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Al Qaeda Suicide Cell Still in US, Terrorism Expert Says
WASHINGTON, September 10, 2002 -Law enforcement officials believe an al-Qaeda suicide cell that was present in the United States at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks is still at large in North America and may be able to carry out attacks, a former CIA terrorism expert says.
Speaking at a Pew seminar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Vincent Cannistraro said investigators have identified some members of an al-Qaeda cell operating in the US independently of the September 11 hijackers, and that the cell scattered following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "It's the fear that drives the anti-terrorism community today," says Cannistraro, "that there is another cell at large in North America, and it might be able to carry out something."
Cannistraro, a former Chief of Operations and Analysis at the CIA Counterterrorism Center, believes that the Al Qaeda network has been disrupted but is still functioning. The senior leadership is still at large, and there have been what he calls "significant signs of reorganization." He believes al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is still alive. He predicted there would be more terrorism, but "probably not on the scale of another September 11."
Cannistraro now works as a terrorism consultant. He organized an interview with Osama bin Laden for ABC News in 1998. Earlier in his career, he spent many years as a CIA officer in the Middle East.
He believes that the Bush administration's current emphasis on removing Saddam Hussein is misplaced. "There's nothing new, nothing we didn't know a year and a half ago" about Iraq. Without a "clear and present danger," Cannistraro sees a pre-emptive attack, especially a unilateral one, as setting a dangerous example. "What's going to stop China from pre-empting Taiwan?" he asked. He also worries about the unintended consequences of launching such an attack, believing that it might increase anti- Americanism in the Middle East and may even provide al-Qaeda with more recruits. He thinks it is unlikely that Saddam Hussein will join forces with bin Laden, since bin Laden turned down an offer by Hussein of sanctuary in Iraq in 1997. "They don't like each other."
Al Qaeda forces are still active in Afghanistan and are joining forces with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and radical Afghan warlord Gulbedeen Hekmatyar, Cannistraro said. He believes that Omar may have been behind the recent assassination attempt against Afghan president Hamid Karzai, and that Hekmatyar's allies may have planted the deadly car bomb that exploded in Kabul the same day. Evidence also suggests that al-Qaeda members have fled to Iran, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Yemen. Somalia, which had been a suspected refuge of Al Qaeda, most likely is not harboring any terrorists today.
Cannistraro is pessimistic about the ability of the intelligence community to reorganize itself in order to understand and confront the threat posed by al-Qaeda. "The chances of a successful reorganization are between slim and none," he said, because there were too many vested interests at the CIA, Pentagon and on Capitol Hill to allow needed reforms to take place. "There are just too many rice bowls that have to be broken." The only chance for reform is if President Bush were to force change from above, and Cannistraro believes that President Bush is not fundamentally dissatisfied with the intelligence community.
But without reform that places emphasis understanding the culture within which al-Qaeda operates, and on recruiting new agents from within enemy circles, Cannistraro believes it will be very difficult to make significant inroads against enemies like Al Qaeda. "You're not going to meet terrorists at a cocktail party," he said.
Copyright © 2005 International Reporting Project. All Rights Reserved.