in this comprehensive report have already occurred."
57 Posted on 09/07/2000 20:17:24 PDT by Askel5
A quick quote from p. 260 of Kluckhohn's 1962 book The Naked Rise of Communism
Business in Britain, Canada and the United States and other free nations must realize that it is trading to destroy itself. In any case, the U.S. government should halt all trade with the Soviet Union, Red China and the Red satellite nations. We can politely and firmly tell our Allies that they will get no help from us, and no backing, if they do not cease this trading. Our poor diplomatic poker players have been euchred into making one concessoin after another on industrial trade items and, in their eagerness to please, are prepared to make more the moment no one is looking.The suitcase thing rings sort of weird nearly 40 years later, no?The story is told that two Russian Communists were talking. "The United States?" said one, "Bah! We have 10,000 little nuclear bombs. We put them in suitcases and carry them into the United States. And poof, we blow it up." "Wonderful," said the other Russian, "Why aren't we doing it?" "Because," was the mournful reply, "we don't have the suitcases."
No more so, I suppose, than another golden oldie on my shelves: You Can Always Trust the Communists to be Communists!
China Strengthens Ties With Taleban by Signing Economic Deal - September 13, 2001
"In a sign of Beijing's increasingly close ties with the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, China has signed a memorandum of understanding for economic and technical cooperation with Kabul, press reports from Afghanistan and Pakistan said.
The agreement was reported Tuesday, the same day terrorists hijacked four planes in the United States and drove them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A Chinese delegation signed the deal in Kabul with the Taleban's minister of mining, Mullah Mohammed Ishaq, the news reports said.
China's agreement with the Taleban is the most substantial part of a series of contacts that Beijing has had with Afghanistan over the last two years. Of all non-Muslim countries, Beijing now has the best relationship with the isolated regime in Kabul in the world, a senior Western diplomat said."
Only a foreign disrupter schooled in anti-American rhetoric would be able to cobble together such a confused statement. Be gone.
I wondered why Dubya framed the situation in the fashion he did. Seems to me that the perpetrators aren't characterized by cowering or likely to be intimidated, but he characterized them as seeking shadows. We seem to be taking the position that we are strong and won't let this rest without massive retaliation, but then it seems like we've set ourselves up to fulfill the intent of those using terrorist tactics. Display to the world a newsworthy event, focus all attention on it, them leave an establishment to appear incapable to control events. Seems like we're just setting ourselves up for another hit.
From Russia, with bugs [US subsidizing Russian Biological Warfare Lab]
KGB WEAPONS CACHES ACROSS U.S.
"On the floor of the House of Representatives last night, Representative Curt Weldon (Rep., Penn.) dropped a bombshell. He presented chapter and verse on underground caches of weapons and other implements of war the Soviet KGB secreted in underground storage locations across the United States and in western European Countries. The caches are still there today.
Weldon gave the names of several Russian sources for the information. Since this writer has not seen the names in print, no attempt will be made to use them in this article. The spelling would indubitably be wrong. However, the positions the sources held make their stories more than credible.
The main source of the information is a mountain of copies of documents spirited out of the Kremlin archives by a Russian defector, which were furnished to British intelligence in 1992. The documents spell out the general location of some of the caches in the U.S. but the information is not specific enough to lead to the actual locations. . However the defector was able to furnish specific locations of caches in Switzerland and Belgium.
Officials in those two countries found the underground sites (which, by the way, were booby trapped) and verified the storage of a range of weaponry, ammunition, and electronic communications equipment.
An open hearing was held in a House sub-committee about ten days ago at which several Russian sources testified as to the accuracy of the documents from the Kremlin archives. One was the highest ranked Russian defector to date, a former KGB station chief in London. Weldon stated his purpose in disclosing the information on the House floor was motivated by the fact that there had been no media coverage of that hearing.
Weldon expressed a concern that weapons hidden in the United States might include suitcase size nuclear devices in the one to ten kiloton ranges. (Ten kilotons is the size of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) Several years ago, a story appeared in the media that Russia had lost a number of these nuclear devices and some speculated they might have been sold or transferred to rogue nations."
[End of Partial Transcript]
Russia Loses Its Suitcase Nukes
The Electronic Telegraph
By Ivo Dawnay in Washington
November 9, 1997
The nightmare scenario of terrorists acquiring Russian suitcase-sized nuclear weapons took a dramatic turn last week when the Kremlin implicitly admitted that the bombs exist - and some may be missing. Until now, persistent rumours of the existence of the small, portable bombs have been vehemently denied by Moscow, with even Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin shrugging off the claims as an "absolute absurdity".
But The Telegraph has learned that Professor Alexei Yablokov, who first disclosed the existence of the sophisticated device, was quietly co-opted by the Russian Defence Council last week to devise new legislation to control the weapons.
On Thursday, he was secretly summoned to the Kremlin and ordered to help to draft a presidential decree to co-ordinate the location of "compact nuclear weapons", bring them under secure control, and arrange for their speedy destruction.
The Yeltsin government's decision to bring in the professor is a tacit admission that the suitcase bombs not only exist, but could be outside secure control and represent a genuine international security risk.
It was Prof Yablokov, a distinguished ecologist, academician and former special adviser to Boris Yeltsin, who first alerted the world to the danger posed by the bombs - ideal portable terrorist weapons. In October, he told a United States Congressional committee that he was "absolutely certain" they had been built as he had met someone involved in their construction.
This week he told The Telegraph that while there was "no certainty" that any of the bombs were unaccounted for, there were indeed "some suspicions". He said: "I won't say how many I think have gone missing - you will publish it and scare the whole world," he said. "It is a question of units, not dozens."
The Kremlin's decision to draft the professor represents a momentous U-turn. Only a week earlier, Prof Yablokov had issued an ultimatum to President Yeltsin, threatening to go public with technical details of the bombs if action were not taken immediately.
The Kremlin's decision also represents a personal triumph for US Congressman Curt Weldon. As chairman of the House of Representatives' National Security, in May, he disclosed that Gen Alexander Lebed had told him of his own concerns about suitcase nuclear weapons. Gen Lebed, who in his brief six months in government was charged by President Yeltsin to review nuclear security, said that only 48 out of 132 known bombs had been adequately accounted for.
He suspected that some of the weapons may have been built for the KGB by the Ministry of Atomic Energy without the knowledge of the Defence Ministry. Yesterday Mr Weldon welcomed the news of Prof Yablokov's appointment as vindicating his campaign. "We finally have full confirmation of our suspicions that these devices have existed and do exist," Mr Weldon said. "This is not a time to embarrass Russia, but to come together to secure nuclear stability for people in Russia, the US and the world."
Small, tactical nuclear devices have long been deployed on both sides of the Cold War trenches. The US military is believed to have as many as 600 atomic demolition munitions (ADMs) - some of which are known to troops as "satchel" bombs. The weapons were intended for special forces to use behind enemy lines for blowing up key infrastructure like airports and roads. Similar equipment is understood to have been issued to Soviet Spetznaz units as part of some 25,000 tactical nuclear weapons in the Red Army's armoury.
In 1995, rumours swirled round Moscow that two such bombs had been acquired in Vilnius, Lithuania by Chechen rebels. According to the Russian nationalist paper Zavtra, the weapons were bought for $600,000 and all those associated with the transaction were later murdered to ensure secrecy. The correspondent who wrote the article was subsequently abducted and threatened with death if he pursued the story - which was later withdrawn by Zavtra.
Despite the "official" American acceptance of Russia's assurances that there was no threat, US Intelligence agencies are believed to have been probing claims of loose tactical nuclear weapons since 1995. According to One Point Safe, a book by Leslie and Andrew Cockburn, two Washington-based journalists, the US was approached by the Chechens during their war of secession and threatened with nuclear blackmail.
"They told them that if Washington did not formally recognise the Chechen state, they would sell the weapons to Gaddafi (the Libyan dictator)," Andrew Cockburn claims. A subsequent clandestine CIA mission to Chechenya - secretly agreed to by the Russians - failed to turn up evidence of a bomb.
This and other stories of hoaxes and skulduggery, however, proved sufficiently compelling to inspire the Cockburns to write the screenplay for The Peacemaker, a fictionalised thriller bought by Steven Spielberg. Professional analysts are not so much interested in whether the bombs exist, but in where exactly they are located and whether they are under Russia's secure control.
Now that Prof Yablokov has persuaded the Kremlin to take the issue seriously, it may be easier to discover whether any bombs are missing. But, given that the Russians have lied repeatedly about the very existence of the weapons, it may be too much to expect them to report honestly about when or whether they have this arsenal of terror under firm control.
Additional reporting by Alan Philps in Moscow
Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Former Spy Says Russia Buried Explosives in U.S.
INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998 (House of Representatives - November 07, 1997
"I do not intend to get into the policy side of this debate here today. Whether we decide that sanctions should be imposed or continued on these countries is secondary, but there is a fact here that simply cannot be ignored. As a Nation, we will not be able to gauge the success or failure of our policies or know the threat without an effective intelligence community. We simply have to have the eyes and ears to let us know what is going on.
We are told that there are no Russian missiles aimed at American children as they go to bed at night. Mr. Speaker, how do we know that for sure? How can we make that statement with certainty? How long will it take to retarget such weapons? How can we know how tenuous is the chain of command in the Russian strategic rocket forces? And how are we to catch profiteers trying to steal and sell suitcase nukes, if indeed they exist? And how are we to uncover and disrupt the secret nuclear weapons programs underway in hostile rogue states we read about virtually every day in the paper and see on television every night? The answer to all of these questions is one word, `intelligence.' "
London Report: Bin Laden May Hit NYSE - "October 5, 1999"
Weve Hit the Targets
"Could the bombers have been stopped? NEWSWEEK has learned that while U.S. intelligence received no specific warning, the state of alert had been high during the past two weeks, and a particularly urgent warning may have been received the night before the attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to cancel a trip. Why that same information was not available to the 266 people who died aboard the four hijacked commercial aircraft may become a hot topic on the Hill."
"The Coup" Album cover of WTC blast pulled
CNN
September 13, 2001
For the album cover of its new CD, "Party Music," the Oakland, California-based hip-hop group The Coup pictured its two members, "Boots" Riley and DJ Pam the Funktress, in front of the exploding twin towers of the World Trade Center.
In the picture, DJ Pam is holding two sticks while Riley holds what appears to be a detonator. The artwork was designed in July and was preliminary; the album is due to be released November 6.
Riley was shocked and expressed great regret when the image came true.
"All life is precious and this tremendous tragedy is by no means taken lightly by The Coup," he said in a statement. "This is a very unfortunate coincidence and my condolences go out to the families and friends of the victims."
The intent, he said, was to use the World Trade Center to symbolize capitalism "and was not supposed to be realistic in its depiction." The Coup is known for its political activism.
"The Coup are deeply saddened by this horrible tragedy," Toni Isabella, general manager of the group's label, 75 Ark, said in a statement. "The Coup advocates change, but change through peaceful means, never through violence."
Daria Kelly, director of sales for the label, told Reuters the artwork was pulled from the label's Web site by 9:30 p.m. PDT Tuesday. The cover will be redesigned.
Even the baggy pants babblers knew, apparently. I hope the commie scum go broke, COMPLETELY!
"And, in one bizarre - and audacious - twist, his(Clinton) aides pushed for American taxpayers to pick up the tab for court judgments against Tehran for its role in terrorist attacks against Americans."
Exactly.
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