Yesterday, the terror alert level was raised in New York, New Jersey and Washington, citing intelligence information that showed financial institutions such as Citibank, Prudential, and the World Bank were possible targets. Today, leftist news was dismissive of the threat, saying that it’s based on old news prior to 2001.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 -Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.
The implication in the article, of course, hints that the intelligence is worthless.
But some Democrats have raised concerns that the timing of the release of the information had more to do with politics than with fears that terrorists were about to strike.
But that would be a mistake to assume that:
“I think you have to keep in mind al-Qaida’s history of planning attacks well in advance and then updating those plans just before attacking,” said spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with President Bush on Air Force One.
Top Bush administration officials said some of the surveillance was apparently updated as recently as January of this year. And they denied any allegations that the public release of the information now, and the raising of the terror alert, were politically motivated. They said the information was released now because it was just uncovered in Pakistan.
“We don’t do politics in the Department of Homeland Security,” Ridge said. “Our job is to identify the threat.”
It’s irritating that the Democrats accuse Bush of being concerned about terrorism for political reasons while simultaneously accusing him of not doing enough. The right thing is exactly what Bush is doing: take the threat seriously, no matter what. Remember what happened when we let our guard down on September 11, 2001?
Chasing the Wind 
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