Reports: Material Behind New U.S. Alert Is Years Old
I mean, come ON, it's so bloody obvious that the Reps (the Bush 43 Admin) make sure something distracting hits the airwaves every time the Dems have something going on, even if it's totally full of crap. This is their tactic, this has been their tactic and will continue to be their tactic.
About the only thing that is actually worth mentioning is that all of these terror alerts are a build up to something. My guess is that the Bush 43 Admin is going to use all of these "terror" alerts as excuses to postpone the election. Will all of this fear and stress going around people will be more open to the idea of postponing the election indefinitely until the polling places can be "guaranteed" safe. Who knows how long this would take? So, this is the danger of all of these alerts.
Then, there are people on the 'net (and I'm pretty sure I'm not one of them) who believe that the USGov was behind 911 and that if people don't start playing along with these "alerts" another attack will be "allowed" to happen. I hope that's not the case, but I wanted to mention it as something to think about. I don't know what to believe for sure these days. Both the establishment and the paranoids on the 'net seem to make as little and as much sense as each other. I just hope neither are right. That there's no real threat to the US from Al Qaeda and that Bush isn't about to quietly declare himself dictator under the guise of keeping America safe.
From Reuters.com:
Reports: Material Behind New U.S. Alert Is Years Old
Tue Aug 3, 2004 07:06 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Much of the information obtained by al Qaeda that led the United States to raise terror alerts in Washington and New York was at least three years old, and U.S. officials are unsure if the group's surveillance continues, according to published reports on Tuesday.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported in Tuesday editions that officials were still analyzing documents seized late last month after a raid in Pakistan that showed al Qaeda surveillance of specific U.S. targets.
Documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches were recovered related to the capture of suspected al Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, also known as Abu Talha, in July, officials said.
Much of the information that resulted from the arrest was compiled before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, The New York Times reported, citing intelligence and law enforcement officials.
Federal authorities said they are unsure whether al Qaeda's surveillance continues, the newspapers reported.
"You could say that the bulk of this information is old, but we know that al Qaeda collects, collects, collects until they're comfortable," a senior government official was quoted in the Times as saying. "Only then do they carry out an operation. And there are signs that some of this may have been updated or may be more recent."
The Post cited officials as saying that much of the information al Qaeda gathered on buildings in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey, was obtained through the Internet or other "open sources" available to the general public, including floor plans.
"What we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching of an attack," said a senior American official quoted by the Post.
U.S. officials have previously warned of possible attacks before the presidential election in November. The latest warnings on Sunday were of al Qaeda threats to attack symbols of U.S. financial might such as the New York Stock Exchange, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, among other targets in the New York area and Washington.
Al Qaeda was behind the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and struck the Pentagon in Washington.
© Reuters 2004
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