Attorney General John Ashcroft warned metro Atlanta on Tuesday to be alert this summer for a possible al-Qaida attack. "We face serious challenges, imminent danger," said Ashcroft, speaking in downtown Atlanta. "Al-Qaida wants to hit us and hit us hard, especially sometime during this year — summer or fall." Because of its importance to the country’s economy and air traffic system, Atlanta could be a target, the attorney general said. "This leads us to believe we should do everything we can to mobilize our resources and cooperate, particularly in conjunction with state and local authorities."
Credible intelligence indicates al-Qaida has plans that "are largely in place" to attack the United States soon, Ashcroft said, listing as possible targets July Fourth holiday celebrations or the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions. So far, Ashcroft said, authorities have broken up terrorist cells all across America. "But al-Qaida has shown an ability to adapt as law enforcement has been changing its way of pursuing them," he said. Ashcroft made his remarks at the federal courthouse after meeting with the Atlanta Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council, a group of local law enforcement officials dedicated to gathering intelligence and disrupting terrorist cells. Ashcroft also appeared before Atlanta reporters with rows of uniformed law enforcement officials standing behind him so they could be photographed with the attorney general. Addressing Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings, which denounced the Bush administration’s denial of due process rights to detainees designated as "enemy combatants," Ashcroft said Justice Department lawyers were working to "determine how we would adjust or modify our processes to satisfy those rulings." |