Police raided a London mosque Monday in Britain's biggest anti-terror operation since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Seven men were arrested during the raid, which was part of a wider probe into the discovery of the lethal poison ricin. It was the most dramatic in a series of counter-terrorism swoops in recent months, with the pace quickening after the discovery earlier this month of a small amount of ricin in a flat in north London.
Last
November, Blair said he was
bombarded almost daily with new intelligence about threats to UK
interests
and government officials have said
privately it is probably only a
matter of time until militants strike.
Britain has arrested more than 200 terror suspects since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington for which Osama bin Laden al Qaeda network is blamed, with most of those detained said to be north African and mainly Algerian.
Linking
the threat to so-called "rogue
states" which Britain says are prepared to peddle weapons of mass
destruction,
Blair said: "The most
rightening thing about these people
is the possible coming together of fanaticism and the technology
capable
of delivering mass destruction.
"Supposing they were able to kill instead of 3,000 people, 30,000 people. Does anyone doubt that they would do it?" More than 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks, which intelligence agencies fail to predict. The prime minister also admitted there was only so much that could be done to counter the threat. He said the health service was as well equipped as it could be to deal with a terror attack and that hundreds of millions of pounds were being spent on vaccines, on protective clothing and on new intelligence and security measures.
But he added: "We could spend billions of pounds doing it, we could spend tens of billions of pounds ... and we could still not identify where the attack actually is going to come from. "There are no limits to the potential threats which you could imagine."
His language contrasted starkly with government pleas to the public to be alert but not alarmed. Already in recent months, horror stories about poison gas attacks on London's underground rail network have been dismissed by the authorities.
Introduction
1. The clear conclusions
reached by the government are:
Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda,
the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the
atrocities
on 11 September 2001; Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda retain the
will
and resources to carry out further atrocities; The United
Kingdom,
and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and Osama Bin Laden
and al-Qaeda were able to commit these atrocities because of their
close
alliance with the Taleban regime, which allowed them to operate with
impunity
in
pursuing their terrorist
activity.
2. The material in respect of 1998 and the USS Cole comes from indictments and intelligence sources. The material in respect of 11 September comes from intelligence and the criminal investigation to date. The details of some aspects cannot be given, but the facts are clear from the intelligence.
3. The document does not contain the totality of the material known to HMG, given the continuing and absolute need to protect intelligence sources.
Summary
4. The relevant facts
show: Background Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organisation with ties to a
global
network, which has been in existence for over 10 years. It was founded,
and has been led at all times, by Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin
Laden
and al-Qaeda have been engaged in a jihad against the United States,
and
its allies. One of their stated aims is the murder of US citizens, and
attacks on America's allies. Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda have
been
based in Afghanistan since 1996, but have a network of operations
throughout
the world. The network includes training camps, warehouses,
communication
facilities and commercial operations able to raise significant sums of
money to support its activity. That activity includes substantial
exploitation of the illegal drugs trade from Afghanistan. Osama
Bin
Laden's al-Qaeda and the Taleban regime have a close and mutually
dependent
alliance. Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda provide the Taleban regime
with material, financial and military support. They jointly
exploit
the drugs trade. The Taleban regime allows Bin Laden to operate his
terrorist
training camps and activities
from
Afghanistan, protects him from attacks from outside, and protects the
drugs
stockpiles. Osama Bin Laden could not operate his terrorist
activities
without the alliance and support of the Taleban regime. The
Taleban's
strength would be seriously weakened without Osama Bin Laden's military
and financial support. Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda have the capability
to execute major terrorist attacks. Osama Bin Laden has claimed
credit
for the attack on US soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, which killed
18; for the attack on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August
1998 which killed 224 and injured nearly 5000; and were linked to
the attack on the USS Cole on 12 October 2000, in which 17 crew members
were killed and 40 others injured. They have sought to acquire
nuclear
and
chemical materials for use
as terrorist weapons. In relation to the terrorist attacks on 11
September:
5. After 11 September we learned that, not long before, Bin Laden had indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. The detailed planning for the terrorist attacks of 11 September was carried out by one of Osama Bin Laden's close associates. Of the 19 hijackers involved in 11 September 2001, it has already been established that at least three had links with al-Qaeda. The attacks on 11 September 2001 were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks undertaken by Osama Bin laden and al-Qaeda, and also had features in common. In particular:
Suicide attackers (a) Co-ordinated attacks on the same day (b) The aim to cause maximum American casualties (c)Total disregard for other casualties, including Muslims and meticulous long-term planning with (a) Absence of warning.
6. Al-Qaeda retains the capability and the will to make further attacks on the US and its allies, including the United Kingdom.
7. Al-Qaeda gives no warning of terrorist attack.
The
facts:
Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda
8. In 1989 Osama Bin
Laden, and others, founded an international terrorist group known as
"al-Qaeda"
(the Base). At all times he has been the leader of al-Qaeda.
9. From 1989 until 1991 Osama Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1991 he moved to Sudan, where he stayed until 1996. In that year he returned to Afghanistan, where he remains.
The
Taleban Regime
10. The Taleban emerged
from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in the early 1990s. By
1996 they had captured Kabul. They are still engaged in a bloody civil
war to control the whole of Afghanistan. They are led by Mullah Omar.
11. In 1996 Osama Bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan. He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the Taleban. Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban regime have a close alliance on which both depend for their continued existence. They also share the same religious values and vision.
12.
Osama Bin Laden
has provided the Taleban regime with troops, arms, and money to fight
the
Northern Alliance. He is closely involved with Taleban military
training, planning and operations.
He has representatives in the Taleban military command structure.
He has also given infrastructure assistance and humanitarian aid.
Forces
under the control of Osama Bin Laden have fought alongside the Taleban
in the civil war in Afghanistan.
13.
Omar has provided
Bin Laden with a safe haven in which to operate, and has allowed him to
establish terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They jointly
exploit
the Afghan drugs trade. In return for active al-Qaeda support, the
Taleban
allow al-Qaeda to operate freely, including planning, training and
preparing
for
terrorist activity.
In addition the Taleban provide security for the stockpiles of drugs.
14. Since 1996, when the Taleban captured Kabul, the United States government has consistently raised with them a whole range of issues, including humanitarian aid and terrorism. Well before 11 September 2001 they had provided evidence to the Taleban of the responsibility of al-Qaeda for the terrorist attacks in East Africa. This evidence had been provided to senior leaders of the Taleban at their request.
15. The United States government had made it clear to the Taleban regime that al-Qaeda had murdered US citizens, and planned to murder more. The US offered to work with the Taleban to expel the terrorists from Afghanistan. These talks, which have been continuing since 1996, have failed to produce any results.
16. In June 2001, in the face of mounting evidence of the al-Qaeda threat, the United States warned the Taleban that it had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the regime responsible for attacks against US citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.
17.
In this, the United
States had the support of the United Nations. The Security
Council,
in Resolution 1267, condemned Osama Bin Laden for sponsoring
international terrorism and
operating a network of terrorist camps, and demanded that the Taleban
surrender
Osama Bin Laden without further delay so that he could be brought to
justice.
18. Despite the evidence provided by the US of the responsibility of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda for the 1998 East Africa bombings, despite the accurately perceived threats of further atrocities, and despite the demands of the United Nations, the Taleban regime responded by saying no evidence existed against Osama Bin Laden, and that neither he nor his network would be expelled.
19. A former Government official in Afghanistan has described the Taleban and Osama Bin Laden as "two sides of the same coin: Osama cannot exist in Afghanistan without the Taleban and the Taleban cannot exist without Osama".
Al-Qaeda
20. Al-Qaeda is dedicated
to opposing 'UN-Islamic' governments in Muslim countries with force and
violence.
21. Al-Qaeda virulently opposes the United States. Osama Bin Laden has urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most unequivocal terms.
22.
On 12 October 1996
he issued a declaration of jihad as follows: "The people of Islam have
suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed by the
Zionist-Crusader
alliance and their collaborators..."It is the duty now on every tribe
in
the Arabian peninsula to fight jihad and cleanse the land from these
Crusader
occupiers. Their wealth is booty to those who kill them. "My
Muslim
brothers: your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy
Places
[i.e. Saudi Arabia] are calling upon your help and asking you to take
part
in fighting against the enemy - the Americans and the Israelis. "They
are
asking you to do whatever you can to expel the enemies out of the
sanctities
of Islam." Later in the same year he said that "terrorising the
American
occupiers
[of Islamic Holy Places] is a religious and logical obligation". In
February
1998 he issued and signed a 'fatwa' which included a decree to all
Muslims
"...the killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is
a religious duty for each and every Muslim to be carried out in
whichever
country they are until Al Aqsa mosque has been liberated from their
grasp
and until their armies have left Muslim lands". In the same 'fatwa' he
called on Muslim scholars and their leaders and their youths to "launch
an attack on the American soldiers of Satan". And he concluded:
"We
- with God's help - call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes
to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill Americans and plunder
their money whenever and wherever they find it. "We also call on
Muslim...to
launch the raid on Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters
allying with them, and to
displace those who are behind them." When asked, in 1998, about
obtaining
chemical or nuclear weapons he said "acquiring such weapons for the
defence
of Muslims [was] a religious duty". In an interview aired on Al
Jazira
(Doha, Qatar) television he stated: "Our enemy is every American male,
whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes." In two interviews
broadcast on US television in 1997 and 1998 he referred to the
terrorists
who carried out the earlier attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 as
"role models". He went on to exhort his followers "to take the fighting
to America."
23. From the early 1990s Osama Bin Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons of terror.
24. Although US targets are al-Qaeda's priority, it also explicitly threatens the United States' allies. References to "Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators," and to "Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them" are references which unquestionably include the United Kingdom.
25. There is a continuing threat. Based on our experience of the way the network has operated in the past, other cells, like those that carried out the terrorist attacks on 11 September, must be assumed to exist.
26. Al-Qaeda functions both on its own and through a network of other terrorist organisations. These include Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other north African Islamic extremist terrorist groups, and a number of other jihadi groups in other countries including the Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and India. Al-Qaeda also maintains cells and personnel in a number of other countries to facilitate its activities.
27. Osama Bin Laden heads the al-Qaeda network. Below him is a body known as the Shura, which includes representatives of other terrorist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahiri and prominent lieutenants of Bin Laden such as Abu Hafs Al-Masri. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with al-Qaeda.
28. In addition to the Shura, al-Qaeda has several groups dealing with military, media, financial and Islamic issues.
29. Mohamed Atef is a member of the group that deals with military and terrorist operations. His duties include principal responsibility for training al-Qaeda members.
30. Members of al-Qaeda must make a pledge of allegiance to follow the orders of Osama Bin Laden.
31.A great deal of evidence about Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda has been made available in the US indictment for earlier crimes.
32.
Since 1989, Osama
Bin Laden has conducted substantial financial and business transactions
on behalf of al-Qaeda and in pursuit of its goals. These include
purchasing
land for training camps, purchasing warehouses for the storage of
items,
including explosives, purchasing communications and electronics
equipment,
and transporting currency
and weapons to members of al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups in
countries
throughout the world.
33. Since 1989 Osama Bin Laden has provided training camps and guest houses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups. We know from intelligence that there are currently at least a dozen camps across Afghanistan, of which at least four are used for training terrorists.
34. Since 1989, Osama Bin Laden has established a series of businesses to provide income for al-Qaeda, and to provide cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of al-Qaeda operatives. The businesses have included a holding company known as 'Wadi Al Aqiq', a construction business known as 'Al Hijra', an agricultural business known as 'Al Themar Al Mubaraka', and investment companies known as 'Ladin International' and 'Taba Investments'. Osama Bin Laden and previous attacks
35. In 1992 and 1993 Mohamed Atef travelled to Somalia on several occasions for the purpose of organising violence against United States and United Nations troops then stationed in Somalia. On each occasion he reported back to Osama Bin Laden, at his base in the Riyadh district of Khartoum.
36. In the spring of 1993 Atef, Saif al Adel, another senior member of al-Qaeda, and other members began to provide military training to Somali tribes for the purpose of fighting the United Nations forces.
37. On 3 and 4 October 1993 operatives of al-Qaeda participated in the attack on US military personnel serving in Somalia as part of the operation 'Restore Hope'.
Eighteen
US military personnel
were killed in the attack.
38. From 1993 members
of al-Qaeda began to live in Nairobi and set up businesses there,
including
Asma Ltd, and Tanzanite King. They were regularly visited there by
senior
members of al-Qaeda, in particular by Atef and Abu Ubadiah al Banshiri.
39.
Beginning in the
latter part of 1993, members of al-Qaeda in Kenya began to discuss the
possibility of attacking the US Embassy in Nairobi in retaliation for US
participation in Operation
Restore Hope in Somalia. Ali Mohamed, a US citizen and admitted
member
of al-Qaeda, surveyed the US Embassy as a possible target for a
terrorist
attack. He took photographs and made sketches, which he presented to
Osama
Bin Laden while Bin Laden was in Sudan. He also admitted that he had
trained
terrorists for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, and that
those
whom he trained included many involved in the East African bombings in
August
1998.
40. In June or July 1998, two al-Qaeda operatives, Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam and Sheik Ahmed Salim Swedan, purchased a Toyota truck and made various alterations to the back of the truck.
41. In early August 1998, operatives of al-Qaeda gathered in 43, New Runda Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
42. On 7 August 1998, Assam, a Saudi national and al-Qaeda operative, drove the Toyota truck to the US embassy. There was a large bomb in the back of the truck.
43. Also in the truck was Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al 'Owali, another Saudi. He, by his own confession, was an al-Qaeda operative, who from about 1996 had been trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in explosives, hijacking, kidnapping, assassination and intelligence techniques. With Osama Bin Laden's express permission, he fought alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan. He had met Osama Bin Laden personally in 1996 and asked for another 'mission'. Osama Bin Laden sent him to East Africa after extensive specialised training at camps in Afghanistan.
44. As the truck approached the Embassy, Al 'Owali got out and threw a stun grenade at a security guard. Assam drove the truck up to the rear of the embassy. He got out and then detonated the bomb, which demolished a multi-storey secretarial college and severely damaged the US embassy, and the Co-operative bank building. The bomb killed 213 people and injured 4500. Assam was killed in the explosion.
45. Al 'Owali expected the mission to end in his death. He had been willing to die for al-Qaeda. But at the last minute he ran away from the bomb truck and survived. He had no money, passport or plan to escape after the mission, because he had expected to die.
46. After a few days, he called a telephone number in Yemen to have money transferred to him in Kenya. The number he rang in Yemen was contacted by Osama Bin Laden's phone on the same day as Al 'Owali was arranging to get the money.
47. Another person arrested in connection with the Nairobi bombing was Mohamed Sadeek Odeh. He admitted to his involvement. He identified the principal participants in the bombing. He named three other persons, all of whom were al-Qaeda or Egyptian Islamic Jihad members.
48. In Dar es Salaam the same day, at about the same time, operatives of al-Qaeda detonated a bomb at the US embassy, killing 11 people. The al-Qaeda operatives involved included Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil and Khaflan Khamis Mohamed. The bomb was carried in a Nissan Atlas truck, which Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, two al-Qaeda operatives, had purchased in July 1998, in Dar es Salaam.
49. Khaflan Khamis Mohamed was arrested for the bombing. He admitted membership of al-Qaeda, and implicated other members of al-Qaeda in the bombing.
50. On 7 and 8 August 1998, two other members of al-Qaeda disseminated claims of responsibility for the two bombings by sending faxes to media organisations in Paris, Doha in Qatar, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
51. Additional evidence of the involvement of al-Qaeda in the East African bombings came from a search conducted in London of several residences and businesses belonging to al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad members. In those searches a number of documents were found including claims of responsibility for the East African bombings in the name of a fictitious group, 'the Islamic Army for the liberation of the Holy Places.'
52. Al 'Owali, the would-be suicide bomber, admitted he was told to make a videotape of himself using the name of the same fictitious group.
53. The faxed claims of responsibility were traced to a telephone number, which had been in contact with Osama Bin Laden's cell phone. The claims disseminated to the press were clearly written by someone familiar with the conspiracy. They stated that the bombings had been carried out by two Saudis in Kenya, and one Egyptian in Dar es Salaam. They were probably sent before the bombings had even taken place. They referred to two Saudis dying in the Nairobi attack. In fact, because Al 'Owali fled at the last minute, only one Saudi died.
54. On 22 December 1998 Osama Bin Laden was asked by Time magazine whether he was responsible for the August 1998 attacks. He replied: "The International Islamic Jihad Front for the jihad against the US and Israel has, by the grace of God, issued a crystal clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on Jihad aimed at liberating the holy sites. "The nation of Mohammed has responded to this appeal. If instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans... is considered to be a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal. "Our job is to instigate and, by the grace of God, we did that, and certain people responded to this instigation." He was asked if he knew the attackers: "...those who risked their lives to earn the pleasure of God are real men. They managed to rid the Islamic nation of disgrace. We hold them in the highest esteem." And what the US could expect of him: "...any thief or criminal who enters another country to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at any time..."The US knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than ten years now..."God knows that we have been pleased by the killing of American soldiers [in Somalia in 1993]. "This was achieved by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahideen... Hostility towards America is a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. "I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America."
55. In December 1999 a terrorist cell linked to al- Qaeda was discovered trying to carry out attacks inside the United States. An Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, was stopped at the US-Canadian border and over 100 lbs of bomb making material was found in his car. Ressam admitted he was planning to set off a large bomb at Los Angeles International airport on New Year's Day. He said that he had received terrorist training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and then been instructed to go abroad and kill US civilians and military personnel.
56. On 3 January 2000, a group of al-Qaeda members, and other terrorists who had trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, attempted to attack a US destroyer with a small boat loaded with explosives. Their boat sank, aborting the attack.
57. On 12 October 2000, however, the USS Cole was struck by an explosive-laden boat while refuelling in Aden harbour. Seventeen crew were killed, and 40 injured.
58. Several of the perpetrators of the Cole attack (mostly Yemenis and Saudis) were trained at Osama Bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. Al 'Owali has identified the two commanders of the attack on the USS Cole as having participated in the planning and preparation for the East African embassy bombings.
59. In the months before the September 11 attacks, propaganda videos were distributed throughout the Middle East and Muslim world by al-Qaeda, in which Osama Bin Laden and others were shown encouraging Muslims to attack American and Jewish targets.
60. Similar videos, extolling violence against the United States and other targets, were distributed before the East African embassy attacks in August 1998. Osama Bin Laden and the 11 September attacks
61. Nineteen men have been identified as the hijackers from the passenger lists of the four planes hijacked on 11 September 2001. At least three of them have already been positively identified as associates of al-Qaeda. One has been identified as playing key roles in both the East African embassy attacks and the USS Cole attack. Investigations continue into the backgrounds of all the hijackers.
62. From intelligence sources, the following facts have been established subsequent to 11 September; for intelligence reasons, the names of associates, though known, are not given. In the run-up to 11 September, bin Laden was mounting a concerted propaganda campaign amongst like-minded groups of people - including videos and documentation - justifying attacks on Jewish and American targets; and claiming that those who died in the course of them were carrying out God's work. We have learned, subsequent to 11 September, that Bin Laden himself asserted shortly before 11 September that he was preparing a major attack on America. In August and early September close associates of Bin Laden were warned to return to Afghanistan from other parts of the world by 10 September. Immediately prior to 11 September some known associates of Bin Laden were naming the date for action as on or around 11 September. Since 11 September we have learned that one of Bin Laden's closest and most senior associates was responsible for the detailed planning of the attacks. There is evidence of a very specific nature relating to the guilt of Bin Laden and his associates that is too sensitive to release.
63. Osama Bin Laden remains in charge, and the mastermind, of al-Qaeda. In al-Qaeda, an operation on the scale of the 11 September attacks would have been approved by Osama Bin Laden himself.
64. The modus operandi of 11 September was entirely consistent with previous attacks. Al Qaeda's record of atrocities is characterised by meticulous long term planning, a desire to inflict mass casualties, suicide bombers, and multiple simultaneous attacks.
65. The attacks of 11 September 2001 are entirely consistent with the scale and sophistication of the planning which went into the attacks on the East African Embassies and the USS Cole. No warnings were given for these three attacks, just as there was none on 11 September.
66.
Al-Qaeda operatives,
in evidence given in the East African Embassy bomb trials, have
described
how the group spends years preparing for an attack. They conduct
repeated surveillance, patiently gather materials, and identify and vet
operatives, who have the skills to participate in the attack and the
willingness
to die for
their cause.
67. The operatives involved in the 11 September atrocities attended flight schools, used flight simulators to study the controls of larger aircraft and placed potential airports and routes under surveillance.
68. Al-Qaeda's attacks are characterised by total disregard for innocent lives, including Muslims. In an interview after the East African bombings, Osama Bin Laden insisted that the need to attack the United States excused the killing of other innocent civilians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
69. No other organisation has both the motivation and the capability to carry out attacks like those of the 11 September - only the al-Qaeda network under Osama Bin Laden.
Conclusion
70. The attacks of
the 11 September 2001 were planned and carried out by al-Qaeda, an
organisation
whose head is Osama Bin Laden. That organisation has the will,
and
the resources, to execute further attacks of similar scale. Both
the United States and its close allies are targets for such
attacks.
The attack could not have occurred without the alliance between the
Taleban
and Osama Bin Laden, which allowed Bin Laden to operate freely in
Afghanistan,
promoting, planning and
executing terrorist activity.
Major agencies transferred to Homeland Security:
_Coast Guard
_Customs Service
_Border Patrol
_Federal Emergency Management Agency
_Secret Service
_Transportation Security Administration
_Border inspection part of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
_Immigration and Naturalization Service
Labor provisions:
_ In a concession to Democrats who were concerned about usurping labor
rules, the agency is required to first negotiate any workplace changes
with
the employees' union. Still, in the end, the department can make
whatever
changes it wanted.
_ The president can waive union rights for national security but only
after
he
notifies Congress and waits 10 days.
The bill also:
_ Allows commercial airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits.
_ Allows a one-year delay in the Dec. 31 deadline for airports to
install
explosive detection systems to screen all checked baggage.
_ Allows the homeland security agency to do business with American
companies that move offshore to avoid U.S. taxes if there are national
or
economic security reasons to do so.
_ Transfers the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from the
Treasury
Department to the Justice Department to better perform its law
enforcement
responsibilities. ATF's revenue
collection functions will remain at Treasury.
_ Expands federal planning for domestic preparedness and recovery from
terrorist attacks to include not just Washington, D.C. but the adjacent
suburbs as well.
By Jim Abrams
Associated Press Writer
November 19, 2002, 12:00 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- The Senate defeated an attempt by Democrats to kill what
they called special interests measures in a homeland security bill,
bringing
a lame-duck Congress close to granting President Bush's demand for a new
Cabinet agency to protect Americans from terrorists.
The Senate voted 52-47 to reject an amendment that would have removed
from the bill seven provisions that Democrats said were favors to
friends
of
Republicans. The president and his key advisers actively lobbied
wavering
senators to defeat the amendment, saying its approval could doom passage
of the bill this year.
With the amendment out of the way, the Senate was set to finish work on
the
legislation today, ending five months of contentious debate on how to
carry
out
the most monumental reorganization of the federal government in over
half
a century.
The House last week provisionally finished its work for the year, and
now
can approve
minor technical changes in the Senate version without calling lawmakers
back to
Washington.
"The terrorists are not going to wait for a process that goes on days,
weeks
or months," said Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. "...We
need
to get this done and we need to do it now."
Three Democrats voted with the president to defeat the amendment,
including Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who faces a tough run-off
election next month in her bid for a second term, Ben Nelson of Nebraska
and Zell Miller of Georgia.
John McCain of Arizona was the only
Republican to side with the
Democrats. The two independents spit their vote, with Vermont's
James
Jeffords voting with the Democrats and Minnesota's Dean Barkley with the
Republicans.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was in Paris for a fashion tribute to
Jacqueline Kennedy, and missed the vote.
Had the Democratic amendment prevailed, House leaders would have had to
decide whether to accept that version or initiate new negotiations.
Most Democrats, while supporting the homeland security bill, balked at
what they said were last-minute inclusions of special interest favors
unrelated to the nation's security.
"It's the Senate's last chance to show the American people that we are
serious about placing some controls on this massive new bureaucracy,"
said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., leading opponent of the legislation.
The most controversial provision would have protected pharmaceutical
companies from lawsuits over the side effects of vaccines they create.
The
protections would have been retroactive to lawsuits already in court.
Democrats said that among the lawsuits that would have been thrown out
were those involving claims
that mercury-based preservatives used in vaccines cause autism in
children.
The bill also includes liability protections for makers of airport
screening
equipment and airport security
firms and weakens an amendment offered by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone,
D-Minn., that would have
barred companies that set up offshore tax havens from getting federal
homeland
security contracts.
Bush proposed the new department last June, saying the agency that will
combine 170,000 federal
workers from 22 existing agencies was needed to provide a united front
against the terrorist threat to the
nation. It would be the biggest federal government reorganization since
Harry Truman created the
Defense Department in 1947. The House approved the legislation by a
wide
margin in July, but Senate
debate stalled for months, first over the labor rights of employees in
the new agency and now, over
special interest provisions.
The Senate, trying to wrap up its work for the year, could also vote
today
on a bill that would have the
government cover up to $90 billion annually in insurance claims from
any
future terrorist attacks.
The terrorism insurance bill has been one of the president's top
priorities
for more than a year. He says
many new construction projects have been slowed because builders must
pay
exorbitant terrorism
insurance premiums or find that such insurance is unavailable.
Under the bill, approved by the House last week, for the next three
years
taxpayers would cover up to 90
percent of insured losses from major attacks, with the insurance
industry
covering up to the first $15
billion in annual claims.