Brits Claim Al Qaeda Played Dirty
Al Qaeda has the ability and perhaps the materials to create a radioactive dirty bomb, the British government claimed Thursday in interviews with the BBC.
Releasing previously undisclosed information, the government said British agents obtained intelligence on al Qaeda's dirty bomb program when they infiltrated one of Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan, posing as recruits.
The BBC reports the government traces the program's roots to 1999, with work on the project conducted at a lab in the city of Herat. Bin Laden, according to the British government, obtained radioactive isotopes from his hosts in Afghanistan, the Taliban regime.
Al Qaeda's efforts and desire to get a dirty bomb have been known. But government sources tell CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart they do not believe al Qaeda possesses or has ever actually made a dirty bomb device.
Among the materials smuggled out of the camps by the British spies are al Qaeda training manuals providing instructions on how to use a dirty bomb, BBC reports. The evidence collected led intelligence analysts to conclude al Qaeda may have made a small dirty bomb, but not a nuclear device.
However, no British agent ever saw any device. The BBC reports the bomb has never been recovered, and a suspected al Qaeda weapons expert from Herat is still at large.
A dirty bomb uses a conventional explosion to spread poisonous radiation over a large area, while a nuclear weapon involves a complex series of reactions to split an atom, releasing enormous energy and producing widespread devastation.
Britain's Foreign Office said Thursday the report substantiated expert opinion that al Qaeda wanted to develop a nuclear weapon.
"The evidence presented in the BBC report speaks for itself," a spokesman told The Associated Press. "It provides proof to substantiate expert opinion that al Qaeda was interested in developing nuclear weapons."
In Washington, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said bin Laden was no doubt interested in acquiring a "dirty bomb" — a conventional bomb capable of spreading radiation.
But the U.S. official said, "We have no evidence to substantiate that he's built such a device."
Some in Britain questioned the purpose of releasing this information now, said the BBC.
"They would like to prove their point that there are links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda," Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the Al Quds al Arabi newspaper, said.
Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the likelihood of a terrorist strike on Britain was high, especially given Britain's high-profile support for a possible U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
While the country is historically more familiar with terrorism than the United States because of the Irish Republican Army's 30-year bombing campaign — and is home to several groups of Muslim radicals who promote violent acts — it has been spared any major attack by al Qaeda.
Earlier this month, British police found traces of the deadly poison ricin in an apartment in north London. Several arrests were made.
There has been previous evidence of al Qaeda's interest in a "dirty bomb," which would be far less deadly and damaging than a nuclear explosion.
Computers found by journalists and U.S. troops at a variety of facilities in Afghanistan indicated al Qaeda had sought to obtain and develop nuclear and other potent weapons.
During a New York trial two years ago, a former bin Laden aide testified he was ordered in 1993 to try to buy uranium on the black market for an effort to develop a nuclear weapon. Jamal Ahmed Al-Fadl said al Qaeda was prepared to spend $1.5 million, but he didn't know if a purchase was ever made.
In addition, U.S. officials have said captured al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah told American interrogators the terrorist network was working on a "dirty bomb."
Authorities also have said that Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member charged with plotting with al Qaeda, attended two meetings in Karachi, Pakistan, at which senior al Qaeda operatives discussed the possible use of a "dirty bomb."