Terrorism's 'Most Wanted'

Bush lists 22 suspects in crimes dating to 1985 TWA hijacking

10/11/2001

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Taking a page from the FBI's half-century-old "Most Wanted" program, President Bush issued a list of his own Wednesday that names Osama bin Laden and 21 others as the terrorism suspects most sought by the United States.

"Terrorists try to operate in the shadows. They try to hide. But we're going to shine the light of justice on them," Mr. Bush said during a visit to FBI headquarters, where he unveiled the list. "Terrorism has a face, and today we expose it for the world to see."

Federal law enforcement officials said they hope their public campaign, which will occur domestically and abroad, will help flush out terrorism suspects who have been out of the United States' reach for years.

Leaflets and matchbooks bearing photos of the 22 suspects will be circulated overseas, offering rewards of up to $5 million in government funds for information leading to the capture or conviction of the men. Two private associations representing U.S. pilots and airlines are offering an extra $2 million reward for Mr. bin Laden.

"The FBI's Most Wanted program is one of the most successful law enforcement initiatives ever launched," FBI Director Robert Mueller said at the news conference, also attended by Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"Now we are once again combining the power and reach of the media with the eyes and ears of millions of concerned citizens worldwide in the fight against terrorism."

Mr. Bush, who has termed the hunt for the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as a "war," on Wednesday framed the battle against terrorism as a moral imperative.

"This is our calling," he said. "This is the calling of the United States of America, the most free nation in the world, a nation built on fundamental values that rejects hate, rejects violence, rejects murderers, rejects evil. And we will not tire. We will not relent."

The 22 have been indicted in connection with a series of terrorist operations dating to the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight during which a U.S. Navy diver was tortured and his body thrown to the tarmac in Beirut, Lebanon.

Thirteen are wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which claimed more than 200 lives. The others are believed to be linked to other major terrorism campaigns: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; a foiled 1995 plot in the Philippines to bomb 12 U.S. commercial jets; and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.

"They have blood on their hands from September 11 and from other acts against America in Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen," Mr. Powell said as he motioned toward an auditorium wall bearing photos of the 22 men. Most are from the Middle East, mainly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, though one was born in the United States.

The most notorious and visible figure on the list is Mr. bin Laden, the wealthy Saudi exile blamed for a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. targets.

Named by the United States, Britain and other countries as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 plot, Mr. bin Laden is joined on the list by 12 other suspected operatives of the al-Qaeda terrorism network. Chief among them are his two closest lieutenants: Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mohamed Atef.

The two Egyptians, linked to the U.S. embassy bombings, are believed to have played instrumental roles in planning the Sept. 11 attacks. Dr. al-Zawahiri is the founder of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Mr. Atef, whose daughter married a bin Laden son this year, is believed to be second-in-command of al-Qaeda.

Another man in the al-Qaeda leadership, Saif al-Adel, also appears on the "Most Wanted" list. Indicted in the embassy bombings, he also is believed to have provided military training to tribes in Somalia, where U.S. and U.N. troops were attacked and killed in 1993.

Also on the list are three al-Qaeda operatives – Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Sheik Ahmed Salim Swedan – believed to have purchased the trucks used in the embassy bombings.

Federal law enforcement officials said it is unclear how many of the 22 suspects may have played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed more than 5,400 people.

Mr. Bush called on the United States' allies in the campaign against terrorism to flush out the men on the list.

"For those who join our coalition, we expect results, and a good place to start would be to help us bring these folks to justice," he said. "Eventually, no corner of the world will be dark enough to hide in."

Senior federal law enforcement officials, speaking to reporters on condition they not be named, suggested that the United States knows where many of the men are hiding. "There are people on that list that, within a ZIP code, we're pretty sure of where they are," one said.

The Bush administration hopes that release of the list will turn up pressure on previously hostile or indifferent countries to apprehend and turn over the men. The trio of officials, however, did not rule out the possibility that U.S. operatives could covertly enter a hostile country to nab the wanted men. That would amount to a "radical departure" from existing practice, one of the officials acknowledged.

The list released Wednesday is modeled on the popular "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives list, which according to FBI lore was established in 1950 after a reporter asked for the names of the "toughest guys" sought by the bureau. When that story generated a wave of positive publicity for the FBI, Director J. Edgar Hoover formally established the "Most Wanted" list.

Of the 467 fugitives placed on that list in the last half-century, 438 were captured – a success rate of nearly 94 percent, Mr. Mueller said.

Also Wednesday:

• During a White House visit by NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, Mr. Bush praised the alliance for its willingness to dispatch sophisticated early-warning surveillance planes to patrol American skies starting Friday.

"This has never happened before – that NATO has come to help defend our country – but it happened in this time of need, and for that we're grateful," the president said, the NATO chief at his side.

• Congressional Democrats and Republicans, after a White House breakfast meeting with the president, expressed a desire for quick action on economic stimulus legislation sought by the administration. The White House and GOP lawmakers favor tax cuts, while Democrats have countered with a blend of tax relief and increased government spending.

"I think we can work through this," said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. "Right now, the Democrats are coming at this from a different direction than Republicans, but we'll work through that."