Rense.com



US Officials See No Sniper
Link To Any Terror Group

10-20-2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. officials said on Sunday authorities were investigating but had found no evidence to link a string of deadly sniper attacks in the Washington area to international terror groups.
 
Secretary of State Colin Powell, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," said it was conceivable but unproven that the attacks were connected to the al Qaeda organization of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, which the United States has blamed for last year's Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
 
"Obviously, it's conceivable, but I have seen no evidence to tie this terrible series of attacks in the Washington area to al Qaeda," Powell said. "We're looking for every possible connection, but so far I've not seen anything that does tie it to al Qaeda."
 
Powell and other officials spoke following what appeared to be a 12th attack by the gunman who has encircled the nation's capital since Oct. 2 with random shootings that have killed nine people and injured two.
 
A shooting on Saturday night in Ashland, Virginia, prompted another massive manhunt and dragnet of highways. Hundreds of local, state and federal officials are pursuing the killer, who appears to pick victims at random and has struck in Washington and neighboring suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
 
President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told CBS' "Face the Nation" officials were vigorously looking for a link between the sniper and terror groups but had found none.
 
"There's no evidence to this point that this is the work of an international terrorist organization," Rice said. "We are of course keeping open that possibility and we're going to turn over every rock to see if it might in fact be."
 
"But there is no evidence at this point that this is internationally driven in any way," Rice said.
 
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told the Fox program he was frustrated by the case and suggested the FBI and federal authorities do more to help solve it.
 
"Whether or not it's international, it is terror," the South Dakota Democrat said. "It is striking at the hearts and minds of people in this whole area, changing the way we live and the way we act and the way we think."
 
"We need to meld forces here and do all that we can to ... apprehend this criminal," Daschle said. "It is not only a concern for our children and our families and the way we live, but a frustration about our inability, with all the resources we have in law enforcement, not to be able to ... find him."
 
 
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.





MainPage
http://www.rense.com


This Site Served by TheHostPros