Other Groups, with Al Qaeda, Said to Threaten U.S.
May 20 2002 5:54PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Militant Islamic groups like Hizbollah and Egypt's Islamic Jihad could be planning to attack the United States and may be more able to do so than the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman said on Monday.
Sen. Bob Graham, speaking amid new warnings of attacks on the United States, confirmed reports that about two dozen "extremists" had recently entered America hidden in container ships and were now on the loose.
"Our enemy is not al Qaeda alone," Graham said on NBC's "Today" show, referring to the movement blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people.
"There are several international terrorist groups which have abilities, in some cases greater abilities than al Qaeda and a similar desire to attack the United States," he said.
"Groups like Hizbollah, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad" were two organizations with the capability and desire to attack the United States, said the Florida Democrat.
Neither Lebanon's Hizbollah, largely seen as a resistance group against Israeli occupation, nor the Egyptian group has been linked directly to action on U.S. soil. A Hizbollah spokesperson in Beirut declined comment on Graham's remarks.
HIDING ON CONTAINER SHIPS
Offering an example of the vulnerability of U.S. ports, Graham said in a separate interview with CNN that 25 people he described as "extremists" had entered the United States.
"(They) jumped on ships outside the United States, hid in the container cargoes until they got to the United States and then disembarked and they've been lost in the American population," he said.
According to Graham spokesman Paul Anderson, the Florida Democrat was briefed last week on a Coast Guard report earlier this month on the stowaways. They apparently jumped ship in Miami, Port Everglades, Florida, Long Beach, California, and Savannah, Georgia.
The Coast Guard, the FBI and U.S. immigration authorities have refused to comment on the matter.
The alarming gaps in U.S. port security have been a chief concern of the Bush administration since Sept. 11.
Only 2 percent of roughly 6 million containers that arrive aboard 7,500 cargo ships each year are inspected. Those ships are manned by about 200,000 sailors.
Anderson told Reuters that the senator had learned from the Coast Guard report, backed up by other intelligence briefings, that the 25 people were believed to have slipped into the States between late April and May 15.
Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday a new attack on the United States was "almost certain" as U.S. intelligence officials picked up signals a fresh al Qaeda strike could be in the works.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge reiterated that the United States remained at risk, especially for those who live in apartment buildings.
"We're telling those who live in apartment buildings and who own apartment buildings, be mindful of the fact that terrorists have struck these places in other parts of the world," Ridge told reporters after speaking at the National District Attorneys Association conference.
SUICIDE ATTACKS?
Other U.S. officials said they would not rule "in or out" the possibility of suicide bombings as another potential form of attack but they stressed that information about possible new attacks was nonspecific.
Defense Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said that despite major successes against al Qaeda in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led military campaign destroyed the group's main camps, it and other groups remained a threat.
"We have always said this is about more than one person, one network and certainly is about more than Afghanistan," Clarke told a news briefing.
Hizbollah has traditionally carried out suicide and other attacks against targets in Israel and Lebanon. The Shiite Muslim group is backed by Iran.
Egypt's Islamic Jihad, which has links with al Qaeda, is the country's second-largest Islamic militant group. The United States has blamed the group for bombing the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1995 and planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Albania in 1998.
05/20/02 17:52 ET |
