Breaking: Financial targets face no immediate threat

[G_j]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/080504Z.shtml

Officials Don't See Attack as Imminent
By Kevin Johnson and John Diamon
USA TODAY

Wednesday 04 August 2004

Washington - The U.S. financial institutions identified in a recently disclosed al-Qaeda surveillance operation are not believed to be at imminent risk of attack, two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.

The urgency to raise the terror alert level in the financial centers of New York City, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., is now being attributed to separate pieces of intelligence that streamed into Washington last week, one of the officials said.

Some of the new information was developed from computer files of a captured al-Qaeda operative, described as a computer specialist for the terror organization. In addition, two intelligence sources said that U.S. intelligence had recently received information that known al-Qaeda operatives had accessed the surveillance information, indicating interest in an attack. The officials would not characterize the source of that information. The law enforcement and intelligence officials asked not to be identified because the matter remains under investigation.

The information from the unidentified intelligence source coupled with the computer files alarmed officials and was a major factor in the decision to raise the terror threat level for the financial centers.

..more..

[WI_DEM]

1. you know that the weekend before the election that

the government is going to have a heightened terra alert. These guys are unscrupulous and will do anything to try and win.

[MallRat]

2. WOLF! WOLF! WOLF!

:eyes:

The media is not going to play this game much longer. They're becoming skeptical.

-MR

[Poiuyt]

3. The urgency to raise the terror alert level in the financial centers

is now being attributed to keeping Kerry from getting a bounce after the Democratic National Convention.

[G_j]

5. or an unspoken threat to the financial centers? n/t

[aquart]

4. USA Today?

No, not political at all.

How much did this gesture cost NYC?

6. separate pieces of intelligence

probably one of them was Kerry's speech

[AirAmFan]

7. How lazy and gulllible can the national media be? They let Ridge get away

with omitting a crucial detail: The "new intel" was four years old!

By the time someone with common sense asked basic questions, Dubya already had had his successful extended "Homeland Security photo-op" in the Rose Garden on Monday. The "President" was spared his usual deer-in-the-headlights response to embarrassing questions, because Ridge has thoroghly politicized his office. Howard Dean should call for Ridge to resign immediately, and Tom Daschle should demand a full and independent investigation.