There Is a Chance of Terror in Hospitals in 4 Major Cities on Christmas.

Since there`s a good chance that the man behind the 9.11 terror, Osama Bin Laden might be alive, the fear of the additional terror is spreading in America. And there is even an analysis that America is in chaotic situation whether to capture Bin Laden first or to hurry the war against Iraq.

▽Worry of additional terror=The Houston Branch of the US FBI announced on the night of the 13th, ＂We obtained information from overseas that the hospitals in the 4 American major cities such as Houston, Washington, San Francisco, and Chicago could be the target of the additional terror.＂

The FBI Chicago branch also publicized a statement and announced, ＂The additional terror could be happened during the holiday season such as Christmas and New Year`s Day.＂ However, the FBI added that this information did not contain any detailed content.

Each intelligence office including the CIA does not exclude any probability that Bin Laden might send additional terror message to the Al Qaida through the tape, and trying with all their might to find his whereabouts.

Especially, since Bin Laden specifically named the President George W. Bush, the Vice President Dick Cheney, the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the Secretary of the State Collin Powell, there are raised worries that they and major facilities in Washington might be the targets of the additional terror.

▽＇Difficult situation＇=The major American media predicted that if Bin Laden was alive, the Bush Administration, which was trying to expand the war against terror to Iraq, could be in difficult situation.

They said that there could be a debate which one would be more urgent; to prevent additional terror by searching out Bin Laden and the Al Qaida or to do the war to destroy the massive killing weapons of Iraq. In one side, there is a criticism that the President Bush promised right after the 9.11 terror, ＂I put Bin Laden in front of justice dead or alive,＂but since he could not capture him, he changed the object of the war to removing the Iraqi President Sadam Hussein.

The fight with Iraq seems to be in a lull for a while because Iraq accepted the weapons inspection by the UN with a blitz. America seems to prepare the war silently while looking at the situation for a while.

Ki-Heung Han eligius@donga.com