Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: U.S.A. a primary target

Thursday, May 23, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

WHY ANY AMERICAN IS SURPRISED at this late date that more suicide attacks on our soil are not only possible, but also probable, is beyond me. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III made this point Monday when speaking to a conference of district attorneys. Mueller, talking about suicide bombings, said, "we will see that in the future -- I think it's inevitable." He sounds like the Tel Aviv store clerk who, following the recent suicide bombing killing 16 people in Rishon Lezion, told me, "we will see many more bombings and so will our friends in America."

Eleven years ago the FBI anti-terrorism experts were on alert. That's when we learned that between August 1990 and January 1991 the agents put the stops on at least five terrorist plots here at home. This was the time Iraq's Saddam Hussein was rattling his weapons and he had some deadly plans for us. Surely he and his friends spread over the world, including within our borders, haven't cancelled their plans. The Gulf War was just a bump in the road for him and people with hopes of destroying our society.

Terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky, in his book "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America," reveals a chilling scenario that took place in 1998. The lack of coordination and cooperation of our intelligence agencies was evident at that time. Bodansky wrote, "On October 14 Attorney General Janet Reno organized a crisis management exercise at FBI headquarters to plan for a possible terrorist attack by bin Laden against targets in Washington and New York. The four scenarios examined by the 200 participants were an assassination attempt on the secretary of state, a car bombing, a chemical weapons strike on a Washington Redskins football game, and the explosion of a 'device' in a federal building. But as Time reported, 'the war game -- intended to help the agencies practice working together -- quickly melted down into interagency squabbling and finger pointi ng.' It was clear to all that the United States was far from ready to deal with a spectacular terrorist strike even at a ti! me when intelligence indicated that bin Laden was planning strikes in Washington and/or New York."

On September 11, 2001 we saw the capability of terrorists to strike within our borders. In recent weeks we have learned that some of the coordination problems of 1998 are still with us. A good example is the holding of vital information by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and not passing it on to the president or his National Security Council. Within days after the Sept. 11 attack both men learned about a memo from the Phoenix office of the FBI that told of possible Osama bin Laden followers training at American flight schools. This information wasn't given to President George W. Bush or his NSC until eight months later.

Some changes are now being made, Americans hope. What we now must fear is that our intelligence and military planners aren't flexible enough to plan for new terrorist tactics. Ten years ago Xavier Raufer, writing for the Institute of International Studies, warned readers about Middle East terrorism. "When the unexpected and the incomprehensible happen, don't look backwards, look forward," he wrote. This is a reminder that too often we make the mistake of planning for the next war by using what worked in the previous war. It's dangerous to assume our enemies will fight the same kind of war again. The next strike may have nothing to do with airplanes or tall buildings.

Wisdom in sorting out our friends and enemies is necessary in the game terrorists play. Raufer, in his thesis wrote, "Terrorism is used only when real masterminds and the real sponsors say so, not when any dictator makes a speech and declares Jihad."

So who are our true friends in the Middle East? Learning the truth about terrorism is like investigating power politics -- just follow the money. The flow of money and weapons to terrorists surrounding Israel has long been known and continues coming from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria. These same terrorist organizations also have the U.S. as a target. Stopping them before their next strike demands new tactics and near perfect coordination at all levels of our government.

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