Al Qaeda plotting attack to maintain credibility: US Gen

Al Qaeda terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the US to maintain their credibility...

Al Qaeda terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the US to maintain their credibility and ability to recruit followers, the US military commander in charge of domestic defense said.

Air Force Gen Gene Renuart, chief of the US Northern Command, also told reporters on Thursday he has not seen any direct threats tied to the US presidential elections. But he said it would be rash to think that such threats are not there.

“We need only to look at Spain and see that they’re certainly willing to try to do something that is significant that could affect an election process,” Renuart said. “I think it would be imprudent of us to let down our guard believing that if there’s no credible threat that you know of today, there won’t be something tomorrow.”

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While he said that US authorities have thwarted attacks on a number of occasions, he said terrorist cells may be working harder than ever to plot high-impact events. He did not point to any specific intelligence that authorities have received but said the “chatter” — which included audio and video released on the Internet by Al Qaeda leaders — “gives me no reason to believe they’re going to slow down” in their efforts to target the US.

“If an organization like that is to maintain credibility and continue to grow more of its extremists, it has to show tangible results,” Renuart said. “So I think there may be a certain sense of urgency among that organization to have an effect. So it would tell me that they’re trying harder.”

President Bush, in a speech Thursday, also said the US remained under threat from terrorists. Marking the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Homeland Security Department, Bush said that in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks “it was hard to imagine that we would reach this milestone without another attack on our homeland.”

‘We did it’ letters in NY blast

• WASHINGTON: Capitol Hill offices received letters on Thursday containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim “We Did It.” The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed. The message on the card: “Happy New Year, We Did It.”

Google barred

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• The US Defence Department has said it is forbidding Google from filming and depicting in detail its military bases, after officials found precise imagery of a Texas base on Google Maps. “We received a report that Google Maps was collecting imagery and 360 degree views, including detailed imagery, of a base in Texas,” a spokesman said.