20 Sep 2001
ERRI/EmergencyNet News Reflects on It's Past Coverage of Usama
Bin Laden
By Paul Anderson, EmergencyNet News Correspondent
Chicago, IL (EmergencyNet News) -- In the wake of the horrendous disaster
in New York City and Washington, DC, and finally given half an opportunity
to catch our breath, the editorial staff of EmergencyNet News has began to
reflect on our past coverage of
Usama Bin Laden
and associated threats directed against America.
Clark Staten, ERRI CEO and Senior National Security Analyst, said early
today, that it wasn't even six months ago that ERRI and EmergencyNet News
were subjected to some criticism within the intelligence and
counter-terrorism community for our continuing coverage of and concern
about Usama Bin Laden.
According to "convention wisdom" of the time, and propagated by a a number
of well-placed former U.S. officials and publications in Washington, DC,
it was said to be no longer appropriate or proper to talk about Bin Laden.
The reasoning behind that position purportedly involved the fact that
press coverage was allegedly "giving Bin Laden too much publicity" and
thus "making him more popular." The concept said, "if we don't talk about
him...he will go away." In other words, it was no longer "politically
correct" to cover Bin Laden or be publicly concerned about his past or
future acts.
In fact, in July of 2001, one senior former U.S. counter-terrorism
official, in a personal Op-Ed piece published in the New York Times
(1) said, "Americans are bedeviled by fantasies
about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest
threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and
lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most
popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the
impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism. None of
these beliefs are based in fact."
It should be noted that we don't bring up this quote to embarrass or
single out any specific person for this attitude, only to point out that
this was a prevailing position in certain important circles in Washington.(2)
Fortunately, Staten said that he and other ERRI analysts didn't listen to
this "prevailing wisdom" in Washington or buckle under to the criticism.
They continued to analyze and report about the emerging threat involving
Mr. Bin Laden and his associates throughout the world. The evidence of
this decision can be found in numerous locations on this website and in
correspondence with various government and private agencies that continues
to this day, Staten said.
A typical example can be found in a 29 May 2001 Terrorism Advisory issued
ERRI. In that advisory, it says, "The current ERRI assessment would
suggest that some sort of attack may be carried out by those associated
with Usama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organization, in retaliation for the
conviction of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Mohamed al-'Owhali, Mohamed Sadeek
Odeh, and Wadih el Hage."(3) A further report
warning of a "big surprise" coming from Bin Laden and involving an attack
on the USA was reported on 23 June 2001.(4)
Similar information was also presented by Staten during a threat
assessment briefing on the subject at the "IACSP/COPEX-2001 Terrorism
Trends and Forecasts Conference 2001" seminar, in Washington, DC, in May
of this year.
After reviewing literally thousands of pieces of e-mail in the past few
days, Staten said, "At the risk of sounding 'self-serving' or engaging in
'Monday Morning Quarterbacking'...we very definitely told people within
military, intelligence. and law enforcement agencies that we expected
multiple simultaneous attacks in multiple locations, involving Bin Laden
and al-Qaeda...and that we were concerned that the next attack would occur
within the United States." "Obviously we never anticipated the magnitude
of the attack that actually happened, but we were certainly concerned
about such an event and previously told a number of U.S. officials of
these concerns," Staten added.
Tuesday night, Staten also said that further reflection and review of
previous EmergencyNet News reports and ERRI analysis also revealed that
the plan that was carried out on 11 Sep 2001 in New York City and
Washington, DC may have been "a modification" of an attack plan that was
developed by Ramzi Yousef, a known Bin Laden associate, and who was
arrested by U.S. authorities and is currently serving time in a U.S.
prison.
"We continue to examine what is available concerning Yousef's alleged 1995
plan to hijack U.S. airliners in the Philippines and crash them into
buildings in U.S. cities...there appears to be links between those plans,
al-Qaeda, and what took place last week," Staten added.
As in the past, if/when we learn more -- ERRI and EmergencyNet News will
bring it to you -- regardless of whether or not it is in concurrence with
"conventional thinking."
References:
(1) http://www.nytimes.com/ (requires
registration and payment to access the actual editorial)
(2) April 2001: "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000," which can be accessed
at:
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/
(3) "29-31 May 2001: African Embassy Bombers Found Guilty; Terrorism
Advisories Issued," can be accessed on the internet at:
http://www.emergency.com/2001/afri-bmb-guilty.htm
(4) "20:30CDT - 23 June 2001; Terrorist Indicators and Warnings (I&W)
Continue To Come In," can also be accessed on the internet at:
http://www.emergency.com/1999/bnldn-pg.htm
© EmergencyNet News Service, 2001. All rights reserved. May not
be redistributed or otherwise published without the expressed permission of ERRI/EmergencyNet
News.
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