Israel Finds Radiological Backpack Bomb ..............??????????
RICHARD SALE, UPI Terrorism Correspondent, United Press
International, October 14, 2001
WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2001 (United Press
International via COMTEX) -- Israeli security
last month arrested a man linked to suspected
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden armed
with a radiological backpack bomb, as he
attempted to enter Israel from the Palestinian
Territories via a border checkpoint at Ramallah,
according to U.S. government officials.
The arrest took place during the last week of September, according
to one knowledgeable official who spoke on condition of
anonymity. He declined to give the exact date of arrest. Two other
sources interviewed by UPI confirmed the incident, but also
declined to give further details.
"People know how to walk a dog back," one said, meaning that
relating too exact an account could lead to the identification of the
source of the information.
Regarding the arrest, a U.S. government official said: "There was
only one individual involved. He was from Pakistan."
Another source said U.S. officials believed that the suspect had
probably gotten to the territories via Lebanon.
Information on the arrest went immediately to U.S. President Bush
and a close circle of advisors, another U.S. official said. He
described the appearance and character of the top-secret report
circulated among the Cabinet members and signed by each official
present.
Former Pentagon terrorism expert, Peter Probst, described a
radiological bomb as a device with a small explosive core that is
encased in radioactive material. "It would not kill a great many
people, but it would contaminate a considerable area with
radiation," he said.
A U.S. government expert said that the weapon captured by Israel
was a backpack device that CIA officials learned about through
Russian intelligence agents in place in 1995.
He emphasized it was not a so-called nuclear suitcase bomb.
The CIA had intelligence reports from senior Arab intelligence
officials alleging that in October 1998 bin Laden had obtained one
or two nuclear suitcase weapons from a Central Asian republic in
return for $30 million in cash and two tons of heroin worth $70
million - a deal brokered by the Chechen mafia.
Russian Gen. Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed, a former national
security advisor to then-President Yeltsin acknowledged publicly in
1997 that several nuclear suitcase bombs had disappeared from
Russia's arsenal.
But former CIA counter-terrorism official Vince Cannistraro has
no patience with such accounts: "All talk of bin Laden having a
nuclear suitcase bomb is crap," he said.
Cannistraro could not be reached for comment about the backpack
device.
Nuclear suitcase bombs were designed for Soviet Speznatz or
special operations troops to assault and destroy NATO command
and control bunkers in Europe in the event of a NATO-Soviet war.
The devices could not be detonated without matching codes held
in strictest security by Moscow, a former CIA official said.
Backpack bombs have no such codes, but they were also designed
for Spetznetz forces and have such an intricate and complex
system of activation that the ability of a terrorist to detonate one
"would be incredibly limited," according to one U.S. government
official.
"There is such a complicated sequence you have to perform that
some terrorist isn't going to be able to get it to work. You have to
be very highly trained," an intelligence official agreed, describing
the chances that the device could have been activated as
"practically miniscule."
Probst is nevertheless convinced that radiological bombs are still a
danger for New York City. "Bin Laden is fascinated by Wall
Street. My fear is that he will attempt to smuggle in some "dirty"
bomb that wouldn't kill many people but would dangerously
contaminate the area," he said. Copyright 2001 by United Press
International.
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