NEW
YORK, August 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - 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,
two leading US newspapers revealed Tuesday, August 3, amid accusations
that the US President is playing politics with "this trump
card" of terrorism.
Intelligence
officers told the New York Times and the Washington Post
there was "no concrete evidence" of a terrorist plot or
proof that terror surveillance operations were still being carried
out.
Documents,
surveillance reports and sketches that were recovered after the arrest
of suspected Al-Qaeda computer expert Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan
contained no evidence that terrorist activities were currently under
way, the New York Times quoted federal officials as saying.
"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 told the daily, speaking only anonymously
due to the case’s sensitive nature.
The
documents do not indicate who wrote the detailed descriptions of
security arrangements at the financial buildings or whether the
surveillance was conducted for a current operation or was part of
preparations for a plan that was later set aside, the Times
said.
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.
Khan’s
capture led the CIA to laptop computers, CD-ROM's, and other storage
devices that contained copies of communications describing the
extensive surveillance, the Times said.
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 CIA had described him to Pakistani authorities
that month only as a shadowy figure identified by his alias, Abu
Talha.
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.
Mistaken
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Bush plays "this trump card" of terrorism, Dean
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The
officials said authorities 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.
"What
we've uncovered is a collection operation as opposed to the launching
of an attack," a senior official told the Times.
Joseph
Billy Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI'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," Billy said. "Now
we're trying to see whether it goes forward from there."
In
his stark and alarming warnings, Ridge said that intelligence reports
also indicated specific threats to Prudential Financial buildings in
northern New Jersey.
"Al-Qaeda
wants to intimidate us," Ridge said, before adding: "Our
resolve is indivisible and unyielding."
He
said US authorities understand the "preferred method of attack is
car and truck bombs."
Playing
Politics
Meanwhile,
former presidential candidate Howard Dean wondered Monday about the
timing of the latest terror alert.
Dean
told CNN that he was concerned that every time something happened
that's not good for President George W. Bush, he played "this
trump card" of terrorism.
The
former Vermont governor said it's impossible to know how much of the
threat is real — and how much is politics.
In
his televised press conference, Ridge had also warned that terrorists
could stage attacks to disrupt the US presidential election on
November 2.
Bush’s
Republican Party is to hold its convention in New York from August 30
to September 2.
Bush
called Monday for creating the post of a national intelligence
director and a national center to plan counter terror operations in
the United States and abroad.
"Our
country is safer than it was on September 11, 2001, yet we're still
not safe," the president said in formal remarks from the White
House Rose Garden, flanked by top national security aides. "We
are a nation in danger."
The
two proposals Bush embraced were the key recommendations of a
bipartisan commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks.
However,
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry on Monday accused the
Bush administration of doing too little in the fight against terrorism
and of instituting policies that encourage "the recruitment of
terrorists."
"I
believe this administration, in its policies, is actually encouraging
the recruitment of terrorists," Kerry told CNN's "American
Morning."
"We
haven't done the work necessary to reach out to other countries,"
Kerry said. "We haven't done the work necessary with the Muslim
world. We haven't done the work necessary to protect our own ports,
our chemical facilities, our nuclear facilities.
