Terrorist updates British intelligence has said that an al-Qaeda operative has told that planned strikes against financial targets in the US will take place in early September. The
operative, described as "credible" by British intelligence, told his
debriefers that the attack would take place "60 days before the
presidential election" on Nov. 2, according to a former senior National
Security Council official. On Sept. 2 President George W. Bush is
expected to address the Republican National Convention at Madison
Square Garden. At the same time, the range of institutions
and buildings targeted has been extended, also including the Bank of
America building in San Francisco. Today, British anti-terror police has arrested 13 men
in a number of raids across England. One was released quickly, the
other are being interrogated. All men are of Asian descent (which can
mean a lot, obviously). The BBC's report places the emphasis on the negative reaction of the Muslim community, which feels "persecuted." Massoud
Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the
group was "extremely concerned" about the timing of the raids just
after the alert status was raised in the US. The
raids also come the day before the parliamentary human rights group
publishes a report "which is critical of the Terrorism Act" and the
treatment of those held under it, he said. "The
timing is very worrying and it is extremely annoying, especially when
it actually affects the lives of ordinary people and they are
suffering," said Mr Shadjareh. "It is increasing Islamophobia." The
BBC itself actually rebuffs the charge that it had any connection with
the recent US terror threat, saying the operation had been planned well in
advance. And even if it wasn't, the terror threat isn't exactly
coming from Buddhists these days, is it? Also today, the New York Times
gives voice to a number of intelligence experts who state that the new
terror threat was certainly not based only on "old data." Naturally,
the sources can't tell the public everything they know, and the Howard
Dean camp will exploit that for political purposes. At least he's not
the candidate.
5:27:06 PM 
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