CIA chief says Al Qaeda poses global danger

WASHINGTON/KABUL, Feb 7: CIA chief George Tenet warned Americans the war on terrorism was far from over, saying the Al Qaeda network was trying to obtain germ, chemical and nuclear weapons for attacks around the world.

The UN Envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, yesterday called for an expanded foreign peacekeeping force in the country as interim leader Hamid Karzai made his first domestic trip outside the capital, Kabul, since taking office.

Karzai, trying to maintain control of his fractious country, was given a warm welcome on his arrival in the western city of Herat, an area that has often been one of the most troubled in Afghanistan.

But efforts to end a bloody power struggle in the eastern town of Gardez received a setback when the ousted provincial Governor declined an offer to come to Kabul for peace talks.

Tenet issued his warning about Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11 attacks on America that killed about 3,100 people, in testimony to Congress in Washington.

"Al Qaeda leaders still at large are working to reconstitute the organization and resume its terrorist operations," he said. "We must be prepared for a long war, and we must not falter."

He said the movement had plans to strike US and allied targets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.

"American diplomatic and military installations are at high risk," he said, testifying that the extremist Islamic network was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Tenet said he did not know if Bin Laden had survived the US-led air and ground war against Al Qaeda and their Taliban protectors in Afghanistan, but he thought Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was still alive.

The CIA Director said Iraq, which President George W Bush described as being part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and North Korea, had had contact with Al Qaeda. "Tactical cooperation between them is possible," he said.

Bush’s "axis of evil" remark last week, and other threats he has issued since September 11, have sparked speculation the United States is contemplating extending its war on terrorism to Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Congressional Committee that Bush’s reference to an axis of evil was no mere "rhetorical flourish".

"The President is examining a full range of options on how to deal with Iraq," he said, referring to efforts to prevent President Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"I wouldn’t like to go into details of the options that are being looked at, but it is the most serious assessment of options that one might imagine, and he’s leaving no stone unturned as to what he might do," Powell said.

In Tehran, a hard-line commander of Iran’s revolutionary guards warned Washington on Wednesday it would risk "another vietnam" if it decided to attack his country. "If the US Government wants to drown in another quagmire we are ready," said the Deputy Commander of the Guards, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr.

Iran, accused by Washington of allowing entry to Taliban and Al Qaeda members fleeing neighboring Afghanistan, threatened to expel Afghan guerrilla leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar after he called for armed struggle to eject foreign troops from his country.

"We will not accept this. We will pursue the issue with the legal Government in Afghanistan. Iran is no place for any one or group that resorts to mischief," Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari told Iran’s Irna news agency.

Karzai, in Herat, held talks with Regional Governor Ismail Khan, who has been accused of receiving backing from Iran against other Afghan warlords — a charge both he and Tehran reject.

Far to the east in Gardez, there was little sign of progress in efforts to resolve a power struggle between clans from the majority Pashtun ethnic group.

The recently appointed Governor of Paktia, Padshah Khan Zadran, was driven out of his capital, Gardez, 120 km south of Kabul, late last week after two days of clashes with forces of a rival who says he is the rightful Governor.

About 50 fighters died in the battles, and forces loyal to Zadran — a burly, mustached figure with a penchant for wearing bandoliers of ammunition — threatened to launch a counter-attack if he is not returned to power.

A team of Government mediators traveled to Gardez at the weekend but failed to push the two sides into a peace pact — although they did get them to agree to a brief cease-fire and to swap prisoners from last week’s fighting.

At the United Nations, Brahimi asked the Security Council to consider urgently expanding foreign forces to help keep the peace in Afghanistan, saying ordinary Afghans and even feuding warlords wanted it.

"We tend to agree and hope that this will receive favorable and urgent consideration by the Security Council," he said.

The British-led force, now restricted to the capital Kabul, is expected to reach 5,000 soldiers and was authorized by the Council last month for six months.

Council members, Brahimi said, reacted sympathetically to his request. But the problem remains finding troops, with the United States having ruled itself out.

US forces in Afghanistan this week released 27 detainees captured in a disputed raid on Jan 23 after determining they were not Taliban forces or linked to Al Qaeda.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the situation on the ground in Afghanistan was "very complicated" and it was not always clear who were the "bad guys" and who were the "good guys" because of shifting allegiances in the country’s complex politics.

The 20-year-old American who was captured while fighting with the Taliban, John Walker Lindh, was ordered on Wednesday to remain imprisoned while awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to kill Americans.

Prosecutor Randy Bellows said Lindh could not be trusted. "He went there (abroad), first ostensibly to study, and became a terrorist."

Defense lawyers had argued that their client, described by his father as innocent, posed no danger and should be released ahead of his trial.

Pakistani investigators said they had narrowed the search for kidnapped US reporter Daniel Pearl to a member of a banned Islamic militant group suspected of having ties to Bin Laden.

"The (kidnapper) is identified," said a senior official close to the investigation. "We are constantly monitoring the situation. We know that he has no place to go." (AGENCIES)

Iskcon to file for bankruptcy protection later this month

NEW YORK, Feb 7: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), better known as Hare Krishna Movement, named in the 400 million dollars lawsuit alleging sexual and emotional abuse of boarding students, plan to file for bankruptcy protection later this month, spokesman for the organisation said.

The congregation plans to file chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this month which protects an organization against creditors and allows it to reorganize rather than liquidate assets, he said.

The action is contemplated to deal with law suit for 400 million dollar filed against Krishna temple alleging that children were abused at the religious society’s boarding schools in 1970s and 1980s.

The lawsuit, Iskcon leaders say, seeks far more money than the financial value of all the Krishna temples in North America. It would cost the congregation millions to fight and potentially bankrupt even if they won, said Anuttama Dasa, Iskcon Director of Communications.

"We don’t believe that innocent members and congregations should be held accountable for the deviant behaviour of individual acts committed 20 or 30 years ago," he said.

"Rather than wasting millions of dollars to fight this suit, Chapter 11 re-organization will help Iskcon communities to establish a substantial, yet reasonable, fund to help any young persons who may have been abused," he said.

Iscon plans to set up a fund to compensate children who may have been victimised in the Hare Krishna schools during the 1970s and 1980s and has already formed the ‘Child Protection Office’ in 1998 to investigate allegations of abuse.

"Chapter 11 protection will also assure that innocent families and congregations do not have their places of worship sold out from under them," said Dasa.

"Chapter 11 is a further effort to address past problems by creating an orderly and efficient procedure for dealing with and maximizing return to claimants," said Sandy Frey, bankruptcy counsel.

The law suit claiming 400 million dollars in damages was filed in the federal district court in Dallas, Texas, on June 12, 2000 by former boarding school students.

"Sadly, many children of the Hare Krishna Society have also been victimized. If the events alleged in this suit did occur, we regret that they did, and we will make every effort to help address the needs of the young people named in the suit," he added.

"At the same time, numerous allegations made in the suit by the lawyer, windle turley of dallas, are gross exaggerations and outright falsehoods," Dasa said.

Meanwhile, the traditional Indian-style boarding schools, or Gurukulas, that the Krishnas established in North America in the 1970’s have been closed, or transformed into day schools.

Iskcon was founded by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who first brought the Krishna tradition from India to the west in 1965. (PTI)

Lankan Govt, LTTE unlikely to sign MoU before Feb 24

COLOMBO, Feb 7: Contrary to expectations, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at putting a formal cease-fire in place between the Lankan Government and Tamil tiger rebels is unlikely to be signed before February 24.

According to Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris, the Government is trying its level best to reach an agreement for "a permanent cessation of hostilities" before the existing unilaterally announced truce lapses on February 24.

"We would like to have a mutually-agreed cease-fire agreement instead of announcing it every 30 days. Still, it should be a lasting one. Therefore, we do not want to fix a time frame or deadline for reaching it...."

Prof Peiris, who is also the cabinet spokesman, told mediapersons here today that the Government was presently concentrating on three basic issues in connection with the MoU — providing a possible easy life to the people in the uncleared areas of the north-east, security consideration and monitoring arrangement of the proposed cease-fire.

He said it was also important for both parties to understand each other to a "fair degree" and that the "give-and-take" happens from both sides.

"We are satisfied with the progress that has been made so far with regard to the peace process."

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was in constant touch with the Defence Minister and service commanders in relation to the "security consideration".

He, however, refused to explain the term "security consideration" and the composition of the monitoring committee since he said he considered these as "highly sensitive matters".

He said both LTTE and Government were continuing with "confidence-building measures".

Both parties were now engaged in demining the A9 Main Supply Route (MSR) at Omanthai Gateway in Vavuniya to make it accessible to the people at the earliest. Already, the Vavuniya-Trincomalee road had been opened earlier this week, Prof Peiris said.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian peace delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, arrived in Colombo early this morning to continue its shuttle diplomacy to bring the warring parties to the negotiation table. Consultant to the Foreign Ministry Erik Solheim also accompanied the delegation.

Prof Peiris said the members of the delegation would meet the Prime Minister this evening to advance the ongoing peace process and to finalise the details of the MoU. They will also meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga and other party leaders during their two-day stay in Colombo. (UNI)

CIA warns of possible nuclear war between
India and Pakistan

WASHINGTON, Feb 7: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has warned of a high possibility of a military conflict between India and Pakistan that could erupt into a nuclear war.

The chance of war between these two nuclear-armed states is higher than that at any point since 1971, CIA Director George J Tenet told a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Both India and Pakistan are publicly downplaying the risks of nuclear conflict in the current crisis. We are deeply concerned, however, that a conventional war — once begun — could escalate into a nuclear confrontation.

If India were to conduct large-scale offensive operations into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), Pakistan might retaliate with strikes of its own in the belief that its nuclear deterrent would limit the scope of an Indian counterattack, Tenet said.

He said that although September 11 highlighted the challenges that India-Pakistan relations posed for US policy, the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13 was even more destabilising —resulting as it did in new calls for military action against Pakistan, and subsequent mobilisation on both sides.

Tenet said that both India and Pakistan are working towards developing more advanced nuclear weapons, producing fissile material, and increasing their nuclear stockpiles.

"We have continuing concerns that both sides may not be done with nuclear testing. Nor can we rule out the possibility that either country could deploy their most advanced nuclear weapons without additional testing."

Tenet said both countries were also continuing the development of long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and were planning to field cruise missiles with a land-attack capability.

Saying that the US faced several "unique challenges" in trying to detect Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) acquisition by proliferating states and non-state actors, Tenet said use of denial and deception tactics, and access to a tremendous amount of information in open sources about wmd production, complicated us efforts.

So is the challenge to the US in the area of space exploration, he said, "the unique space borne advantage that the United States has enjoyed over the past few decades is eroding as more countries — including China and India — field increasingly sophisticated reconnaissance satellites."

He said there were at present three commercial satellites collecting high-resolution imagery, much of it openly marketed.

"Foreign military, intelligence, and terrorist organizations are exploiting this — along with commercially available navigation and communications services — to enhance the planning and conduct of their operations," he added.

Regarding missiles, the CIA chief said Chinese firms continue to be key suppliers of missile-related technologies to Pakistan, Iran and several other countries.

This was in spite of Beijing’s November 2000 missile pledge not to assist in any way countries that sought to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, he said.

Tenet said most of China s efforts involved solid-propellant ballistic missile development for countries that are dependent on Chinese expertise. But china had also sold cruise missiles to "countries of concern" such as iran, he added.

Referring to the war on terrorism, Tenet said Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network remained the most immediate and serious threat to the us. This was despite the progress made in Afghanistan and in disrupting the network elsewhere.

"We assess that the Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups will continue to plan to attack this country and its interests abroad. Their modus operandi is to have multiple attack plans in the works simultaneously, and to have Al Qaeda cells in place to conduct them," he added. (UNI)

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