Posted on 08/05/2004 7:12:56 PM PDT by blam
Raids in Britain spark hunt for US strand of 'three-way web'
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 06/08/2004)
Security officials were hunting terrorist cells in the United States yesterday following indications that an al-Qa'eda computer expert arrested in Pakistan last month had been in contact with individuals in America in the past few months.
US officials said there appeared to be a three-way connection between operatives in Pakistan, the United States and Britain.
Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan
A senior US official told the New York Times that this week's British arrests were "part of this web that emanates from Pakistan", and that "part of what you saw in the UK was a result in part of information gained" from the arrest last month of the computer engineer Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan.
Two Pakistani officials said there was evidence that Khan had been in contact with at least six individuals in the US.
US officials said they believed that Abu Eisa Al Hindi, an alleged accomplice of Khan arrested in Britain on Monday, was a "senior" al-Qa'eda figure.
They told CNN television that he was a "major player who moved operational information between key components of al-Qa'eda", who had been of interest to US intelligence for "some time". They also said that the 12 men held in Britain on Monday could be described as a "cell".
The White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, spoke of an "alarming picture" of threats. He said the source of the current alert was not only the data from Khan's arrest, but also a separate "intelligence stream".
The prevailing mood in Washington could best be summed up as anxious confusion yesterday, with politicians and US media outlets baffled by contradictory signals about the freshness or urgency of intelligence surfacing in recent weeks.
Senior officials portrayed the White House as taking the lead in a new, US-led operation to interrupt al-Qa'eda operations worldwide. They said Mr Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, had called her counterparts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan last weekend to urge their co-operation.
However, a senior administration official played down talk of new operations, telling The Daily Telegraph: "The search for al-Qa'eda is always ongoing. Dr Rice is always in constant contact with allies around the world. Whether you call that heightened operations is questionable." Other officials moved to counter claims from the Left, and in Europe, that the Bush administration's latest terrorist warnings were merely an election-year ploy to frighten voters and deny publicity to the Democrats.
Intelligence and defence officials told CNN that "overhead surveillance" images showed troubling signs of renewed activity at suspected al-Qa'eda training camps near the Afghan-Pakistani border.
However, there are signs of electioneering in the public presentation of the administration's warnings, with senior officials slipping in talk of the need to "pre-empt" terrorist strikes with operations in Iraq and elsewhere, and praise for Mr Bush's "strong leadership".
The justice department meanwhile announced the arrest of two Muslim leaders from a mosque in upstate New York in connection with terrorist money laundering.
Officials said the arrests were not linked to the latest al-Qa'eda alert.
The pair, Yasin Aref, 34, an Iraqi refugee, and Mohammed Hoosain, a 49-year-old pizza parlour owner, were alleged to have fallen for an FBI "sting". They face charges of lending material support to terrorists and money laundering.
He was sent by KSM to the US in 2001 before 9/11 to case the targets in NYC.
Bill Clinton would have taken terrorism more seriously if he thought he could get a three-way web out of the deal.
ROTFLMFAO! That's a good one.
Blam I wonder how they got all info I have feeling it was that Al Quada suspect who happen to be computer geek REMEMBER THAT DUDE
Yup. That's his picture in the article above.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.