I suspect if they say it often enough, it will happen. Kind of like, if you build it, they will come!
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Senator Says Attack on U.S. Likely
By WILLIAM C. MANN
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Richard Shelby, an eight-year veteran of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned Americans on Sunday to expect another major attack from al-Qaida terrorists.
``Oh, absolutely. It's going to happen,'' Shelby said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.''
He said he based his opinion partly on a warning of a spectacular attack contained in an audiotape, broadcast Nov. 12 on al-Jazeera television in the Persian Gulf emirate Qatar. U.S. intelligence experts attributed the tape to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born fugitive who leads the al-Qaida terror network.
``There were several messages there,'' said Shelby. ``One, to all of his supporters, and to us, that he is alive, and he's kicking, and he's going to be around. And I think he also sent the message he's going to attack us and attack our allies.''
Shelby, R-Ala., who is leaving the intelligence committee in the new Congress convening in January, has been known for years as a leading Senate authority on national security. He has spoken repeatedly in the past few weeks of the possibility of another attack by the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults that killed more than 3,000 people.
In an interview a week ago, Shelby noted a rise in intercepted communications that suggest terror strikes, along with the bin Laden tape, as possible harbingers of a new attack. An FBI warning that followed the appearance of the tape was not overblown, he said, and ``there are ominous signs that we should not ignore.''
He spoke with more certainty Sunday.
``I think it will be spectacular,'' he said. ``Will it be on the order of the World Trade Tower or the Pentagon? I hope not. But that's something we've got to stop.''
On the Net: Shelby: shelby.senate.gov
Senate Intelligence Committee: intelligence.senate.gov
11/25/02 10:04 EST
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press |
