Officials doubt American Taliban has specifics on planned terror attack

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – American Taliban fighter John Walker told interrogators an al-Qaida attack on the United States was imminent, but U.S. officials say they have little reason to believe he would have specific information about impending terrorism.

Walker said an attack using biological weapons sometime before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was possible, said a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But officials think it most likely that he was only passing on rumors heard in the Taliban trenches.

Defense and other officials described Walker as a foot soldier within the Taliban, and said he would have no reason to be privy to details of future terrorist attacks by al-Qaida, a somewhat separate organization. One likened it to a sailor on an aircraft carrier claiming to know the mind of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Another official noted Osama bin Laden is known for closely guarding information about future terrorist attacks, even among his closest associates. The as-yet unreleased videotape of bin Laden talking to a Saudi sheik shows the terrorist leader poking fun at one of his senior lieutenants who did not have advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

CIA officers interviewed Walker at Mazar-e-Sharif after his capture during fighting in northern Afghanistan. CIA paramilitary officer Johnny “Mike” Spann was killed a short time later in the prison uprising.

Since, Walker, 20, has been taken to the Marine base of Camp Rhino in southern Afghanistan, where the military is interviewing him. He spoke there of possible al-Qaida attacks.

The Marines said Walker, the sole detainee at the base, was recovering from dehydration and a gunshot wound in the leg. It is believed he is being held in a heavily guarded green metal shipping container, about 10 feet high, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

Walker has been providing useful information, and no final decision had been made on his fate, officials have said.

The FBI and new Office of Homeland Security have issued three warnings about impending attacks. Bin Laden is also seeking weapons of mass destruction, including biological weapons, but U.S. intelligence doesn’t think he has the technical ability to deliver a biological weapon attack that would cause widespread casualties.

More likely, officials say, is that bin Laden could conduct such attacks with conventional weapons, or with primitive chemical weapons like chlorine or phosgene gas.