OSAMA bin Laden is an ”evil man” with ”evil goals” that will be thwarted by the United States’ new anti-terrorist operations, US President George W Bush said on Wednesday. Speaking to media at a meeting with leaders of the US Muslim community at the White House, Bush also indicated he no longer thought of bin Laden as just ”prime suspect” behind September 11’s attacks on New York and the Pentagon, but rather the mastermind of the outrages. ”This is a man who hates. This is a man who’s declared war on innocent people. This is a man who doesn’t mind destroying women and children. This is a man who hates freedom. ”This is an evil man. He has got evil goals,” said Bush. ”I don’t think there’s any religious justification for what he has in mind,” he said. ”Islam is a religion of love, not hate.” The president added: ”It’s hard to think in conventional terms about a man so dominated by evil that he’s willing to do what he thinks he’s going to get away with — but he’s not going to get away with it.” Bush also told journalists that he was receiving ”excellent intelligence” from the CIA and the FBI. Both services were accused in the wake of the attacks of having failed by not being aware of the plot being hatched by the hijackers. ”These terrorists borrowed into our country for over two years,” Bush said. ”They were well organised, they were well planned.” – Sapa-AFP
Wednesday September 26, 2001