Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company

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April 13, 1999, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 1; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 2424 words

HEADLINE: U.S. Hard Put to Find Proof Bin Laden Directed Attacks

BYLINE: ByTIMWEINER

BODY:
American commandos are poised near the Afghan border, hoping to capture Osama
bin Laden, the man charged with blowing up two American embassies in Africa eight
months ago, senior American officials say.

But they still do not know how to find him. They are depending on his protectors in
Afghanistan to betray him — a slim reed of hope for one of the biggest and most
complicated international criminal investigations in American history.

Capturing Mr. bin Laden alive could deepen the complications. American officials say
that so far, firsthand evidence that could be used in court to prove that he
commanded the bombings has proven difficult to obtain. According to the public
record, none of the informants involved in the case have direct knowledge of Mr. bin
Laden's involvement.

For now, officials say, Federal prosecutors appear to be building a case that his
violent words and ideas, broadcast from an Afghan cave, incited terrorist acts
thousands of miles away.

In their war against Mr. bin Laden, American officials portray him as the world's most
dangerous terrorist. But reporters for The New York Times and the PBS program
"Frontline," working in cooperation, have found him to be less a commander of
terrorists than an inspiration for them.

Enemies and supporters, from members of the Saudi opposition to present and
former American intelligence officials, say he may not be as globally powerful as
some American officials have asserted. But his message and aims have more
resonance among Muslims around the world than has been understood here.

"You can kill Osama bin Laden today or tomorrow; you can arrest him and put him
on trial in New York or in Washington," said Ahmed Sattar, an aide to Sheik Omar
Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of inspiring the bombing of the
World Trade Center in 1993. "If this will end the problem — no. Tomorrow you will
get somebody else."

Interviews with senior American officials and knowledgeable observers of Mr. bin
Laden in Pakistan, Sudan and elsewhere suggest that there is widespread support
among ordinary people in the Muslim world for his central political argument: that
The New Yorker: Fact Page 1 of7

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FACT
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PROFILES i e-mail
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ABOUT TOWN
THE MAN BEHIND BIN LADEN to a Mt»

THE TALK
OF THE TOWN
by LAWRENCE WRIGHT
How an Egyptian doctor became a master of terror.
Issue of 2002-09-16
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Posted 2002-09-09
SHOUTi&
MURMURS
FACT II—THE MARTYR
IV
FICTION V
VI
In 1950, the year before Ayman al-Zawahiri
CARTOONS VI!
was born, Sayyid Qutb, a well-known literary VIM
ONLINE ONLY critic in Cairo, returned home after spending IX
FROM THE two years at Colorado State College of X
ARCHrVE Education, in Greeley. He had left Cairo as a
secular writer who enjoyed a sinecure in the
Ministry of Education. One of his early
discoveries was a young writer named Naguib
Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in
Literature. "Qutb was our friend," Mahfouz
recalled recently in Cairo. "When I was
growing up, he was the first critic to recognize
me." Mahfouz, who has been unable to write
since 1994, when he was stabbed and nearly
killed by Islamic fundamentalists, told me that
before Qutb went to America he was at odds
with many of the sheikhs, who he thought
were "out of date." According to Mahfouz,
Qutb saw himself as part of the modern age,
and he wore his religion lightly. His great
passion was Egyptian nationalism, and,
perhaps because of his strident opposition to
the British occupation, the Ministry of
Education decided that he would be safer in
America.
Qutb had studied American literature and
popular culture; the United States, in contrast
with the European powers, seemed to him and
other Egyptian nationalists to be a friendly

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/7020916fa_fact2b 12/31/2003
• 10/8/99: Michael Sheehan, Secretary Albright's Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organiz... Page 1 of 9

Terrorism Resources

Ambassador Michael Sheehan

Coordinator for the Office of Counterterrorism
Briefing, Secretary Albright's Designation of Foreign Terrorist
Organizations
Washington, DC, October 8,1999

Secretary Albright's Designation of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

MR. RUBIN: Now, if we could turn to the Secretary's designations on terrorism, there is
a statement that I am going to briefly summarize under the Secretary's name that we will
provide you after the briefing.

The Secretary designated 28 groups today. This is the second biannual designation under
the Act. Ambassador Sheehan will go through the various groups that this applies to.
These designations have three main consequences, ensuring that it is a crime to provide
funds, weapons or other types of tangible support to the designated organizations. Second,
members and representatives of these organizations are ineligible for visas and are subject
to exclusion from the United States. And, third, any funds that these organizations have in
our country will be frozen.

Through the good work of our counterterrorism coordinator, Michael Sheehan, the State
Department plays a key role in this effort to stop terrorism. That is why Secretary Albright
believes it is alarming that Congress has just voted to slash our funding for
counterterrorism programs at a time of increased public concern about the terrorist threat
and clear evidence that terrorists continue to target Americans, this action is directly
contrary to the interest of our country and is one of the reasons the President has said he
would veto the Foreign Operations Appropriation Bill.

With those general comments, let me introduce you again to a regular briefer here in the
briefing room, Ambassador Michael Sheehan. Thank you.

AMBASSADOR SHEEHAN: Thank you, Jamie. Let me expound upon Jamie's opening
remarks and say a few words about the Secretary's designation of the foreign terrorist
organizations, FTOs as we know them, and then review a few other aspects of our
counterterrorism policy.

As a member of the State Department, our role isn't always as glamorous as those of my
counterparts in other agencies, FBI, CIA, the military, apprehending criminals, bringing
them back on airplanes late at night. But we are, rather, the steady and the political,
diplomatic fight against terrorism. Often unseen, slow grind, diplomatic slog that I believe
really pays dividends in the long term.

http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/991008_sheehan_fto.html 12/10/2003
 ic New Yorker Page 1 of 33

December 31, 2003 home

THE NEW YORKER

FACT
PROFILES
THE MAN BEHIND BIN LADEN
by LAWRENCE WRIGHT
How an Egyptian doctor became a master of terror.
Issue of 2002-09-16
Posted 2002-09-09

.Last March, a band of horsemen journeyed through the province of Paktika, in Afghanistan, near
the Pakistan border. Predator drones were circling the skies and American troops were sweeping
through the mountains. The war had begun six months earlier, and by now the fighting had
narrowed down to the ragged eastern edge of the country. Regional warlords had been bought off,
the borders supposedly sealed. For twelve days, American and coalition forces had been bombing
the nearby Shah-e-Kot Valley and systematically destroying the cave complexes in the Al Qaeda
stronghold. And yet the horsemen were riding unhindered toward Pakistan.
They came to the village of a local militia commander named Gula Jan, whose long beard and
black turban might have signalled that he was a Taliban sympathizer. "I saw a heavy, older man,
an Arab, who wore dark glasses and had a white turban," Jan told Ilene Prusher, of the Christian
Science Monitor, four days later. "He was dressed like an Afghan, but he had a beautiful coat, and
he was with two other Arabs who had masks on." The man in the beautiful coat dismounted and
began talking in a polite and humorous manner. He asked Jan and an Afghan companion about
the location of American and Northern Alliance troops. "We are afraid we will encounter them,"
he said. "Show us the right way."
While the men were talking, Jan slipped away to examine a poster that had been dropped into the
area by American airplanes. It showed a photograph of a man in a white turban and glasses. His
face was broad and meaty, with a strong, prominent nose and full lips. His untrimmed beard was
gray at the temples and ran in milky streaks below his chin. On his high forehead, framed by the
swaths of his turban, was a darkened callus formed by many hours of prayerful prostration. His
eyes reflected the sort of decisiveness one might expect in a medical man, but they also showed a
measure of serenity that seemed oddly out of place. Jan was looking at a wanted poster for a man
named Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had a price of twenty-five million dollars on his head.
Jan returned to the conversation. The man he now believed to be Zawahiri said to him, "May God
bless you and keep you from the enemies of Islam. Try not to tell them where we came from and
where we are going."
There was a telephone number on the wanted poster, but Gula Jan did not have a phone. Zawahiri
and the masked Arabs disappeared into the mountains.
I—THE SPORTING CLUB

In June of 2001, two terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, formally
merged into one. The name of the new entity—Qaeda al-Jihad—reflects the long and
interdependent history of these two groups. Although Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda,
has become the public face of Islamic terrorism, the members of Islamic Jihad and its guiding

http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/020916fa_fact2 12/31/2003
rfPSCI-SSCI Joint Inquiry Staff Statement, Part I: Statement of Eleanor Hill: September ... Page 1 of 26

Joint Inquiry Staff Statement, Part I

Eleanor Hill, Staff Director, Joint Inquiry Staff
September 18, 2002
Foreword

Chairman Graham, Chairman Goss, before I proceed with my statement, I want to make
clear to you and the members of these two Committees that the information I am going to
present has been cleared for public release. As you know, much of the information the Joint
Inquiry Staff has been examining is highly classified. Over the last two months, we have
been working with the Intelligence Community in a long and arduous process to declassify
information we believe is important to the public's understanding of why the Intelligence
Community did not know of the September 11 attacks in advance. By late last night, we
were able to resolve all but two issues.

The Director of Central Intelligence has declined to declassify two issues of particular
importance to this Inquiry:

• Any references to the Intelligence Community providing information to the President

or White House; and

• The identity of and information on a key al-Qa'ida leader involved in the September
11 attacks.

According to the DCI, the President's knowledge of intelligence information relevant to this
Inquiry remains classified even when the substance of that intelligence information has been
declassified. With respect to the key al-Qa'ida leader involved in the September 11 attacks,
the DCI declined to declassify his identity despite an enormous volume of media reporting
on this individual.

The Joint Inquiry Staff disagrees with the DCI's position on both issues. We believe the
American public has a compelling interest in this information and that public disclosure
would not harm national security. However, we do not have independent authority to
declassify intelligence information short of a lengthy procedure in the U.S.Congress. We
therefore prepared this statement without detailed descriptions of our work in these two
areas.

Introduction

Chairman Graham, Chairman Goss, members of this Joint Conunittee, good morning. I
appreciate the opporftunity to appear here today to advise the Committees, and the
American public, on the progress to date of the Joint inquiry Staffs review of the activities

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002Jir/091802hill.html 12/29/2003
 The Intelligence Community's
Knowledge of the September 11 Hijackers
Prior to September 11,2001

Eleanor Hill, Staff Director, Joint Inquiry Staff

September 20,2002
 /ashingtonpost.com: Military Split On How to Use Special Forces In Terror War Page 1 of5

washingtonpost.com

Military Split On How to Use Special Forces In

Terror War
By Gregory L. Vistica
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 5, 2004; Page A01

With Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld pressuring the Pentagon to take

a more aggressive role in tracking down terrorists, military and intelligence
officials are engaged in a fierce debate over when and how elite military units
should be deployed for maximum effectiveness.

Under Rumsfeld's direction, secret commando units known as hunter-killer

teams have been ordered to "kick down the doors," as the generals put it, all
over the world in search of al Qaeda members and their sympathizers.

The approach has succeeded in recent months in Iraq, as Special Operations

forces have helped capture Saddam Hussein and other Baathist loyalists. But Open an
in other parts of the world, particularly Afghanistan, these soldiers and their
civilian advocates have complained to superiors that the Pentagon's Savings Account
counterterrorism policy is too inflexible in the use of Special Forces overall in under § minutes!
and about what units are allowed to chase down suspected terrorists,
according to former commandos and a Defense Department official.

In fact, these advocates said the U.S. military may have missed chances to
capture two of its most-wanted fugitives — Mohammad Omar, the Taliban No
leader, and Ayman Zawahiri, deputy to Osama bin Laden - during the past No Minitiums
two years because of restrictions on Green Berets in favor of two other
components of the Special Operations Command, the Delta Force and SEAL
Team Six.
ING Ai) DIRECT
They said several credible sightings by CIA and military informants of Omar
entering a mosque this spring in Kandahar, Afghanistan, were relayed to U.S. forces at nearby Firebase
Gecko, where a Green Beret team was ready to deploy. But rather than send in the Green Berets, who
were just minutes from the mosque, commanders followed strict military doctrine and called on the
Delta Force, the team of commandos whose primary mission is to kill and capture targets such as
Hussein.

In the several hours it took the Delta unit, based hundreds of miles away near Kabul, to review the
information and prepare for the raid, Omar vanished, said the sources, all of whom advise Rumsfeld's
senior aides.

Other informants reported spotting Zawahiri in a medical clinic in Gardez, Afghanistan, in the spring of
2002. Green Berets five minutes away were ordered to stand down so SEAL Team Six, another of the
hunter-killer teams, could storm the clinic and capture or kill Zawahiri, according to the sources. But too
much time elapsed during preparations, and Zawahiri escaped. The Special Operations Command
declined to comment on the reports.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54655-2004Jan4?language=printer 1/5/2004
^^*~washingtonpost.com: Afghan Delegates Approve Charter Page 1 of3

washingtonpost.com ' * t»» { R f I i l « G

Afghan Delegates Approve Charter

Following Bitter Debate, Assembly Clears Path To Democratic Elections

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 5,2004; Page A01

After three weeks of raw emotional debate and intense private negotiations,
members of a constitutional assembly in Afghanistan agreed yesterday on a
new charter for the volatile postwar nation, clearing the way for its first
democratic elections in 25 years.

The 502 delegates accepted a political system with a strong president and a
weaker parliament, similar to the version sought by President Hamid Karzai
and backed by the Bush administration, despite vehement objections from
ethnic minority leaders and Islamic fundamentalists at the historic meeting.

"There is no winner or loser. . . . This is the success of the whole Afghan

nation," Karzai told members of the assembly, or loyajirga, shortly after they Open an Orange
stood en masse to endorse the new constitution in a huge white tent on a Savings Account
university campus in Kabul, the capital.
in under § minutes!
President Bush praised the outcome in a statement from Washington, saying
the new constitution "lays the foundation for democratic institutions" in
Afghanistan and will thus "help ensure that terror finds no further refuge in 8rest Rate
that proud land." No Fees
The adoption of the charter comes two years after U.S. and Afghan forces NoMinimums
routed the extremist Islamic Taliban movement. It clears a major hurdle in the
political transition that was mandated by the United Nations in late 2001. The
government now hopes to hold presidential elections this summer, and Karzai ING INDIRECT
is widely viewed as the favorite.

But the loyajirga, composed of delegates from across the ethnic and political spectrum, came close to
collapsing several times after it opened Dec. 14. Repeated bitter confrontations among delegates laid
open deep fissures in Afghan society on such issues as religion, women's rights and regional dialects.
Several contentious issues were left unresolved in order to salvage the assembly.

In comments yesterday, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was critical of the
obstructionist role regional Islamic militia leaders had played during the assembly, and he said there
would be little point in holding elections this summer if adequate security measures were not instituted
throughout the country.

As a result of compromises between Islamic hard-liners and moderate government reformists, the final
charter did not include a reference to sharia, or Islamic law, saying only that no Afghan law "can be
contrary to the beliefs and provisions" of Islam. But some observers said the strength of religious law
would depend partly on who controls the Supreme Court.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54653-2004Jan4?language=printer 1/5/2004
 Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

View Related Topics

August 8, 1998, Saturday, Late Edition - Final

Correction Appended

SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 5; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 1757 words

HEADLINE: BOMBINGS IN EAST AFRICA: THE OVERVIEW;

BOMBS RIP APART 2 U.S. EMBASSIES IN AFRICA; SCORES KILLED; NO FIRM
MOTIVE OR SUSPECTS

BYLINE: By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

DATELINE: NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug. 7

BODY:
Two powerful bombs exploded minutes apart outside the United States Embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania this morning, killing at least 80 people, 8 of them Americans,
in what officials said were coordinated terrorist attacks.

In Nairobi, an enormous explosion ripped through downtown shortly after 10:30

A.M., turning the busy Haile Selassie Avenue into a scene of carnage and destruction
that left more than 1,600 people wounded and dozens still missing long after night
fell. The blast, which leveled a three-story building containing a secretarial school
and gutted the rear half of the embassy next door, dismembered more than a dozen
people passing on foot and incinerated dozens of others in their seats in three nearby
buses.

Just minutes before, a bomb apparently planted in a gasoline tanker detonated near
the front entrance of the United States Embassy in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es
Salaam, about 400 miles to the south. The blast destroyed the front of the building
and toppled a side wall, throwing charred debris down the street, setting cars on fire
and toppling trees. At least 7 people were killed and 72 wounded, none of them
American, officials said.

In Washington, President Clinton condemned the attacks as abhorrent and inhuman

acts of cowardice. He vowed to bring those responsible to justice "no matter what or
how long it takes." Transcript, page A8.

The bombings underscored how vulnerable American officials and diplomats remain
in an age of global terrorism, particularly in some third-world capitals where borders
are porous and security is not as tight as in the industrial world.

The blasts seemed to be coordinated attacks against the United States, and
appeared to be unconnected to any local grievances or political currents in the two
capitals, American officials said.

At least eight Americans, one a child, and an unknown number of Kenyan employees
 August 21, 1998, Friday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 6; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 1438 words

HEADLINE: U.S. FURY ON 2 CONTINENTS: THE OVERVIEW;

U.S. CRUISE MISSILES STRIKE SUDAN AND AFGHAN TARGETS TIED TO
TERRORIST NETWORK

BYLINE: By JAMES BENNET

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Aug. 20

BODY:
Dozens of American cruise missiles struck targets in Afghanistan and the Sudan
today in what President Clinton described as an act of self-defense against imminent
terrorist plots and of retribution for the bombings of American Embassies in East
Africa two weeks ago.

The strikes were launched from ships in the Arabian and Red Seas at dusk. It was
not immediately clear whether the raids were a military success. Pentagon officials
said that no Americans died but that they had no immediate estimate of other
casualties or damage.

With about 75 missiles timed to explode simultaneously in unsuspecting countries

on two continents, the operation was the most formidable American military assault
ever against a private sponsor of terrorism.

The targets were identified by Pentagon officials as an extensive terrorism training

complex in Afghanistan, 94 miles south of Kabul, and a factory for the building
blocks of chemical weapons near Khartoum, the Sudan.

Mr. Clinton and his national security team linked both sites to Osama bin Laden,
the exiled Saudi millionaire tied by American intelligence to the twin bombings on
Aug. 7 in Kenya and Tanzania. The bombings killed 12 Americans and nearly 300
Africans.

Mr. bin Laden, who is in Afghanistan, apparently survived the attack, which officials
insisted was not aimed at him.

"Let our actions today send this message loud and clear," Mr. Clinton said in an
address from the Oval Office. "There are no expendable American targets. There will
be no sanctuary for terrorists."

The President made no apologies for ordering the strikes without permission from
Afghanistan or the Sudan, saying, "Countries that persistently host terrorists have no
right to be safe havens."

Mr. Clinton's stone-faced appearance marked his emergence from two days of
shelter from a howling political storm. He returned to the White House this afternoon
from vacation on Martha's Vineyard, where he was trying to repair family ties

r
Others were more critical. Accusing Mr. Clinton of "lies and deceit and manipulations
and deceptions," Senator Dan Coats, Republican of Indiana, said that the President's
record "raises into doubt everything he does and everything he says, and maybe
even everything he doesn't do and doesn't say."

Administration officials dismissed such skepticism. Mr. Cohen said: "The only
motivation driving this action today was our absolute obligation to protect the
American people from terrorist activities. That is the sole motivation. No other
consideration has been involved."

After the strikes Mr. Cohen ordered all military bases to increase their states of alert.
The United States today issued a new worldwide warning to Americans and
diplomatic personnel "to exercise much greater caution than usual."

In his speech Mr. Clinton warned Americans that the strike would by no means put
an end to terrorism.

"This will be a long, ongoing struggle," he said. "America is and will remain a target
of terrorists."

Copyright 1998 The Washington Post

The Washington Post

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August 21, 1998, Friday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01

LENGTH: 2546 words

HEADLINE: U.S. Strikes Terrorist-Linked Sites In Afghanistan, Factory in Sudan

BYLINE: Barton Gellman; Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writers

BODY:
American cruise missiles struck without warning yesterday at paramilitary training
camps in Afghanistan and a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant that U.S. intelligence
identified as a chemical weapons facility. President Clinton described the
synchronized blows as retaliation for the twin bombings this month of U.S.
embassies in Africa and an effort to preempt further terrorist attacks.

"Today, we have struck back," Clinton said in a surprise announcement at the

Massachusetts island resort of Martha's Vineyard, where he cut short his vacation
and returned to Washington for a late afternoon conference with his national security
team in the White House situation room.

Clinton described the training complex in Khost, Afghanistan -- 94 miles southeast of

Kabul and just inside the border with Pakistan -- as "one of the most active terrorist
bases in the world." He said it was "operated by groups affiliated with Osama bin
Laden," a Saudi expatriate whose public declarations and shadowy history have
placed him at the center of suspicion since the Aug. 7 destruction of U.S. embassies
Administration officials were cautious about the results of the attack and declined to
discuss whether all missiles reached their targets.

Preliminary reports are "that it was a successful attack," said a senior Pentagon
official. "It's still nighttime over there. We will just have to wait and see."

At the Pentagon news conference and in later interviews, Pentagon officials made
clear that their anti-terrorist mission is murkier and more uncertain than a traditional
war. As a result, they offered no impressive video footage of the bombing or any of
the operational details that commonly follow successful military operations.

"The issue is, we don't know what we don't know," said one military official with
knowledge of the attack. "We need every edge we can get, so in 24 hours if you are
all still confused, the guy sitting in the rubble in Afghanistan will also be confused.
This is different than fighting Iraq."

A Pakistan-based Afghan news service, Afghan Islamic Press, reported that at least
15 people were killed by the missile strike in Afghanistan, Reuters said last night.

U.S. forces in the region braced for retaliation. There are about 20,000 U.S. military
personnel in the Persian Gulf area, and U.S. officials said all military installations
have taken fresh measures to secure themselves from attack.

In the District yesterday, Executive Assistant Chief of Police Terrance W. Gainer said
the police department had "increased security around our own buildings" and was
providing additional support to "embassy and office areas where foreign nationals
might be."

"Clearly we are on a heightened state of alert," he said. "We have no specific

intelligence that indicates there is any increased actual threat, but we are sensitive
to the possibility. These are pretty tense times around the world, and Washington is
a potential target."

Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

View Related Topics

August 22, 1998, Saturday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 3; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 1463 words

HEADLINE: AFTER THE ATTACKS: THE PRESIDENT;

Clinton, Dogged by Scandal, Juggled Politics and Bombing

BYLINE: By JAMES BENNET

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Aug. 21

BODY:
 August 22, 1998, Saturday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01

LENGTH: 1878 words

HEADLINE: Reports of U.S. Strikes' Destruction Vary; Afghanistan Damage

'Moderate to Heavy1; Sudan Plant Leveled

BYLINE: Eugene Robinson; Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writers

BODY:
The barrage of 79 cruise missiles fired by U.S. forces at suspected terrorist-linked
installations effectively destroyed a factory in Sudan and inflicted "moderate to
heavy" damage on paramilitary camps in Afghanistan, Clinton administration officials
said yesterday in the first assessment of the damage caused by Thursday's surprise
attack.

Reports from Afghanistan indicated that at least 21 people were killed and more than
50 wounded in the strike on a group of training camps around Khost, near the
Pakistan border. Pakistani journalists who visited two of the targeted camps said
they saw widespread damage and at least 20 craters from cruise missile impacts.
One camp, completely destroyed, "gave the look of a big dump," a witness was
quoted as saying.

President Clinton, who had interrupted his vacation to meet in Washington with his
national security team and address the nation about the air strikes, returned to
Martha's Vineyard yesterday without further public comment. Top administration
officials, meanwhile, spent the day explaining to Congress and the public the reasons
for the attack — and the nature of a new kind of conflict that Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright called "the unfortunate war of the future."

"I think it's very important for the American people to understand that we are
involved here in a long-term struggle," Albright said on Capitol Hill after a briefing
with key members of Congress. Terrorism, she said, "is not any form of political
expression; it is not a sense of religious freedom. It is murder, plain and simple."

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen indicated that Thursday's strikes — aimed at

facilities linked to Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born millionaire whom officials now
call the major terrorist threat to U.S. interests — might not be the last. "We have
contingency plans that we are developing, and there may be more in the future," he
said.

International reaction to the unilateral U.S. military action was generally positive,
although Russian President Boris Yeltsin was sharply critical. Afghanistan's leaders
deplored the action, as did Sudan's. In Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, an angry
mob stormed the vacant U.S. Embassy and ripped down the American flag.

Cloud cover prevented U.S. intelligence monitors from obtaining a more complete
picture of the damage in Afghanistan, said national security adviser Samuel R.
"Sandy" Berger.
FBI Director Louis J. Freeh yesterday cut short his trip to Africa, canceling plans to
lay a wreath on the site of the devastated U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in order to return
to Washington. The agency also dispatched a SWAT team to Africa to help protect
the 250-plus FBI employees stationed there.

The FBI also issued a nationwide security alert to local law enforcement agencies, a
routine measure in the wake of military action abroad. Although U.S. officials have
reported a surge in threats against American installations around the world in the
last week, FBI officials said they were unaware of any specific threats against
domestic targets.

Pentagon security was increased to Threatcon Alpha, meaning officials perceived a

general threat of attack but no specific indications of one. Black-suited, machine-
gun-carrying special police, fondly called "Ninjas" by military personnel who work at
the building, were visible on the roof and at all entrances of the building.

Copyright 1998 The Washington Post

The Washington Post

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August 22, 1998, Saturday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01

LENGTH: 1154 words

HEADLINE: A War in Which Success Is Elusive

BYLINE: Barton Gellman, Washington Post Staff Writer

BODY:
If Thursday's missile strikes were aimed at the vital underpinnings of Osama bin
Laden's paramilitary power, as one Clinton administration explanation maintains,
they demonstrated the paucity of such targets available to those who aim America's
conventional weapons of war.

Strictly in terms of materiel exchange, the United States expended $ 79 million in

satellite-guided cruise missiles to destroy thousands of dollars worth of obstacle
courses, field barracks and tents. But even as what strategists call "centers of
gravity," the main sources of an enemy's strength, neither the Sudanese factory nor
the Afghani training camp pounded by the missiles has that kind of vital importance
to bin Laden, according to senior military officers interviewed yesterday.

The measures of success for the missile strikes ~ like many of the engagements in
what Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright yesterday called "unfortunately the
war of the future" — may continue to seem as diffuse and elusive as the
confederation of extremist groups led by bin Laden.