October 14, 2000

Dear Building Community Family,

Anyone could be a terrorist. All it takes is someone with a beef, a little resourcefulness and a hatred of his fellow man. A terrorist could be the quiet guy down the block who nobody notices or it can be a well-orchestrated, fully organized functioning body with international recognition. Unfortunately, terrorists don't come with a tattoo on their forehead that reads "Don't Make Me Angry!" Some terrorists want a little notoriety added to the pain and death they deliver. The rest stealthily do their deeds needing only other people's suffering as their reward. The common feature is a blazing disregard for life.

While the graph below does not include bombings or radiological incidents, it clearly illustrates that governmental and religious motives make up 3/4 of the terrorism pie. "Retaliation for real or perceived injury" could also fit this category depending on the particular circumstance.

Over the decades, terrorists have slipped in and out of our lives, some making as much impact as a snowflake in a blizzard. Others have killed and/or injured large numbers of people, exhibited remarkable staying power and are growing in strength. Though there are an estimated 350 different terrorist groups and individuals operating worldwide, the five profiled below were chosen for having a "proven" track record, endurance, global membership including cells throughout the world and targeting of a large group of people. There are certainly other notable candidates like the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA), the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA), Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, Mohammed's Army, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, Hezbollah, Sikh separatists, and neo-Nazis to name a few.

In 1968, the first year in which international terrorism screamed across headlines, there were only eight known groups. Their motivation was were purely political. In 1979, once Islamic radicals overthrew the Shah of Iran, terrorist groups took on an obviously religious edge. Of the 48 international groups active in 1992, twelve were religiously motivated. Shi'ite groups (Muslim extremists) commit less than 10% of the attacks worldwide, but account for 30% of all the killings. Getting a bigger bang for the buck is the goal of today's terrorist.

Religion has added a powerful new ingredient to the terrorist's cocktail. When Islam is involved, the motivation is to attack the U.S., the Great Satan, and her allies in the name of Allah. Their sole aim is to inflict punishment on Americans, the infidel enemies of their religion.

Because those of the Islamic faith feel there is no greater and faster entrance into Heaven than to die killing the infidels, they will continue their suicide missions collecting as many "western Satanists" as they can in the process. One of the best at this job is the man below.

Usama bin Laden

1. Ossame bin Laden - Usama bin Laden uses a number of aliases including Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin, Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin, the Prince, the Emir, Abu Abdallah, Mujahid Shaykh, Hajj, and the Director. The bombings of two U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998, killing 259 people, underscored Usama bin Laden's global reach. He is a longtime sponsor and financier of extremist causes. With the embassy murders, he graduated from sponsor to active terrorist. Prior to the embassies massacre, bin Laden had made a number of public threats to drive the U.S. and its allies out of Muslim countries. Most definitive and horrifying was the fatwa (religious degree) on Feb. 23, 1998 (see fatwa below) from bin Laden and allied

groups collectively named "World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders." The fatwa asserted it was a religious duty for all Muslims to wage war on US citizens, military and civilian, anywhere in the world. It is chilling.

Bin Laden stated publicly that terrorism is a tool to achieve the group's goal of bringing Islamic rule to Muslim lands and "cleanse" them of Western influence and corruption. To this end, bin Laden leads a broad-based, versatile organization. The diverse groups under his umbrella afford bin Laden resources beyond those of the people directly loyal to him. Between his own inherited wealth of $300 million, business interests, contributions from sympathizers in various countries, and support from close allies like Egyptian and South Asian groups that signed his fatwa, he funds, trains, and offers logistic help to extremists not directly affiliated with his organization. He seeks to aid those who support his primary goals -- driving US forces from the Arabian Peninsula, removing the Saudi ruling family from power, and "liberating Palestine". His secondary goals are removing Western military forces and overthrowing what he calls corrupt, Western-oriented governments in predominantly Muslim countries. Bin Laden's organization whose networks cover 30 countries, (estimated to be some 3000 strong) has sent trainers throughout Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Herzegovin, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan and Yemen, and has trained fighters from numerous other countries, including the Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Pakistan, and the Philippines.¹

"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God.' "

"We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson."

This fatwa is set to have far-reaching consequences and can be read in its entirety on the Federation of American Scientists' web site.

Since the U.S./RAF retaliatory cruise missile bombing for the 259 embassy deaths, bin Laden has also focused his terrorist cross hairs on British citizens. Britons and Americans have widely voiced support of the decision to attack Iraq, which makes both, in addition to Jews who occupy Palestine, "fair game".

The latest fears are that bin Laden is trying to acquire an atomic bomb. According to the London Telegraph in June of this year, ten lead-lined containers were discovered near the Kazakhstan border. Each was filled with enough radioactive material to make dozens of crude weapons, capable of contaminating large areas for many years. The connection to bin Laden is that the delivery location of this radioactive material was only a six hour drive from his headquarters within the Taliban.

Osama bin Laden has a stellar position on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. Even though the FBI has offered a $5 million reward for his arrest, bin Laden remains at large and hiding in Afghanistan.


SUITCASE NUKES

In Yousef Bodansky's book, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America he states this chilling fact. "Although there is debate over the precise quantities of weapons purchased, there is no longer doubt that Bin Laden has finally succeeded in the quest for nuclear suitcase bombs." Bodansky reveals that bin Laden bought them through the Chechen mafia, paying $30 million cash plus two tons of Afghan heroin.2 Each suitcase bomb has the potential to kill roughly 100,000 people depending on location.

Suitcase nuke photo credit: The Sleeping Giant

Despite bin Laden being terminally ill, the fact remains that the Mid-East always has at least a thousand bad apples to replace the latest rotten one.


2. RUSSIA

Joseph de Courcey, editor of the well-respected Intelligence Digest, wrote in his August 28, 1999 edition:

"While NATO congratulates itself on bombing the Serbs into submission, Israel's Mossad and other Middle Eastern intelligence sources have discovered that Kosovo was one humiliation too many for Russia. Now Moscow has agreed to back Saddam's secret plan of revenge. With this all-important Russian backing, Saddam is joining with hated Iran and Syria to launch one final war against Israel. Amazingly, Saddam will allow Iranian troops to cross Iraqi territory to join the attack on Israel. And to keep America from interfering, Moscow has given Osama bin Laden and other terrorists the means to attack American population centers with weapons of mass destruction. The threat is real...and the implications terrifying..."