Tuesday, 26 Feb 2013 05:58 PM

By Bill Hoffmann

Al-Qaida is on a round-the-clock mission to launch a new terrorist attack on New York City, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy said on the 20th anniversary of the first World Trade Center attack.

And only the diligent work of eagle-eyed law enforcement officials has prevented another tragedy, McCarthy told Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show.’’

“People need to understand these guys, al-Qaida and its affiliates, are trying like crazy to hit us every day,’’ McCarthy said.

“And if they had the opportunity to do it, they would do it.’’

But the former Assistant U.S. Attorney — who put Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others behind bars in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — added, “The fact they haven’t been able to do it in a dozen years is a tribute, number one, to the people who work heroically in the field.

“Our guys on the frontline have just done a fabulous job whether they’re the federal agents in the field offices or guys like Ray Kelly who are real trailblazers in counterterrorism in the New York City Police Department.’’

McCarthy, whose book “Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy,’’ is just out in paperback, said the sheik remains an extremely dangerous madman, even in a secluded prison cell.

“There’s no question that he will call for the killing of more Americans. The only thing that we have now that keeps a lid on that is the fact that he’s in relatively limited confinement,’’ McCarthy said.

“He’s in a high security federal prison and, therefore, it’s very difficult for him to get his messages out.’’

He noted that Osama bin Laden had publicly credited the sheik with issuing the fatwa, an Islamic death decree, that approved the 9/11 attacks.

“And that’s something he did from federal prison when he called for the killing of all Americans wherever and whenever they could be found,’’ McCarthy said.

The ex-lawman, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, criticized the White House for its support of Islamist nations he said continue to stonewall efforts to stop terrorists.

“This is another story that’s gotten almost no play — the Turks have in custody the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden who was an al-Qaida operative and they won’t let us talk to him,’’ McCarthy said.

“That’s our great NATO ally which, by the way, is a major financial backer of [the Muslim Palestinian extremist group] Hamas.’’

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