Colin Powell: Remarks to the United Nations Security Council

Glossary

• al-Qaida an Arabic name that means literally “the base”; an Islamic terrorist group responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001
• Arab Liberation Front a faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a militant group based in Palestine
• Baghdad the capital city of Iraq
• bin Laden Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of al Qaeda
• clandestine secret, hidden
• conjecture speculation, guesswork
• electromagnetic isotope separationa process that uses magnets to enrich uranium
• enrich uranium the process of extracting from the element uranium the isotopes that are fissionable, that is, useful for atomic energy or nuclear weapons
• gas centrifuge a method of enriching uranium that relies on centripetal force
• gas diffusion often called gaseous diffusion, a method of enriching uranium that forces isotopes of uranium through membranes to separate atoms
• Hamas a militant Islamist Palestinian group, part political party and part military organization
• Intifadah an Arabic word that literally means “shaking off” but is usually translated as “uprising” or “rebellion” and most commonly used to refer to Palestinian resistance to Israeli rule
• liters metric units of measurement equal to approximately a quart
• Palestine Islamic Jilhad a Palestinian militant organization, more formally, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
• Palestine Liberation Front a Palestinian militant group
• post–September 11 world changes in Western defense and security postures after the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001
• Saddam Hussein president of Iraq