-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 12, 2007 4:56:42 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: "Al Qaeda Strongest Since 9/11" Pure Orwell -- We MUST
Love Big Brother OR ELSE
AP: Report says al-Qaeda
renewing efforts to sneak
terror plotters into U.S.
Bush pointed to al-Qaeda's increased strength as evidence that his
policies are working. [!!!]
"The enemy we face in Iraq," he said, "is the same one who attacked
America on Sept. 11." [!!!]
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said the war
in Iraq has distracted
the United States from the war on Al Qaeda, left untouched on the
Afghan-Pakistan border.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-12-al-qaeda-
report_N.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaeda is stepping up its efforts to sneak
terror operatives into the United States and has acquired most of
the capabilities it needs to strike here, according to a new U.S.
intelligence assessment, The Associated Press has learned.
The draft National Intelligence Estimate is expected to paint an
ever-more-worrisome portrait of al-Qaeda's ability to use its base
along the Pakistan-Afghan border to launch and inspire attacks,
even as Bush administration officials say the U.S. is safer nearly
six years into the war on terror.
Among the key findings of the classified estimate, which is still
in draft form and must be approved by all 16 U.S. spy agencies:
_ al-Qaeda is probably still pursuing chemical, biological or
nuclear weapons and would use them if its operatives developed
sufficient capability.
_ The terror group has been able to restore three of the four key
tools it would need to launch an attack on U.S. soil: a safe haven
in Pakistan's tribal areas, operational lieutenants and senior
leaders. It could not immediately be learned what the missing
fourth element is.
_ The group will bolster its efforts to position operatives inside
U.S. borders. In public statements, U.S. officials have expressed
concern about the ease with which people can enter the United
States through Europe because of a program that allows most
Europeans to enter without visas.
The document also discusses increasing concern about individuals
already inside the United States who are adopting an extremist
brand of Islam.
National Intelligence Estimates are the most authoritative written
judgments that reflect the consensus long-term thinking of senior
intelligence analysts.
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
the report has not been finalized, described it as an expansive
look at potential threats within the United States and said it
required the cooperation of a number of national security agencies,
including the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security Department and National
Counterterrorism Center.
National security officials met at the White House on Thursday
about the intelligence estimate and related counterterrorism
issues. The tentative plan is to release a declassified version of
the report and brief Congress on Tuesday, one government official
said.
Ross Feinstein, spokesman for National Intelligence Director Mike
McConnell, declined to discuss the document's specific contents.
But he said it would be consistent with statements made by senior
government officials at congressional hearings and elsewhere.
The estimate echoes the findings of another analysis prepared by
the National Counterterrorism Center earlier this year and
disclosed publicly on Wednesday. That report — titled "al-Qaeda
better positioned to strike the West" — found the terrorist group
is "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago" and has
"regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001," a counterterrorism
official familiar with the reports findings told The Associated Press.
On Thursday, news of the counterterrorism center's threat
assessment renewed the political debate about the nature of the al-
Qaeda threat and whether U.S. actions — in Iraq in particular —
have made the U.S. safer from terrorism.
At a news conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged al-
Qaeda's continuing threat to the United States and used the new
report as evidence his administration's policies are on the right
course.
"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the
ones who attacked us in America on Sept. 11," he said. "That's why
what happens in Iraq matters to security here at home."
Yet Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-
W.Va., said Iraq has distracted the United States. He said the U.S.
should have finished off al-Qaeda in 2002 and 2003 along the Afghan-
Pakistan border.
Instead, "President Bush chose to invade Iraq, thereby diverting
our military and intelligence resources away from the real war on
terrorism," Rockefeller said. "Threats to the United States
homeland are not emanating from Iraq. They are coming from al-Qaeda
leadership."
He called for the U.S. to end its involvement in what he called the
Iraqi civil war.
In recent weeks, senior national security officials have been
increasingly worried about an al-Qaeda attack in the United States.
Appearing on a half-dozen morning TV shows Thursday, Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff laid out a list of factors
contributing to his "gut feeling" that the nation faces a higher
risk of attack this summer: al-Qaeda's increased freedom to train
in South Asia, a flurry of public statements from the network's
leadership, a history of summertime attacks, a broader range of
attacks in North Africa and Europe, and homegrown terrorism
increasing in Europe.
"Europe could become a platform for an attack against this
country," Chertoff told CNN, although he and others continue to say
they know of no specific, credible information pointing to an
attack here.
National security officials are frustrated by an agreement last
year between Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and tribal
leaders in western Pakistan, which gave tribes near the Afghan
border greater autonomy and has led to increased al-Qaeda activity
in the region.
Nevertheless, Bush administration officials still view Musharraf as
a partner.
Speaking to a congressional hearing, Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Boucher said that Pakistan under Musharraf has captured
more al-Qaeda operatives than any other country and that several
major Taliban leaders were captured or killed this year.
"There is a considerable al-Qaeda presence at the border, but they
are under pressure," Boucher told a House national security
subcommittee.
Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., was skeptical, saying Osama bin-Laden and
other terrorist leaders apparently feel safe there. "Is this a
Motel 6 for terrorists?" he asked.
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