They say Osama is alive, but they don’t seem to have his phone number. As for the threats to try something that would influence the elections, that is nothing new. Ever since the Madrid bombings of March 11, it has been likely that Islamic terrorists would try something here before November (or early in that month). From CNN, :
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A plot to carry out a large-scale terror attack against the United States in the near future is being directed by Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members, senior intelligence officials said Thursday.
Bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are overseeing the attack plans from their remote hideouts somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to senior intelligence officials.
“This type of plotting, this type of operational activity, is being done with the direct direction and authorization of that senior leadership,” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A Democratic senator who attended Thursday’s CIA and FBI briefing said, “It is the most worrisome situation since 9/11” without elaborating specifically.
Arrests of terror suspects in Europe and the Middle East resulted in the new warning, said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
“We lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack,” he said. “But along with the CIA, FBI and other agencies, we are actively working to gain that knowledge.”
A senior U.S. intelligence official said the warning was based on “a very strong body of intelligence.”
The planned attack is “an effort to disrupt the democratic process” before November’s elections, Ridge said.