Expect more surprises - U.S. Official Says Terror Strike with WMD Likely
U.S. State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Henry Crumpton warned today that al-Qaeda is likely to use weapons of mass destruction against the West, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 23, 2005).
“We are talking about micro targets such as al-Qaeda which, when combined with WMD, have a macro impact. I rate the probability of terror groups using WMD (to attack Western targets) as very high,” he told the London Daily Telegraph.
“It's simply a question of time. And it is not just the nuclear threat that bothers me. I think, if anything, the biological threat is going to grow. As catastrophic as a nuclear attack would be, it would be self-contained,” Crumpton said. “But if you look at a worst-case scenario for a biological attack, it would be difficult to determine whether or not it was a terrorist attack, and it would be far more difficult to contain.”
Crumpton said fears that countries like Iran or Syria would supply al-Qaeda with weapons of mass destruction are behind Washington’s resolve to stop Tehran’s nuclear program.
“If we look at the threat posed by Iran, they have links with Hezbollah (the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia), which is a terrorist organization with a global reach, and they are actively pursuing WMD. And the [Iranian] leadership has made a conscious decision to defy international treaties. I am deeply troubled by this,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 17).
“We are talking about micro targets such as al-Qaeda which, when combined with WMD, have a macro impact. I rate the probability of terror groups using WMD (to attack Western targets) as very high,” he told the London Daily Telegraph.
“It's simply a question of time. And it is not just the nuclear threat that bothers me. I think, if anything, the biological threat is going to grow. As catastrophic as a nuclear attack would be, it would be self-contained,” Crumpton said. “But if you look at a worst-case scenario for a biological attack, it would be difficult to determine whether or not it was a terrorist attack, and it would be far more difficult to contain.”
Crumpton said fears that countries like Iran or Syria would supply al-Qaeda with weapons of mass destruction are behind Washington’s resolve to stop Tehran’s nuclear program.
“If we look at the threat posed by Iran, they have links with Hezbollah (the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia), which is a terrorist organization with a global reach, and they are actively pursuing WMD. And the [Iranian] leadership has made a conscious decision to defy international treaties. I am deeply troubled by this,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 17).
