Word: bomber
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Appearing as an expert witness against "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam in March 2001, France's trail-blazing counter-terrorism investigator Jean-Louis Bruguiere left at least one court official somewhat confused. The court official asked him to restate the last name of this "Al" person the Frenchman cited as being central to the global plot of which Ressam's planned attack on Los Angeles International Airport had been part. Bruguiere patiently explained that "al Qaeda" was an organization seeking a global federation of furtive extremists to wage jihad on the West. Less than seven months later, as the lessons...
...next and most urgent task is to infiltrate terrorist groups. This is hard but not impossible. Israel, for example, has managed to set up a web of Palestinian collaborators. Last winter a would-be suicide bomber took refuge in a Palestinian house after his explosive vest failed to detonate on a bus. Unbeknown to him, the father of his host was an informer for the Israeli domestic intelligence service. The father contacted the police, and the man was arrested...
...Amanda Ripley suggested that the John F. Kennedy Airport terrorists were amateurs and therefore not a major problem. But most terrorists are amateurs. It doesn't take much training to be a suicide bomber. A car bomb is clearly the work of an amateur. A couple of amateurs in a small boat blew a hole in the U.S.S. Cole. The discovery of the J.F.K. plot is a good thing. Nobody knows the extent of the disaster that could have happened if the plot had been allowed to develop. Americans want to thwart all attacks, whether the terrorists are amateurs...
...ACCUSED: Megrahi's fate is unclear. Former FBI investigator Marquise readily admits the case against him is based on "a series of circumstances," and all must be true for Megrahi to be guilty. With a tiny fragment of circuit board found at the crash site, investigators pinned the bomber to an unusual style of Swiss timer, manufactured by a firm that claimed to supply the Libyan military. Clothing scraps from the suitcase carrying the explosive device were linked to a source in Malta. And the Maltese shopkeeper identified Megrahi (many months after the bombing) as the Libyan who bought...
...security official confirms to TIME that there was no prior intelligence of any attack, although the security services are currently monitoring 1,600 individuals involved in terrorist activity, 200 networks and 30 plots. The source says investigators are keeping an open mind about the identity and motive of the bomber. Britain's current terrorism threat level has been deemed "severe" since the plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jets was uncovered last August. That means an attack is thought highly likely...