One received military training in the rugged Afghan mountains.
Another was sent to Sudan to run an import-export company. A
third began a fishing business off the Kenyan coast.
When the men came together in Nairobi, Kenya, they formed one
of Osama bin Laden's deadly terror cells, carrying out the
twin U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa three years ago,
according to U.S. federal court testimony. Two of the men had
direct connections to bin Laden. Others involved in the
attacks appeared to have been contracted out from other
groups.
In an extraordinary speech before Congress last Thursday,
President George W. Bush launched a relentless U.S. campaign
against bin Laden's al-Qaida network and all it touches.
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end
there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global
reach has been found, stopped and defeated," the U.S.
president said.
Testimony from the trials into the embassy bombings and the
1993 World Trade Center bombing -- both masterminded by bin
Laden -- has given counterterrorism experts new insight into
the operations of the Saudi dissident and may help the United
States strike at his global network of terrorist cells.
At least two different cells that had been operating in
Hamburg, Germany, and Delray Beach, Florida, were involved in
the terror attacks on the United States. Others left
fingerprints in Boston, Jersey City, New Jersey and Daytona
Beach, Florida.
Last Thursday, German officials said their country may be home
to as many as 100 terrorists who were trained in Afghan camps
run by bin Laden.
Intelligence experts say hundreds of cells working for bin
Laden's Afghanistan-based al-Qaida network or other terrorist
groups are operating in dozens of countries -- raising money,
establishing businesses and safe houses, studying and
receiving military training. Some are aided by governments
such as Iraq and Iran while still others are independent
operatives offering specialized services to the cells.
"Al-Qaida is really a fraternity of fundamentalist Islamic
terrorist networks around the world," said Michael M. Swetnam,
who coauthored a book this year on bin Laden's operations.
"These groups communicate regularly, train each other's
fighters, share resources, funding, financing and people."
According to information released by U.S. investigating
agencies, there is a major "lieutenant" of bin Laden who is
based in Europe. From there, where communications and travel
are much easier than in primitive Afghanistan, he directs
worldwide terror.
From as early as 1983 and until the late 1990s, Iran was
training suicide pilots at a camp in the northeast town of
Wakilabad, according to Rep. Eric Cantor, who chairs a
congressional task force on terrorism and unconventional
warfare.
Swetnam says Iraq -- a traditional enemy of Iran -- has
provided financial and technical support to bin Laden's
fighters while some groups that enjoy Iranian sponsorship,
such as Hizbullah, are also affiliated with al-Qaida.
Bush made it clear Thursday that the United States would go
after any organization that supported or harbored the
terrorists that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every
government that supports them," Bush said.
A U.S. congressional report released Sept. 10 -- one day
before the attacks -- details more than 30 countries,
including the United States, where bin Laden has cells
operating. The report, written by Kenneth Katzman, a
specialist in Middle East affairs, also lists 19 terror
organizations, several with ties to bin Laden, and rates their
activity levels.
Bin Laden's Afghanistan-based al-Qaida has the highest rating
of activity, while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas are
listed as the next most active groups.
In his speech, Bush linked al-Qaida to other organizations,
including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan -- both identified as terror groups in the
congressional report.
Bush demanded that Afghanistan's leadership, the hardline
Taliban militia, "deliver to United States authorities all of
the leaders of al-Qaida who hide in your land."
Afghanistan has become a haven for thousands of activists
believed to be preparing to overthrow more moderate Muslim
regimes in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the
Islamic states of nearby Central Asia that were part of the
former Soviet Union.
After waffling and making confusing statements for a few days,
the Taliban leaders of Afghanistan finally issued a statement
saying that they will not hand over bin Laden, in effect
saying that they will not cooperate with the U.S. in its war
against terrorism.
Last year, Jordanian intelligence experts cracked a sizable
cell that had been planning a spectacular attack on American
and Israeli tourists during millennium celebrations. Jordanian
officials say one defendant has admitted he received bomb-
making training in Afghan guerrilla camps run by bin Laden.
Frank Cilluffo, a counterterrorism expert with the Washington-
based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said:
"Afghanistan has become the place for a pretty lethal mix of
ugly folks running around and at some point we will want to
drain that swamp."
Once the other militants leave Afghanistan and return to their
own organizations, Swetnam said they could apply for "grants"
from al-Qaida to carry out their own operations.
"A group like Hamas says they want to blow up a department
store in Israel and offers up a proposal with a cost estimate.
If it's approved they could receive whatever is needed to
support the plan including money and training," Swetnam
said.
Yonah Alexander, a professor at George Washington University
and a counterterrorism expert, warned that the operatives must
be found soon.
"Dozens of operations are waiting to be hatched and carried
out by people who are integrating into societies while they
wait for their missions," he said.
