Even though the Homeland Security Department lowered the terror alert for the financial sector in New York, Washington and northern New Jersey, authorities still caution that the possibility of an attack is still high.
According to the Associated Press, counterterrorism officials are analyzing why al-Qaeda may not have attacked and what may be ahead. Experts are combing through two tapes released by al-Qaeda in the two weeks before the election - the first by a man calling himself "Azzam the American" and another by Osama bin Laden:
In a recent analysis, Ben Venzke, president of the private IntelCenter and a consultant to government counterterrorism agencies, said two bin Laden videos directly addressing Americans - in October of 2002 and 2003 - were followed between one and 53 days by attacks. Bin Laden's most recent message turned up Oct. 29; Venzke said he didn't know why the videos come annually in October.
The attacks referred to by Venzke were not in the continental United States. Al-Qaeda attacked a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen after the 2002 video and a Saudi housing complex in Riyadh after the 2003 video. Venzke is concerned about an attack directly against U.S. interests now because the new tapes represent "the most significant effort by al-Qaeda to address the American people in the last couple years." Venzke noted that the latest bin Laden video comes with English subtitles.
Mike Scheuer, who resigned from the CIA last week after a 22-year career, noted in a recent interview that Muslim clerics criticized bin Laden for not sufficiently warning the U.S. before the 9/11 attacks:
With these messages, "he said I am talking directly to you," said Scheuer, who resigned effective Friday to speak more freely about problems he sees with the U.S. fight against terrorism.
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For bin Laden's perspective, "he has offered us chances to convert, he has warned us repeatedly, and he has acquired sufficient religious justification for attacking us," Scheuer said.
This week's Time magazine highlights the al-Qaeda threat with new accounts of al-Qaeda's plans to attack the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction:
A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.
Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in .
According to Time, Masri's account, though unproved, has added to already heightened U.S. concerns about Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge made a lightning trip to Mexico last week to discuss border security and smuggling rings that could be used to slip al-Qaeda terrorists into the country.
This is all the more frightening considering United Press International's report that a Saudi sheik has given Osama bin Laden religious approval to use a nuclear device against U.S. civilians:
Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Frank James points out that just because we are fighting the terrorists in Iraq doesn't mean al-Qaeda can't attack the U.S. James may be right, but fighting the terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere has to make it more difficult for the evil doers to attack us here.
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