Possible Nuclear Threat
Tues. 11.06.01 - 11:06 a.m. Feeling:
Listening:
Quote:
I'm scared. President Bush has just announced that Osama Bin Laden's group Al-Qaida has made attempts at acquiring nuclear weapons. The following was taken from the MSNBC website:
FIRST NUCLEAR WARNING
For the first time, Bush specifically accused bin Laden�s group of seeking nuclear weapons and came close to tying it to the anthrax attack in America that has killed four people to date.
�Al-Qaida operates in more than 60 nations including some in Central and Eastern Europe. These terrorist groups seek to destabilize entire nations and regions,� Bush said.
�They�re seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Given the means, our enemies would be a threat to every nation and eventually, to civilization itself,� he said.
U.S. officials have declined to comment in the past when asked if bin Laden has obtained nuclear materials. But NBC�s Robert Windrem reported that bin Laden has made attempts to acquire highly enriched uranium as well as nuclear technology.
In fact, the recently completed embassy bombing trial contained numerous and detailed references to one of those attempts in 1994 by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, bin Laden�s financial director and logistics chief. Salim is awaiting trial in the embassy bombing case in New York.
Windrem reported that there�s no evidence that bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons themselves.
Questioned Tuesday about Bush�s remarks about nuclear weapons, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to elaborate, other than noting comments by CIA director George Tenet last month in which he said bin Laden has shown an active interest in chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, Bush said the United States was fighting another war at home, describing the anthrax attacks as �a second wave of terrorist attacks.�
The country was determined to fight the threat, Bush said.
�We will not wait for more innocent deaths. We will not wait for the authors of mass murder to gain the weapons of mass destruction. We act now, because we must lift this dark threat from our age and save generations to come,� he said.
previous next |