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TIME Revelations on Prudential, Citigroup, Congressional Targets NewsMax WiresDespite claims that the recent terror alert affecting Washington and New York was released for political purposes, new information reveals chilling details of al-Qaida’s plans to attack financial and political targets in the U.S. Story Continues Below
On July 24 Pakistani authorities stormed the house of an al-Qaida leader and captured three laptop computers and 51 data-rich discs. Time magazine reports that "stored on the computers were 500 photographs of potential targets inside the U.S., minutely detailed analyses of the vulnerabilities to a terrorist attack of several of them and communications among some of the most wanted terrorists in the world." A top Homeland Security official told Time that "we have a number of times picked up information that al-Qaeda wants to attack us before the election, and some of the communications attribute that desire to Osama bin Laden." Appearing on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert on Sunday, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said that while new intelligence disclosures found that scouting of some of the buildings were several years old, al-Qaida had first scouted its attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya five years before its 1998 attacks.
Time magazine, in its report out this week, offered new details of the intelligence found on the computer hardware in Pakistan:
The Prudential Plaza building in Newark, N.J., Time says "is a site of intense interest to Osama bin Laden and his operatives. Beginning in 2000, al-Qaeda operatives inside the U.S. conducted detailed surveillance of the Prudential building, with the apparent intent of destroying it and killing the civilians who work there." Bin Laden's terror operatives photographed the building and reported that driving truck bombs into the building's parking garage might be difficult."
Instead, the terror report suggested using black limousines that would approach the building.
"The report proposed acquiring a limo, gutting everything except the front seats and presumably filling it with explosives."
"A surveillance report noted that the windows behind the six columns at the front of the NYSE building made it appear 'a little fragile'. ..."
Another report "concluded that attacking the IMF and the World Bank structures would be 'tricky' because of the heavy security surrounding them."
"The terrorists reported that the Citigroup building, 'like the World Trade Center, is supported on steel, load-bearing walls, not on a steel frame.' The operatives recommended employing 'usual methods' and specifically discussed using a heavy gasoline truck or an oil tanker to attack facilities."
"A U.S. law-enforcement official told Time that a recent Pakistani intelligence report made available to senior U.S. intelligence and security officials offers details of alleged al-Qaeda plans to use speedboats and divers for attacks in New York harbor before the November 2004 elections. A top U.S. intelligence official says, 'There is nothing current we deem credible' about such an attack but noted that reports of possible attacks on the harbor are not unusual."
Time reports that members of Congress themselves may be in the terrorists' sights. "Two days before Ridge issued his nationwide alert, an FBI official warned a congressional leader that he and other top legislative officials could be targeted by al-Qaeda in Washington or on their trips around the country. Jane Harman, senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, quickly said Democratic critics of the release of the new intelligence were off base. She said everyone should "take this threat very seriously."
Editor's note:
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