Al Qaeda Still at Work in US: Los Angeles Times

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Al Qaeda Still at Work in US: Los Angeles Times

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Two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Al Qaeda maintains a largely invisible but extensive presence in the United States that includes logistical support, recruiting and fund-raising operatives and financial conduits linking them to the terrorist organization's global network, Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

"Several senior US officials confirmed that they are only now realizing the full extent of Al Qaeda operations in the United States," a Los Angeles Times report said, adding that the officials' new insight is based largely on intelligence-gathering investigations into terrorist financing underway here, in Saudi Arabia and other countries, as well as interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees.

The new information indicates that while Al Qaeda has been battered by the US-led war on terrorism, it remains a resilient and deadly organization, with a deep bench of leaders and field commanders and a steady stream of funds and new recruits worldwide,according to the report.

US officials also believe that in some ways, Al Qaeda is more dangerous than ever, with a broad base of supporters willing to participate in bombings and other attacks against US interests.

By interviewing dozens of US officials and terrorism experts, Los Angeles Times found that of particular concern to them are recent indications that many of these so-called holy warriors are incensed by the US occupation of Iraq and appear to be more intentthan ever on launching attacks on US soil.

One senior US counter-terrorism official told the paper that authorities are tracking "at least several dozen people" believed to be involved in Al Qaeda plots in the United States and that Joint Terrorism Task Force investigations are active in as many as40 states.

Those investigations have found that as authorities have cracked down on known Al Qaeda methods of funding its attacks, such as petty crime and document fraud, the organization has begunusing new tactics to help its rapidly regenerating network of cells, the paper quoted an unnamed senior counter-terrorism official as saying. Those tactics include the bootlegging of cigarettes, the counterfeiting of music CDs and movies and other products, drug trafficking and even the smuggling of humans for profit.

As the anniversary of Sept. 11 approached, there were also indications that Al Qaeda operatives in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the US were plotting attacks that could cause widespread casualties and profound economic and psychological fallout, the paper said, quoting a US official based in the MiddleEast.

Al Qaeda has orchestrated recent terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and perhaps even in Iraq and has continued to infiltrate operatives into the US, the report said.

"This is an organization that was very much off balance a year ago, but that has significantly gained ground in the past year," said Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism analyst for the research arm of Congress.

Larry Mefford, the FBI's chief counter-terrorism official, toldCongress in a recent hearing that Al Qaeda remains an extremely deadly organization capable of mounting simultaneous and large-scale terrorist attacks, including within US borders.

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