Al-Qaida Eyes Anthrax Attack on U.S. From Mexico

U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al-Qaida recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group’s determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland.

The video aired as a recruitment tool makes clear that al-Qaida is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by The Washington Times.

The officials, who spoke only on the condition they not be named because of the sensitive nature of their work, stressed that there is no credible information that al-Qaida has acquired the capabilities to carry out a mass biological attack although its members have clearly sought the expertise.

The video first aired by the Arabic news network Al Jazeera in February and later posted to several Web sites shows Kuwaiti dissident Abdullah al-Nafisi telling a room full of supporters in Bahrain that al-Qaida is casing the U.S. border with Mexico to assess how to send terrorists and weapons into the U.S.

“Four pounds of anthrax - in a suitcase this big - carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there,” the recruiter said. “What a horrifying idea; 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on. One person, with the courage to carry 4 pounds of anthrax, will go to the White House lawn, and will spread this ‘confetti’ all over them, and then we’ll do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real celebration.”

In the video, obtained and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, al-Nafisi also suggests that al-Qaida might want to collaborate with members of native U.S. white supremacist militias who hate the federal government.

Sean Smith, a spokesman for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, said the U.S. takes such threats seriously.

Drug Enforcement Administration and Defense Department officials have been paying close attention to links between various terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah, and drug cartels in South America, Central America and Mexico.

In the video, al-Nafisi emphasized that al-Qaida had chemical laboratories in Afghanistan prior to the U.S. invasion. He described his admiration for Hezbollah and said that al-Qaida continues to have scientists and resources at its disposal.

“The Americans are afraid that the [weapons of mass destruction] might fall into the hands of ‘terrorist’ organizations like al-Qaida and others,” he told followers. “There is good reason for the Americans’ fears. … [al-Qaida] had laboratories in north Afghanistan. They have scientists, chemists and nuclear physicists. They are nothing like they are portrayed by these mercenary journalists - backward Bedouins living in caves. No, no, by no means. This kind of talk can fool only naive people. People who follow such things know that al-Qaida has laboratories, just like Hezbollah.”

Intelligence officials said the video provides important insights into al-Qaida recruitment methods and views of the West.

In the 10-minute clip, al-Nafisi suggested that al-Qaida might want to make common cause with what he claimed are “300,000″ members of white supremacist and other militias in the U.S.

“These militias even think about bombing nuclear plants within the U.S.,” he said. “May God grant them success, even though we are not white, or even close to it, right? They have plans to bomb the nuclear plant at Lake Michigan. This plant is very important. … May God grant success to one of these militia leaders, who is thinking about bombing this plant. I believe that we should devote part of our prayers to him.”

Anthrax is one of the oldest recorded diseases of grazing animals such as sheep and cattle and is believed to be the Sixth Plague mentioned in the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Anthrax is also mentioned by Homer (in The Iliad), Virgil (Georgics), and Hippocrates.

Until the twentieth century, anthrax infections killed hundreds and thousands of animals and people each year in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Southern Vietnam, specifically in the concentration camps during WWI, and North America. French scientist Louis Pasteur developed the first effective vaccine for anthrax in 1881. That and the proper disposal of infected animals greatly reduced the incidence.

Its spores exists worldwide; can be replicated in bio-labs. Anthrax was first tested as a biological warfare agent by Unit 731 of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria during the 1930s; some of this testing involved intentional infection of prisoners of war, thousands of whom died. The Soviets, Chinese, U. S. and others have researched the use of anthrax as a weapons.

Despite signing the 1972 agreement to end bioweapon production the Soviet Union had an active bioweapons program. On April 2, 1979 an accidental release or antrax from a bioweapons facility 850 miles east of Moscow killed six dozen people. In 2001 a U. S. scientits is accused of using anthrax to contaminate mail.