Amid the Leaks

Speculation is rife in Washington. While senior US officials agreed with the Saudi assessment that the recent Riyadh attacks were carried out by members of Al- Qa'eda they are less sure who was behind Friday's Casablanca's bombings. Moroccan authorities said they believed the attacks were linked to "international terrorism" but stopped short of naming Al- Qa'eda as the perpetrator.

For the Bush administration the attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco have spoiled the celebratory mood that came in the wake of military victory in Iraq. That no terrorist attacks occured, as was widely predicted, during the war, and the series of successful arrests of leading Al-Qa'eda figures apparently led senior US officials to believe they were close to winning the war against the group.

"Al-Qa'eda is on the run. Right now, about half of all the top Al-Qa'eda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem any more." Bush's statement to a cheering crowd in May coincided with leaks by "senior US intelligence sources" that the group was "on the verge of collapse". The State Department Coordinator for Counter- Terrorism Cofer Black had earlier described the group as "down and out".

US officials are hoping that local extremist Moroccan groups carried out the Casablanca attacks. If Al-Qa'eda carried out Friday's bombings it would indicate that they have regrouped and overcome the heavy losses of recent months. In a joint news conference with visiting Philippines President Gloria Ayorra Bush said US authorities were still looking into who carried out the Casablanca attacks.

Bush's advisers, busy preparing his 2004 reelection campaign, are worried about the impact the recent attacks will have on the polls. Competing Democratic nominees were quick to highlight contradictions in recent statements made by officials in the Bush administration.

"The president keeps saying 'We're going to get them.' Well, it's not working," Missouri Representative and Democratic presidential nominee, Dick Gephardt, said on Monday. Other Democratic candidates said the terrorist attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca confirmed their earlier view that Bush was picking the wrong enemy when he insisted on waging war against Iraq, while ignoring Al-Qa'eda, which clearly poses a more direct threat to US security.

US officials predictably used the Riyadh attacks to increase pressure on the Saudi government to crackdown on suspected extremists and to enact reforms that will end what they claim is official Saudi sponsorship of terrorism.

US officials have long complained that Saudi intelligence bodies are uncooperative. During investigations of the 1996 Al-Khobar bombing in which 19 American servicemen were killed Saudi officials refused to provide material evidence to their American counterparts, or to give them access to those charged with carrying out the attacks. With this in mind unnamed US officials launched a "preemptive" attack shortly after the Riyadh bombing demanding full cooperation with the team of FBI and CIA officers who flew to the Saudi capital.

US officials were particularly critical of Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, holding him responsible for delaying efforts to crack down on suspected extremists in order to maintain internal stability in the kingdom. Prince Nayef further angered US officials when he said in a recent news conference that the FBI and CIA officers who arrived in Riyadh were there as "observers" and not "investigators". However, it was evident that Prince Nayef's statements were intended for local consumption. The Saudi embassy spokesman in Washington, Adel Jubeir, told a news conference on Monday the US officers "were definitely there as investigators".

Relations between Riyadh and Washington soured following 11 September attacks. US officials claimed it was months before Saudi officials acknowledged that 15 of the 19 hi-jackers were Saudi. They further accused Saudi Arabia of being slow in responding to US requests to freeze the assets of Saudi charities allegedly providing funding for extremist groups. While Saudi officials insist they have cooperated fully with the US, Monday's attacks in Riyadh have acted to increase the pressure on Saudi officials to respond more positively to US requests.

In another disturbing leak from US intelligence sources it is being claimed that those who ordered the Riyadh attacks are hiding in Iran. Unnamed officials told the Washington Post this week that the reported new military leader of Al-Qa'eda, an Egyptian known as Seif El-Adel, and Bin Laden's son Saad, are among four leading figures now living in Iran. The remaining two were named as an Egyptian, Abu Mohamed El-Masri, allegedly in charge of training, and Abu Mos'ab Al- Zaraqawi, the man accused by US Secretary of State Colin Powell as being the link between Al-Qa'eda and the former Iraqi regime. Zarqawi reportedly masterminded the assassination of an American diplomat in Amman earlier this year. US officials did not accuse Iran of harbouring Al-Qa'eda terrorists but said they "were looking into these reports". Saudi officials, meanwhile, say they have no evidence to support such claims.

Undeterred by the recent attacks Bush insists that the US war against terrorism will continue. In his news conference with the Philippines president he openly rejected the argument she made that both terrorism and poverty were "twins" and that "poverty breeds terrorism". He reminded his guest that many of Al- Qa'eda's operatives were relatively wealthy. He further insisted that what breeds terror is "hate", and rejected any suggestion that US policies in the Middle East might fan the growing anger and frustration that fuel terrorist acts.