Re: Those Farcical "Intelligence" Committee Hearings

not only did they know then, they know NOW. so what are they gonna' do about it?

U.S. Warns of Possible Al Qaeda Plane Attacks
51 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned the airline industry that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network is planning new suicide hijackings and bombings in the United States or abroad, saying the danger ran until at least the end of summer.

"At least one of these attacks could be executed by the end of the summer 2003," the department said in an advisory sent out on Saturday and obtained on Tuesday.

"Al Qaeda planners have primarily considered suicide hijackings and bombings as the most promising method to destroy aircraft in flight as well as to strike ground targets," the advisory said.

"Attack venues may include the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia or the East Coast of the United States due to the relatively high concentration of government, military and economic targets," according to the advisory.

"The hijackers may try to calm passengers and make them believe they were on a hostage, not suicide mission. The hijackers may attempt to use common items carried by travelers, such as cameras, as weapons," the advisory stated.

No operatives are known to have been deployed to conduct the possible attacks, it added.

U.S. officials said the warning came from "multiple sources," including at least one captured al Qaeda operative. But they emphasized they were still trying to determine the credibility of the information.

They said no change was anticipated in the nation's terror alert level. The level remains at "yellow" or an "elevated" risk of attack, where it has generally been since the system began in March last year.

The State Department later updated an existing "worldwide caution" to include the possibility that threats to U.S. citizens "may also involve commercial aircraft."

The United States has blamed al Qaeda for the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijacked airplane attacks that killed about 3,000 people.

In the Sept. 11 attacks, there were five hijackers on each of the two planes that struck the World Trade Center in New York and on the plane that hit the Pentagon (news - web sites). There were four hijackers on the fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The advisory warned the plan may involve use of five-man teams and an attempt to seize control of the aircraft shortly after takeoff or before landing.

It said al Qaeda was looking at ways of circumventing airline security and tightened U.S. immigration procedures. Many of the steps were taken after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. intelligence community had received information that al Qaeda continued to be interested in using the commercial aviation system in the United States and abroad "to further their cause."

He said in a statement the advisory went out over the weekend to airlines and law enforcement personnel.

"We continue to investigate the credibility of this intelligence," Johndroe said.


NOTHING! just like they always have. and we'll have another tragedy on our hands that'll let the bush admin talk tough and look good on paper, and keep shoving perfidious and empty promises of what "patriot acts" will bring.