November 12, 2001	Monday	Shaba’an 25, 1422

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NEW YORK, Nov 11: The Dawn report about Osama bin Laden’s claim that he possesses nuclear biological weapons and could possibly use them was the most talked about story in the corridors of the United Nations where world leaders met to declare war on terrorism.

Most world leaders expressed horror and disbelief at the claim made by Osama. US President Bush, at the joint press conference with President Musharraf, remarked: “It proves that he is an evil man.”

He noted that Osama “has now targeted Pakistan and Gen Pervez Musharraf in particular.”

President Musharraf, on his part, dismissed Osama’s claim, saying, “I can’t imagine he has any nuclear weapons.” But he added that “chemical weapons is another matter.”

Almost every newspaper and television channel in the United States carried the report prominently and Dawn was referred to as the “most respected newspaper of Pakistan.” Almost every television talk show in the United States (CNN, ABC TV, CBS TV, Fox TV network, and NBC etc) was reacting to the report and every known commentator was forced to respond to Osama’s latest threat.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed Osama’s claim as a “wild boast and threat” and said America would not use nuclear force against him.

Powell, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he had no idea whether the man accused in the Sept 11 attacks on the United States possessed chemical or biological weapons.

“I have no way of knowing, but I think it unlikely that he has any nuclear weapons,” Powell said on the morning talk show, calling the assertion, “a wild boast and threat.”

“I can’t say about chemical and biological. But this is the kind of threat that this evil person likes to toss around.”

On Saturday, Dawn carried an interview with Osama in which the head of the al-Qaeda network said he had obtained nuclear and chemical weapons and reserved the right to use them if the United States did so first.

Powell scoffed at the possibility the United States might attack Osama with nuclear force. “Against what, against whom would the United States attack?” Powell asked.

“President (Bush) has every option available to him, but it’s a stretch of my imagination that we would ever use those kinds of (nuclear) options,” Powell said.

Powell said the latest statements from Osama “should be a wake-up call to Muslims around the world ... that this is not a man of faith, this is a man of evil.”

Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser to President George W. Bush, said on an ABC Sunday political talk show that the US intelligence “has found no evidence that nuclear weapons are in the hands of terrorist groups.”

The US government has been working aggressively to deter terrorist groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, Rice said.

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld skirted the question of whether Osama could indeed have nuclear capabilities. Speaking on Fox News, Rumsfeld would only concede that the notion concerned him.

The top White House national security adviser said on Sunday: “There is no credible evidence that Osama bin Laden...has nuclear weapons as he claimed this week in an interview carried by Dawn.”