The spectre of terror
With the arrest of prize catch Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, the war on terror has picked up steam reports
Anayat Durrani from Los Angeles
With its intense focus on Iraq, the Bush administration has come under strong criticism for straying from the war on terrorism, or more specifically the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. But with the recent arrest of Al-Qa'eda's number three man, the US is stepping up its search for the Saudi- born fugitive while making the case for war with Iraq as part of a wider "war on terror".
Top Al-Qa'eda suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohamed was taken into custody following a 1 March raid in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. He is believed to be the third-ranking Al-Qa'eda leader and the chief operations planner of the 11 September attacks.
It has been reported that the interrogation of Mohamed, who is being held at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, could possibly lead to the capture of Bin Laden. President George Bush called the arrest a "serious blow" to the Al- Qa'eda network and described Mohamed as "the top operational planner, the top killer of the Al-Qa'eda network". "The man who masterminded the 11 September attacks is no longer a threat to the United States of America," Bush said at the American Medical Association conference on 4 March.
The president used the capture of Mohamed as proof of America's unwavering commitment to rid the world of terrorism, which includes confronting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "It's important for the United States to take every threat which may gather overseas seriously, that we can no longer pick or choose whether a threat requires our involvement. If we see gathering threats which can harm the American people, we must deal with them."
Bush linked war with Iraq to the broader war on terrorism, saying that the United States is committed to confronting Iraq because Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and has used them against his own people. "He can't stand America, he can't stand our friends, he can't stand our allies. He's got connections to terrorist networks." During a prime-time national address from the White House, Bush again tied Iraq to international terrorism, saying Hussein provides, "funding and training and safe haven" to terrorists. "The attacks of 11 September showed what the enemies of America did with four airplanes," Bush said. "We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states will do with weapons of mass destruction."
Bush said that the American people should understand it is as important to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as it is to combat Al-Qa'eda. He said he would not put the American people, "at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons". The capture of Al-Qa'eda suspect Mohamed, known as "the engineer", was declared a "major blow" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Mohamed has been on the FBI's most wanted list since 1995 and had a 25 million-dollar reward on his head. He is suspected of being the mastermind behind the Bali bombings in Indonesia and responsible for murdering journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in January 2002. He is also suspected of involvement in a 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, in attacks on US missions in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2002. His nephew, Ramzi Yousef, was convicted of masterminding the 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center.
US officials have warned that the capture of Mohamed could speed up planned attacks by Al-Qa'eda in the US. American officials also warn that attacks against Americans could increase overseas. The State Department issued a worldwide caution last month to Americans living or travelling abroad warning that "US citizens and interests are at a heightened risk of terrorist attacks."
On Friday, the US State Department warned Americans living in or traveling in Southeast Asia to, "exercise great caution".
The Bali bombing and other attacks in the Philippines are grim examples of the heightened risk of terrorist attacks in the region. Groups like Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia and Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines have targeted Western interests in the area. Intelligence reports suggest Al-Qa'eda has helped finance and support groups in Southeast Asia.
In related news, a bombing that killed 21 people, including one American, and wounded 148 others, occurred at an airport waiting room in the southern Philippines last Tuesday. Police believe it is the work of a Muslim separatist group. In a more recent incident, a bus was seized by rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the southern Philippines, killing two. The US planned to send troops to the Philippines on the southern Jolo island to help combat terrorism but Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo this week ruled out a combat role. However, US troops are helping with the training of Filipino soldiers.
