Pakistani Linked to Al Qaeda, U.S. Election Threat

Yahoo (Reuters) ^ | Sun Aug 8, 3:45 AM ET | Staff

[The_Victor]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pakistani whose arrest last month provided information about threats to U.S. financial institutions was in communication with al Qaeda operatives intent upon disrupting U.S. elections this fall, The New York Times reported Sunday,

The July arrest of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan prompted an alert from the Department of Homeland Security last week on threats to buildings housing financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

Citing a senior intelligence official in a Washington datelined story, the newspaper said Khan had revealed he was in communication with al Qaeda operatives who the Bush administration believes are plotting an attack aimed at disrupting U.S. elections this fall.

Senior intelligence and counterterrorism officials were unclear whether the people behind the surveillance of financial institutions, which led to the increased alerts, and those involved in the election threat were part of the same group or belonged to overlapping or separate groups, it reported.

The Times said the July arrest of Khan had prompted a search in the United States, Britain and other countries for the people behind the surveillance, which took place three or four years ago, and is now helping authorities unravel a threat to carry out an attack inside the United States this year.

Khan is emerging as a central figure in a web of connections authorities say may represent an operational al Qaeda group whose intentions were previously unknown, the Times report said.

But it was not clear whether Khan represented the second channel of intelligence officials have alluded to in recent days, which they said convinced them the reconnaissance of financial institutions was related to current threats.

U.S. officials said Saturday they were close to identifying the main figures who conducted reconnaissance of the financial centers, armed with myriad leads tied to arrests in Britain and Pakistan and aided by a wealth of information obtained from computers seized in Pakistan.

While uncertainty remains over whether the surveillance in 2000 and 2001 was part of an ongoing plot, the Times said, officials say no clear evidence has yet been obtained to indicate the plot was ever abandoned.

And authorities increasingly suspect the al Qaeda figures believed to have been involved in the surveillance remain active members of the network, it said.

[The_Victor]

Four year old information my @$$.

[weegee]

If the terrorists have no interest in the outcome of the US election, why would they be priming a strike?

If the terrorists "like" what George W. Bush has done, then why have there been no further strikes in Spain after the Spanish troops were removed from Iraq (and the leftists took power in Spain)?

FYI, Kerry is now announcing he will pull the troops out.