One big clue is that this comes from the Wash. Times, and not a reputable source.

"That's not what I asked. I asked you about your agency's use of illegal Torture techniques".

Al Qaeda seen planning attack on U.S.
By Sara A. Carter
February 6, 2008

CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told the Senate intelligence panel yesterday that his agency had resorted to waterboarding while interrogating three high-level al Qaeda members. (Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times)

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Senior al Qaeda leaders have diverted operatives from Iraq across the globe and are increasing preparations to strike the United States, senior intelligence officials told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday. They said the terrorists had plans to attack the White House as recently as 2006.

(One problem. There is no 'al Qaeda' in Iraq ...)

"Al Qaeda is improving the last key aspect of its ability to attack the U.S. — the identification, training and positioning of operatives for an attack in the homeland," said Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, which oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

(Interesting. Just as the last phony justifications for the Israeli-US war against Iran fall apart, 'al CIAeda' steps up with a public plot to attack the Us, and provide the fear needed to dupe the public into more war.)

Intelligence officials also said they used a controversial interrogation tactic known as "waterboarding," which some people regard as torture, only on three senior al Qaeda members early in the war on terror and that it has not been used in five years.

(Everybody knows this is Torture. But it's a Red Herring, intended to divert attention from other tactics used, such as electrocutions, beatings, druggings, harming family members, children, etc.)

The officials added that al Qaeda is recruiting Westerners to terror camps in Pakistan.

(But certainly this has nothing to do with efforts to send US troops into Pakistan ...)

"While increased security measures at home and abroad have caused al Qaeda to view the West, especially the U.S., as a harder target, we have seen an influx of new Western recruits into the tribal areas since mid-2006, " Mr. McConnell said.

Mr. McConnell revealed that al Qaeda had plans to specifically target the White House.

(Well, good. Because this narrative all falls apart if they don't target the Political Class.)

"It [al Qaeda] probably will continue to devote some effort towards honoring bin Laden's request in 2005 that al Qaeda attempt to strike the United States, affirmed publicly by current al Qaeda leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri in a November 2006 threat against the White House," he said.

(Bin Laden was long dead by 2005.)

White House officials would not comment on specific security threats to the president or the White House.

DNI officials would not elaborate or offer details of specifics to the threat.

"The statement speaks for itself," said Vanee Vines spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Mr. McConnell was seated alongside CIA Director Michael V. Hayden; FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III; Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Randall Fort, assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research.

Later in the hearing, Mr. Hayden said his agency's use of "lawful interrogation" methods, including waterboarding, on three high-level al Qaeda members was necessary to gain critical information on the organization after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Mr. Hayden added that waterboarding was only used those three times as a necessary measure to handle the imminent threat posed by the terrorist organization.

"We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," Mr. Hayden said. "There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed."

The three al Qaeda detainees were Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks; Abu Zubaydah, an early member of al Qaeda and close associate of bin Laden and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, behind the USS Cole bombing and who headed al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf before he was captured in November 2002.

The three captives were interrogated in 2002 and 2003 and waterboarding has not been used since, Mr. Hayden said.

(But they had information about plans made since 2005 ... ?)

Mr. McConnell added that although al Qaeda absorbed vast resources in "the ongoing conflict in Iraq," the terrorist organization has leveraged broad "external networks" as far as Europe to support their goals.

Internal al Qaeda documents obtained in Iraq by U.S. intelligence suggest that "fewer than 100 [al Qaeda] terrorists have moved from Iraq to establish cells in other countries," he said.

The most active al Qaeda affiliate in northwestern Africa is the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, which intelligence officials said poses a "significant threat to U.S. and European interests in the region."

Further, al Qaeda "has been able to retain a safe haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that provides the organization many of the advantages it once derived from its base across the border in Afghanistan" making it a training hub for terrorists seeking to attack the United States and its allies, Mr. McConnell said.

Despite cooperation from Pakistan, Gen. Maples said the Pakistani military has not been able to disrupt al Qaeda operations in the tribal border region. He added that the U.S. military is prohibited by Pakistan from pursuing al Qaeda fighters or Taliban that flee Afghanistan across the border after conducting attacks.

 http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080206/NATION/604494540/0/FOREIGN

The only card left in the deck, between now and the enthusiastically awaited end of Bush's administration, is the fear card.

The economy is in the "Al Qaeda" , people are losing their jobs, right and left, and this administration's geopolitical strategies have blown up in their faces like a bad trick cigar.

So what does this administration do?

Ramp up the "fear factor" as a misdirection from the real issues confronting us, and the purpose of the hearings, which were to probe the illegal use of Torture.

If I were a betting person, I wouldn't bet against some kind of "false flag" operation, which will result in us bombing the heck out of yet another country in the Middle East happening in the very near future.

IAEA chief warns against military action to solve Iranian nuclear issue
www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-05 12:27:35 Print

Special Report: Iran Nuclear 'Crisis'-Israel/America's Drive to Start Another War


CAIRO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Visiting UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday warned against a military action to solve the Iranian nuclear issue, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.

(But of course, this 'crisis' was only created in order to try and justify a long-planned war.)

In an interview with Egyptian TV, ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said a military strike to settle the Iranian nuclear issue would complicate the situation and send the Middle East region into a vicious cycle of violence.

ElBaradei warned that Iran could be pushed to strive for nuclear weapons if it is hit while seeking no such weapons.

Citing progress in negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file, ElBaradei voiced his hope that the issue would be solved this year.

Some countries, including the United States, has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, which has been repeatedly denied by Tehran.

(The other country is Israel. Neither country has any evidence to back up the allegations they're making in order to start another illegal war. The IAEA and intelligence community have refuted these lies.)

ElBaradei, who is expected to issue a report around Feb. 20 on his visit to Iran and IAEA's inquiry into Iran's nuclear activity, said on Sunday that the UN nuclear watchdog was making "good progress" in finishing outstanding issues on Iran's nuclear file.

Meanwhile, world major countries are mulling a third sanction resolution against Iran after the UN Security Council adopted two resolutions -- one in December 2006 and the other in March 2007 --to force Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and give up nuclear programs.

(They're 'mulling' them because they've already rejected several US proposals, since it became known that the US and Israel were lying again about a non-existent threat posed by another country they've planned to attack. The other Resolutions were designed to do just this, but since they violate Iran's rights under the NPT, they're not taken all that seriously.)

Iran has downplayed the effect of possible new sanctions, saying Tehran would show "serious and logical reaction" if the Security Council issued a third resolution.


 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/05/content_7572483.htm