| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
| Date: |
02 Aug 2004 10:25:00 PM |
| Object: |
Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say |
Ol' George, tryin' to knock the DNC off the front pages with 3 year old
intelligence data. I don't believe this is the first time they've raised
the terror alert level based on years old data either.
But then, OTOH, it shows he's right on top of things ... I knew he was a
little slow but this *is* pretty excessive ... Were they waiting for him
to finish reading the intelligence reports before acting on them?
Wonder if he ever got through 'My Pet Goat'?
------------------------------------------------------
August 3, 2004
THE OVERVIEW
Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say
By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 -Much of the information that led the authorities to
raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New
York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence
and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had
not yet found concrete evidence that a terror plot or preparatory
surveillance operations were still under way.
But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and
troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided Al
Qaeda with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites
in Manhattan, Washington and Newark. They said Al Qaeda had often struck
years after its operatives began surveillance of an intended target.
Taken together with a separate, more general stream of intelligence, which
indicates that Al Qaeda intends to strike in the United States this year,
possibly in New York or Washington, the officials said even the dated but
highly detailed evidence of surveillance was sufficient to prompt the
authorities to undertake a global effort to track down the unidentified
suspects involved in the surveillance operations.
"You could say that the bulk of this information is old, but we know that
Al Qaeda collects, collects, collects until they're comfortable,'' said
one senior government official. "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.''
Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said
on Monday in an interview on PBS that surveillance reports, apparently
collected by Qaeda operatives had been "gathered in 2000 and 2001.'' But
she added that information may have been updated as recently as January.
The comments of government officials on Monday seemed softer in tone than
the warning issued the day before. On Sunday, officials were circumspect
in discussing when the surveillance of the financial institutions had
occurred, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge cited the quantity of
intelligence from "multiple reporting streams'' that he said was "alarming
in both the amount and specificity of the information.''
The officials said on Monday that they were still analyzing computer
records, photos, drawing and other documents, seized last month in
Pakistan, which showed that Qaeda operatives had conducted extensive
reconnaissance.
"What we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the
launching of an attack," a senior American official said.
Still, the official said the new trove of material, which was being sifted
for fresh clues, combined with more recent flows of intelligence, had
demonstrated that Al Qaeda remains active and intent on attacking the
United States.
The concern about the possibility of an attack was apparent on Monday.
Armed guards were positioned at the five targets listed by Mr. Ridge: the
New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup buildings in Manhattan, the
headquarters of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in
Washington and Prudential Financial in Newark. The buildings were
subjected to their highest level of security since the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks, with barricades, rapid-response teams and bomb-sniffing dogs
providing rings of protection.
With intelligence reports specifying a possible truck bombing, police
stopped and searched vehicles in the Wall Street area, while vans and
trucks were banned from bridges and tunnels entering lower Manhattan.
In Washington, President Bush said the alert issued on Sunday reflected "a
serious business.'' He said at a White House news conference, "We wouldn't
be contacting authorities at the local level unless something was real.''
Despite the new terror warnings, the stock market gained ground, denting
expectations that it would drop with the heightened security alert. The
Dow Jones industrial average was up 39 points.
A sizable part of the information seized in Pakistan described
reconnaissance carried out before the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said.
The documents do not indicate who wrote the detailed descriptions of
security arrangements at the targeted buildings or whether the
surveillance was conducted for a current operation or was part of
preparations for a plan that was later set aside.
In a briefing on Sunday, a senior intelligence official said that the
targeting of the financial institutions "probably continues even today."
Federal authorities said on Monday that they had uncovered no evidence
that any of the surveillance activities described in the documents was
currently under way. They said officials in New Jersey had been mistaken
in saying on Sunday that some suspects had been found with blueprints and
may have recently practiced "test runs'' aimed at the Prudential building
in Newark.
Joseph Billy Jr., the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Newark
office, said a diagram of the Prudential building had been found in
Pakistan. "It appears to be from the period around 9/11,'' Mr. Billy said.
"Now we're trying to see whether it goes forward from there.''
Another counterterrorism official in Washington said that it was not yet
clear whether the information pointed to a current plot. "We know that Al
Qaeda routinely cases targets and then puts the plans on a shelf without
doing anything,'' the official said.
The documents were found after Pakistani authorities acting on information
supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency arrested Muhammad Naeem Noor
Khan, an engineer who was found to have served as a middleman in
facilitating Qaeda communications. His capture led the C.I.A. to laptop
computers, CD-ROM's, and other storage devices that contained copies of
communications describing the extensive surveillance.
Mr. Khan had been essentially unknown to the United States as recently as
May, according to information provided by a Pakistani intelligence
official, who said the C.I.A. had described him to Pakistani authorities
that month only as a shadowy figure identified by his alias, Abu Talha.
The lack of knowledge about Mr. Khan reflected how hard it has been for
American authorities to penetrate Al Qaeda. He operated successfully
without the government learning of his existence even after three years of
an intensive intelligence war against Qaeda that has emphasized efforts to
intercept the terror network's communications traffic.
In pursuing the new leads, intelligence and law enforcement authorities
were working at several different levels, American officials said, in
trying to make sense of what some described as a "jigsaw puzzle" that
included first names, aliases, and temporary email addresses but little
hard identifying material that could lead to suspects in the United States
or overseas.
The scope of the inquiry ranged from "individuals who were orchestrating
it from far-off lands to individuals who were in charge of different
cells, to the actual operating of cells," a senior intelligence official
said. The priority effort to identify people connected to the surveillance
of the financial institutions has been under way since counterterrorism
officials received the new information from Pakistan beginning Thursday
evening, counterterrorism officials said on Monday.
The information, which officials said was indicative of preparations for a
possible truck- or car-bomb attack left significant gaps. It did not
clearly describe the suspected plot, indicate when an attack was to take
place nor did it describe the identities of people involved.
As a result, federal and local authorities began an effort to locate
possible suspects who might have carried out the surveillance.
Intelligence officers began interviewing Qaeda detainees asking whether
they knew Mr. Khan or anyone who might have been involved in monitoring
the targeted buildings and allied foreign intelligence services were asked
if they had any information about the suspected plot.
At the same time, federal agents and local police began canvassing the
buildings regarded as likely targets seeking to determine whether anyone
recalled seeing people who appeared to be conducting surveillance. They
sought lists of employees to determine whether anyone suspicious might
have worked at any of the buildings and names of vendors, searching for
anyone who might have visited the buildings to study security arrangements.
Senior counterterrorism and intelligence officials based in Europe said
the information targeting the five buildings was developed by Qaeda
operatives before Sept. 11, 2001. But a senior European counterterrorism
official cautioned that "some recent information'' indicated that the
buildings might remain on a list of Qaeda targets.
"Al Qaeda routinely comes up with ways to hit ways to hit targets for
years at a time, so it may not mean much that these buildings were first
targeted more than three years ago,'' the official said.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say |
03 Aug 2004 05:19:42 AM |
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In article <opsb4zryjqld1pme@pc>, "Marvin The Paranoid Android" <marvin@galaxy.com> wrote:
Ol' George, tryin' to knock the DNC off the front pages with 3 year old
intelligence data. I don't believe this is the first time they've raised
the terror alert level based on years old data either.
The timing did seem very peculiar.
But then, OTOH, it shows he's right on top of things ... I knew he was a
little slow but this *is* pretty excessive ... Were they waiting for him
to finish reading the intelligence reports before acting on them?
It's certainly a showy display of doing something, isn't it? I mean, they're
only checking for traditional stuff, and then only on commerical trucks - not
vans, SUVs, etc. I thought there was supposedly a big chance of chem or nukular
weapons.
Also, I noted that Bush and his entire family were in NYC for their photo ops.
Hmmm .... did they run away from their Secret Service escort, or were they privy
to the knowledge that there was no real danger to the First Family, or what?
Woods
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| User: "Tadapope" |
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| Title: Re: Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say |
02 Aug 2004 11:40:31 PM |
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Relublicans work with smoke and mirrors.
Tangents are infinite in all of nature in
all 21 universes constantly and at random.
Oh Joy & Lysergically Yours!
Tom
The Psychedelick Pope
Patron Saint of the Internet
Saint Isadore of Laytonville
http://www.apple2.org.za/gswv/me/
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| User: "eric davis" |
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| Title: Howard Dean called it Right -- AGAIN!!! |
03 Aug 2004 03:20:07 PM |
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CNN's Wolf Blitzer almost blew a Gasket when Howard Dean told him that this
Terror Alert probably had a Political component to it. Dean seemed
surprised that Wolf called it a "VERY SERIOUS CHARGE". Dean, however, stuck
to his guns, saying there probably was some info, but that there almost
certainly was Politics involved as well. I don't think that even Dean
supposed the info was Years old. That's pretty damned Political - not only
that, it was damned well Misleading.
Of course, Kerry didn't have the guts to agree with Dean, and the surprising
thing is even AL SHARPTON distanced himself from it being "Political".
Well, now we know better. Good ol' Dean, reminding the Democrats that to
win they have to rediscover their Balls.
eric.
"Tadapope" <tadapope@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040803004031.04552.00000670@mb-m27.aol.com...
Relublicans work with smoke and mirrors.
Tangents are infinite in all of nature in
all 21 universes constantly and at random.
Oh Joy & Lysergically Yours!
Tom
The Psychedelick Pope
Patron Saint of the Internet
Saint Isadore of Laytonville
http://www.apple2.org.za/gswv/me/
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| User: "Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
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| Title: Re: Howard Dean called it Right -- AGAIN!!! |
03 Aug 2004 02:26:07 PM |
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On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 13:20:07 -0700, eric davis <ericdavisj600@hotmail.com>
wrote:
CNN's Wolf Blitzer almost blew a Gasket when Howard Dean told him that
this
Terror Alert probably had a Political component to it. Dean seemed
surprised that Wolf called it a "VERY SERIOUS CHARGE". Dean, however,
stuck
to his guns, saying there probably was some info, but that there almost
certainly was Politics involved as well. I don't think that even Dean
supposed the info was Years old. That's pretty damned Political - not
only
that, it was damned well Misleading.
Of course, Kerry didn't have the guts to agree with Dean, and the
surprising
thing is even AL SHARPTON distanced himself from it being "Political".
Well, now we know better. Good ol' Dean, reminding the Democrats that to
win they have to rediscover their Balls.
Agreed.
I found Dean at least had some passion ... Kerry's about as exciting as a
piece of driftwood.
.
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| User: "Jean Guernon" |
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| Title: Howard is an idiot, and so are you, eric and marvin the asholes. |
03 Aug 2004 06:19:16 PM |
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Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 13:20:07 -0700, eric davis
<ericdavisj600@hotmail.com> wrote:
CNN's Wolf Blitzer almost blew a Gasket when Howard Dean told him
that this
Terror Alert probably had a Political component to it. Dean seemed
surprised that Wolf called it a "VERY SERIOUS CHARGE". Dean,
however, stuck
to his guns, saying there probably was some info, but that there almost
certainly was Politics involved as well. I don't think that even Dean
supposed the info was Years old. That's pretty damned Political -
not only
that, it was damned well Misleading.
Of course, Kerry didn't have the guts to agree with Dean, and the
surprising
thing is even AL SHARPTON distanced himself from it being "Political".
Well, now we know better. Good ol' Dean, reminding the Democrats that to
win they have to rediscover their Balls.
Agreed.
I found Dean at least had some passion ... Kerry's about as exciting as
a piece of driftwood.
.
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| User: "Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
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| Title: Re: Howard is an idiot, and so are you, eric and marvin the asholes. Re: Howard Dean called it Right -- AGAIN!!! |
03 Aug 2004 07:13:28 PM |
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On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 23:19:16 GMT, Jean Guernon <jguernon@globetrotter.net>
wrote:
Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 13:20:07 -0700, eric davis
<ericdavisj600@hotmail.com> wrote:
CNN's Wolf Blitzer almost blew a Gasket when Howard Dean told him
that this
Terror Alert probably had a Political component to it. Dean seemed
surprised that Wolf called it a "VERY SERIOUS CHARGE". Dean,
however, stuck
to his guns, saying there probably was some info, but that there almost
certainly was Politics involved as well. I don't think that even Dean
supposed the info was Years old. That's pretty damned Political -
not only
that, it was damned well Misleading.
Of course, Kerry didn't have the guts to agree with Dean, and the
surprising
thing is even AL SHARPTON distanced himself from it being "Political".
Well, now we know better. Good ol' Dean, reminding the Democrats that
to
win they have to rediscover their Balls.
Agreed.
I found Dean at least had some passion ... Kerry's about as exciting
as a piece of driftwood.
Good post Jean.
More like this would be well recieved.
.
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| User: "Jean Guernon" |
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| Title: Re: Howard is an idiot, and so are you, eric and marvin the asholes. |
04 Aug 2004 12:25:43 AM |
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Marvin The Paranoid Android a écrit:
On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 23:19:16 GMT, Jean Guernon
<jguernon@globetrotter.net> wrote:
Good post Jean.
More like this would be well recieved.
Thank you Marvin, you left out the header, which was the point anyway.
Glad you liked it. :-)
J.
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