The United States holds Bin Laden responsible for the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people.

The State Department issued a "worldwide caution" warning US citizens of possible terrorist attacks after the US indictments of 14 people -- all alleged members of a Saudi branch of the Shiite group Hezbollah -- for the 1996 bombing of a US military housing complex in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US service members.

The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered sanctuary in Iraq if his worldwide terrorist network succeeds in carrying out a campaign of high-profile attacks on the West over the next few weeks.

Intelligence sources say the Saudi dissident believed responsible for the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and a US military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1998, is running out of options for a safe haven.

He is now thought to have overcome his initial rejection of Saddam Hussein, whom he regarded as an exploiter of the Islamic cause rather than a true believer, and is considering the offer of a bolt-hole from which he can continue to mastermind terrorism on a global scale.

A US counter-terrorist source said yesterday: "Our State Department issued a worldwide warning on December 11. We have solid information that many of the groups operating under bin Laden's patronage are planning 'spectaculars' to coincide with the period leading up to and through the millennium celebrations.

"They want to inflict maximum loss of life in return for publicity. Now we are also facing the prospect of an unholy alliance between bin Laden and Saddam. The implications are terrifying.

"We might be looking at the most wanted man on the FBI's target list gaining access to chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons courtesy of Iraq's clandestine research programmes."

The US intelligence community has been squeezing bin Laden's finances steadily for several years. His personal fortune of anything up to £500m has been whittled down to single figures, although funds continue to flow into the coffers of his Al Qaeda - Arabic for "The Base" - organisation from wealthy individuals in the Middle East.

These include members of the Saudi royal family opposed to American involvement in the region and rich businessmen in the Gulf States hoping to buy themselves immunity if bin Laden's Islamic revolution ever manages to overthrow their governments.

But the bulk of his income comes from acting as middleman and fixer for the Afghan opium producers. According to the United Nations, Afghanistan supplies 75% of the world's opium and its heroin derivatives in a narcotics' trade worth an estimated £4bn to £6bn a year.

The Taleban religious fanatics who control 85% of Afghanistan need the cash to fund their never-ending civil wars. They gave bin Laden refuge because he had connections with the Chechen and Russian mafias and their access to money-laundering in the West.

According to Middle Eastern intelligence sources, bin Laden rakes off anything up to £500m a year from his pivotal role in the drugs' trade. It is more than enough to underwrite the cost of mujahideen training camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan and the provision of weapons for bin Laden's personal war against the US and its allies.

Up to 20 Islamic extremist groups operate under the loose control of Al Qaeda.

They include Algeria's GSPC, responsible for the casual murder of civilians in the country's Kabylie region, and a network for recruiting Muslim volunteers to fight in the Balkans and Chechnya.

Al Qaeda's tentacles spread across Europe and the Middle East, including the United Kingdom. Up to 2000 young Muslims a year were enlisted in Britain between 1995 and 1998 to fight militant Islam's cause.

They received basic survival and unarmed combat training in Britain, and were then flown to various camps in Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to be instructed in the use of firearms and explosives. A few were involved in combat in the latter stages of the Bosnian conflict.

The spread of bin Laden's influence has spawned some strange alliances.

Israel's Mossad agency is currently helping the Russians identify known fundamentalist militants in Chechnya. British, Italian and US agents reportedly co-operated with Slobodan Milosevic's regime to root out veterans of the 1979-89 Afghan-Russia war while they were themselves on opposite sides in Bosnia.

The Americans have also resorted to hi-tech destabilisation. Various agencies inserted "sniffer" software programmes into the banking systems of Europe and the Middle East from the mid-1990s onwards.

These were targeted on known or suspected accounts for bin Laden's front men in Holland, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, the US and the Caribbean.

When large amounts of cash were moved around, the programmes flagged up the transactions. Computer experts then transferred or deleted the cash electronically to starve Al Qaeda of funding.

Bin Laden has almost outstayed his welcome in Afghanistan. Despite the Taleban's public declaration of protection for a "guest", the regime is suffering from international sanctions as long as it harbours him.

The Americans have a continually updated plan for a special forces' team to snatch him from his mountain lair in the Hindu Kush.

But they look back to a Soviet raid in the same area in April, 1986, when three battalions of elite Spetznaz commandos went in after a local Afghan commander. Few came back.

Bin Laden is understood to have selected Yemen, his father's birthplace, as a first alternative. But the Yemenis could not protect him from the wrath of the West or Saudi Arabia. Chechnya was his second choice, but the province is being ground under Russia's military jackboot.

That leaves Iraq, and the potential for an alliance which would be everyone else's nightmare. - Dec 28

SAUDI DISSIDENT Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group operates about a dozen Afghan camps that have trained as many as 5,000 militants who have created cells in 50 countries, the New York Times newspaper reported on Monday quoting intelligence sources.

In highly disturbing development, the sources revealed that the militant group was experimenting with chemical weapons in one of its camps and American prosecutors were quoted as saying that Al Qaeda has even more grandiose plans.

They said Mohdiuh Mahmud Salim, an Iraqi member of the organization set up 13 years ago, even tried to buy enriched uranium in Europe.

The group, according to the newspaper, has become a beacon for muslim Malaysians, Algerians, Filipinos, Palestinians, Egyptians and even Americans who have come to view the United States as their enemy.

In a story which traced the growth of 'jihad' against Soviets in Afghanistan, which was encouraged by the US and other western powers, to include American interests and moderate Islamic governments across the world, The Times said Al Qaeda has now expanded its war to include Israel which, until recently, considered it to be a Washington's problem.

American and Middle East officials were quoted as saying that Al Qaeda had financed and trained an anti-Israeli group, Asbat al Ansar, that operates in the Palestinian camps.

The story quoted a French scholar Olivier Roy, who follows Islamic activities, as saying that Al Qaeda's biggest asset is thousands of Jihadis around the world who no longer see their struggle in strictly local or even national terms.

The group, investigators say, plans attacks months or even years in advance.

They say internal crackdown on Muslim militants in different countries fuel the international jihad.

American officials admit that Al Qaeda and bin Laden have proved resourceful and resilient adversaries. Much of the wealth of bin Laden, a Saudi dissident millionaire who has taken refuge in Afghanistan, has now been spent, or is in frozen bank accounts.

But he is raising money through network of charities and businesses. His group reconstitutes networks as quickly as they are discovered.

The officials were quoted as saying that Laden's business venture in Sudan raised money and served as cover for travel by his confidants. He had also invested 50 million dollars of his family money in a new Islamic bank in Khartoum.

Laden, The Times said, has not achieved his more ambitious goals -- he has not brought more muslims under the rule of Islamic law, topped any of the Arab governments he took aim at, or driven the us out of the Middle East.

But he and his small inner circle have preoccupied American officials, paralyzing embassies, thwarting military exercises and making Americans abroad feel anxious and vulnerable.

BIBLIO - 

Tanya - re:  update on bin Laden story:

please check source and report back

Mike

Musharraf, Bin Laden & The Lashkar  

The report on the Patterns of Global Terrorism during 2000 released by the Counter-Terrorism Division of the US State Department in April had made detailed references to Pakistan and the Taliban and to the activities of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). It had also, for the first time, identified the HUM as a member of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the US and Israel.

Subsequently, during a daily press briefing, a spokesman of the State Department had, in response to questions from US pressmen, tried to soften the blow to Pakistan by saying that the details regarding Pakistan and the Taliban given in the report were the assessment of the Clinton Administration and that, since the beginning of this year, the Bush Administration had not come across any fresh evidence in this regard.

It is since learnt that US counter-terrorism experts have been concerned over new evidence that despite Islamabad's repeated denial of any influence over the Taliban and bin Laden and repeated contention that the HUM and the LET are indigenous Kashmiri organisations, which have no presence in Pakistani territory, Pakistani contacts with bin Laden and assistance to the Taliban continue and the HUM and the LET have stepped up their activities in J & K from Pakistani territory.

Independent reports from Islamabad and Peshawar suggest that :

bin Laden, who suffers from renal deficiency, has been periodically undergoing dialysis in a Peshawar military hospital with the knowledge and approval of the Inter-Services Intelligence, (ISI) if not of Gen.Pervez Musharraf himself.

The recent circulation of copies of bin Laden's video cassette showing him and his followers undergoing training in Afghan territory and the interview of Bakr Atyani, a correspondent of the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) with bin Laden and his aides Abu Hafas al-Masri and Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of Egypt's outlawed Jihad group, were organised by Pakistani military and ISI officers manning the Taliban's newly-created intelligence agency, which has replaced the Khad, the intelligence agency of the Najibullah regime. In this interview, during which bin Laden was present but did not speak, his two aides warned that "the coming weeks will hold important surprises that will target American and Israeli interests in the world." The interview was reportedly recorded by a camera supplied by the ISI officers of the Taliban's intelligence agency since the correspondent was not allowed to carry any recording equipment when he transited Peshawar on his way to Kandahar to interview bin Laden and his aides.

In view of the ban on all flights from and to Afghanistan under the UN sanctions, the only way of travelling to and from Kandahar to meet bin Laden is by flying from the Gulf or elsewhere to Peshawar and from there to travel by road. The ISI and the Pakistan Army have been facilitating this mode of travel by the foreign-based cadres of the Al Qaeda and other constituents of the International Islamic Front For Jihad Against the US And Israel.

In the past, bin Laden used to contact his cadres abroad by satellite telephone from Kandahar. After the US bombing of his training camps in Afghan territory in October,1998, he has stopped telephoning from Afghan territory lest US Cruise missiles zero in on the frequency of his telephone. Since then, all his instructions to his cadres abroad are conveyed from Peshawar by one of his aides, generally al-Zawahiri.

However, the Taliban has questioned the authenticity of the video cassette and the claims of the journalist to have interviewed bin Laden's aides. Despite this, William B. Milam, the outgoing US Ambassador in Islamabad, contacted the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Abus Salaam Zaeef , on June 29 and reportedly warned him that in case of a new terrorist attack against American interests by groups associated with bin Laden, Washington would hold the Taliban directly responsible, hinting thereby that any retaliatory strike by the US could be directed against the Taliban's headquarters.

Reports from Islamabad suggest that a similar warning was conveyed by US officials to Mr.Abdul Sattar, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, during the latter's visit to Washington last month. He was reported to have been confronted by US officials with fresh evidence relating to the continued clandestine assistance of Pakistan to the Taliban in violation of the UN sanctions.

The latest position of the Bush Administration seems to be a follow-up of the recommendations made by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Republican Party, in a paper of July, 2000. The paper had inter alia recommended as follows:

Even if the United States were fortunate enough to eliminate bin Laden by military means, other Islamic radicals will continue to threaten American security and American allies from Afghan bases as long as the Taliban prevails there.

"Rather than focusing narrowly on bin Laden, the United States should focus on uprooting the Taliban regime that sustains him and others like him. Washington should develop a regional strategy to halt Pakistan's support of the Taliban, build up Afghan opposition to the Taliban, and encourage defections from its ranks. The ultimate U.S. goal should be a stable, tolerant, inclusive Afghan government that poses no threats to its neighbors or to its own ethnic and religious minorities. To accomplish this, Washington should cooperate with the broad anti-Taliban coalition that surrounds Afghanistan and help to forge a broad anti-Taliban coalition inside Afghanistan."

" Specifically, the United States should maximize international pressure on the Taliban, including additional United Nations sanctions, to halt its support of terrorism, pressure Pakistan to end its support of the Taliban.; and designate the Taliban as a terrorist organization to set the stage for declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism if it continues to support the Taliban. "

US concerns over the Musharraf regime's double game in Afghanistan--overtly claiming to be implementing the sanctions and denying any influence over the Taliban and covertly continuing to assist it--were reflected in the confirmation hearings of the new US Ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Mrs. Wendy Chamberlain, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 26. The new Democratic Chairman of the Sub-Committee on South Asian Affairs, Senator Paul Wellstone, told her: "You have to convey a strong message about America's commitment not only to non-proliferation, but also to democratic values, human rights and opposition to Taliban-inspired militancy. Importantly, the decision by General Musharraf to anoint himself as President, apparently without the knowledge of his own Foreign Minister, is a troubling development. Far more troubling, however, is Pakistan's mistreatment of refugees from Afghanistan, the victims of not only drought, but the cruelty of the Taliban regime that!

Pakistan itself helps maintain in power."

It has also been noted by US counter-terrorism experts that while Musharraf's spokesmen have been projecting the jihadi organisations as indigenous Kashmiri organisations with no base in Pakistani territory, the HUM and the LET themselves, in their propaganda literature and official web sites, project themselves as Pakistan-based organisations. They give their addresses and telephone/fax numbers in Pakistan and particulars of the Pakistani banks in which their accounts are held to which their supporters should send their contributions. These details as given in their web sites are shown below:

Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Head Office: House No. B-154/, Khayban-i-Sir Sayad,
Near C.D.A. Bus Stop, Rawalpindi. Pakistan, Phone/Fax No. 4414810 .
Account: Current Account No. 2758-9, Muslim Commercial Bank, Aabpara
Branch, Islamabad. Pakistan.
Monthly Journal Sada-e-Mujahid Office: I -10 Markaz, Usman Plaza,
Islamabad. Pakistan. Phone No. 051-431776.
Weekly Al-Hilal News Paper Office: 6 Sumaira Apartment, 2nd Floor Block
13-B, Near K.D.A Bus Stop, Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi. Pakistan. Phone/Fax
No. 021-4991819 .
Markaz Dawa al Irshad , the political wing of the LET: 5-Chamberlane
Road, Lahore - Pakistan. Tel: (92-42) 7231106

Lt.Gen.Mahmood Ahmed, Musharraf's DG of the ISI, was reported to have attended the annual conference of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) held at Muridke from April 13 to 15, which passed a resolution calling on its cadres in India to emulate the example of Mahmood Ghaznavi, capture Hindu temples, destroy the idols and then hoist the flag of Islam on them.

Last year, Musharraf, under pressure from the Clinton Administration, denied the LET permission to hold its annual conference at Muridke in November. This year, anticipating that there would be no similar pressure from the Bush Administration, he initially allowed them to hold the deferred confertence of 2000 in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), but subsequently, when the LET insisted on holding it at Muridke, he let it do so and asked the ISI to ensure that no journalists, Pakistani or foreign, was able to have access.

Despite this, some Pakistani journalists managed to have access. The "News" of April 22 reported as follows: "The Lashkar operates six private military training camps in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir where several thousands of cadre are given both military and religious education.. With more than 2200 unit offices across the country and over two dozen launching camps along the Line of Control (LOC), the Lashkar boasts of the biggest jihadi network in Pakistan. The followers of the Lashkar come from all walks of life from the defence and nuclear establishment to the industrial labour."

The March issue of "Herald", the monthly journal of the "Dawn" group of Karachi, quoted Dr.Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Secretary-General of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI), Sindh, based in Larkana, as saying as follows: "Why is the Pakistan Army not fighting for Kashmir? Why are they getting our youth killed there? They are using our young men for their own goals.Let's be clear on one thing. These jihadi groups can't function and survive without official patronage. Is there a single militant training centre in Pakistan which can operate without the consent of the Pakistan Army? All militant groups are created and run by Pakistan's secret agencies. They have mobile phones, land cruisers and weapons. Where are they getting the funds from? Surely, it can't be all funded through public donations. Because if that were so, we would be getting similar donations, if not more."

And yet, Musharraf denies any links of the Pakistan Army and the ISI with the LET and other jihadis. What more, he denies their very presence in Pakistani territory. On June 24, a fortnight after the famous rebuke of the Ulema of June 5, which was more shadow-boxing than reality on the eve of the Washington visit of Mr.Abul Sattar, Major-Gen.Rashid Quereshi, the media spokesman of Musharraf, was asked about the activities of the LET and other jihadi organisations. He replied without batting an eye-lid: " No group operating in Kashmir has any base in Pakistan." ("The Hindu" of June 25).

The LET has totally ignored the June 5 rebuke of Musharraf and has maintained a high level of virulent anti-Indian propaganda and has been reiterating almost daily its determination to continue its jihad against India till India withdraws its troops from J & K. It has been opposing the forthcoming summit on the ground that jihad against non-believers, once started, cannot be discontinued till they surrender and that to discontinue it mid-way would be unislamic.

In the past, Musharraf had been saying that if there was progress on the Kashmir issue in the bilateral talks with India, he might appeal to the jihadis to deescalate their activities. Now, his spokesmen have been saying that since these are indigenous Kashmiri organisations, Pakistan has no influence over them just as they have been telling the US that Pakistan has no influence over the Taliban and bin Laden.

Pamela Constable of the "Washington Post", who was one of the foreign correspondents briefed by Musharraf last week on the forthcoming summit, has reported as follows: "Musharraf brushed aside questions about whether he would rein in armed Islamic groups that support fighters in Kashmir, insisting that the Kashmiri insurgency is "indigenous".

It is, therefore, likely that whatever be the outcome of the forthcoming summit, Pakistan will continue its proxy war against India through its jihadi surrogates even while denying any links with or control over them. Any optimism of a reduction in violence and cross-border terrorism as a result of the summit would be misplaced. Musharraf will continue to play his double game---overtly friendly, warm and seemingly accommodating and covertly continuing to make our security forces bleed. To expect anything different from him and to lower our guard against him could be suicidal. India will continue to pay a heavy price for its failure to evolve and implement consistently an effective counter proxy war policy. The policy of "kabi naram, kabi garam" (sometimes soft, sometimes hard) doesn't pay against Pakistan. It will only confirm Musharraf in his perception that India is a soft State, which lends itself to easy manipulation.(1-7-01)