Interesting read - check out the bold bits and France/Germany being mentioned Terrorists expected to hit Egypt hard in Iraq attack
Western intelligence agencies ponder threat to stability of Mubarak regime
Posted: March 11, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern Joseph Farah
A top Egyptian security official is warning he expects "a wave of Islamic terror attacks against the country, planned and prepared outside of Egypt," according to G2 Bulletin's intelligence sources.
The terror threat in Egypt is being taken so seriously among western and Israeli intelligence agencies that they are actively considering the possibility of the fall of President Hosni Mubarak's regime and pondering what might become of Cairo's weapons of mass destruction in such an eventuality.
During a special session of the People's Assembly, Egyptian Minister of the Interior Habib al-Adeli reportedly told legislators that his assessment is based on solid information coming from various sources. He is expecting mega-attacks, dramatic terrorist assaults, on an international scale.
These attacks are planned to be launched if and when U.S-led forces attack Iraq, G2 Bulletin reports.
During the last few weeks, intelligence analysts warned that such a terror wave will be aimed at increasing international chaos, and specifically motivating mass hysteria in the Arab world.
"It is clear that, in this respect, Egypt is the key for stability in the region. Any threat to the Egyptian regime will be a threat to pro-U.S., pro-western interests," says G2 Bulletin's report.
Although al-Adeli did not mention the countries hosting the "Islamic terrorists waiting in dormant cells," G2B sources in the Cairo Metropolitan police said they are mainly concerned with the situation "in a number of European terror greenhouses." The list includes France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. An Egyptian source close to the presidential palace said the concern focuses on "a few hundred Muslim extremists," mainly members of the Islamic Jihad and its offshoots, as well as branches of al-Qaida, al-Qaida cells with ad hoc nom de guerre and the Asian Islamic militant group Jamaa Islamia.
The Egyptian minister did not mention that dozens of radical terror dormant cells are waiting inside Egypt and neighboring countries "for the call." Those can be expected to surface in the larger Cairo area, especially in some universities, as well as in the cities of Abu Zaabal, Damanhur and Ismaelia. The Egyptian intelligence community believes the dormant cells will also instigate mass demonstrations and riots, which may start by disrupting day-to-day economic activities, creating temporary food shortages, especially bread, and will move on to become open urban guerrilla warfare.
"The assumption is all of the above might bring about the collapse of law and order and force the government to move in the army, which, in turn, could bring about an 'Iranian-style' revolution," reports G2 Bulletin.
Of particular concern in Israel is the fate of Egypt's weapons of mass destruction. Egypt adopted the first program in the region to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Over the years, G2 Bulletin reports, Egypt developed weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological weapons. The Egyptian air force used a variety of gas bombs during the war in Yemen (1962-1966), when, at the time, Mubarak was an air force officer in charge of the bomber units of the Egyptian air force. The project, known as "Izliz," included the development of various types of chemical warheads. Israeli expert Dr. Dani Shoham, a specialist on weapons of mass destruction in the Arab world, said that "military factory number 861 in Abu Zaabal developed such weaponized agents ranging from tear gas for police, mustard gas, VX nerve gas and Phosgene Asphxint, which were used in Yemen."
Mouhammad Khalili, a former director of intelligence in the Egyptian air force, was in charge of a plan to develop new weapon systems, including a dirty bomb.
U.S. and Israeli analysts assessing the danger of the past, as well as the possibility of Egypt arming itself with long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction, are greatly concerned about the potential of upheaval. As one American said, any dramatic change in Egypt's internal security might "unleash the genie."
