The Washington Times reports new information allegedly found on the laptop computer belonging to arrested al Qaeda operative Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan of Pakistan. According to the story, a high-profile political assassination, triggered by the public release of a new message from Osama bin Laden, will lead off the next major al Qaeda terrorist attack. The assassination plan is among new details of al Qaeda plots disclosed by U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the killing could be carried out against a U.S. or foreign leader either in the United States or abroad.
Edwardses at free Boston Pops concert by Dorchester Bay, fireworks over the Bay, and cheering crowd of 20,000. Too bad the rest of the country can't see it.
No color-coded terror alerts in months. Has the Department of Homeland Security forgotten about it, have they decided that it had turned into a big joke, or are they giving it a rest so that it will strike terror in the hearts of all patriotic Americans when it is reactivated in October?
Can anyone explain the redaction of the page numbers? There seems to be no reason for this, unless they would reveal that the PDB is longer than 2 pages. Could the 2 pages that were released be the executive summary ("PDB for Dummies"), with the body of the document starting at the top of page 3?
A previous comment mentioned Ralph's frustration that he had to compete with the NCAA tournament for the affections of Oregon voters. Here's a nice analysis from the Oregonian:
So New Hampshire voters who had dismissed Kerry as a pathetic, unelectable loser days before . . . figured that if he could win an election, he must be electable (which is sort of definitional), and concluded he is a triumphantly electable winner. Now Kerry is riding this great wave of electability, and he has a huge seething army of fanatical Kerry supporters who will follow him to the death, unless, of course, he stumbles -- in which case they will abandon him faster than you can say "electability." In which case, John, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Kerry's Senate record ensures that he will be characterized as inconsistent, a political opportunist, and an out-of-step Massachusetts liberal. Combine that with his uninspiring, passionless public demeanor and you have a recipe for disaster in November.
Maybe, based on Dowd's recent coverage of the Dean marriage and the General Clark sweater, the Dean campaign concluded that talking with Dowd would be a monumnetal waste of time.
From Drudge -- http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm
"In the 23 months I was there, I never saw anything that I would characterize as evidence of weapons of mass destruction," he told TIME.
CNN reports that the national threat level will be lowered from orange to yellow within the next week, but certain sectors are expected to be kept at the higher level. Therefore, be afraid and alert when you're near airports and chemical plants; be relaxed and careless when you're in shopping malls and casinos. How much more insane can things be.
Meanwhile, 9 more soldiers die, 33 are wounded, and the story is quickly buried by talk of going to the moon. God help us.
