WEBVTT

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The situation has evolved throughout the day.

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What was initially reported as a set of explosions

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and electrical transformers has clearly evolved

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into terrorist attacks across London.

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What has been targeted have been London's underground,

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its subway, the London Underground system

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has been shut down.

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We also know that there was at least one explosion

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onboard a double-decker bus in central London.

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Eyewitnesses telling us that as they walked past the bus,

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just about four hours ago now,

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there was an explosion onboard.

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They turned their head.

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They saw the top coming off the bus.

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When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge

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raised the terror alert level on certain financial buildings

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in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. last summer,

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he cited intelligence that was very specific

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and very alarming.

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But there is new information that maybe those areas

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weren't the true target.

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It turns out while much of the alarm at the time

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was about the casing of these financial buildings

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in New York, Washington, and Newark, New Jersey,

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there was an actual active al-Qaeda plot on

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involving some of the characters who did that casing,

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but they weren't plotting to attack New York,

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New Jersey, or Washington.

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They weren't plotting to attack anything

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in the United States at all.

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The active plot involved a big bomb attack in London.

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The ring that was at the center of that,

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which was headed by suspect Iran Burrot,

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otherwise known as Esam al-Hindi,

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was mashed back a few months ago.

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They are now incarcerated, but the original intelligence

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seems to have been off the mark

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about what their aim and goal was.

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There has been a bit of alarm among U.S. agents

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stationed in Britain.

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In fact, FBI agents were so spooked

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by some of this intelligence that they have been reluctant

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to take to London Underground.

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They've been taking taxis rather than the subways

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because apparently the underground was supposed

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to be part of the plot.

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I have reiterated the promise that when we have specific,

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credible information, we will share it.

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Now this afternoon, we do have new

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and unusually specific information

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about where al-Qaeda would like to attack.

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Reports indicate that al-Qaeda is targeting

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Citigroup buildings in the New York Stock Exchange

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in New York.

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We must understand that the kind of information

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available to us today is the result

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of the president's leadership in the war against terror.

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The reports that have led to this alert

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are the result of offensive intelligence

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and military operations overseas,

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as well as strong partnerships with our allies

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around the world, such as Pakistan.

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Pakistani intelligence sources are accusing

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the Bush administration of undermining its fight

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against al-Qaeda by revealing Khan's name

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while he was still working as an undercover double agent.

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Unnamed U.S. officials leaked his name to the press

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in an attempt of the Bush administration

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to defend last week's heightened terror threat level.

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A big break came in the al-Qaeda investigation

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in Pakistan in June.

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Mohammed Naeem Nur Khan, who was living in Lahore

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and was a computer whiz, arrested on July 13th,

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but he was willing to begin informing on al-Qaeda

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and to keep his correspondence on the line.

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It was from his computer files that the U.S. learned

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that there had been a plot against

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U.S. financial institutions.

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The decision was made by the Bush White House

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to release this information, and Tom Ridge came out

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on Sunday, August 1st, and announced there was such a plot

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and there would be extra security for those institutions.

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In the course of the off-the-record briefing

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the Homeland Security did for the press,

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a Bush administration official mentioned

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that the information had come from Mohammed Naeem Nur Khan.

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Now, he was still a double agent and was undercover

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and was sending email messages on Sunday

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and the following Monday to his al-Qaeda contacts in London,

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who still thought he was on the inside.

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The next day, the New York Times printed the name,

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and it's a principle that you don't tell the press things

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you don't want to see in the newspapers.

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That caused a big furor in Pakistan and the United Kingdom

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where there were ongoing sting operations

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being run through Khan, and the British had to swoop in

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and arrest 13 of Khan's correspondents,

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lest they scatter once they heard he had been arrested,

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and in fact, they lost five of them,

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and many they're going to have to release

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for lack of evidence.

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So the cases haven't been made,

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and Thasul Sala Hayat, who is the Pakistani interior minister,

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is just furious, and he said that, you know,

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Khan is the kind of asset that could eventually

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have led to bin Laden himself having not been outed.

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It's very clear from the reaction in Britain

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that they are very upset.

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MI5 actually has given an interview to the New York Times

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in which they have complained about the damage

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that was done to the ongoing cases.

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Condi Rice admitted that the name had been, in fact,

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provided to the press on background,

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and then she said she didn't know if he was a double agent.

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And Home Secretary David Blunkett, in an op-ed,

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criticizing the Bush administration

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for having done this.

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Because his name was revealed in the press,

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they have no choice but to attempt to arrest these people.

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In many instances, they may not actually

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have enough evidence against them to hold them,

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because being in email contact with Mohammed Naeem Nur Khan

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is not a crime.

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We now know that the information was very old,

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that it is often said by the Bush administration officials

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that it had been updated as recently as January of 2004.

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But the Guardian has revealed that what they really mean

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is the file had been opened as recently as January 2004.

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No new information was added to it.

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We don't have evidence of ongoing operational activities.

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So it's old information, and they dried up

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this potentially very rich well of further tracking

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and information.

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Might have led to Bin Laden himself.

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Might have led to a very severe crippling

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of al-Qaeda operational capabilities.

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Might have led to successful court cases

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against a whole range of operatives

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in London and elsewhere.

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the

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you