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Politics : Terrorism -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (399)	11/7/2002 11:17:56 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 642

Woolsey: South American terror ties a concern for 10 years Thursday, November 7, 2002 Posted: 9:33 PM EST (0233 GMT) (CNN) -- Top terrorists have met in South America to plot attacks against U.S. interests, coalition intelligence sources have told CNN. They met in the area where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet, the sources said. In another warning, the State Department cautions that the execution next week of Mir Aimal Kansi, convicted of murdering two CIA employees outside the agency's headquarters in 1993, may prompt attacks against American targets. Former CIA Director James Woolsey discussed both threats with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Thursday. BLITZER: Director Woolsey, thanks for joining us. You heard Mike Boettcher's exclusive report (Full story). How worried should Americans be that these terror groups, working out of South American bases, may be looking for new targets up here? WOOLSEY: We've been worried about the Foz do Iguacu area for a long time, since '92 at least and before, but -- when they blew up the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, Wolf. And I think it's a serious problem. The interesting thing here is that Hezbollah and Imad Mugniyeh, essentially their worst terrorist, whom you profiled in the piece, are Shiite. And there have been a lot of people who have said from time to time that Shiite groups would not work with the Sunni and the Sunni groups would not work with Iraq because it's secular and so on. I think that this is increasing evidence that this is nonsense. These groups are sort of like three different Mafia families. They do hate each other and they kill each other from time to time, but they're perfectly capable of supporting one another with, you know, some forged passports or training or whatever. And they're perfectly capable of reacting against us if, for example, there are hostilities against Iraq even if they're not Iraqi. BLITZER: How good is U.S. intelligence in dealing with this potential threat from South America? WOOLSEY: Well, we've been down there looking at Foz do Iguacu area for a long time and a have close working relationships -- have had for years -- with Argentine intelligence services that you mentioned, as well as with some of the other countries in the region. But it's a tough area. People can move back and forth across those borders very easily. The writ of those central governments doesn't run nearly as strongly in those remote areas as they do, say, in their capitals. It's a problem. BLITZER: You heard the State Department warning that there could be retaliatory action against U.S. interests around the world with the scheduled execution next week of Mir Aimal Kansi, who murdered two people right outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, just days before you became the CIA director. Is this a threat that Americans should take seriously? WOOLSEY: Well, I think we should take it seriously. And although I'm not a strong supporter of the death penalty in most cases, I certainly think it's appropriate here. Those were wonderful CIA employees that Kansi murdered. And I think that showing that we can obtain overseas, as we did him, rendering him to the United States, try him, convict him and punish him, including executing him, I think sends an important lesson to the terrorist states such as Iraq, and to other terrorist groups around the world. cnn.com GRUB