Nov 13, 2008 1:50 pm US/Pacific
CIA: Hunt For Bin Laden Still Top Priority
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Footage of Osama bin Laden was shown in a video made by Al Qaeda and discovered July 16, 2007.
IntelCenter/AP
Osama bin Laden is isolated from the day-to-day operations of al Qaeda but the terrorist organization he built is spreading its influence in Africa and the Middle East, CIA director Michael Hayden said Thursday.
Al Qaeda remains the single greatest threat to the United States, Hayden said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Atlantic Council. "If there is a major strike on this country, it will bear the fingerprints of al Qaeda," the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said.
But Hayden said that bin Laden, hiding in the lawless tribal border area of Pakistan, "appears to be largely isolated from the day-to-day operations of the organization he leads."
The hunt for bin Laden remains at the top of the CIA's priority list.
"His death or capture clearly would have a significant impact on the confidence of his followers-both core al Qaeda and unaffiliated extremists throughout the world," Hayden said.
Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in the Phillipines and Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have been degraded, but al Qaeda cells are surfacing elsewhere, Hayden said.
"In East Africa, al Qaeda is engaging Somali extremists to revitalize operations," Hayden said. "The recent bombings in Somalia may have been meant, at least in part, to strengthen bona fides with al Qaeda's senior leaders. A merger between al-Shabaab and al Qaeda could give Somali extremists much-needed funding, while al Qaeda could claim to be reestablishing its operations base in East Africa."
Recent attacks of Algerian-based al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb are bigger and more deadly than at any time since the group merged with al Qaeda two years ago, he said.
Al Qaeda is also strengthening in Yemen with an "unprecendented number of attacks" in 2008 and is likely to be a launching pad for attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, Al Qaeda's safe harbor in Pakistan's has allowed it to train a "bench of skilled operatives" that can carry out attacks when other cells are disrupted, he said.
Iraq also remains a terrorist staging ground. Al Qaeda fighters honed in the Iraq war but now leaving for other countries pose a continuing concern, Hayden warned.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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