CIA Director George Tenet on Wednesday said he suspects that more than 100 al-Qaeda-trained extremists were in Europe while evidence in Madrid’s March 11 bombings "strongly implicates" militants linked to Osama bin Laden’s network.
"We suspect that there may be over 100 al-Qaeda trained extremists in Europe," Tenet told the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States on September 11, 2001, which on Wednesday held the second of two-day open hearings with top officials from the George W Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.
Explosives used in the Madrid train attacks "were inexpensive and likely obtained locally and the key suspects appear to have some explosives expertise," he said in prepared remarks. "This suggests that they could have launched the attack without financial or operational help from al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups," he added.
According to information obtained since September 11, he said: "Europe-based al-Qaeda associates traditionally have received little or no oversight or funding from al-Qaeda’s leaders. While the investigation is far from complete, available information strongly implicates Spain-based extremists linked to al-Qaeda as being responsible," he said, adding: "We have no information indicating whether the central al-Qaeda leadership ordered or approved the attack."
| They wouldn't have had to. The stuff that's been found online to date basically laid out their strategy rather succinctly for anybody who knew where to look and the nuts and bolts work was left to the local cells. It isn't called "decentralized" for nothing ... |
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