Nah. They wanted to cock-block Kerry and his high visibility as a result of the DNC. As for inconveniencing this New Yorker, it was barely worse than it usually is going down to Wall Street. The RNC will be another story altogether, however. -TD

From: Sunder <sunder@sunder.net> To: cypherpunks@al-qaeda.net Subject: 2+2=5 and mention of cryptome Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:38:22 -0400 (edt)

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/11/al_q_geek_us_overthrow_plot/

Al-Qaeda computer geek nearly overthrew US By Thomas C Greene (thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk) Published Wednesday 11th August 2004 16:45 GMT

Update A White House with a clear determination to draw paranoid conclusions from ambiguous data has finally gone over the top. It has now implied that the al-Qaeda computer geek arrested last month in Pakistan was involved in a plot to destabilize the USA around election time.

Two and two is five

As we reported here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/03/us_terror_alert_political_football) and here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/02/al_qaeda_cyber_terror_panic), so-called al-Qaeda "computer expert" Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a Pakistani, was arrested on 13 July in possession of detailed but rather old surveillance documents related to major financial institutions in New York, Newark, and Washington.

Since that time, other intelligence has led the US security apparatus to imagine that a plot to attack the USA might be in the works. (No doubt there are scores of plots in the works, but we digress.) Therefore, last week, the ever-paranoid Bush Administration decided that Khan's building surveillance documents, and the hints of imminent danger, had to be connected. Indeed, if al Qaeda is to strike at all, it is most likely to strike the targets mentioned in Khan's documents, as opposed to thousands of others, the Bushies reasoned.

New York, Newark and Washington were immediately put on high alert, at great expense, and to the inconvenience of millions of residents.

<SNIP>

----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--------------------------- + ^ + :"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ <--*-->:and our people, and neither do we." -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + : War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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