August 04, 2004

Source: Terror attack to be in early September

More financial institutions than previously disclosed may be at risk of attack, and an al-Qaida operative has told British intelligence that the group's target date is early September, intelligence sources said yesterday.

The operative, described as "credible" by British intelligence, told his debriefers that the attack would take place "60 days before the presidential election" on Nov. 2, according to a former senior National Security Council official. On Sept. 2 President George W. Bush is expected to address the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden.

Counterterrorism officials are analyzing data from a computer seized in Pakistan last month to see if financial institutions in addition to the five disclosed Sunday are at risk of attack, U.S. officials said yesterday.

The former senior National Security Council official said he was told by British intelligence that they are interrogating an al-Qaida operative who confirmed that financial institutions are being targeted and that an attack was planned for September.

And a U.S. official familiar with the ongoing analysis of the computer said, "There are references to other things [buildings]" in the al-Qaida computer's data, including a picture of the Bank of America building in San Francisco. "There is mention of other places."

The laptop computer was seized on July 25 following the arrest after a 12-hour gun battle of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Pakistan's information minister confirmed to The Associated Press yesterday that e-mail data retrieved from Ghailani's computer indicated planned attacks in both the United States and Britain. A British official said that the threat to the U.K. was not specific.

The CIA had tipped off Pakistani authorities on the location of Ghailani's safehouse in Gujrat, Pakistan, after tracking down an al-Qaida computer engineer, who had e-mailed the data to Ghailani, 12 days earlier, U.S. officials said.

The computer engineer, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, ran a secret al-Qaida communications system and his arrest was described by a senior U.S. official as the "most significant" of a series of events that led to Sunday's raising of the threat level to "high" for five financial institutions. They are the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building in New York, as well as the Prudential financial building in Newark and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings in the nation's capital.

The former NSC official, who asked to not be further identified, said that the al-Qaida operative in British custody, while confirming that financial institutions were at risk, did not know which financial institutions were being targeted. A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

The U.S. official who disclosed yesterday that CIA and other counterterrorism officials are studying the vast amounts of computer data stored in the laptop said that the information on other institutions "does not reach the level of detail" retrieved on the five named Sunday.

Nevertheless, he said, analysts "are continuing to exploit the data to see if anything boils to the surface."

Looks as if we should give a big "Thank you!" to not only the Pakistani military and security forces, but the British intell and police, too!
This information was discovered from a "3-way" bust involving Pakistan, Britain and the U.S.:
Raids in Britain spark hunt for US strand of 'three-way web'

Security officials were hunting terrorist cells in the United States yesterday following indications that an al-Qa'eda computer expert arrested in Pakistan last month had been in contact with individuals in America in the past few months.

US officials said there appeared to be a three-way connection between operatives in Pakistan, the United States and Britain.

 A senior US official told the New York Times that this week's British arrests were "part of this web that emanates from Pakistan", and that "part of what you saw in the UK was a result in part of information gained" from the arrest last month of the computer engineer Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan.

Two Pakistani officials said there was evidence that Khan had been in contact with at least six individuals in the US.
[Where are these 6 evildoers?! We must find them and find them soon!--Jen]

US officials said they believed that Abu Eisa Al Hindi, an alleged accomplice of Khan arrested in Britain on Monday, was a "senior" al-Qa'eda figure.

They told CNN television that he was a "major player who moved operational information between key components of al-Qa'eda", who had been of interest to US intelligence for "some time".
[Shows that our CIA and FBI people are on the case and that the infamous obstacle of the Gorelick "wall" that had divided these 2 agencies has been at least partially knocked down to save us and our country!--J.T.]
They also said that the 12 men held in Britain on Monday could be described as a "cell".
[More good work by our British brethren across the Big Pond!]

The White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, spoke of an "alarming picture" of threats. He said the source of the current alert was not only the data from Khan's arrest, but also a separate "intelligence stream".

The prevailing mood in Washington could best be summed up as anxious confusion yesterday, with politicians and US media outlets baffled by contradictory signals about the freshness or urgency of intelligence surfacing in recent weeks.
[The only confusion was that of Dimocrats seeking political office (or re-election to same) trying to say that the new alerts based on this intell were merely ruses employed by President Bush to increase his political stature and importance.
Only Dims would think about getting their power back first, way before they would actually care about our safety and the security of our country! Fie!]

Senior officials portrayed the White House as taking the lead in a new, US-led operation to interrupt al-Qa'eda operations worldwide. They said Mr Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, had called her counterparts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan last weekend to urge their co-operation.
[And the Dims also love to say that the Bush Administration doesn't work with our friends and allies, either...Rubbish!--Jen]

However, a senior administration official played down talk of new operations, telling The Daily Telegraph: "The search for al-Qa'eda is always ongoing. Dr Rice is always in constant contact with allies around the world. Whether you call that heightened operations is questionable." Other officials moved to counter claims from the Left, and in Europe, that the Bush administration's latest terrorist warnings were merely an election-year ploy to frighten voters and deny publicity to the Democrats.
[These people must be truly insane to make such claims, but make them they do!
They shouldn't be surprised when the American people don't vote for them in November, either.]

Intelligence and defence officials told CNN that "overhead surveillance" images showed troubling signs of renewed activity at suspected al-Qa'eda training camps near the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Again, let's hope and pray that we've caught some of the key players in time to shut down their planned attacks here in the Homeland and in the U.K.
We know since the outcome of the Madrid bombings that AQ has had "special plans" for our election and we can only hope that this big attack on Sept. 2 was all they had in the works, but I wouldn't count on it...
Pray and keep your eyes open, America!