Bin Laden material shows threats on America

Information taken from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan indicates that al Qaeda was mulling attacks on a handful of U.S. cities, timed to significant dates, a U.S. official said.

One law enforcement source said that an alert issued Thursday and tied to rail security is the first new notice that can be linked to the early Monday raid on the Abbottabad compound where the al Qaeda leader was found and killed.
That notice says that, in February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks, according to a source who received the notice.

The plan was to be executed this fall, on the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. But no specific city or rail system was identified in the notice, the source said.

"It is not surprising that we would find this kind of information in the home of the world's most wanted terrorist," said one U.S. official.

The federal department confirmed the notice went out to federal, state, local and tribal authorities, with spokesman Matt Chandler stressing that "this alleged al Qaeda plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change."

"We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. rail sector, but wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting; it is unclear if any further planning has been conducted since February of last year," Chandler said.

Material gathered from the same compound also suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the official.

U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appears especially interested in striking on significant dates like July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.

These threats come days after U.S. commandos were helicoptered into a northern Pakistan housing compound, where they killed bin Laden and four others, then took off with his body and numerous materials.

The cache included audio and video equipment, suggesting bin Laden may have taped makeshift messages there, a U.S. official said. Ten hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks and thumb drives, were also found, a senior U.S. official told CNN. Commandos also recovered five cell phones, paper documents and five guns, including AK-47s and pistols.

Earlier Thursday, a U.S. official speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity said that "valuable information has been gleaned already," though no specific plots or terrorist suspects were identified.

Members of the U.S. special operations unit involved in that raid will meet with President Barack Obama on Friday, a senior administration official said Thursday.

Obama will travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Friday "to privately thank some of the special operators involved in the operation," according to the official. On Wednesday, the president met at the White House with Adm. William McRaven, the head of the Joint Special Operations Command "to thank him personally."

More details, meanwhile, emerged Thursday about the operation engineered and executed by this team, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of debriefings from Navy SEALs involved.

The raid occurred in a span of 38 minutes early Monday morning, following CIA reports of repeated sightings of a tall man doing "prison yard walks" around the yard of the housing compound in Abbottabad, which was under constant surveillance, this official said. U.S. authorities never definitely determined beforehand that the man was in fact bin Laden, but they eventually concluded that there was enough evidence to go through with the operation.
The first man killed in the mission -- which this official said was code-named "Operation Neptune Spear" -- was the Kuwaiti courier who had worked for bin Laden. He was shot dead after a brief gunfight in a guest house. From that point on, it is now believed no other shots were fired at the U.S. forces, the official said -- which contrasts to earlier U.S. government reports describing the operation as a "firefight."

The troops then moved into the compound's main three-story building, where they shot and killed the courier's brother. As they went upstairs and around barricades, one of bin Laden's sons rushed at them and was subsequently killed, according to this latest account. Neither of these men had weapons either on them or nearby, this official said.

The U.S. official said that the team then entered the third-floor room where bin Laden was, along with his Yemeni wife and several young children. The al Qaeda leader was moving, possibly toward one of the weapons that were in the room, when he was shot, first in the chest and then in the head. He never had a gun in hand but, like the other men, posed an imminent threat, according to the U.S. official.

Afterward, one SEAL lay down beside the dead bin Laden to measure his height and further determine that he, in fact, was the man who for years has ranked atop the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list. He had 500 euros (about $745) in cash and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed, a congressional source present at a classified briefing on the operation told CNN Wednesday.

While the Friday meetings will focus on this raid, Thursday was about those personally affected by followers of bin Laden, when they turned hijacked jetliners filled with fuel and passengers into missiles aimed at New York and Washington.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The vast majority of the victims were killed when two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, causing them to collapse. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, killing 184 people, plus the five hijackers. The fourth hijacked jetliner was heading for a target in Washington when it crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers rushed to take control of the plane. Forty passengers and crew, not including the four hijackers, died in that crash.

Obama attended a wreath-laying ceremony and took part in a moment of silence at the latter site, which is now being rebuilt. The president also had lunch Thursday at the home of Engine Company 54, which lost 15 members in the towers' collapse.

The U.S. Navy SEAL team that killed bin Laden "were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost," Obama told the firefighters.

"It's some comfort, I hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made in the States," he said on his way into the firehouse.

Obama's meetings with firefighters were private exchanges, during which the president sought to mark the end of the nearly decade-long manhunt.

"Coming by was really a spectacular thing, you know," firefighter Joe Ceravolo told reporters after Obama's visit. "We just wanted to tell him we thank him for what he did on Sunday, and all the troops and all. We want to let them know that we're with them every step of the way, and God bless them. I mean, if it wasn't for them, you know, we'd still be chasing this guy."