'US has damaged al-Qaeda'

2005-02-06 17:35

Washington - US vice president Dick Cheney said on Sunday that "enormous damage" has been done to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, but even though thousands of operatives have been killed or captured across the world the group remains a threat.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Cheney refused to speculate about bin Laden's whereabouts but expressed confidence that the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks would eventually be captured.

"We have done enormous damage to al-Qaeda," he said.

"The attacks that we've been able to mount, the work we've done with other nations, the Pakistanis, the Saudis and others, we've had an enormous and, I think, devastating impact on the organisation - captured or killed literally thousands of them around the world.

"The organisation, at this point, is, I think, very diffused. I don't think there's a hierarchical chain of command there; there never was much of one," he said.

"But I think nonetheless the threat's still out there," Cheney added, pointing to attacks in Casablanca, Istanbul and Madrid.

"These oftentimes are attacks that are launched by what you might call affiliated, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, but they work on their own timetable, plan their own attacks," he said.

"In other words, attacks can occur without Osama bin Laden giving the order that an attack occur," the vice president said, adding that bin Laden "finds it very difficult to communicate with his organisation."

Cheney said the United States was doing its "level best" to catch bin Laden.

"He's very good on his operational security, obviously," he said. "He's found good places to hide. And so far it's been a difficult task. But I think eventually we will get him."

- AFP