US has enough proof to prosecute bin Laden, says Powell

LONDON - US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States had enough evidence to prosecute Osama bin Laden in an American court.

Speaking to the BBC, a pre-broadcast copy of which was obtained by Reuters, Powell said the United States would not hesitate to try and snatch the Saudi-born exile from his hideout in Afghanistan.

"I think we have enough intelligence information as well as legally sufficient evidence to bring him before an American court...it might mean that we're going to have to go find him rather than have him delivered by the Taleban," Powell said.

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban, faced with a US ultimatum to hand over bin Laden or go to war, has ignored an edict from clerics and said it was up to the multi-millionaire militant to leave their land.

The United States has named bin Laden, 44, as the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which killed more than 6800 people.

It had threatened Kabul with retaliation if it fails to hand him over.

Powell said the United States would not stop at bin Laden and would do all it could to destroy his al Qaeda organisation and any other group suspected of "terrorism".

"It's that network we have to go after, because you can't leave a part of that network untouched in order to perpetrate another terrorist attack at some point against somebody else.

"It is a very broad network. I've sort of likened al Qaeda to something like a holding company, and bin Laden is the chairman, chief executive officer, treasurer," he said.

Powell said the United States and its allies were prepared for a long battle against terrorism and that they would be careful not to target ordinary Afghans.

"We're embarking upon a long campaign that we will win if we start to see these kinds of incidents disappear from our public life," he said.

"We are not going after the Afghan people. We will be very careful whatever we do...to make sure that people see in our actions that we are not going after the Afghan people, we are not going after Muslims, we are not going after Arabs, we are going after terrorists."

- REUTERS

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