Quote:


The Taliban and other religious extremists have been waging a campaign of threats, intimidation and violent attacks against video and music shops because they believe that movies and pop music promote obscenity and are aimed at destroying the religious values of the people.



Didn't we beat these guys down in 2002?

Did something stupid happen to draw our attention away from this part of the world?

"New Report Shows al-Qaeda Growing Stronger by the Day

July 12, 2007 05:32 PM

al-Qaeda is growing stronger by the day - and now the president and Homeland Security chief are explaining to America just how worried we should be about a possible new terror threat.

Six years and billions of dollars later, al-Qaeda may be just as strong as it was in the months before the 9/11 attacks - that is according to a new report. But both President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff are downplaying that finding.

Sources say of chief concern is a terror cell that may have made its way from Pakistan over to Europe, or possibly across the ocean to the United States. That could indicate al-Qaeda is in the planning stages for another attack somewhere inside the U.S. But figuring those plans out will be hard, since Chertoff admits they know of no specifics.

NEWS10's Christina Arangio has more on Thursday's top meeting at the White House, about the heightened risk.

The five-page intelligence report about the renewed strength of al-Qaeda is being discussed as part of a multi-agency meeting at the White House. It is being called, "al-Qaeda, Better Positioned to Strike the West."

According to counter-terrorism officials, al-Qaeda has used its safe-haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to build up its terror network. Multiple, credible intelligence reports indicate an al-Qaeda cell is on its way, or already in the U.S.

"We actually see the al-Qaeda central being resurgent in their role on planning operations," says Dr. Thomas Fingar, Deputy Director of National Intelligence. "We see more training, we see more money, and we see more communications."

And yet President Bush told reporters Thursday, because of his actions, al-Qaeda is weaker than it otherwise would have been. He took the opportunity to reiterate his position on just how important it is to succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and anywhere else the terrorists are found to be.

And here at home, dozens of FBI agents have been given a two-week deadline to rundown some 700 new leads - 100 of them in New York, alone.

Chertoff tried to explain his gut-feeling about a potential attack.

"I was talking about the increased number of public statements by Zawahiri and others in al-Qaeda - I was talking about a history since 9/11 of attacks directed toward the west over the summer," Chertoff says.

The intelligence report indicates al-Qaeda has spent a lot of time training in the mountains of Pakistan. That is where many believe Osama bin Laden is still alive and waiting to see another attack, play out on U.S. soil."



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"My people (the real Americans- descended from the original Angle-Saxon pioneers)"-Coke S.