Germany’s intelligence chief, August Hanning (photo, below), said the chaotic situation and factional fighting caused by the US invasion of Iraq could turn the country into a terrorist haven, destabilizing the entire region and leading to a boom in terrorism world wide.

Watch out for the scientists

At a Berlin symposium on Thursday, the head of Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, also warned that the the west has underestimated the threat posed by the pool of scientists who worked on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs in Iraq.

While he doesn’t believe the attacks on US forces in Iraq are being directly led by Osama bin Ladin, Hanning told symposium attendees the agency assumes the al-Qaeda leader is still alive, news agencies reported. The BND doesn’t know exactly where he is, but if he were dead the agency would have heard about it, because it is tapping the phones of family members, Hanning explained.

Traces of bin Laden

“All indications are that he is alive,” Hanning told reporters in Berlin. “We continue to see traces of his activity. He tries to organize, to motivate” his followers, Hanning said further. But he didn’t elaborate.

German intelligence officials continue to believe that bin Laden is living in the Afghan-Pakistani border area, Hanning said.

The US-led invasion of Iraq and repeated terror attacks are becoming a spiral of violence is pushing the country toward “a crossroads.” This could end in total chaos, Hanning said.

'Terrorist breeding ground'

“If we have a space there with no government authority, I fear that Iraq would become a breeding ground for terrorism,” Hanning told reporters.

It is “by no means sure” that Iraq will achieve the transition toward stable democracy, the goal for the region set by US President George W. Bush.

During the conference, German Interior Minister Otto Schily sent a strong message to Washington when he said “whoever responds to violence only with violence” was doomed to fail, the Associated Press reported.

But despite Germany’s running opposition to the US led action in Iraq, Hanning told the conference that at this point, all the countries now have a stake in Iraq’s future.

“All of us have a common interest, whether we take part in the US-led coalition in Iraq or not,” Hanning said. “This country must be stabilized.”

Worry over weapons experts

Hanning stressed his concern about the pool of Iraqi scientists who worked on Saddam's weapons programs, especially since there is evidence that al Qaeda was working to obtain biological and chemical weapons.

There is currently no evidence that Islamic extremists have tried to link up with Saddam's former scientists. Still, “we are concerned,” he said. The scientists “are still around, in Iraq, Jordan or in other neighboring countries,” he said.

“What happens with these weapons experts' knowledge? Who will put this knowledge to use? International terrorism? We don't know.”