October 06, 2005
Specific, Disrupted, Doubtful, And Noncredible: Bush Speech, Subway Terror 1. "A senior White House official said Thursday evening that the President's 40-minute speech about Al Qaeda and Iraq arose from Mr. Bush's desire to remind Americans, after 'a lot of distractions' in recent months, that the country was still under threat, and had no choice but to remain in Iraq so Al Qaeda did not use it as a base to train for attacks on the United States and its allies."
2. "[A] spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security described it as 'specific yet noncredible'" [...] and "added, 'The intelligence community has concluded that this information is of doubtful credibility.'"
3. "Mark Marshon, assistant director in charge of the New York office of the FBI, said the investigation has helped stop the plans. 'The encouraging news is that classified operations have, in fact, partially disrupted this threat,' he said."
4. "A city official said an informant tipped them off to the alleged plot, while a federal source said the information came after a raid in Iraq."
UPDATE! 5. "Rather, the [anonymous counterterrorism] official said, the intelligence was similar to 'what can be found on the Internet and a map of New York City.'"
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