Senator's terrorism claim demands prompt response

During his appearance Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press show hosted by Tim Russert, Florida Sen. Bob Graham, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president next year, dropped a bombshell of sorts when he contended that a Congressional report on terrorism reveals the presence of Al-Qaida-trained terrorists in the United States.
Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the following: "We're about to issue a report, I hope, before the end of this month, if the administration will finally get through its approval process. One of the statements that they, as of today, are allowing to be in this final report, is that over the existence of Al-Qaida, Al-Qaida has trained between 70,000 and 120,000 persons in the skills and arts of terrorism: 70,000 to 120,000. We have to assume that as those people were placed around the world, some of them were placed inside the United States. Some of them are in the United States today. That, in my judgment, is the principal threat to the lives of the people of the United States. We lost focus. We allowed Al-Qaida to regroup and regenerate. They've conducted a series of very sophisticated operations, thus far, none of them in the United States, but seven Americans were killed in Saudi Arabia."
Russert, a veteran journalist, asked Graham to specify the number Al-Qaida operatives in the U.S.
"I have an estimate of that but I can't tell you, but it is a significant number," Graham replied.
"In the thousands?" Russert asked.
"It is a significant number," the senator replied.
Given that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of global terrorism and Al-Qaida's leader, is still at large, despite the worldwide search for him and the bounty that President Bush has placed on his head, the senator's revelation Sunday demands a response from the White House. It won't do for the administration to dismiss the comments as partisan politics.
Sept. 11, 2001
To be sure, Graham is trying to separate himself from the rest of the Democratic field, but even the most cynical of political observers would have to acknowledge that no responsible member of Congress would casually toss out warnings about terrorist activity that is bound to cause anxiety among the American people. After all, Sept. 11, 2001, not only made this nation aware of the global reach of terrorism, but also made bin Laden a household name. Warnings of terror activities are no longer taken lightly. Neither are reports of terrorists living in our midst.
Given Graham's contention that the report from Congress' joint inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America's mainland places the number of terrorists trained by Al-Qaida at between 70,000 and 120,000, we would hope that the president and the intelligence community will realize that the American people have a right to know what is going on with Al-Qaida.
As we have repeatedly argued in this space -- even after Bush declared war on Iraq and labeled Saddam Hussein the greatest threat to America's security -- bin Laden's ability to elude capture or death has made him larger than life among the true believers. It has long been our contention that the presence of Al-Qaida cells in over 60 countries poses a greater danger to the world, in general, and the United States, in particular, than Saddam ever did.
As 9/11 showed, terrorists bide their time and plan for months, if not years, before they act. That is why it is important to quickly round up the operatives living in this country and to step up the search for bin Laden.
There should be no equivocation by the Bush administration with regard to the report from Congress. Full disclosure is demanded.