How the Bomb Boast Got Out

By Hannah Bloch and Ghulam Hasnain/Islamabad

Does Osama Bin Laden really have nuclear weapons? Speculation grew more heated last week, at least partly because reports were so wildly uneven. Case in point: bin Laden's declaration about having the Bomb lost something on its way to print in Pakistan but could be found in the translation. In the English-language daily Dawn, readers got the full blast: "We have chemical and nuclear weapons as a deterrent and if America used them against us, we reserve the right to use them." But that's not what was available in the daily Ausaf, which is published in Urdu, an official language of Pakistan and edited by Hamid Mir, the journalist who says he got the quotes from bin Laden at an undisclosed location near Kabul. Apparently under pressure from the Pakistani government, Mir, in his own paper, was able to print only an assertion by bin Laden that if America uses chemical or nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda, it would not be eliminated and the war would continue. While U.S. authorities believe that bin Laden has failed in his attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon, a Pakistani newspaper began reporting speculation that al-Qaeda may have smuggled a suitcase nuke to New York City in time for the current U.N. General Assembly.

Bin Laden's boasts and his condemnation of the U.N. did not win him any friends among the assembly. Taking the most notable shot was Prime Minister Mohammed Khatami of Iran. In an interview with the New York Times, Khatami discounted bin Laden's appeal among Muslims around the world and condemned the Sept. 11 attacks. And even as al-Qaeda tries to link its struggle to that of Palestinians against Israel, Khatami said Tehran would recognize Israel's right to exist if the Palestinian people chose to do so. A politically cagey if, but still a big step for Iran.

--Reported by Hannah Bloch and Ghulam Hasnain/Islamabad