The Hindu : Attack on U.S. almost certain: Cheney

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 20, 2002

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Attack on U.S. almost certain: Cheney

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington May 19. The U.S. Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has said that a new attack on the United States is "almost'' certain.

"In my opinion the prospects of a future attack against the United States are almost certain. It is not a matter of if but when,'' Mr. Cheney said on Sunday.

U.S. intelligence agencies, especially key ones such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, are said to have picked up "enhanced activity'' of terrorist operatives belonging to the Al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden. "We don't know if it's going to be tomorrow or next week or next year — partly because we're having some success in disrupting the organisation and making it more difficult for them to carry out their operations,'' Mr. Cheney said.

Mr. Cheney's observations on the new threat has to be seen in the backdrop of strong criticism of the Bush administration of having missed intelligence information that could have prevented the terror attacks on Washington and New York last year. "It's almost impossible to erect a 100 per cent defence,'' Mr. Cheney argued.

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