06/24/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09965

AL QAIDA MEMBERS ARRESTED

There is more good news in the war against international terrorism. Authorities in Morocco arrested Abu Zubair al-Halili, one of the twenty-five leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network. Al-Halili is said to have played a key role in recruiting and training al-Qaida members. He is a lieutenant of al-Qaida's operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, now in United States custody.

Known as "the bear," the three-hundred pound al-Halili is believed to have placed many graduates of al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in terrorist cells around the world. Moroccan authorities also arrested seven Saudi citizens suspected of plotting to blow up U.S. and British warships on behalf of al-Qaida.

In Italy, law-enforcement officials are probing the logistics and financing of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. More than five-hundred people are currently under investigation for links to terrorism. Worldwide, some two-thousand four-hundred terrorist suspects have been detained since September 11^th. Slowly, painstakingly, investigators from many countries, including the United States, are unraveling the web of secrecy and deception that terrorists like al-Qaida need for their deadly work.

As White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "this is indeed a multi-front war. And the arrests of people -- whether they are junior, medium, or senior-level of al-Qaida -- all of this is very helpful in keeping would-be killers off the street and planners and organizers off the street."