Amid news Bin Laden’s alive, Bush steps up terror drive

WASHINGTON — Amid new signs Osama bin Laden may be alive and threatening new terror attacks, President George W. Bush said yesterday that important progress is being made toward combating and controlling terrorists abroad and at home.

"This was a productive week in the war against terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Our war against terrorists and their supporters is advancing on all fronts."

Bush cited a breakthrough in Congress to create a Homeland Security Department on his terms, "able to move people and resources without bureaucratic rules and lengthy labor negotiations."

The new department would put 170,000 federal workers and dozens of agencies under one umbrella, coordinating the efforts of the Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.

The president also credited US efforts to enlist 90 nations in a worldwide coalition against terrorism and said $113 million in terrorist assets have been seized.

He reminded his radio audience that American advisers are training counterterrorism units in the Philippines, in Yemen and in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and have "captured and interrogated thousands of terrorists."

The president did not mention Bin Laden, whose survival and whereabouts resurfaced as an issue last week with the broadcast of a new audiotape attributed to the Saudi-born fugitive accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Nor did he specifically mention new FBI warnings that Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network may be planning "spectacular attacks" inside the United States.

Bush did offer the sober assessment that "the threat of terror will be with us for years to come, and we remain resolved to see this conflict through to the end."

The president focused not on al-Qaeda but on Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, who agreed last week to give UN weapons inspectors full information and access to his suspected weapons programs.

"The dictator of Iraq will give up his weapons of mass destruction or the United States will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush said, repeating a threat that has become a staple of his speeches.

"Any act of defiance or delay will indicate that he is taking the path of deception once again, and this time the consequences would be severe."

Meanwhile, a public opinion poll released Saturday showed 63 percent of Americans believe war with Iraq is inevitable while less than one-third said a peaceful solution is possible.

However, 47 percent of the 1,006 of those polled for Time-CNN said US troops should not invade Iraq without UN approval.

About 83 percent believed that Bin Laden is still alive.

That raised concerns of members of Congress.

"We haven’t found Bin Laden. We haven’t made any real progress in many of the other areas involving the key elements of al-Qaeda," Senate Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle said.

"They continue to be as great a threat today as they were a year and a half ago. So by what measure can we say this has been successful so far?" said Daschle, whose party loses the Senate majority in January.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday 299-121 to set up the multibillion-dollar Department of Homeland Security with 170,000 employees.

Daschle and other top Democrats hammered out a deal with the White House to set up an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington, killing more than 3,000.

The CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies have come under heavy fire for failing to sift through mountains of intelligence that could have revealed the imminence of the attacks.

However, despite US efforts in Afghanistan and the roundup of hundreds of foreigners in the United States, Bin Laden is still alive, if a tape with what seems to be his voice is to be believed. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge indirectly confirmed the authenticity of the audio tape.

If Bin Laden were alive, 56 of poll respondents did not fear further attacks, according to the Time-CNN poll, while 42 said they did.