Al-Qaeda Alert

Do you smell something in the air?

Here's Ace's take on Michele Malkin's earlier post  that Al-Qaeda's training camps are emptying out. “ AQ's Training Camps Empty Out? —Ace That's the report from Roggio (quoted at Hot Air). It seems to me the alarming thing isn't "What are these suddenly-evacuated jihadis up to?" but more "What are already in-position jihadis planning that requires the evacuation of terrorist camps due to fear of coming retaliatory airstrikes and ground offensives?" Given the fact that the terrorists safe havens in Pakistan have been pretty secure until now (no matter what Musharraf might say), their leaving is worrisome. If it's true, of course. Al Qaeda, of course, assassinated the leader of the Northern Alliance just two days before 9/11, anticipating the Northern Alliance would figure in an anti-Taliban/anti-AQ offensive. They anticipated the likely major response to 9/11. After having attempted to kill Musharraf multiple times and multiple large bombings and the Red Mosque standoff, what sort of outrage would the jihadis be contemplating to suddenly worry about a real Pakistani or US attack on their camps? Not to be alarmist, but Roggio mentions worries about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. ” We'll soon find out whether this is a harbinger or not,but I just now went back to a Newser report I read this morning, titled  "Congress Spooked Into Passing Broad Spying Law." “ It was a closed-door briefing last month, in which lawmakers were told of a stunning drop in intelligence, that suddenly broke the Democratic opposition to a new spying bill passed last week, the New York Times reports. The Times does a postmortem on the 11th hour passage of the bill—one Democrats had resisted for months—that broadens the White House's power to conduct warrantless eavesdropping. • The rush to pass the bill before Congress recessed was triggered by a report shared with congressmen that said eavesdropping on foreign communications had declined 75% in recent months. Democrats who had held out in an effort to force the White House to turn over documents on a now-defunct spying program did an about-face. To get its way, the White House "very skillfully played the fear card," said one lawmaker. Read the article in New York Times ” When I read it I axed myself, "... why are democrats suddenly concerned that their harassment caused a 75% drop in intelligence?" A That spooked me, because for those sumbitches to back down could mean the President told them there was something big in the wind, and if it happened he would lay it squarely on their doorstep, and publish the location and combination lock number to their underground bunker.  Now this.