IP: Bin Laden 'breached the taboo' on terrorism

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rahettinga () earthlink net>
> Subject: Bin Laden 'breached the taboo' on terrorism
>
> http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/america_under_attack/article/0,1299,DRMN_664_896691,00.html
>
> Rocky Mountain News
>
> Bin Laden 'breached the taboo' on terrorism
>
> By Ann Imse, News Staff Writer
> Osama bin Laden "breached the taboo" limiting the scale of terrorist
> attacks because he has no state controlling him, an Israeli terrorism
> expert said Monday in Denver.
>
> Yoram Schweitzer, a researcher at the International Policy Institute for
> Counter-Terrorism at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, was
> in Denver Monday for a seminar for local emergency personnel.
>
> State sponsors of terrorism generally have national interests they want to
> protect, and that puts limits on just how far they are willing to go in
> terrorist attacks, Schweitzer said in an interview at the Rocky Mountain
> News. He repeated the theme in his seminar for about 40 first responders,
> said Ed Conners, Denver's director of emergency management.
>
> "Iran controls the Hezbollah, and Iran says, 'Don't attack America,'
> because of other considerations," Schweitzer said. "States want their hands
> on the control button."
>
> Hezbollah was responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing of a U.S. Marines
> barracks in Lebanon that killed 241 servicemen, but it says it has not
> targeted the United States for years.
>
> But "Mullah Omar did not control bin Laden," Schweitzer said. He merely
> gave bin Laden a place to operate. "Bin Laden breached the taboo because of
> his uncontrolled activities," he said.
>
> Other "Afghan alumni" trained by bin Laden won't have limits either,
> Schweitzer said.
>
> Conners said Schweitzer's seminar provided basic background on terrorist
> cells, what they've been doing, their tactics and training, and
> organization and management.
>
> In the interview, Schweitzer also explained the Israeli military response
> to suicide bombings, such as those that occurred this past weekend. "You
> have to put a price tag on it," he said. "If this pen is free, I'll take
> 20. If it is not, I'll take two."
>
> Schweitzer insisted that Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat could
> end the current violence if he wanted to, rejecting other evaluations that
> the bombers won't listen to Arafat.
>
> His trip to five American cities was sponsored by the Israeli Foreign 
> Ministry.
>
> December 4, 2001
>
> Copyright 2001, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
>
> --
> -----------------
> R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah () ibuc com>
> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
> "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
> [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
> experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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