Probe draws in hot leads, dead ends and breakthroughs

WASHINGTON -- The terrorist hunt turns up more by the day. More hot leads. Many mirages. Fugitives wanted abroad. Arabic names that ring alarms here but are as common in the Middle East as Smith and Jones in America.

Confusion, yes. Evidence, too.

Through the haze of the most massive criminal investigation in U.S. history, a body of knowledge is building.

The picture is emerging of a conspiracy or series of conspiracies hatched with the placement of experienced terrorists in the United States as far back as the mid-1990s to get the lay of the land, hone skills and insinuate themselves into American life.

It has become clearer their aims were, and likely still are, broader than the four airliners they commandeered to such devastating effect.

Investigators now think five or six teams of hijackers might have meant to deploy Sept. 11, and that the events that day were to be just the opening round of death dealt in a variety of ways, over a period of time.

In apparent breakthroughs overseas at week's end:

French authorities arrested seven people for an alleged plot to harm U.S. sites in France.

German officials sought two fugitives facing more than 5,000 counts of murder each in the U.S. attacks -- a Yemeni national and a German of Moroccan origin, both suspected of aiding three of the hijackers and forming a terrorist group.

British police questioned three men and a woman arrested Friday under an anti-terrorism law that allows police to hold suspects for seven days without charges.

Huge gaps remain

Still, despite a dragnet that has rounded up scores of people, including at least four who might have vital knowledge of the plot, no one on U.S. soil has been charged directly in the terror attacks. Huge gaps remain in the case.

Even the real identities of all the suicidal hijackers are not known for sure.

Investigators do believe they know a few things of transcendent importance:

That evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement is growing and should be persuasive to U.S. allies and other third countries when American armed forces move against him and his al-Qaida network.

That more highly coordinated terror attacks were planned, and still might be.

That not everyone involved in the United States has been caught.

No one pretends those supposed certainties are satisfying. A clear case against bin Laden has not been laid out publicly, although authorities insist they have many of the elements. And Americans are given unsettling warnings that more may happen but no one can say what.

Norms don't apply here

The law doesn't normally operate quite this way. The hunt is like none other.

The norm of a complex criminal investigation -- patiently piece together the evidence, watch and wait out the prey while trying to build a slam-dunk case, then prosecute them fully -- doesn't apply this time.

Two urgent goals are being pursued: Head off a second wave of terrorism on U.S. soil. Nail down the leads necessary for the military to go on the offensive, in a way that leaves little doubt to Americans and other countries that the right people are under attack.

And, of course, bring perpetrators to court.

Dead or alive will do at least when it comes to bin Laden, President Bush has said.

Some 7,000 FBI agents and their support personnel are on the case, as are the U.S. intelligence apparatus and untold others in law enforcement and related fields, not counting U.S. forces amassing overseas.

A few people key to the day of terror may be among those in custody. Authorities have arrested at least four people as material witnesses, meaning they may have critical information.

Eighty people have been detained using immigration laws that offer latitude to scoop up suspects and hold them indefinitely.