Free hand for terror worries US

31 Oct, 2001 11:12 AM3 mins to read

By GEOFF CUMMING AND AGENCIES

Osama bin Laden may have delegated authority to terror cells to carry out fresh strikes on United States interests, say intelligence sources.

Concerned that US air strikes in Afghanistan could disrupt his al Qaeda network's activities, bin Laden is believed to have let operatives know they can conduct operations against US interests without prior approval, the Washington Post reported.

The order passing authority down the chain of command is believed to have been one of the main reasons behind the FBI's warning on Tuesday of further possible attacks on US interests at home or abroad.

The country's 18,000 law enforcement agencies were placed on the highest state of alert after "credible" information that US interests could be attacked either this week or next.

Bin Laden is held responsible for the September 11 suicide strikes which killed an estimated 4800 in New York and Washington.

Up to half a dozen cells operating within the US are believed to have been identified since the attacks and, despite nearly 1000 arrests, authorities are not certain they have detained all members.

Though the alert was not specific about the location of a possible attack, the Independent said it might relate to the American Midwest.

Law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin had been told to prepare for such an attack.

The information, from human sources and intelligence intercepts, said to "expect something in the Midwest."

The report of delegated authority raises further doubts that the military campaign in Afghanistan will ease the terrorism threat if it succeeds in capturing or killing bin Laden and his lieutenants.

At home, the Bush Administration fended off criticism that the new alert was causing unnecessary anxiety among Americans unnerved by the growing anthrax threat.

Homeland security chief Tom Ridge met congressional leaders, some of whom expressed concerns that general alerts could numb the public to such warnings.

Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, cautioned: "If you roll that out too many times, then you always run the risk of the American public not considering it serious enough to think too much about it ... It's a tough, fine line."

Mr Ridge said the warning, the second in a month, was based on information from "multiple sources and they were credible sources".

"We're dealing with shadow soldiers, a shadow enemy," and the alert "reinforced the notion that homeland security is going to be everybody's job," he said.

Meanwhile in New York, health officials confirmed that a critically ill hospital worker, aged 61, has inhaled anthrax, the ninth case with the most serious form of the disease.

The hospital where the woman worked has been temporarily closed and staff are being tested and given preventive antibiotics for the disease.

Postal Service spokesman Bob Anderson said a small number of anthrax spores had been found in a post office in West Palm Beach, Florida, and it would remain closed until it had been decontaminated.

Postmaster General John Potter told a Senate hearing the US postal system remained viable but would need several billion dollars for cleanup and new security measures.

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