NewsMax.com
Sunday, May 18, 2003

These same authorities further disclosed that several people suspected of being reconnaissance scouts sent by al-Qaida to the U.S. mainland have been intercepted and detained, according to the Associated Press.

With the latest outbreak of terror bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, politicians, pundits and experts are all scrambling to analyze what it all means as to the strength of al-Qaeda and whether the current reign of terror will come to the U.S. mainland.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, described the bloody attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco as the handiwork of “third and forth level terrorists,” the apparent detritus of a weakened and battered al-Qaeda “reduced to attacking its own people.”

Roberts concluded that the latest round of terror is being done “out of desperation,” pointing to the statistics that there have been 41 percent fewer terror attacks this year than last. “They’ve been reduced to killing their own people on their own ground,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.

Roberts admitted that Saudi Arabia (home to most of the 9/11, Khobal Towers, and Riyadh bombers) “has not been a full partner in the war on terror,” but added that last Monday’s attacks “has been a Pearl Harbor for Saudi Arabia.” He also voiced hopes that what he styled as an ill advised move by al-Qaida would backfire, resulting in a backlash of anti-bin Laden sentiment not only in Saudi Arabia but in the region.

Meanwhile, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., speaking on Meet the Press was less optimistic concerning a turnaround of what is perceived by many in the U.S. as Saudi Arabia’s game of playing both sides. “Eighty percent of Saudis support Osama bin Laden,” he said, adding that he has gleaned “no action to calm down radicals” in that country.

However, both Chambliss and Roberts agreed that the U.S. is still subject to attack – both overseas and at home.

Roberts said that 87 percent of terror attacks have been carried out by the use of bombs – suicide/car – and it would be “easy to conduct such an attack in the United States. There may be a plan to attack the U.S.” Roberts added, however, that the consensus pointed to a continued scourge of attacks in places such as “Kenya, the Philippines, Indonesia, and, of course, the Middle East.”

Roberts added that in his opinion it was “counterproductive to lay everything at the feet of the President,” referring to Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and other Democratic presidential hopefuls who at their latest forum accused President Bush of being soft on terrorism – diluting the fight against al-Qaeda with a preoccupation with Iraq.

Meanwhile, CIA Director George J. Tenet has taken a serious and resigned tone, stating Saturday at the Georgetown University of School of Foreign Service School in Washington: “The horrific bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco remind us why this campaign will not end soon: Our foe is ruthless, resilient and hides among innocent people.”

U.S. Counter-terrorism authorities cited by the Associated Press Sunday echo Roberts’ assessment -- although most recent intelligence points to attacks in Southeast Asia, the Arabian peninsula and East Africa, similar classic bomber strikes in Europe and the United States are also a strong possibility.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
War on Terrorism
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