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WMD Threat al-Qaeda Poses to the U.S. - Part 2 of 3

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Bin Laden’s Rationale for Using WMDs

What is bin Laden’s rationale for the use of WMD against the United States?

Right to Kill?  One of America’s most wanted al-Qaeda operatives, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, said, “We have not reached parity with them [meaning the Americans]. We have the right to kill 4 million Americans—2 million of them children—and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands.  Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons, so as to afflict them with the fatal maladies that have afflicted the Muslims because of the [Americans’] chemical and biological weapons” (Williams, 2005, p. 21).  Obviously, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith firmly believes in the principle of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

A Religious Duty?  Leaving no doubt as to the motivation of his followers, the December 1998 issue of Time Magazine quoted Osama bin Laden as saying, “Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty.  If I have indeed acquired these weapons [of mass destruction], then I thank God for enabling me to do so.  And if I seek to acquire these weapons, I am carrying out a duty.  It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims” (Dowle, 2007, p. 20).

The American Hiroshima.  Bin Laden and his adherents believe his nuclear cataclysm will usher in The Day of Islam, the dream of radical Muslims to see all of humankind fall into submission before the throne of Allah as they bring the Great Satan, America, to her knees.  Al-Qaeda is not content on blowing up one nuclear device or even simply a dirty nuke—but wants to explode real nuclear devices in seven U.S. cities (i.e., New York, Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Miami, Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles) simultaneously.  With explosive yields in excess of 10 kilotons, these nuclear attacks will comprise the American Hiroshima (Williams, 2007; Anonymous, 2007).

Duty to Warn.  Compelling evidence exists of al-Qaeda’s interest in conducting a terrorist attack with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons or weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).  Bin Laden declared in 1998 that the acquisition of CBRN weapons was a religious duty for Muslims.  In 2003, he obtained a fatwa from Saudi Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al-Fahd condoning the use of CBRN weapons against infidels.  Along with multiple warnings from al-Qaeda associates that a CBRN attack against the West is both forthcoming and long overdue, Muslims have firmly established their duty to warn.  In al-Qaeda’s opinion, they neither need nor require any further rationale, justification, or warnings (Quillen, 2007).

Unwarranted as it may appear, Bin Laden’s rationale for using WMDs against the United States is clear and determined.  We must understand his intent and take it seriously by planning for and being ready to deal with this WMD attack when it occurs.  If we are prepared, we need not fear.

Al-Qaeda’s Quest for WMD

WMD Threat.  Concern grows among many who study terrorism that the WMD threat becomes more common as time passes.  Legal, political, and financial restraints that discourage states from using these types of weapons appear insufficient to limit a non-state group’s willingness, if it can acquire such a weapon, to use it.  Access to such weapons clearly increases with time, and groups currently train in using easily accessible materials.  Hence, a terrorist WMD threat appears very credible (Combs, 2006).

CBRN Threat.  Terrorists prefer to use CBRN weapons but will settle for guns and conventional explosives if need be (National Commission on Terrorism, 2003).  Chemical weapons range from ricin (with no known treatment) to sarin and VX (can kill within two minutes).  All of these weapons possess a psychological component in that they produce a significant amount of accompanying fear (Kondrasuk, Bailey, & Sheeks, 2005).  Fear is what gives the terrorists the upper hand in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).

Al-Qaeda Already has Nukes.  Al-Qaeda has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union—including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells, and even some missile warheads.  Additionally, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaeda had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market.  Al-Qaeda obtained at least half of the nuclear weapons in their arsenal for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies (Farah, 2005).

Nukes Already in the United States.  According to Paul Williams (2005), no doubt exists among intelligence analysts that al-Qaeda possesses fully assembled nuclear weapons.  The question is how many.  Estimates range between 12 and 70.  The breathtaking news is that an undetermined number of these weapons, including suitcase bombs, mines, and crude tactical nuclear weapons, were already smuggled into the United States—at least some across the U.S.-Mexico border (Williams, 2005).  The MS-13 smugglers helped pass the nuclear weapons and al-Qaeda operatives through the unsecured U.S.-Mexican border (Farah, 2005).

The Next Attack. According to al-Qaeda defectors and informants, the next attack will take place simultaneously at various sites throughout the United States.  Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, DC, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Valdez, Alaska, where Trans-Alaska pipeline oil-filled tankers reside.  To orchestrate such an event requires shipment of nukes into the United States, establishment of cells, training of sleeper agents, selection of sites, and preparation of the weapons…all without being detected by federal, state, or local law enforcement officials (Williams, 2005).  The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the United States, called the American Hiroshima plan have been under development by al-Qaeda for more than 10 years.  It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the United States, which is seen by al-Qaeda and its allies as the Great Satan (Williams, 2005; Farah, 2005).

FBI Warns. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies on May 27, 2008, warning that al-Qaeda has made new threats to use WMDs against U.S. targets.  ABC News reported late Tuesday, May 27, 2008, that intelligence sources have confirmed that al-Qaeda plans to release a new video on the web sometime tomorrow.  United States intelligence believes the terror group will advise its “jihadists to use biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons to attack the West.”  An FBI spokesman confirmed the threat “calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against civilians.”  The United States has no “intelligence of any specific plot or indication of a threat to the US,” the Bureau spokesman said.  Still, the FBI has taken the precautionary step of alerting other agencies of the potential threat.  Such threats are not unusual for the Bureau.  Earlier in 2008, Dr. Vahid Majidi, the Bureau’s assistant director in charge of the WMD Directorate, told Newsmax that the FBI gets at least several dozen cases a year involving WMD.  The Bureau takes such threats seriously (Anonymous, 2008).

New al-Qaeda WMD Threat.  In a separate interview with Newsmax’s Ronald Kessler in 2007, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group were actively seeking to obtain nuclear devices with the intent to explode them in American cities.  Mueller conjectured how al-Qaeda might acquire one or more nuclear devices.  “One is to obtain a nuclear device that’s already been constructed from one of the former Iron Curtain countries, and the other way is to put together the fissile material and the expertise and do an improvised nuclear device,” Mueller said.  “And there’s no doubt that al-Qaeda, if it had the capability, would go down either route to get a nuclear device.”  Mueller also had little doubt as to al-Qaeda’s likely targets.  “It would be someplace in the United States, in most likely Washington and/or New York, depending on how many devices they have…or both cities,” Mueller said (Anonymous, 2008).

Window of Attack.  When President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, he received an intelligence brief warning that Islamic terrorists may attempt to exploit the transition in power by planning an attack on America, intelligence experts said.  After all, that is what happened to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at a time when their national security teams and their counterterrorism plans were in flux.  Islamic terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993, in Mr. Clinton’s second month as president.  Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks came in the Bush presidency’s first year (less than eight months after taking office).  The strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened as the White House national security director was formulating a comprehensive plan for combating Osama bin Laden’s terror network, which had declared war on the United States.  The pattern is clear to some national security experts.  Terrorists pay particular attention to a government in transition as the most opportune window to launch an attack (Scarborough, 2008).

 

References

Anonymous (2007, May 31). Al Qaeda plans nuclear attacks on 7 US cities. NewsMax.com. Retrieved from http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/5/30/222555.shtml.

Anonymous (2008, May 27). FBI warns: New al-Qaida WMD threat. Newsmax.com. Retrieved from http://www.newsmax.com/printTemplate.html.

Combs, C.C. (2006). Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall.

Dowle, J. (2007, February). The CBRN scenario. Law & Order, 55(2), pp 19-21.

Farah, J. (2005, July 11). Al-Qaida nukes already in US: Terrorists, bombs smuggled across Mexico border by MS-13 gangsters. WorldNetDaily. Retrieved from http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45203.

Kondrasuk, J. N., Bailey, D., & Sheeks, M. (2005, Summer). Global terrorism: Past, present, & future. The Business Review, 3(2), pp 35-41.

Quillen, C. (2007, February 15). Three explanations for al Qaeda’s lack of a CBRN attack. TerrorismMonitor, V(3). Retrieved from http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/TM-005-003.pdf.

Scarborough, R. (2008, May 25). US terror attack seen apt to follow ’08 vote. The Washington Times. Retrieved from http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080525/FOREIGN/541243918/1001.

Williams, P. L. (2005). The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.

Williams, P. L. (2007). The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.

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