Home>News Center>World
         
 

Negroponte: Al-Qaida biggest terror threat
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-03 09:49

"I'm sorry to tell you that the damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission," Goss said. "It is my aim, and it is my hope, that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information."

Senior Bush administration officials elsewhere Thursday stressed the terror threat. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the risks could be greater now because the weapons available are more dangerous.

"Because (terrorists) lurk in shadows, without visible armies, and are willing to wait long periods between attacks, there is a tendency to underestimate the threat they pose," Rumsfeld said at the National Press Club.

At the hearing, Negroponte said more than 40 terrorist groups, insurgencies or cults have obtained or pursued chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

He said the "battered but resourceful" al-Qaida organization remains a top concern, particularly with its added reach and appeal through its merger with terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's operations in Iraq.

Negroponte, the former U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, stressed the importance of Iraq on the global jihad.

If jihadists there thwart Iraq's attempts to set up a stable government, he said, "they could secure an operational base in Iraq and inspire sympathizers elsewhere to move beyond rhetoric to attempt attacks" around the world, including the United States.

On Iran, Negroponte said leaders there seek a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq and are providing support to certain Iraqi Shiite political and military groups. He blamed Tehran for "at least some" of the increasing lethality of attacks by providing Shiite militants with increasingly sophisticated improvised explosive devices.

Yet "Tehran's intention to inflict pain on the United States and Iraq has been constrained by its caution to avoid giving Washington an excuse to attack it," Negroponte said.
Page: 123



Ben Bernanke sworn in as 14th Fed chairman
Saddam stands for trial
US, Mexican police find largest ever border drug tunnel
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China's oil consumption, imports decreased in 2005

 

   
 

Pentagon seeks to curb China's military might

 

   
 

Gas blast in Shanxi mine kills at least 23

 

   
 

Villagers test negative for H5N1 virus

 

   
 

Yao edges Kobe as top All-Star votegetter

 

   
 

Post-festival rush jams railway stations

 

   
  Negroponte: Al-Qaida biggest terror threat
   
  Atom agency seen reporting Iran to Security Council
   
  Muslim anger unabated over prophet cartoons
   
  US lawmakers push bill to cut aid to Palestinians
   
  Iran threatens full-scale enrichment work
   
  US denies economic threat from India, China
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement