FBI Warns of Threat to Nuclear Plants

The LAST PARAGRAPH of the article below reflects information excluded from U.S. news coverage of the al-Qaeda video that was recently found. Apparently, the threat to nuclear plants is one reason Attorney General Ashcroft has not released the audio.

As we have repeatedly noted, terrorists, including those associated with Bin Laden, have often threatened since 1993 to attack U.S. nuclear plants. That fact has been excluded from the national discussion about security, as has the fact that the FBI and British intelligence believe the fourth plane on September 11th, Flight 93, might have been targeting Three Mile Island (also reported by The London Times in October).

The London Times

Video reveals five more bombers ready to strike

FRIDAY JANUARY 18 2002

FROM ROLAND WATSON AND KATTY KAY IN WASHINGTON

The video images of five would-be suicide bombers were released by the FBI last night after tapes were recovered from the rubble of an al-Qaeda leader's home.

The "moving mug shots" showed three of the five against a blank white backdrop as they talked and smiled into the camera. Another cradled an automatic rifle. John Ashcroft, the US Attorney-General, said that the tape contained "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists", although the Justice Department withheld most of the sound.

Mr. Ashcroft said that an analysis of the audio suggested that the men "may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts".

A compilation tape was released yesterday to law enforcement forces and intelligence agencies around the world, starting an urgent hunt for the five.

The separate tapes were discovered in the wreckage after US aircraft bombed the home of Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's military strategist, in November, killing him.

Robert Mueller, the FBI's director, said that it was part of a "trove of information" recovered by US personnel.

Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Mueller conceded that they had no idea where any of the five might be, whether they were on American soil, or if and when they would strike.

Officials have been concerned that the public has lost its focus on the potential for terrorist attacks on US soil and hope that yesterday's release will remind citizens of the terrorist threat.

Mr. Ashcroft named four of the five as Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Abd al-Rahim, Khalid ibn Muhammad al-Juhani and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. The fifth has yet to be identified.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh, from Yemen, is an associate of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the September 11 hijackings. He was named as a co-conspirator in the indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged so far in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.

Mr. Ashcroft said the men could be anywhere in the world. He said he did not believe there were any coded messages contained in the gestures or hand signals of the five.

He said he was not sure if the Justice Department would ever release the audio, or translations of what the men were saying.

Nor was it clear when the tapes were made. Mr. Mueller said the FBI was still carrying out forensic analysis of the tapes to try to determine how old they are.

The FBI gave a warning yesterday that al-Qaeda terrorists have been looking at websites concerning nuclear power plants in the US. The FBI issued a special alert on the terrorists' recent nuclear interest to 18,000 law enforcement bodies nationwide.

(emphasis added by NC WARN)

Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.