Bin Laden Said to Have Nuclear Weapons
8:20 am PST, 28 April 2001
Saudi billionaire terrorist Osama Bin Laden is said to have at least 20 nuclear weapons, according to WorldNetDaily, which quoted a weekly intelligence newsletter on Saturday.
Bin Laden, the report said, was able to gain access to the weapons via Chechen rebels who had managed to steal them from Russian weapons depots.
The paper quoted intelligence newsletter Geostrategy-Direct.com, as saying the question of whether bin Laden has nuclear weapons "is no longer in doubt…"
Reports over the past few years have speculated that bin Laden was either trying to acquire such weapons or already had them. The newsletter report is the first one to actually state it as a fact.
The intelligence newsletter, WorldNetDaily said, quoted Russian and Arab sources, who confirmed that bin Laden had received some "suitcase" nuclear bombs and other materials from Chechen rebels.
Bin Laden had supplied the rebels with money, material and volunteers in their battle against Russian army forces, which has raged off-and-on since 1994.
"Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama bin Laden has nuclear weapons. The question is how many," the paper said, quoting the intelligence brief.
The State Department had no comment on the report, the paper said. But other intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that any reports dealing with bin Laden are taken seriously.
"Reports regarding bin Laden are always taken seriously and investigated," one intelligence official said. "He clearly poses a threat to U.S. interests around the world, so you can't dismiss every rumor out of hand. It wouldn't be prudent to do that."
The CIA has named bin Laden as a major terrorist. In February, CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the agency believes bin Laden is a "major terrorist" player bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
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28 April 2001
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