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Britain

Timeline of major terror attacks in Britain

2017-06-05

In case you lost track... [DAWN] Manchester Arena bombing May, 2017: A suicide bomber blows himself outside a pop concert by teen idol Ariana Grande in Manchester in northwest England, killing 22 people and injuring 116. Seven of the victims were under the age of 18. The attack was carried out by 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Manchester-born university drop-out of Libyan origin. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group. Westminster Bridge attack March 22, 2017: Five people are killed and more than 50 wounded when a man rams his car into pedestrians on Westminster bridge in London before crashing into the barriers surrounding parliament and then stabbing a police officer to death. The attacker, 52-year-old British Muslim convert Khalid Mahmood, is shot dead by police at the scene. Investigators describe the lone-wolf attack as “Islamist related terrorism”. Lawmaker murdered June 16, 2016: British Labour lawmaker Jo Cox is shot and stabbed to death by a pro-Nazi sympathiser just days before the historic vote to leave the EU. Far-right white nationalist Thomas Mair is later sentenced to life in prison for her murder. London underground stabbing December 5, 2015: A paranoid schizophrenic stabs two people at London's Leytonstone Underground station, two days after Britain's first air strikes on IS in Syria. The knifeman, Somali-born Muhaydin Mire, 30, is sentenced to life behind bars. The police say the incident is a “terrorist” attack. British soldier slain May 22, 2013: British soldier Lee Rigby, 25, is hacked to death by two Britons of Nigerian descent near an army barracks in London. Witnesses say the attackers encouraged them to film the scene and yelled religious slogans before being injured and arrested by police. In February 2014, Michael Adebolajo, 29, is sentenced to life in prison for the murder while Michael Adebowale, 22, receives a minimum of 45 years behind bars. Northern Ireland shootings March 2009: The month saw a sudden resurgence of political violence in Northern Ireland with two soldiers shot dead outside their barracks by republican militants as they went to collect a pizza delivery, the first such slaying since 1997. Two days later a police officer is shot dead by a different paramilitary republican faction. Glasgow airport attack June 30, 2007: Two men in a burning vehicle ram into the main terminal of Glasgow Airport in Scotland. An Indian driving the car suffers serious burns and later dies. The passenger, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, 29, is jailed in December for at least 32 years for plotting to murder hundreds of people. Suicide bombers hit London transport July 7, 2005: Four British suicide bombers inspired by Al Qaeda attack London's Underground network and a bus during rush hour, killing 52 people, as well as themselves, and wounding 700. It was the deadliest attack on British soil since a Pan Am airliner blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing a total of 270 people including 11 on the ground, in 1988. The London attack took place just a day after the city was awarded the 2012 Olympics.

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Afghanistan

US Army Fuel Smuggling Ring Likely Helped Fund The Taliban Insurgency

2016-09-20

[DAILYCALLER] Late one night in February 2011, a group of U.S. soldiers and civilians on a dusty airfield in Jalalabad, Afghanistan conspired to steal and sell jet fuel to a mysterious Afghan contractor. Little did they know that night that the scheme would evolve into a months-long racket that likely ended up funding the Taliban’s ongoing insurgency. Army Sergeant Kevin Bilal Abdullah, Spc. Stephanie Charboneau and civilian contractors Jonathan Hightower and Christopher Weaver helped an Afghan contractor smuggle over $1,225,000-worth of JP-8 jet fuel off Forward Operating Base Fenty from February to May 2010. JP-8 is a standard jet fuel utilized by U.S. Air Force aircraft, meaning the fuel ring’s actions likely jeopardized the Air Force’s ability to fly missions in support of U.S. troops, putting their lives in danger. "Fuel theft not only robs U.S. taxpayers and damages the reconstruction effort, but military operations can be jeopardized when needed fuel is stolen or otherwise diverted," said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a report released Wednesday. "Impending operations may force a commander to accept what fuel he can and forgo accountability processes to ensure mission success." To make matters worse, the illicit sale of fuel on the Afghan black market is considered to be a primary funding stream for the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups, according to SIGAR. The conspiracy was a fairly simple operation, but clandestine in nature. Abdullah oversaw the distribution of fuel in the Nangarhar province, which gave him and his fellow conspirators access to the fuel and the papers required to transport it. Working in conjunction with the Afghan contractor, the the group would fill 3,000 gallon trucks, known locally as “jingle trucks” due to their flare and adornments. Abdullah would then forge the transportation movement requests (TMRs) required to move fuel from the base to various locations in the region and provide them to the Afghan contractor, allowing the drivers of the trucks to leave the base with the fuel with no problem. While Charboneau, Abdullah, Hightower and Weaver would eventually be caught and charged for their crimes, another group of soldiers on FOB Fenty continued the operation just months later. Army Sgt. Regionald Dixon, Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Ware and later Spc. Larry Emmons engaged in a similar fuel smuggling operation involving forged TMR documents and an Afghan contractor from December 2011 to February 2012. A mysterious Afghan contractor paid the group $6,000 for each 3,000 gallon truck full of fuel. While investigators have reported the two schemes were separate, it is unclear whether or not both groups were bribed by the same contractor. The second group was eventually caught and prosecuted. A third fuel smuggling case was recently discovered in 2016. Former Army Spc. Sheldon Morgan pleaded guilty to aiding an Afghan contractor in stealing and smuggling fuel out of FOB Fenty. It is unclear whether Morgan was involved or aware of the other two groups, though the dates of the crimes do coincide. At the time of Ware’s indictment, SIGAR chief John Sopko noted his office had recovered $1.6 million in illegal proceeds and $20 million in civil penalties related to fuel smuggling cases. Fuel is considered “liquid gold” in Afghanistan’s notorious black market. The Defense Logistics Agency has supplied more than 2.5 billion gallons of fuel, worth more than $12 billion, to U.S. personnel and the Afghan military as of September 2014. “Almost all the large fuel theft schemes investigated by SIGAR included U.S. military personnel and, in some cases, contract civilian personnel,” noted SIGAR’s report.

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Britain

Cleared Glasgow doctor considers suing for compensation

2008-12-18

The Muslim brain surgeon cleared of masterminding the failed car bombing of a nightclub and airport is set to pocket millions in compensation. Dr Mohammed Asha, 28, was acquitted by a jury of any involvement in the terror attacks on London and Glasgow. Last night he revealed he was considering suing the Home Office and police over his wrongful arrest which had “obliterated’’ his life. Legal sources said he could expect “at least seven figures’’. Dr Asha’s co-accused – British-born Iraqi National Health Service doctor Bilal Abdulla – was yesterday jailed for at least 32 years for the bungled raids that left an accomplice dead. Prosecutors at Woolwich Crown Court alleged Jordanian Dr Asha – a close pal of Abdulla’s – had co-ordinated the attacks in a series of meetings and phone calls. But the jury found he knew nothing of his friend’s plans. Last night he was still in jail and faces deportation after being told his presence “is not conducive to the public good”. In a statement read by his solicitor Tayab Ali, Dr Asha said: “This case has obliterated my life and the lives of my family.” His legal team said he intends to apply for bail and fight deportation.

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Britain

Life for doctor in Glasgow airport terror bid

2008-12-17

A British-Iraqi doctor who led failed attempts to attack a London nightclub and Glasgow airport with nail-packed car bombs was sentenced to life in prison. Bilal Abdulla, 29, was earlier convicted of conspiring to murder hundreds of Britons and conspiring to cause explosions in two botched terrorist attacks last year. Justice Colin Mackay gave Abdulla a life sentence, ordering him to serve a minimum of 32 years concurrently on each count and telling him he was a ''religious extremist and a bigot.'' Police said Abdulla, a Sunni Muslim raised in Iraq but born in Britain who holds dual citizenship, carried out his attacks to avenge the deaths of friends and relatives in Iraq.

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Britain

Doctor guilty of car bomb attacks

2008-12-16

An NHS doctor has been convicted of plotting to bring chaos and murder to London and Glasgow Airport by setting off massive car bombs. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Bilal Abdulla guilty of plotting the home-made bomb attacks in 2007. Another NHS doctor, Mohammed Asha, was cleared of helping Abdulla and a second attacker, Kafeel Ahmed. Ahmed died following the Glasgow attack on 30 June 2007, a day after he and Abdulla had attacked London's West End. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury the men had been intent on "committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale" in attacks that would occur without warning, spreading panic among the public.

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Britain

Doctor admits he is 'a terrorist'

2008-11-17

An NHS doctor accused of attempted car bombings in London and at Glasgow Airport has admitted that according to English law he is a terrorist. Bilal Abdulla, 29, is alleged to have crashed into the airport in a Jeep laden with petrol and gas canisters. With nails wrapped all around the canisters ... But he told a jury he never wanted to kill or injure anyone. Sad thing is, Britain today just might believe him ... Dr Abdulla, from Paisley, and Dr Mohammed Asha, 27, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, deny conspiracies to murder and to cause explosions. The defence has said that Dr Abdulla and friend Kafeel Ahmed, 28, wanted to highlight the plight of people in Iraq and Afghanistan with a series of incendiary device attacks in June 2007. How is an 'incendiary device attack' not an explosion? Or am I being too logical here ... Dr Asha is accused of supplying them with cash and advice. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard Dr Abdulla had told police in Scotland "something along those lines" that he was a terrorist shortly after being arrested. Dr Abdulla told the court: "Everyone was saying you are a terrorist, you are arrested under the Terrorism Act and so forth. That is my case in a nutshell. I am told I am a terrorist, but is your government not a terrorist, is your army not a terrorist? Once again it's all our fault ... "By the definition of the Act, according to English law, yes. That is my aim to change opinion using violence, using fire devices." But not to murder or cause explosions, because Islam is a 'religion of peace', doncha know ... Dr Abdulla told the jury that after attacks on London's West End had failed, he planned to flee to Iraq, via Turkey, because it would be "much easier to disappear" in a lawless country. But as he approached the airport, Ahmed suddenly swerved the Jeep into the terminal building without warning. "He drove through the barrier and I got alarmed and I shouted 'What are you doing, what is happening?'," said Dr Abdulla. "I had never seen Kafeel's face like that in my life. He was determined, his foot was on the accelerator and he did not respond to me at all." Dr Abdulla admitted throwing petrol bombs as he got out of the burning vehicle. But he claimed he had tossed them away to protect himself after Ahmed had passed one to him, accidentally lighting the others in the process. He said he could not recall exactly what happened afterwards, adding: "I know that I had struggled with people, I received punches and I punched back." Ahmed, an Indian engineering student, died one month after the attack from critical burns after dousing himself in petrol. Dr Abdulla told the court: "From day one, we said we will not kill or injure any innocent person. This incident, if it was to kill people or cause an explosion, we would not have done it that way. It looks very clumsy." That's really his biggest complaint, isn't it: it was clumsy. And he failed.

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Britain

Airport blast man 'left a will'

2008-11-07

A man who died of burns following an attack at Glasgow airport left a will in which he warned of "hitting at the devil's place", a court has heard. Woolwich Crown Court was told Kafeel Ahmed, 28, e-mailed a document to his brother Sameel to be read by his family in the event of his death. Dr Mohammed Asha, 28, and Dr Bilal Abdulla, 29, deny conspiracy to murder. The pair also deny charges of causing explosions relating to the alleged attempted car bombing in 2007. In his letter Mr Ahmed wrote that the "call of Jihad" had been "loud and open" and he apologised to his mother for lying to her about his "project". Mr Ahmed died of extensive burns after the airport attack. The jury heard that Mr Ahmed had sent a text message to his brother Sameel before the airport attack. This directed Sameel to an e-mail account in which there were two messages. One contained instructions to his brother, asking him to lie to the police about his whereabouts, suggesting that his brother use a story that he was in Iceland studying global warming. There was a will to family members, details of which were read out in court. In the document Kafeel wrote "me and some brothers are getting an opportunity to hit the devil's place to the core, and this is what we tried with the help of Allah". He thanked his father for his strict upbringing, and said: "The call of Jihad was loud and open." He wrote to his mother: "Someone has to do something, why someone else, why not your son. So be generous and sacrifice your son." Mr Ahmed said he sought forgiveness from "all of you for not telling you and lying" but added that it had been "necessary".

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Britain

Glasgow bomber's will shows thirst to "lick the blood" of the West

2008-11-07

An alleged terrorist drafted a will in which he expressed a willingness to kill women and children in the fight against the "Kingdom of Evil", a court heard yesterday. Bilal Abdulla, 29, wrote of his ability to "lick the blood" of westerners, adding that a population "busy with alcoholic drinking and with their intimate friends" could only be awakened "by the sound of booby traps". Earlier in the day, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard that his alleged accomplice, who died in an attempted strike at Glasgow Airport on 30 June last year, had sent a separate will to his brother, in which he warned of "hitting the devils' place". Abdulla is accused of being a member of an Islamic terrorist cell that plotted mass murder with a series of car bombs. He is alleged to have driven one of two Mercedes cars laden with gas canisters to a club in London's West End, the court has been told. When they failed to detonate, he is said to have joined a suicide attack on Glasgow Airport the following day in which Kafeel Ahmed later died. Abdulla is on trial with a second man, Mohammed Asha, 28, accused of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. Both men deny the offences. In court yesterday, evidence taken from a laptop found in the burnt-out Jeep was given. Detective Constable Graeme Burridge, a forensic computer examiner, said he was able to recover files from the recycle bin and hard drive of the computer. The documents were written and edited by Abdulla, the court heard. One such document, described as Abdulla's draft will, had been created over a period of 455 minutes and been revised 39 times. It is addressed to a number of recipients, including "Osama" and "our soldiers of Islam in the country of the two rivers" – a reference to fighters in Iraq, the jury was told. In it, Abdulla is alleged to have written that he wanted to announce "the news of victory and glorious conquests at the heart of the state of unbelievers and tyranny". The draft will continues: "God has blessed us the ability to lick the blood of the Romans (a reference to westerners] as you have done before us in the past." The court heard Abdulla went on to rail against "the Kingdom of Evil". He is alleged to have written: "It destroyed our caliphate, tore apart our unity, defamed and distorted our religion and stabbed us in the heart the day it established that infernal state in our Palestine." The court was told that, in a reference to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he wrote: "Their soldiers kill the young and old. They do not discriminate between men and women, so why should we? If the policy of their army is to kill women and children, then only a similar policy would deter them." The draft will holds the entire population responsible for the action of its government. "These people do not care about what is happening in our land as they are all busy with alcoholic drinking and with their intimate friends these people can only be awakened by the sound of booby traps and the Mujahideen hailing 'God is great'." In separate letters, he praised Islamist fighters in Iraq and called on the Muslim community in Britain to "leave this land of unbelievers and atheism before losing your religion". Another document recovered from the laptop contained a transcript of an interview with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the court heard. Abdulla is also alleged to have been the author of a letter purporting to be from his sister to the doctor's supervisor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. In the missive recovered from the computer, the hospital line manager is told Abdulla will not be able to come to work due to an overseas accident in which he had been left paralysed. The letter was last edited on 30 June, the expert witness said, the day of the Glasgow attack. The jury heard that Kafeel Ahmed, who died as a result of burns received when the Jeep caught fire, had left a will to his family before the attacks. In it, he wrote that the "call of Jihad" had been "loud and open" and also apologised for lying to his family. It continued: "Me and some brothers were given the opportunity to hit the devil's place. The core. And this is what we have tried by the help of Allah." In a message to his mother, he added: "You know the pain and cries of our brothers and sisters, and someone has to do something. Why someone else, why not your own son? So be generous and sacrifice your son for the sake of Allah. Tidbit from another article: The jurors were told on Thursday that Ahmed had sent a text message to his brother Sabeel prior to the attacks, directing him to an email account in which two messages had been sent. One contained instructions to his brother to lie to the police about his whereabouts, using a story that he was in Iceland studying global warming.

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Britain

Bomb accused escaped in rickshaw

2008-10-10

TWO men who tried to carry out car bombings in central London last year escaped the scene in rickshaws, Woolwich Crown Court has been told. Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Kafeel Ahmed, 28, took the pedal-powered cabs after they had left two Mercedes cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails outside a club and at a bus stop nearby. CCTV caught Ahmed dumping an umbrella he was carrying in an apparent attempt to shield his face from cameras, prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said. He then took a rickshaw from Piccadilly Circus while Abdulla was also seen using the same method to get away, the court heard. The two men then met up in Edgware Road shortly after 2 am, 30 minutes after the attempted bombings. Mr Laidlaw said the first car bomb was discovered by staff at the Tiger Tiger nightclub, where there were 556 revellers inside, after paramedics were called to treat a customer. A doorman and the club's general manager then noticed gas vapour and smelt liquid petroleum gas. A fire officer called to the scene pulled one of the large gas canisters from the car and realised there was another inside with wires and mobile phones attached. "At that point the potential seriousness of the situation emerged and the Bomb Squad were called to the scene," Laidlaw said. Meanwhile the second car was given a parking ticket and then towed away to a nearby pound. Police made it safe after realising it too had been rigged with bombs. The court heard there had been repeated attempts to set off the bombs remotely using the mobile phone detonators, and although one of the initiators had undergone a slight explosion, neither main device had exploded. This was because the fuel to air ratio in the cars had probably exceeded ignitable limits, Mr Laidlaw said. On Thursday, the court was told Abdulla and co-defendant Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small Islamist cell that had planned a series of car bomb attacks in revenge for Britain's treatment of Muslims in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The day after the London bombings failed on June 28, Abdulla and Ahmed drove to Scotland and tried to drive a Jeep Cherokee, packed with fuel containers and gas canisters, into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport. The Jeep became trapped in the terminal doors and Ahmed later died from burns he suffered as he tried to set the car alight. Abdulla, an Iraqi, and Jordanian national Asha, who are both doctors, deny conspiring to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

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Britain

Doctors plotted "wholesale murder" in UK: prosecutor

2008-10-09

Two doctors went on trial on Thursday accused of being part of an Islamist cell trying to murder people "wholesale" by carrying out car bomb attacks in central London and at a packed Scottish airport last year. Iraqi Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Jordanian Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small group that tried to set off bombs outside a busy London nightclub and, when that failed, rammed a car into Glasgow Airport terminal in a dramatic suicide attack, the prosecution said. The men wanted to punish the British people for their country's perceived persecution of Palestinian Muslims and those in Afghanistan and Iraq, the court in east London heard. "These men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the top security Woolwich Crown Court. "Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing about this case is that both these defendants are doctors," he said. "They turned their attention away from the treatment of illness to the planning of murder." Their plans failed only because, by a mixture of good luck and technical mistakes, the devices did not explode, he said. The first in a series of "spectaculars" was planned for central London, Laidlaw said. Two cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails were driven down from Scotland and, early on June 29, 2007, left in the busy West End area of the capital. One was parked outside Tiger Tiger, a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus packed with more than 500 revelers, and the second nearby. This was a "secondary device" to catch those fleeing from the first explosion at the club, Laidlaw suggested. Despite repeated attempts to set off the mobile phone detonators in the cars, neither vehicle exploded. The bombers then dramatically changed their plans, aware that the police and security services would quickly trace them through clues left in the cars, the prosecution said. "... the next attack was to be a suicide attack. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the devices in London," said Laidlaw. "... the ultimate purpose...remained to kill and maim." The next day, the bombers drove to Scotland. A vehicle packed with fuel containers and gas canisters was driven at speed into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport on its busiest day of the year. The vehicle became stuck in the terminal doors and despite attempts to detonate it with petrol bombs, it failed to explode. Driver Kafeel Ahmed, 28, died from his burns, while Abdulla who was in the passenger seat survived. Laidlaw said Abdulla was a central figure in the plot while Asha, who was in neither London nor Glasgow, was an important member of the cell. Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The trial is due to last three months.

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Britain

UK airport carbomber's email: I want to die for Allah

2007-08-20

Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a "claim of responsibility" written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain's first attempted suicide car bombing. Evidence recovered pointing to his role in June's attempted attacks in London and Glasgow includes an email message sent just before the Glasgow attempted bombing, talking of martyrdom; CCTV footage from one of the failed car bombings in London showing a man relatives say is Ahmed, running away; evidence from a computer he used, showing visits to bomb-making websites; and his mobile phone from the smouldering Jeep. The attack on Glasgow on June 30 came a day after two car bombs failed to go off near a crowded nightclub in the West End of London. On June 30, Ahmed sent a text message to a relative just after 1.30pm which contained a link to an email and a password to access it. Two hours later the engineer, who was born in Bangalore, crashed the Jeep into the terminal. Those who have seen the email regard it as Ahmed claiming responsibility for the attempted attacks on London and the one he was about to stage in Glasgow. According to a source, Ahmed says his actions were carried out in the name of Allah. Ahmed writes that his relative would be shocked to read what he is about to tell him about his involvement in terrorism, praises God, and says he wants martyrdom. Hokay, you got it. Initial evidence points to the relative opening the email at 4.50pm on the Saturday, 90 minutes after Ahmed had rammed the airport. From the email, the source said, it was clear he was expecting to die. The flames that engulfed the vehicle were quickly put out, allowing Ahmed's mobile to be recovered. He is believed to have used the mobile to send either the text message or the email to his relative. A Whitehall source said it was believed that Ahmed decided to attack Glasgow after fearing police would soon hunt him down, which meant that the planning was rushed. The Guardian understands that police have CCTV images that show Ahmed apparently running away from the scene of the first London attack, and scurrying away from a car the terrorists meant to explode. Relatives shown the images are said to be nearly certain it is him. Police have also seized his computer and found evidence it had been used to scour websites on the construction of bombs and explosives. Ahmed died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on August 2. The other man in the Jeep, the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiring to set off explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury". Two other people have been charged over the attacks. A Jordanian doctor, Mohammed Jamil Asha, is charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Ahmed's brother, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is charged with withholding information that could prevent an act of terrorism.

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Home Front: WoT

Al Qaeda Cell May Be Loose in U.S., British Plot Hints

2007-08-06

As an American-born spokesman for Al Qaeda threatens to blow up American embassies abroad, intelligence gleaned from last month's British "doctors plot" of car bombers suggests that an al Qaeda cell is on the loose in the American homeland. The "doctors' plot" has been a puzzle to me, since it lacks so many of the characteristics of an al-Qaeda plot, starting with the lack of Pak controllers. E-mail addresses for American individuals were found on the same password-protected e-mail chains used by the United Kingdom plotters to communicate with Qaeda handlers in Europe, a counterterrorism official told The New York Sun yesterday. The fact that we didn't see even the shadow of the controller is worrying. Whoever he is, he's more subtil the previous beasts. The American and German intelligence community now believe the secure e-mail chains used in the United Kingdom plot have provided a window into an operational Qaeda network in several countries. "Because of the London and Glasgow plot, we now know communications have been made from Al Qaeda to operatives in the United States," the counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity. "This plot helps to connect a lot of stuff. We have seen money moving a lot through hawala networks and other illicit finance as well." I've been carrying the participants as al-Tawhid, rather than as al-Qaeda. If there's solid evidence of al-Qaeda involvement, which the communications nodes would provide, that would mean that Tawhid's been folded into al-Qaeda rather than continuing on as a subelement like GSPC did. But this source was careful to say that at this point no specific information, such as names, targets or a timeline, was known about any particular plot on American soil. The e-mail addresses that are linked to Americans were pseudonyms Spammers do it regularly. It's no surprise that Qaeda does it. Since the thwarted plot in London and Glasgow over the weekend of July 1, American intelligence officials have gone public with their concerns about a Qaeda presence in America. The secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, said he had a "gut feeling" on an increased risk of attack. "Gut feelings" are much more valid when they're based on intel. More recently, the commander for Northern Command, the American military operational region that includes North America, Air Force General Victor Renuart told the Associated Press in an interview on July 25, "I believe there are cells in the United States, or at least people who aspire to create cells in the United States." He added, "To assume that there are not those cells is naive and so we have to take that threat seriously." "I question the timing" in 5-5-3-2... The heightened threat environment also played a role in the passage of a law Saturday evening to give the National Security Agency temporary authority for the next six months to conduct warrantless wiretaps against suspected al Qaeda contacts on American soil. On Friday, as Congress was still wrangling over the specifics of the changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the director of national intelligence, Admiral Michael McConnell, was unusually blunt about the threat. Commenting on the Democratic proposal that the White House rejected, Admiral McConnell said, "I must have certainty in order to protect the nation from attacks that are being planned today to inflict mass casualties on the United States." He's probably never going to have 100 percent certainty, but not having his foot in a Congressionally-imposed bucket might seem like it. While al Qaeda in the past has threatened attacks on American soil, the latest public threat from the terror organization vowed specifically to attack American embassies and interests overseas, such as its 1998 attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In an Internet video released over the weekend, a bomber known as Abu Othman pledged to attack embassies, which he said are used to spread moral degradation and encourage women to display themselves and wear make up. In the same video, a Qaeda member and adviser on American culture, Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, said, "We shall continue to target you, at home and abroad, just as you target us, at home and abroad, and these spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq." Adam's bought into the "us and them" thing. If he's not vaporized at next time he visits Amadola with Ayman, his lawyer will someday try to have those remarks withheld from the jury. Mr. Gadahn, who has been on the FBI's most wanted list since 2004, was born and raised in rural California and was a devotee of death-metal music before joining Al Qaeda, according to a profile of him earlier this year in the New Yorker. I think it's more significant that he decided to become a Muslim after tending goats. Al Qaeda in June released a video from a training camp in Pakistan featuring graduating terrorists who pledged to conduct attacks on British soil and in other Western countries. In light of the concern over possible sleepers in America, the counterterrorism official yesterday said he thought the video may be a feint. "We are more concerned about sleepers here than we are about hardening any more our embassy targets," the official said. I'm not a real strong believer in Qaeda releasing its plans for kabooms. I've still got my seatbelt buckled from Sully's bloodthirsty promise in 2002. The British press has detailed Qaeda connections to the London and Glasgow plots. One of the ringleaders, an Iraqi doctor named Bilal Abdulla, was reported to have been recruited by Abu Musab Zarqawi in 2005 for attacks abroad. The declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate says that Al Qaeda in Iraq has developed an operational capability to hit targets outside of Iraq. They had that capability when they changed their name to AQI. Al-Tawhid had already tried to hit targets in Europe. The British press and the New York Times reported that two of the British plotters tried at one point to enter America using visas for medical workers.

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