DATE=04/02/2002

TYPE=EDITORIAL

NUMBER=0-09799

TITLE=EDITORIAL: TOP AL-QAIDA OFFICIAL DETAINED

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=THIS EDITORIAL IS BEING RELEASED FOR USE BY ALL SERVICES.

Anncr: Next, an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government:

Voice: As the U.S.-led coalition works to defeat the remaining pockets of Al-Qaida in Afghanistan, law enforcement agencies worldwide are working to locate terrorist suspects.

One very important suspect has now been captured. He is Abu Zubaydah (zoo-BAY-dah), said to be the third-ranking official of the al-Qaida terrorist organization. According to news reports, Zubaydah was captured during a police raid on a compound in Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was shot as he tried to escape, but is expected to survive.

Zubaydah is a Palestinian who was born in Saudi Arabia. He worked in Pakistan and screened al-Qaida volunteers. He arranged their travel to Afghanistan and sent them to terrorist training camps. Once they completed training, Zubaydah would assign them to al-Qaida terrorist cells overseas.

As a senior al-Qaida operations planner, Zubaydah's role was to plot terrorist attacks based on guidance from Osama bin Laden. Zubaydah is known to have organized the failed Millennium plots to bomb the Los Angeles international airport and a hotel in Jordan frequented by American tourists. Zubaydah is believed to have played a role in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and in a foiled plot to blow up the U.S. embassies in Sarajevo and Paris last fall. Zubaydah is being investigated for his link to the October 2000 attacks on the U-S-S Cole in Yemen and the 1998 terrorist bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. It was reported that at the time of his capture, Zubaydah was leading an effort to reconstitute al-Qaida in Pakistan.

President George W. Bush has made it clear why those like Abu Zubaydah must be stopped. "The terrorists," said Mr. Bush, "are determined to expand the scale and scope of their murder. The terror that targeted New York and Washington could next strike any center of civilization. Against such an enemy, there is no immunity, and there can be no neutrality."

The capture of Abu Zubaydah is an important victory in the war against terrorism. In the words of President Bush, "For any terrorist looking for a base of operations, there must be no refuge, no safe haven. By driving terrorists from place to place, we disrupt the planning and training for further attacks on America and the civilized world. Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive, with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind, and not even a safe place to sleep."

Anncr: That was an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government. If you have a comment, please write to Editorials, V-O-A, Washington, D-C, 20237, U-S-A. You may also comment at www-dot-ibb-dot-gov-slash-editorials, or fax us at (202) 619-1043.