DATE=12/22/1999
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=TERRORISM THREAT CLOUDS U-S HOLIDAYS
NUMBER=6-11606
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: Following the arrest of an Algerian man at the
U-S-Canadian border with a history of terrorist
connections, this country is facing the Christmas and
New Year's holiday with more apprehension than usual.
Security at airports and border crossings with Canada
and Mexico has been increased. The government has
asked Americans at home and abroad to be especially
watchful as they celebrate.
Because of these warnings, the U-S press is lamenting
that the threat of terrorism is clouding what would
normally be a festive and happy time in the United
States. ________________ joins us now with a sampling
in today's Editorial Digest.
TEXT: At midweek, the U-S government sharply
increased security measures at the nation's airports,
while sending about 350 additional customs agents to
remote border crossings to monitor those entering the
country.
The steps came after an Algerian citizen with a false
passport was arrested at a remote border crossing in
Washington State last week. His car was loaded with
bomb-making ingredients, but security officials feel
he was only transporting the equipment and may have
planned to link up with a bomb-maker once inside the
United States. The arrest a few days later of another
Algerian man, also with falsified documents, trying to
cross the border from Canada into Vermont, only
intensified fears that an organized plot of some kind
was underway.
The White House has been walking a fine line between
urging Americans to be unusually observant of their
surroundings as they celebrate, while refraining from
any statements that could induce panic. As it is,
many lavish millennium celebrations planned around the
country have been scaled back or cancelled for lack of
interest as people decide to stay close to home.
We begin our sampling in the state of Ohio, where The
[Cleveland] Plain Dealer says the United States is now
"commendably alert," and praises the agents in
Washington State for their arrest of the Algerian
suspect.
VOICE: Even as Americans' fears of a Y-2-K (computer)
meltdown recede, the State Department has done its
best to impress on them that the world remains a
dangerous place. But just as we were trying to figure
out where on the planet imminent danger might lurk,
confirmation that a terrorist threat might be real
enough was detected on our own soil. . the suspicious
conduct of the arrested man . and the contents of his
car trunk are reason to conclude the customs officials
did their job well. . The target and whatever his
accomplices had in mind for it are not known. It is
not alarmist to speculate, however, that at the very
least, a big building could have been devastated. ..
It is difficult to see what, without resorting to
extravagant precautions, Americans, going about their
daily lives can do to defend themselves against
determined terrorists who manage to evade the kind of
diligent watch that trapped [Ahmed] Ressam. . Ordinary
folks must depend on the intelligence services to stay
informed of likely threats, at home and abroad. . And
they will be well served if their guardians are as
vigilant as the Port Angeles customs agent who almost
certainly averted disaster.
TEXT: In Boston, The Globe tries to be both prudent
and philosophical about the threat.
VOICE: As always, there is philosophical wisdom in
the advice from government officials that Americans
should not hand terrorists a victory by ceding to
anxiety about recent warnings of terrorist attacks.
Nonetheless, the capture of an Algerian transporting
bomb-making materials into the United States from
British Columbia last week has properly set off alarm
bells among intelligence and law-enforcement
professionals. They have reason to take very
seriously the menace from the materials found in the
trunk of Ahmed Ressam's rented car: almost 59 kilos of
urea and sulfate, two jars of nitroglycerine, four
black boxes, each containing a circuit board, a Casio
watch, and a nine-volt battery. . The Casio watches
suggest to counter-intelligence specialists bomb-
making procedures that followers of [Saudi extremist
Osama] bin Laden teach in their camps in Afghanistan.
. Since [Mr.] Ressam appears to be merely a "mule"
delivering bomb-making materials, the F-B-I and the
C-I-A are in a race to locate his accomplices before
they can carry out a terrorist act. Americans cannot
let a terrorist threat change their way of life, but
they also need as much good intelligence as possible
about that threat.
TEXT: "Caution, Not Panic" is the headline in
Tuesday's [12/21] Los Angeles Times, as it urges the
middle road for the American public.
VOICE: Government warnings of potential anti-American
terrorist operations coinciding with the end of the
century were given chilling emphasis with last week's
arrest of Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian . trying to enter
the United States from Canada with . bomb-making
materials hidden in his car. Meanwhile, in Jordan and
Pakistan, authorities have jailed scores of people
suspected of having links to the exiled Saudi Arabian
militant Osama bin Laden, whose followers are accused
of bombing two U-S embassies in Africa last year ...
Until recently the F-B-I had focused on the potential
threat of terrorist violence by Americans - anti-
government activists and religious cultists energized
by planned millennial observances. More recently,
noting the coincidence of the Muslim holy months of
Ramadan and the end of the century, and using
intelligence gathered overseas, the F-B-I has expanded
its scrutiny of Middle Eastern extremists, but it has
become increasingly difficult to penetrate the close-
knit structure of many terrorist groups. Heightened
vigilance is surely required. . [However] As a free
society we have no choice but to live with an
inevitable measure of exposure to terrorism. The
alternative . would mean an end to our civil
liberties.
TEXT: In mid-America, Nebraska's Omaha World-Herald
is also trying to balance the threat with common sense
advice for readers.
VOICE: Is the average American, at home or abroad, in
serious danger from any such agents? No. Should that
average American be deterred from celebrating
appropriately in the coming holidays as the 1900s draw
to a close? Again, no. But note that these sentences
contain the word "average," twice. Most of us will be
quite safe, but that leaves open the possibility that
some small number could be subject to attack with
little or no warning. A couple of weeks ago, Neil
Gallagher, head of the F-B-I's national security
division, said his agency wanted the public to be
"aware but not scared," which probably gets it just
about right. ... Of course, everyone could just stay
home, safe and scared. But that feels like handing
any evil-doers, real or imagined, a victory by
forfeiture. This is the height of the holiday season,
just like any other year only more so. Part of the
idea is to have fun, within reasonable and sane
limits. Let's do so, while at the same time watching
our backs.
TEXT: Finally, some thoughts from U-S-A Today, the
national daily published in a Washington, D-C suburb.
VOICE: From the White House to law enforcement,
officials are tight-lipped about specifics. But
behind the scenes, the recent chain of events has
ratcheted counter-terrorism officials' concern to
extraordinarily high levels. "There probably hasn't
been a comparable level of concern" says Vincent
Cannistraro, former chief of counter-terrorist
operations at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Warning the public in more direct terms than
"Americans should be vigilant," as National Security
Adviser Sandy Berger put it Sunday, could spread fear.
And such panic would constitute a victory for
terrorists. But saying too little could leave people
at risk. Reflecting the difficulty of the decision,
the F-B-I planned, then postponed, a counter-terrorism
news conference Tuesday. But the right choice is
clear: Err on the side of disclosure, so that regular
Americans can judge for themselves what constitutes
self-preservation on this already-jittery New Year's.
TEXT: That concludes this sampling of editorial
comment on the heightened terrorist threat against the
United States.
NEB/ANG/JP
22-Dec-1999 16:35 PM EDT (22-Dec-1999 2135 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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