WASHINGTON — Two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Al Qaeda maintains a largely invisible but extensive presence in the United States that includes logistical support, recruiting and fund-raising operatives and financial conduits linking them to the terrorist organization's global network, U.S. officials say.
Several senior U.S. officials confirmed that they are only now realizing the full extent of Al Qaeda operations in the United States. Their new insight, they said, is based largely on intelligence-gathering investigations into terrorist financing underway here, in Saudi Arabia and other countries, as well as interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees.
The new information indicates that while Al Qaeda has been battered by the U.S.-led war on terrorism, it remains a resilient and deadly organization, with a deep bench of leaders and field commanders and a steady stream of funds and new recruits worldwide. In some ways, they say, Al Qaeda is more dangerous than ever, with a broad base of supporters willing to participate in bombings and other attacks against U.S. interests.
Even as a new videotape of an apparently healthy Osama bin Laden surfaced Wednesday, President Bush hailed the successes in the war on terrorism during a speech at the FBI training academy in Quantico, Va.
The video was the first in almost two years to show the elusive Al Qaeda leader. He was accompanied by his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, strolling across rocky terrain. A voice believed to be Zawahiri's called on Iraqis to "bury" American troops "in the graveyard of Iraq."
Of particular concern are recent indications that many of these so-called holy warriors are incensed by the U.S. occupation of Iraq and appear to be more intent than ever on launching attacks on U.S. soil, according to interviews with dozens of U.S. officials and terrorism experts.
One senior U.S. counter-terrorism official confirmed that authorities are tracking "at least several dozen people" believed to be involved in Al Qaeda plots in the United States and that Joint Terrorism Task Force investigations are active in as many as 40 states.
Those investigations have found that as authorities have cracked down on known Al Qaeda methods of funding its attacks, such as petty crime and document fraud, the organization has begun using new tactics to help its rapidly regenerating network of cells. Those include the bootlegging of cigarettes, the counterfeiting of music CDs and movies and other products, drug trafficking and even the smuggling of humans for profit, according to the senior counter-terrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and other authorities.
