Al-Qaeda drive to recruit Westerners worries US

Attempts by Al-Qaeda to recruit Westerners has sparked deep concerns among US national security experts, who fear the country could be infiltrated by attackers with Caucasian looks and European or North American identification.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller was quoted by AFP as telling a congressional hearing Tuesday that the Al-Qaeda terror network was focusing its

attention of recruiting Westerners because its leaders believed that bearers of

valid European of North American passports could enter the United States more

easily than other nationals.

The statement came two days after Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden made a similar revelation that Al-Qaeda was recruiting and training terrorists of Western origin.

"They are bringing operatives into that region for training -- operatives that, a phrase I would use, wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles" airport in Washington, Hayden told NBC television last Sunday.

The new recruits "look Western" and "would be able to come into this country ... without attracting the kind of attention that others might," he said.