The US Department of Homeland Security has often been accused of crying wolf for raising the alert after overhearing"chatter" on the terrorist grapevine.
This time, however, the US authorities really believe they have caught a rare glimpse of the wolf at work -- an al-Qaeda operation in preparation.
The high alert sounded at financial institutions in New York, New Jersey or Washington was the most specific to date, and it marks the first time this year that the color-coded alert status has been raised to orange (high).
Warning is specific
It is also the first time that the homeland security department has named specific buildings as possible al-Qaeda targets.
The warning is based on the blueprint of a proposed operation found on an al-Qaeda computer belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian-born terrorist suspect arrested in Pakistan last week.
Even more important is the evidence provided by the al-Qaeda computer expert and web manager, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who led investigators to Ghailani.
The computer files pointed to an extensive and meticulous plan to attack a financial target, such as the World Bank, the Citigroup headquarters in New York, or the Prudential Financial building in Newark.
Al-Qaeda operatives had clearly scouted out those buildings, gaining access to upper floors by posing as couriers and delivery men. Ways in and out had been mapped, and the number of potential casualties assessed.
"It is a treasure trove," a US intelligence official said on Sunday. "It provides an incredible level of detail regarding potential targets."
However, there were no clues about the timing of the attacks. Workers at the buildings mentioned on the al-Qaeda files were told to go to work as normal, with instructions only to be concerned.
Tom Ridge, the US homeland security chief, suggested that for "the workers going to work today, there are very anxious moments."
Meanwhile, one tunnel leading into New York was closed to lorries, while police in New York, Newark and Washington were supposed to be stopping cars and lorries near the would-be targets, questioning drivers, and in some cases searching vehicles.
Critics of the measures argued they did more to raise anxiety than to provide real security against attack. Larry Thompson, a former CIA and state department counter-terrorist official, accused the administration of perpetuating "a cry wolf phenomenon".
He added: "You're showing the terrorists that if they make enough of a specific threat, they can shut down a city."
Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and outspoken Democrat, suggested that the alert was a political ploy by the Bush administration.
Criticism
"I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President [George W.] Bush he plays his trump card, which is terrorism," he told CNN. "It is just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics."
However, Senator John Kerry, the Democratic party presidential candidate, who was briefed on his campaign bus, disowned Dean's remarks, saying: "I believe you take these threats seriously. I think people of good conscience are working on these issues."
Given the specificity of the al-Qaeda plans uncovered in Pakistan, there was never any question that an alert would be raised.
US intelligence has just emerged from a televised grilling for its failure to spot the warning signs of the Sept. 11 attack. It is not about to repeat the mistake.
The Bolivian government on Friday struck a deal with protesting miners, but was still grappling with blockades and demonstrations by other workers across La Paz. Other groups are still blocking access roads into the city, which is also the seat of the government. Police on Thursday prevented the miners from entering the main square by using tear gas, while the demonstrators hurled stones and explosives with slingshots. Protests against the policies of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz have convulsed the Andean nation since early this month, and roadblocks were choking routes into La Paz throughout Friday, the national road authority said. Miners demanded that Paz
The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was seized and taken toward Iran and another — a cargo ship near Oman — sank after being attacked, authorities said on Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz. It was not immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the US. The turmoil in the strait has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the US and Iran to
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
RSS