Al Qaeda's Terror Plot Was Active
FOX News

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's active plans to carry out an attack in the United States led to Sunday's decision to declare financial institutions in Washington, New York and Newark, N.J., on Orange Alert, government officials told FOX News on Wednesday.

"There was at least one plot in motion," an official said.

Officials said there was enough activity in Al Qaeda circles to indicate that some kind of plans were being set in motion, although they cannot pin any sort of definition on those plans.

The Al Qaeda plot is directed toward the financial sector, sources said. It was this information, combined with other intelligence — including the surveillance details of particular buildings — that led Sunday to the threat level change.

U.S. officials said this particular piece of the puzzle came from a captured Al Qaeda operative abroad.

Also, a U.S. intelligence official told FOX News that an Al Qaeda operative discussed with British officials the possibility of attacks 60 days before the November election, and that focus also was on financial institutions. The intelligence source said officials are still trying to determine the credibility of the operative and the claims.

Al Qaeda may have made contact in U.S. recently
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Intelligence found in Pakistan suggests that suspected al Qaeda operatives in that country contacted an individual or individuals in the United States in the past few months, according to two senior U.S. government sources.

The officials would not characterize the nature of the communication.

But the sources said other information from Pakistan has prompted investigations in the United States to uncover whether there are any individuals or terrorist cells plotting an attack on U.S. soil.

In addition, two senior Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN that there is evidence at least six individuals in the United States were contacted by Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged al Qaeda operative who was recently taken into custody in Pakistan. U.S. officials have not confirmed that information.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Aboard Air Force One that two intelligence streams "came to light more fully" last Friday. The first dealt with Khan and the other dealt with an undisclosed threat.

"I can't go further into it because it could compromise some ongoing operations at this point," McClellan said.

FBI fears Qaeda suspects in city
New York Daily News

The FBI is monitoring suspected Al Qaeda operatives and members of two allied terror groups in the New York City area, the FBI's New York director said yesterday.

Law enforcement sources also said there are indications that the terrorists who cased financial towers in New York, Newark and Washington may have updated their files as recently as this spring.

Pasquale D'Amuro, director of the FBI's New York office and a veteran terrorism investigator, said the individuals under scrutiny here include people linked to Al Qaeda as well as Ansar al Islam and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

He said the monitoring began long before this weekend's heightened alert was announced.

While officials have said in the past that they were watching a handful of Al Qaeda suspects in the country, they have not said they were in the metropolitan area.

They also have not mentioned the Ansar al Islam and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

UK arrests al-Qaeda operative
NEWS.com.au

POLICE are holding a senior al-Qaeda operative in Britain who was said to be in the final stages of planning a terrorist attack on London's main Heathrow airport, The Times newspaper reported today.

In a front-page report, it said the man was arrested after a tip-off from Pakistani intelligence, which claimed that he was getting orders direct from Osama bin Laden as head of al-Qaeda operations in Britain.

It also quoted Pakistani officals as saying that details about Heathrow were found in the computer of an al-Qaeda member arrested last month in Pakistan whose job it was to send coded messages to al-Qaeda agents worldwide.

The Times' report appeared two days after "intelligence-led" police raids in London and other parts of England in which 13 men in their 20s and 30s were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. One was released without charge today.

The Sun newspaper said that the data about Heathrow found in the computer of Muhammed Nassem Noor Khan - arrested in Pakistan in July after a gunfight - prompted yesterday's wave of arrests.

U.S. Struggles to Grasp Scope of Threat
AP Via Yahoo

WASHINGTON - The government is no closer to understanding some important details about possible terror plots against American financial institutions, intelligence and law enforcement officials acknowledge.

Investigators are poring over the trove of documents and photographs that led to this week's urgent warnings from the Homeland Security Department. But intelligence agencies have been unable to reach a consensus on whether the unusually detailed documents recovered in Pakistan reflect a defunct terror plot or one that might have been successfully interrupted.

"We have very little information — target information, but not the full breadth of the plot or possible plot," one law enforcement official said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because parts of the investigation are classified.

Some of the information seized about the surveillance of five financial buildings in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J., was as much as four years old. But the Bush administration maintains it was essential to alert the public as soon as it was found because al-Qaida planning sometimes precedes actual attacks by as much as five years.

"These are serious folks," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday. "They're patient folks."

Counterterrorism experts believe planning for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks began in 1996. They also believe a terror suspect photographed American government buildings in Nairobi, Kenya, and drew sketches of potential targets for Osama bin Laden in 1993 — long before al-Qaida detonated a truck bomb in August 1998 near the U.S. Embassy there, killing 257.

Terror warnings: How much to reveal?
BBC News

Just how much should the public be told about threats to specific targets?

The authorities face a dilemma. The public wants to know the risk uncovered by intelligence but how much does it need to know about the source of that intelligence?

Alerting the public can have the benefit of deterring an attack. But revealing the source of the information can put at risk the acquisition of more information.

It is an old problem, and one made more acute by the revelations about the weakness of intelligence over Iraq. These days, the public is more sceptical. And it wants to know more.

Guantanamo : Detainee vows to 'kill Americans'
The Australian

AN Algerian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp vowed before a military tribunal to "kill Americans" if he was released, officials said today.

Another of the six detainees to go before special tribunals at the base where almost 600 'war on terror' suspects are held was with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in caves in Tora Bora, Afghanistan during the war in 2001, officials said.

The first Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which will recommend whether detainees should still be considered "enemy combatants" was held behind closed doors at Guantanamo last Friday.

Six have been held so far and a seventh was under way, a Defence Department spokeswoman Commander Beci Brenton told reporters here.

Only two of the inmates, an Algerian and a Yemeni, chose to appear before the three man tribunal and testify. The four others boycotted the hearings.

Ms Brenton said the 24-year-old Algerian had gone from France to Afghanistan with the help of al-Qaeda and was given training to use small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the Malik training camp.

The man, who like all of the detainees has not been named, was captured after he was injured by a grenade accidentally set off by another fighter.

Ms Brenton said the Algerian "stated he would kill Americans if released".

Crude Oil Sets Records in London, New York on Capacity Concern
Bloomberg News

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures rose to records in London and New York as concern mounted that OPEC and other producers have limited capacity to compensate for disruptions to supply.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries produced the most oil in 25 years in July, a Bloomberg survey showed, and OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday further output gains won't be immediate. Growing demand in the U.S., China and India is straining producers.

"There's a limited amount of spare capacity and the market is a bit too paranoid about potential supply disruptions,'' said Craig Pennington, the head energy analyst at Schroders Plc in London. "Unless we see some evidence of actual disruptions, it's unlikely we'll see $50'' for New York crude.

Brent crude oil for September settlement rose to $40.99 a barrel, beating the intraday record of $40.95 of Oct. 10, 1990. It rose 30 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $40.94 on London's International Petroleum Exchange at 1:23 p.m. local time.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for September delivery also reached a record, of $44.30 a barrel. Yesterday it closed above $44 for the first time since the contract was introduced in 1983.

Oil has gained partly because of concern shipments may be disrupted from OPEC members such as Venezuela, Iraq and Nigeria and other producers including Russia's biggest exporter, OAO Yukos Oil Co. Consumption of oil is set to rise a record 2.5 million barrels a day this year, according to the International Energy Agency.