US fears more attacks - counter terrorism funds boosted

President Bush plans to push for sweeping changes in airport security, including armed officers on flights, as the Justice Department warns that terrorists may be plotting more destruction.

With that in mind, the House of Representatives yesterday voted to divert money from Bush’s missile defence programme to counter-terrorism efforts.

Even as the military continued to mobilise for a strike at terrorists and a US envoy briefed Nato officials in Brussels today, the Bush administration sent last-chance overtures toward Afghanistan’s Taliban militia.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an Associated Press interview that the Taliban rulers could avert a war with America by turning over Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and rip up the al-Qaida terrorism network.

Bush suggested that Afghanis rise up against the Taliban.

He said the best way to fight terrorism ‘‘is to ask for the co-operation of citizens within Afghanistan who may be tired of having the Taliban in place or tired of having Osama bin Laden.’’

The increasing pressure on the Taliban comes as investigators find more evidence of an international terrorist network which may still be operating.

Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday told Congress that terrorists may be planning an attack using a truck carrying hazardous chemicals.

Twenty people have been charged with trying to obtain fraudulent licences to drive tanker trucks.

Some of those arrested in connection with the tanker licences may have connections to the hijackers, the Justice Department said.

‘‘Terrorism is a clear and present danger to Americans today,’’ Ashcroft told a Senate hearing.

Making the skies seem safer was an immediate concern for the Bush administration and Congress following the terrorist attacks.

The president met Transport Secretary Norman Mineta yesterday to discuss airline security measures as lawmakers clamoured for action.

A Bush proposal was likely to include giving the federal government a greater role in overseeing private security companies that work in airports but he was said to be cool to the idea of arming pilots.

The Federal Aviation Administration is advertising for air marshals and more than 100,000 people have downloaded the application off the agency’s Web site.

The administration and Congress want to see armed marshals on most, if not all, flights

Federal law enforcement officials from other agencies are being quickly trained and pressed into service until the new crop of marshals is hired.

Bush officials also want to replace relatively flimsy, easy to open, cockpit doors with something more sturdy.

The House voted in support of a £230bn defence bill last night, boosting money to fight terrorism by £274m, for a total of about £4bn.

A defiant bin Laden fired back a response to the US military buildup in the Middle East and southwestern Asia.

‘‘Wherever there are Americans and Jews, they will be targeted,’’ said a statement issued by Naseer Ahmed Mujahed, chief military commander for bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

In other developments:

:: Basketball superstar Michael Jordan announced his comeback with the Washington Wizards. He said he would donate his first year’s salary £700,000 to victims of the terrorist attacks.

:: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told lawmakers privately that if they pass an economic stimulus package of tax cuts and other measures, a proper total could be as much as £70 billion, senators said.

:: The Pentagon called to active duty an additional 1,940 members of the Reserves and National Guard from 16 states.

The Pentagon had already called up 10,000 reservists and plans to summon as many as 35,500 in all to help with recovery efforts in New York and the Pentagon and to bolster air defences.