American intelligence officers boasted breathlessly last week that they had prevented Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden from carrying out at least seven vehicle bomb attacks on American facilities overseas since his lethal attacks in Africa last August.
Officials said planned attacks against American embassies and an air base in Saudi Arabia were prevented and dozens of bin Laden's associates were arrested. The embassies were chosen because they - like the two damaged in attacks allegedly masterminded by bin Laden last year - were poorly protected and vulnerable to crude vehicle bombs. The embassies spared are in Albania, Azerbaijan, Ivory Coast, Tajikistan, Uganda and Uruguay.
The Saudi air base is headquarters for more than 50 U.S. jets that patrol Iraq.
If true, the story about the dog that didn't bark is good news.
But it is far from the end of the story so long as terrorists like bin Laden continue to seethe against American interests anywhere in the world.
In fact, this tale of a former ally turned implacable enemy is a chilling illustration of a new reality that most Americans have not yet faced squarely: Yes, the Cold War is over, and we won, but the new threat is terrorism, whether sponsored by rogue regimes or inspired by domestic grievances.
We in Kansas City got a whiff of the home-grown style of terrorism last week when the Planned Parenthood clinic here was threatened with what was said to be deadly anthrax spores. That threat led to emergency protective and decontamination measures even though it turned out to be false. The threat and the disruptions it caused joined Kansas City with a series of other anthrax false alarms around the nation.
No one predicted the locations that would be targeted for anthrax scares, but the reality is that terrorism can strike anywhere in the United States or the world. And terrorists increasingly are willing to use weapons and methods previously presumed to be unthinkable to pursue their targets.
Bin Laden has been elevated to the same half-mythical status once occupied by international terrorists Carlos the Jackal and Abu Nidal.
Because of the resources available to him and his declared intention to destroy American targets anywhere he can strike, bin Laden now is considered by some security experts to be the most dangerous man in the world. He has a private fortune ranging from $250 million to $500 million and is said to be cultivating a new alliance with Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who has biological and chemical weapons bin Laden would not hesitate to use.
An alliance between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein could be deadly.
Both men are united in their hatred for the United States and any country friendly to the U.S. If American intelligence efforts have been successful in thwarting deadly attacks by bin Laden in recent weeks, it represents advances that are desperately needed for our security interests. It's unfortunate that American intelligence efforts have been notorious more for their failures in recent years than their successes.
The CIA consistently overstated threats by the former Soviet Union. American diplomats and agents miscalculated about Saddam Hussein's intentions toward Kuwait, and American agents were thunderstruck last year when India and Pakistan staged a nuclear weapons testing standoff.
Our intelligence efforts failed to prevent bin Laden's attacks against our embassies that killed 240 in August.
Good intelligence is essential to stopping terrorists before they strike.
President Clinton has said the right things about the need to guard against terrorism at home and abroad, and he has called for increased funding to beef up American intelligence efforts against terrorists armed with such unconventional weapons as deadly bacteria, chemicals and electronic devices.
Those stepped-up efforts should be pursued because in this war, as senior U.S. officials acknowledge, a success lasts only until the next terrorist act creates destruction.
``There is not the slightest doubt that Osama bin Laden, his worldwide allies and his sympathizers are planning further attacks against us,'' CIA Director George Tenet said in recent Senate testimony. Domestic terrorists won't relent either until they are behind bars.
In this war we can never be too prepared.
