06/20/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09957

AL-QAIDA IS STILL A THREAT

The U.S.-led war on terrorism has already brought many important victories. Chief among them was the liberation of Afghanistan from the repressive grip of the Taleban and its al-Qaida terrorist allies. But international terrorists, particularly the Al-Qaida network, remain a threat.

In the words of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, al-Qaida is constantly in motion, "looking for ways to achieve their goal. And their goal is to kill innocent men, women and children."

It is true that the war has left al-Qaida with less money, fewer training camps, and a damaged communications system. But Al-Qaida is still plotting and still launching terrorist attacks. The April 11^th truck bombing of the Ghirba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba killed nineteen people, including fourteen German tourists.

More than sixty-thousand Americans are deployed around the world in the war against al-Qaida and other terror networks. In Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition is pressing its campaign against the remaining Taleban and al-Qaida who are trying to regroup and undermine the new government. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorists are targets of a worldwide dragnet. As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, the world is "making life difficult for [terrorists], and that is a good thing. They would be doing more terrorist acts were that pressure not on them. They would be raising more money, recruiting more people and killing more innocent men, women and children."

Indeed, Al-Qaida plots are being foiled. Three Saudi al-Qaida members were arrested in Morocco for allegedly plotting to bomb U.S. and British warships crossing the Strait of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain. A Sudanese man now in custody in Saudi Arabia acknowledged trying to shoot down a U.S. military aircraft taking off from a Saudi air base. And an alleged plot to detonate a radiological weapon -- or "dirty bomb" -- in the United States was stopped in its planning stages with the May 8^th arrest of Al-Qaida member and

U.S. citizen Jose Padilla.

The war against international terrorism will be long and difficult, but ultimately, it will be won. As President George W. Bush said, "History has called our nation into action. History has placed a great challenge before us. . . . This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace, and freedom."