Time to resurrect this thread:
Report: Bin Laden Linked to Russia
Tue Oct 02 2001 12:49:53 ET
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
U.S. intelligence agencies have uncovered information that Russian criminal groups have been supplying Osama bin
Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist group with components for chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, The
Washington Times reported. The Foreign Ministry called the report an attempt to undermine relations between the
United States and Russia at a time of increased cooperation.
The Washington Times, citing U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity, reported last Wednesday that bin
Laden is believed by U.S. intelligence to have a secret nuclear-weapons laboratory inside Afghanistan. This is
believed to be one of the sites sought for U.S. military strikes, the newspaper said.
There is no hard evidence that bin Laden or his followers have actually produced chemical, biological or nuclear
weapons. But bin Laden has worked with Russian mafia groups in obtaining components for weapons of mass
destruction, according to officials familiar with the intelligence reports.
The U.S. State Department's latest report on international terrorism says that al-Qaeda continued to seek
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear capabilities, the newspaper said.
Intelligence officials say al-Qaeda is probably trying to produce the nerve agent Sarin or biological weapons
made up of anthrax spores.
A former State Department counter terrorism official, Larry Johnson, said the contacts between the Russian mafia
and bin Laden could be related to drug trafficking and that such cooperation would not be surprising, the
newspaper said.
The Foreign Ministry said the new report raises a question: ``Why should such information be splashed out on
newspaper pages instead of discussing it through the channels existing between our countries, including
confidential ones?''
''One may get the impression that some in the United States oppose the positive tendency in Russian-American
relations that has made itself felt recently,'' the ministry said in a statement carried by Interfax.
END
If he has the bomb, there can be no doubt now, that he will use it. The only question is where/when? We need to root out this evil and destroy it utterly. For humanity, whatever will be left of it. |
