I guess the capture of Saddam didn't make us safer, huh?

U.S. Threat Level Rises to Orange (washingtonpost.com): "Federal officials said yesterday that because fresh intelligence suggests al Qaeda is planning multiple catastrophic terrorist attacks in the United States, they were raising the national threat alert status to 'high risk,' or code orange, a step administration officials previously had said they were reluctant to take except in the most unusual circumstances.


Some of the worrisome new intelligence indicates al Qaeda operatives are exploring security vulnerabilities on commercial or cargo flights originating overseas and flying into U.S. airports, officials said. It suggests the terrorist network is preoccupied with repeating its Sept. 11, 2001, tactic of hijacking aircraft for use as missiles against U.S. targets, they added.


'The strategic [intelligence] indicators, including al Qaeda's continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland, are perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11th,' Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said at an impromptu news conference yesterday. 'Information indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will rival, or exceed, the attacks in New York [and] at the Pentagon.' "