DATE=7/31/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=NUMBER ONE TERRORIST
NUMBER-5-43987
BYLINE=ED WARNER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: At rallies in Pakistan and Afghanistan,
demonstrators have warned the United States not to
mount another attack on Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist
held responsible for last year's bombing of two U-S
embassies in Africa. The U-S State Department has
offered a five-million-dollar reward for information
leading to his arrest, and dozens of his operatives
have been arrested in various parts of the world. But
his network continues to grow, and as VOA's Ed Warner
reports, the United States considers him the number-
one terrorist threat.
TEXT: There is a halo effect to Osama Bin Laden, says
Khalid Duran, editor of "Trans-Islam" magazine. He is
a pure bred Arab from the Arabian peninsula, land of
the Prophet Mohammed. If he came from anywhere else,
he would not have the same standing among Muslims.
Mr. Duran says he also has enormous determination to
accomplish nothing less than bringing down the last
remaining superpower, a task that wins some sympathy
in the Muslim world:
// DURAN ACT //
Since now there is only one superpower, the
United States is considered a bully. There is
of course, also a kind of fury in the third
world - I mean the have's and have-not's.
Nowadays because of the communications media,
they always see the rich life in the United
States. So there is an automatic hatred that is
very widespread. Osama has made himself the
spokesman of that anti-superpower mood.
// END ACT //
Milt Bearden, who led CIA efforts to aid the Afghan
resistance against the Soviets, told the "Washington
Post" -- One should go to the refugee camps throughout
Pakistan and find out how many boy children have been
named "Osama" since last August. It is scary.
Last August, Bin Laden's group bombed two U-S
embassies in Africa, killing 224 people and injuring
more than five-thousand.
Khalid Duran says the U-S pro-Israel posture and its
continued bombing of impoverished Iraq adds to Bin
Laden's support.
No question about this support, says Congressional
Research Service senior Middle East analyst Kenneth
Katzman:
// KATZMAN ACT //
While we may have constrained his organizational
operational capabilities, he is getting more
popular at the street level, because he is
taking on this aura that I think Ayatollah
Khomeini had - a sort of last holdout, the
uncompromising revolutionary figure.
// END ACT //
He could change, says Mr. Katzman, as other onetime
terrorists have changed. The Palestinian
organizations "Hamas" and "Hezbollah" have become more
moderate. State-sponsored terrorism has subsided in
Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Sudan.
Bin Laden seems to be going against the tide, says Mr.
Katzman, while he has been in Afghanistan, he has
given more help to the Taleban than they have to him.
Though supported by no state, Bin Laden has an
extensive network of his own:
// KATZMAN ACT //
It is several thousand spread out among at least
20 to 30 countries, maybe more by now - the Far
East, Africa, parts of South America, the United
States itself, the Middle East, of course. I am
becoming increasingly concerned about his
ability to strike in the United States.
// END ACT //
Kenneth Katzman says the F-B-I and C-I-A have closely
followed Bin Laden's activities and so far prevented
further attacks, but sustained vigilance is needed for
a terrorist ever in search of opportunities.
(SIGNED)
NEB/EW/RAE
31-Jul-1999 13:44 PM LOC (31-Jul-1999 1744 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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