FBI 'struggling' with terrorist attacks inquiry

The investigation into the US terrorist attacks is being hampered by outdated computers and a lack of translators.

Thousands of FBI agents have been assigned to the investigation but they are facing major logistical problems, says the Washington Post.

Agents are lacking modern computers with internet access and Arab translators who can sift documents for vital evidence.

The newspaper says most of the FBI's computers are four to eight years old. None are said to have high-speed internet access and are unable to deal with most information or even store photographs, graphs and diagrams.

Many documents crucial to the investigation are only available on paper, making it difficult for agents in outlying offices to get immediate access.

The agency lacks people who speak Arabic, Farsi and Pashto, the languages the hijackers are believed to have spoken.

This has prompted FBI director Robert Mueller to appeal for people who speak the languages to volunteer to help.

The problem goes back to 1990, when an inquiry into the murder of a leading rabbi uncovered documents which were not translated.

They were later discovered to include the plans for the first bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993, by a band of loosely-affiliated Islamic fundamentalists.

Michael Cherkasky, who was head of investigations at the Manhattan District Attorney's office during the investigation into the rabbi's death, says: "You are getting these huge amounts of material and have no way to translate it. We had one guy who spoke Arabic".

The newspaper reports the FBI has only a handful of Arab-American agents, and struggles to recruit more.