ABC reported about a "Pakistani" network attack, two days before plot foil

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/the_man_who_is_.html

The Man Who Is Planning the Next Attack on America
August 09, 2006 12:49 PM

Pakistani officials tell ABC News a new terrorist plan to attack the United States and Europe is being organized by a shadowy Pakistani, who is the keeper of the log of recruits who attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Pakistani police and military officials identify the man as Matiur Rehman, whose role as al Qaeda's planning director was first revealed by ABCNews.com earlier this year.

...

U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News there has been great concern since last March about a "Pakistani" network that could attempt multiple international attacks.

...

Pakistani intelligence officials tell ABC News that between 10,000 and 50,000 militants received basic training in these camps, where the best recruits were directly "hired" by al Qaeda. The rest was used by Pakistan's most violent terrorist groups such as Lashkar e Jhangvi, Harakat ul
Mujahideen and Jaish e Muhammad, either to fight in Kashmir or India, or conduct sectarian attacks within Pakistan.

U.S. officials say there is no information that any attack on the United States is imminent.

[SutaUvaca]

1. But, but but "US officials say there is no information

that any attack on the United State is imminent."

Veddddy intuhresting.

[sabra]

2. that line struck me too...

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. There's certainly confusion, whether by accident or by design

On Saturday a grainy photograph of a heavily bearded man appeared in every British newspaper. Most of them said the picture was of Rashid Rauf, a 29-year-old Birmingham-born British citizen recently arrested in Pakistan. Others said it was of Matiur Rehman, a high-ranking al-Qa’ida operative believed to have been plotting attacks on the US. One newspaper suggested Rehman and Rauf were one and the same man, but that has been dismissed by officials both in Britain and Pakistan.

The photograph had already been published on the Internet before last Thursday, described as being of Rehman. A Pakistani in his mid-30s, he has been identified as al-Qa’ida’s planning director, and was quickly linked by officials in Pakistan with the UK plot. They believe he may have been contacted by Rauf, whose 22-year-old brother Tayib was arrested in Birmingham early Thursday.

It was the arrest of Rashid Rauf about a week to 10 days ago that triggered the security operation in Britain last week, according to accounts in Pakistan. After he lost touch, a panicking fellow conspirator telephoned the UK to tell the bombers to bring the plot forward and go ahead immediately. The call was intercepted, and the British police mounted an emergency operation to stop the bombers.

Gulf Times

Examples:

ABC News, March 2nd 2006 - Rehman
The Sun, August 12th 2006 - Rauf