http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/1999/12/27/terrorists1227_01.html?s=daily

'Millennium Option' Targets America Counterterrorists Mobilize for Bin Laden Y2K Threat Dec. 27, 1999

By Chip Beck

AP Osama bin Laden WASHINGTON (APBnews.com) -- It's called the "Millennium Option," and it makes every American a target for Y2K terrorism.

It is part of millionaire Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden's worldwide web of violence, in which he and his radical followers plan to wreak havoc on Americans and American-based targets with growing intensity as the millennium races to a close.

At least that's the scenario for which federal intelligence agencies and police forces are gearing up, according to inside sources. The recent arrests along the Canadian border in past weeks -- highlighted by that in Washington state of an Algerian national allegedly trying to smuggle explosive material into the United States -- may have been the first public shots in the undeclared war.

"In terms of funding, bin Laden is 'operational,'" said one counterterrorism expert who specializes in the movement of weapons in the "gray-arms market" that serves both government and nongovernment channels.

"He has all the money he needs to buy the implements of mass destruction, train his agents and deploy his assets," said the insider, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his safety. "He has millions of sympathetic people from which to recruit. It's a lot scarier than the public knows."

Public response vs. official concerns The public has been treated to understated official reaction to the arrest of Ahmed Ressam in Port Angels, Wash. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger urged Americans to be vigilant as they planned New Year's activities, but also said, "We are not aware of any other specific threats against targets in the United States."

Berger's statement was, understandably, aimed more at preventing a public panic than conveying an accurate picture of what the federal and international antiterrorist forces are expecting.

While law enforcement sources are equally tight-lipped about the details of what is known about specific terrorist plans and operations, intelligence sources have for more than a year been predicting that Washington and New York City are high on the terrorist lists of targets. The hits, they believe, would be retaliation for the counterattacks launched against bin Laden's Afghan base in August 1998.

Events and arrests bubbling to the surface around the world indicate that terrorists are embarked on a global effort aimed at a spectacular act -- or coordinated acts -- of terrorism at the change of the millennium. But counterterrorist forces and intelligence services of the world are also embarked on a secret war and literal race against time.

Threat from the 'Great White North'

Just as Berger was being evasive about the threat level against America, so, too, did the United States and its Middle East ally, Jordan, try to keep secret the series of arrests that took place with sweeps in Amman last week.

The arrests were part of a coordinated effort by the United States and numerous overseas allies to root out cells of terrorists in various parts of the world, according to a former counterterrorism expert, who asked not to be identified. Intelligence officials wanted to keep the incident quiet so not to tip their hand to bin Laden and his followers sooner than necessary.

The arrest of Ressam in Washington state brought with it the revelations that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, responsible for international counterterrorism in Canada, had been working for some time on following Ressam and his Algerian associates, believed to be part of terrorist cell called "Groupe Islamique Armei," or GIA.

It also highlighted the U.S.-Canadian border as one of the problems facing the counterterrorism effort. Because of centuries of peace, the border is under-funded and undermanned for such a vast operation, and the dense mountains and forests make surreptitious entry from the north even easier than it is from the relatively well-patrolled border with Mexico.

Even worse, nearly every major world terrorist organization in the world, particularly among the Middle Eastern networks, has established itself in Canada, some going back as many as 20 years or more.

Did arrests make a dent?

After Ressam's well-publicized arrest came news from Pakistan of the arrest of 200 in the porous border town of Peshawar and at various Pakistani-controlled international airports in Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi and elsewhere. Initial reports say most, but significantly not all, of those arrested are Afghan nationals. Middle Eastern terrorism experts speculate that a variety of other nationalities known to have Afghanistan training may be among those arrested.

The cat, it would seem, is out of the bag, but the question is whether all the mice have been caught.

The "catch," in terms of numbers, is impressive. But even the best-informed experts admit they don't know if it will be enough to stop the Millennium Option from taking place somewhere in the world. While an assault on Seattle's Space Needle celebrations may have been thwarted with Ressam's arrest, at least one of his accomplices remains at large, and authorities are concerned that others already may have entered the United States through the many Canadian-U.S. border crossings.

There is also concern that the terrorists could strike again at any one of dozens of small American embassies or consulates -- or "soft targets" -- around the world, from Nouakchott in the Sahara Desert to Nogales in the Sonoran Desert.

High explosives and biological weapons

As for the modern terrorist's weapon of choice, the devices and materials that the Ressam allegedly tried to smuggle into the United States indicates that the terrorists still are relying on old-fashioned brute force -- high explosives.

One of the reasons for this is that urea, one of the compounds reportedly found in Ressam's car trunk, can be mixed with other commonly available ingredients -- from gasoline to fertilizer to sacks of baking flour -- to multiply the force of the basic explosives or illegal explosive compounds.

What also frightens counterterrorism experts, and has for nearly 15 years, is the threat of biological or chemical weapons.

"Any graduate student from a hostile country or group who has even the basic understanding of biology or chemistry can construct a weapon of mass destruction for literally almost pennies," one source said.

Bin Laden's early withdrawals

According to a Middle East banking source with ties to Saudi Arabia, bin Laden began liquidating his share of his family fortune, possibly ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars, months before the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, killing hundreds and wounding thousands, in July 1998.

What this means, said the banking source, is that subsequent attempts by the United States and its allies to freeze bin Laden's assets would have been too late to prevent him from maintaining access to vast cash resources -- maybe enough to fund a "Millennium Option."

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 28, 1999

Answers

LOL, couldn't resist snipping that quote for the title; little friendly jab at my northern neighbors, eh?

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 28, 1999.

Set up shop in Canada.....

Well, DUH!!!!

It is a 3000 mile stretch of largely undefended border...it is in a country where freedom is #1 and unlike the USA, it is not a crime to be a Muslim here.............

Not to mention the billions of people worldwide that Uncle Sam has pissed off over the years.......

Logic says that Canada is the safest and most practical way of entering the USA.....and you see our laws state that you are innocent until proven guilty so unfortunately we can't run around here shooting anyone with an accent for you........

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), December 28, 1999.