Hey Osama, we'll leave a light on for ya!
Posted on 07/12/2007 3:18:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike here, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment, The Associated Press has learned.
The draft National Intelligence Estimate is expected to paint an ever-more-worrisome portrait of al-Qaida's ability to use its base along the Pakistan-Afghan border to launch and inspire attacks, even as Bush administration officials say the U.S. is safer nearly six years into the war on terror.
Among the key findings of the classified estimate, which is still in draft form and must be approved by all 16 U.S. spy agencies:
• Al-Qaida is probably still pursuing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and would use them if its operatives developed sufficient capability.
• The terror group has been able to restore three of the four key tools it would need to launch an attack on U.S. soil: a safe haven in Pakistan's tribal areas, operational lieutenants and senior leaders. It could not immediately be learned what the missing fourth element is.
• The group will bolster its efforts to position operatives inside U.S. borders. In public statements, U.S. officials have expressed concern about the ease with which people can enter the United States through Europe because of a program that allows most Europeans to enter without visas.
The document also discusses increasing concern about individuals already inside the United States who are adopting an extremist brand of Islam.
National Intelligence Estimates are the most authoritative written judgments that reflect the consensus long-term thinking of senior intelligence analysts.
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finalized, described it as an expansive look at potential threats within the United States and said it required the cooperation of a number of national security agencies, including the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security Department and National Counterterrorism Center.
National security officials met at the White House on Thursday about the intelligence estimate and related counterterrorism issues. The tentative plan is to release a declassified version of the report and brief Congress on Tuesday, one government official said.
Ross Feinstein, spokesman for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, declined to discuss the document's specific contents. But he said it would be consistent with statements made by senior government officials at congressional hearings and elsewhere.
The estimate echoes the findings of another analysis prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center earlier this year and disclosed publicly on Wednesday. That report — titled "Al-Qaida better positioned to strike the West" — found the terrorist group is "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago" and has "regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001," a counterterrorism official familiar with the reports findings told The Associated Press.
On Thursday, news of the counterterrorism center's threat assessment renewed the political debate about the nature of the al-Qaida threat and whether U.S. actions — in Iraq in particular — have made the U.S. safer from terrorism.
At a news conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged al-Qaida's continuing threat to the United States and used the new report as evidence his administration's policies are on the right course.
"The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on Sept. 11," he said. "That's why what happens in Iraq matters to security here at home."
Yet Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Iraq has distracted the United States. He said the U.S. should have finished off al-Qaida in 2002 and 2003 along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Instead, "President Bush chose to invade Iraq, thereby diverting our military and intelligence resources away from the real war on terrorism," Rockefeller said. "Threats to the United States homeland are not emanating from Iraq. They are coming from al-Qaida leadership."
He called for the U.S. to end its involvement in what he called the Iraqi civil war.
In recent weeks, senior national security officials have been increasingly worried about an al-Qaida attack in the United States.
Appearing on a half-dozen morning TV shows Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff laid out a list of factors contributing to his "gut feeling" that the nation faces a higher risk of attack this summer: al-Qaida's increased freedom to train in South Asia, a flurry of public statements from the network's leadership, a history of summertime attacks, a broader range of attacks in North Africa and Europe, and homegrown terrorism increasing in Europe.
"Europe could become a platform for an attack against this country," Chertoff told CNN, although he and others continue to say they know of no specific, credible information pointing to an attack here.
National security officials are frustrated by an agreement last year between Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and tribal leaders in western Pakistan, which gave tribes near the Afghan border greater autonomy and has led to increased al-Qaida activity in the region.
Nevertheless, Bush administration officials still view Musharraf as a partner.
Speaking to a congressional hearing, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said that Pakistan under Musharraf has captured more al-Qaida operatives than any other country and that several major Taliban leaders were captured or killed this year.
"There is a considerable al-Qaida presence at the border, but they are under pressure," Boucher told a House national security subcommittee.
Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., was skeptical, saying Osama bin-Laden and other terrorist leaders apparently feel safe there. "Is this a Motel 6 for terrorists?" he asked.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Lara Jakes Jordan, Barry Schweid and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
Thanks - Hope to have a big update tomorrow -
ty!
And that's only about 18 months away.
>> Intel report: Al-Qaida aiming at US
Is this report backed up by the “Gut feeling” report?
Facts... Facts... Stop the emotion.. Read the tagline... Get a grip...IF you honestly believe that The Democrats are going to fix this problem then say so ... If you don’t then leave GWB alone about it already its over...
Neither will closing the southern one only.... It takes more then a wall to fix this problem...Hence the word COMPREHENSIVE...
Hey Osama, we'll leave a light on for ya!
I don’t understand the reasoning of spending the blood and treasure to subdue Iraq when the WH can’t be bothered to stop Islamism from entering through our front door.
So what do you think Hillary or OBLAMA is going to do to fix this serious threat?
(Crickets Chirp)
Heh. No, really... a fence will fix it. Ten foot... no... eleven feet... no... twelve feet... yeah, that’ll fix it.
Better yet: zip-lock. The biggest darn ziplock baggie you ever seen.
It’s all so simple. I don’t know why you don’t see that. Just seal the borders. Seal them. It’s just so simple I don’t know why it hasn’t been done. If tupperware can be sealed, so can 22,000 miles of border. :-)
They all claimed that when it was politically expedient for them to do so. They all said Saddam had WMD too. They were all for the war before they were against it.
All depends on which way the political winds are blowing.
None in my hood - Trails End - either.
Lets get Congress to enact the Tupperware Seal of the States... Each state can have their borders individually zip-locked hell we could probably get it down to neighborhood levels possible even ... WAIT THATS IT....
Everyone I have tha answer.... We will all seal ourselves up in tupperware zip lock bags that no one can penetrate that will solve every issue from Immigration to spread of HIV... damn I’m good thanks Ramius.
They'll come.
When they do, be sure to thank our democratic congress for their arrival.
The lucky ones will evaporate in a nuclear explosion.
The not so lucky ones will be pondering just what went wrong before they are forced to eat their baked children, or watch their children raped and beheaded, or perhaps being buried and stoned to death, or any of the hundreds of other things that these knuckle-dragging freaks can come up with.
I'm sure they'll be pondering their poor decisions just before they themselves are raped, stoned, beheaded, or whatever.
The facts are that none of the 911 terrorists came through the southern border... The facts are that building a fence 10 miles high won’t solve the problem of keeping terrorists out. The facts are that Not one single DEMOCRAT in the DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLED Congress will support securing the Borders... So yeah lets keep basing Bush over it... Thats emotion...
Well, Duh!!! This another CIA masterpiece?
And yahknow... sarcasm aside I do think there should be a decent border of some sort. But I also have no particular illusions that it will make much difference. We’re just not going to stop them at the border in any meaningful way nomatter how tall that fence is. We must focus inside the borders with better vigilance and better security as well.
and guns. lots of guns. :-)
Oh I forgot in not one single post did I support Amnesty.. I am only pointing out the facts...
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