al Qaida's Next Hit : Nuclear?

A new book written by a former FBI consultant claims that al-Qaida not only has obtained nuclear devices, but also likely has them in the U.S. and will detonate them in the near future.

These chilling allegations appear in "Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11: What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You," by Paul L. Williams (Prometheus Books).

Williams claims that al-Qaida has been planning a spectacular nuclear attack using six or seven suitcase nuclear bombs that would be detonated simulantaneously in U.S. cities.

"They want the most bang for the buck, and that is nuclear," Williams told NewsMax.

"I expect such an attack would come between now and the end of 2005," the author said.

In addition to writing several books on terrorism, Williams, an investigative journalist, has worked as an FBI consultant.

Quotes from Osama's Revenge IanLivingston.Com Exclusive

"Thanks to western decadence, bin Laden began to earn an amount estimated anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion a year. He could now purchase through his Russian connections the object of his heart's desire: several nuclear suitcases and the requisite technology that would bring about a triumphant "Day of Islam," whan all of creation would fall in submission before the judgment seat of Allah."

"During the 1980s, Soviet and US nuclear technicians respectfully made refinements until the weapons came to measure 24 inches by 16 inches by 8 inches with a weight of less than 60 pounds. Each small suitcase contained at least one kiloton of fissionable plutonium and uranium."

"Four purported al Qaeda operatives - Adnan el Shukrijumah, Anas al Liby, Jaber A. Elbaneh, and Amer el Maati - had been sent to Hamilton, Ontario, where they either enrolled or posed as students at McMaster University, a state-of-the-art technological institution that housed a 5-megawat nuclear research reactor."

"Stephen Flynn, senior fellow for national security studies at the US Council of Foreign Relations, said: "The United States has 16,000 ships entering its ports every day. Adding shipments entering by truck, train, or air freight, the total number of import shipments to the US is 21.4 million tons a year. You could put a nuclear or chemical weapon aboard a ship leaving Karachi, and that ship will land at Vancouver, Oakland, San Francisco, or the Gulf Coast and we would never know the difference."

CIA : Highest Threat Since 9/11

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday.

"This is about as serious a threat environment as I have seen since 9/11," said McLaughlin, the deputy director who took over on Sunday pending appointment of a permanent successor to Director George Tenet who resigned amid criticism of the agency's performance.

"The quality of the information we have now is such that we have high confidence that the nation needs to be on guard," McLaughlin told Reuters in a telephone interview.

He said the threats were not pinned specifically to the Democratic and Republican political conventions this summer but to the whole period before the November presidential election.

"It's related to this period during which the country is exercising its democracy, it's this period particularly in the run-up to the election, but it's always a mistake in the counterterrorism business to focus uniquely on a date," McLaughlin said. The attackers would strike when they are ready and not because of a specific date, he said.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, earlier on Tuesday told reporters that "the chatter and the texture of the chatter is the highest it's been since 9/11." Chatter refers to communications among terrorism suspects.

Tuesday : AL Wins All Star Game 9-4

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The American League jumped on starting National League pitcher Roger Clemens for six runs in the first inning and never looked back as they won 9-4 in the 75th Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old Clemens, making his 10th All-Star appearance and first as a hometown Houston Astro, gave up five hits, including two home runs, and was pulled from the game after the one disastrous inning at Minute Maid Park.