WASHINGTON - A one-legged Jordanian terrorist is the man the Bush administration believes could be plotting a biological attack on the United States for Saddam Hussein if war with Iraq erupts.
He is Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, one of al Qaeda's top operational leaders and the mastermind of the London ricin plot, as well as the assassination of American diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan last October.
Intelligence officials said Zarqawi is the man President Bush was referring to when he warned the nation in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night that terrorists could "bring a day of horror like none we have even known" - with a vial or canister from Saddam's stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.
Saddam's son Uday recently warned that if U.S. forces strike his country, "Sept. 11th, which they are crying over and see as a big thing, will be a real picnic for them."
Sources told The Post that U.S. intelligence agencies have received new information from communications intercepts that al Qaeda operatives are talking about a spectacular attack in re sponse to a U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"There is information that al Qaeda sees war with Iraq as a new opportunity to exploit the tensions in the region for its own purposes," said Vincent Cannistrarro, former counterterrorism director for the CIA.
Sources told The Post that a major focus of U.S. officials is Zarqawi, a Jordanian man in his 30s who has extensive experience in chemical and biological weapons and who is now considered one of al Qaeda's top leaders.
Sources said Zarqawi was badly injured during U.S. bombing raids on Kabul last year and fled Afghanistan to Iran.
Last August, Zarqawi ended up in Baghdad, where he stayed in the hospital for several weeks following the amputation of his leg by Iraqi doctors.
U.S. intelligence learned of Zarqawi's presence in Iraq through intercepts of phone calls he made to his family in Jordan, sources told The Post.