Germ warfare...something we all need to be concerned with:
U.S.: Bio Weapons A Qaeda Focus
WASHINGTON, May 23, 2003
cbsnews.com
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the al Qaeda terrorist network "was pursuing a sophisticated biological weapons research program," a Pentagon report to Congress says.
The report also says North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya have chemical and biological weapons programs they are working to enhance with help from companies in other countries such as Russia and China.
Countries and terrorist groups probably will continue to develop more sophisticated chemical and biological weapons, "and these weapons could well be used in a regional conflict or terrorist attack over the next 15 years," the report said.
Al Qaeda's interest in chemical, biological and nuclear weapons has long been known. Osama bin Laden, the group's Saudi-born leader, has called use of such weapons against American and Israeli targets a religious duty for Muslims.
American forces in Afghanistan discovered documents and equipment showing often crude attempts by the terrorist network to develop chemical weapons and strong interest in biological weapons. The Pentagon report, sent to Congress in April and disclosed in a news release late Thursday, is the first government document to say al Qaeda had a sophisticated biological weapons development effort.
The Pentagon report does not offer any more details on that germ weapons effort.
An FBI bulletin last month said the capture of al Qaeda operations chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided fresh evidence of the terror network's experiments with chemical and biological weapons.
U.S. officials say al Qaeda is linked to several men arrested in London in conjunction with the discovery of traces of the biological toxin ricin. While ricin is extremely deadly and has no antidote, it can be produced easily from the beans of the castor plant.
"The threat of terrorists obtaining and employing biological or chemical materials has increased" in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon report said.
But the report also noted that creating ways to deliver such weapons to kill large numbers of people requires sophisticated technology that's beyond the reach of most terrorist groups and many countries.
Crude weapons could be made by "almost any nation or group," and while they might kill only small numbers of people, "they could have significant operational repercussions due to the psychological impact created by fears" of such weapons, the report said.
The report says "entities in Russia and China" are the main suppliers of equipment and technology related to biological and chemical weapons. Russia, in particular, has been a source of equipment and expertise for Iran's chemical and biological weapons programs, it said.
Iran has denied having chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs. The Pentagon report says Iran may have some biological weapons stocks and has stockpiled chemical weapons in the past. |
