DISPLAY TO SHOW DRUGS, TERRORISM LINK

Agency's Exhibit Spotlights Rubble From 9/11 Attacks

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Attorney General John Ashcroft and former New York
City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani helped open a museum exhibit Tuesday
intended to show Americans that buying illegal drugs can support
terrorist attacks.

The exhibit, titled "Target America," includes Sept. 11 rubble from
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is housed at a museum in
the Drug Enforcement Administration's headquarters.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said the exhibit aims to educate
Americans about the role drug money has in terrorism.

"Before terrorism hit home on Sept. 11, few Americans realized the
connection, and fewer still understood that drug money has been used
to fund terrorism," Hutchinson said.

Ashcroft said, "Terrorism and drugs go together like rats and the
plague. They thrive in the same conditions, and they feed off of each
other."

The exhibit, supported by $650,000 from the DEA budget plus private
financing from donors, will go on a nationwide tour next year.

It includes photographs from Afghanistan that outline connections the
al-Qaida terror network and the Taliban militia, Afghanistan's former
rulers, have had to drug trafficking. An interactive map illustrates
that some reputed opium sellers and distributors support the Taliban.

The World Trade Center rubble sits as part of a replica of the ruins
left after the towers fell. Another section of the exhibit is devoted
to exploring the history of the "narcoterrorist," the White House's
label for drug runners who support groups like al-Qaida.

Since Sept. 11, the war on drugs has taken a lower emphasis to the war
on terror. In June, FBI Director Robert Mueller told DEA agents that
they could expect less field support from FBI agents, who have been
redeployed to domestic security.

The museum exhibit brought criticism from some groups pressing for
legalization of drugs.

"This is a sad exploitation of the memories of the 3,000 people killed
Sept. 11," said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman at the Marijuana Policy
Project. "We felt it was important to tell the true story: It is the
war on drugs that funds terrorism by driving up drug profits and
forcing the drug trade underground."

Federal authorities have recently amassed what they say is hard
evidence of connections between drugs and terrorism, uncovering an
illegal drug operation in the United States that was funneling
proceeds to Middle East terror groups such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

DEA raids in January indicated a methamphetamine drug operation in the
Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has been shipping
money back to terror groups, officials said.