Posted on 09/10/2002 1:02:04 PM PDT by ppaul
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 — The government announced a heightened alert today against possible terror attacks timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 assault. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the latest alert, to a level higher than any declared before, was based on specific and credible information from a senior Qaeda operative who has been under interrogation. Mr. Ashcroft said President Bush had approved the change in alert status.
Mr. Bush latyer said, after a visit to Afghanistan's Embassy: "We take every threat seriously. The threats that we have heard recently remind us of the pattern of threats that we heard prior to Sept. 11."
The White House said that despite the heightened alert Mr. Bush's schedule for Wednesday, the anniversary of the attacks, had not been changed and that he would proceed with a speech at the Pentagon and a visit to the World Trade Center site.
Mr. Ashcroft said the new information, obtained "within the last 24 hours," indicated that the main threat was to United States interests overseas, including Southeast Asia and the Middle East. But there should be no complacency within American borders, they said.
As they have several times before, when earlier public warnings were followed by nothing out of the ordinary, officials tried to walk a tightrope, urging people to be vigilant but not to overreact.
The attorney general and Tom Ridge, the director of domestic security, said at a Justice Department news conference that Americans should go about their lives while taking "common sense precautionary measures," in Mr. Ridge's words.
"Continue to be America," Mr. Ridge said.
With its announcement today, the Bush administration raised the alert level from yellow to its second-highest, orange, meaning a "high risk" of attack. (Yellow is in the middle of the five-color code, while the highest level, red, signals a "severe risk.")
Mr. Ashcroft said recent intelligence indicated that Al Qaeda cells had been accumulating explosives since January, possibly for use in cars during suicide attacks.
Mr. Ashcroft said likely targets included United States military installations, embassies and national monuments — "symbols of American power and authority."
The government was temporarily closing about two dozen diplomatic posts worldwide. Officials cited specific threats against embassies in southeast Asia, including embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Mr. Ashcroft said American interests having to do with transportation and energy might also be in danger because they are both essential and symbolic to the American way of life.
Nor is the only threat from spectacular attacks like those of a year ago that used hijacked airliners, the attorney general continued, emphasizing that the new intelligence also indicated danger from small-scale, "widely dispersed" and "unsophisticated strikes."
Although Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge counseled the country to remain calm, several things were different about today's warning.
It was accompanied by more specifics than previous alert announcements. Mr. Ashcroft said the latest information had been fed into "an analytic structure."
When a reporter noted that previous warnings had not panned out, Mr. Ashcroft said, "We believe this to be credible information."
And even before Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge made their announcement, Vice President Dick Cheney left the White House for a secure, undisclosed location, canceling a speech set for tonight.
Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge said that in addition to the new, specific intelligence from the Qaeda operative, other suspicious communications traffic had been detected in a pattern "very consistent" with what happened just before last year's attacks.
The officials would not say where Al Qaeda operative was. CNN said he was believed to be in the custody of another country.
As if to reinforce their message of alertness without fear, Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge emphasized that no anniversary events had been cancelled, and that there were no plans to do so.
"Each of us has the ability to increase the security that we need," Mr. Ashcroft said.
Link to articleHERE.
"I'll really get scared when they go to plaid..." Most people didn't get it...
Oh, in that case, I'm going to take out $100,000 in equity in real-estate and put it in stocks. Not.
Syncro, God Bless! Wish I could be there with you. I'm about 250 miles down the Coast from you. As always, our American flag will be flying in front of our house. We're having a Commemoration ceremony at work, we're all wearing red, white and blue.
I've been teary-eyed all week, and I know tomorrow is going to be the teariest day of all. But we're Americans, and we will never tire, never falter, and never fail!
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.