U.S. NAILS AL QAEDA INVOLVEMENT IN NEW TERROR PLOT – AT 9:04 A.M. ET:  From the AP:

WASHINGTON — US counter-terrorism officials on Friday said they believe that senior al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden, were involved in the latest terror plots against European cities.

The multi-pronged scope of the emerging plan — which aimed to launch coordinated shooting sprees or attacks in Britain, France and Germany — is an al-Qaida hallmark. One US intelligence official added, however, that the details of how the plan was directed or coordinated by the group's core leaders is not yet clear.

The involvement of bin Laden and his core leaders, believed to be in hiding in Pakistan, underscores concerns about that country's role as a haven for al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists. US officials have pressed Pakistan to increase its efforts to root out the militants hiding in the mountainous border region.

COMMENT:  The sheer extent of the reported plot, involving a number of countries and "Mumbai"-style attacks, is stunning.  Add Denmark, by the way, to the list of countries mentioned in the story. 

This plot is bad enough, on its own.  But flash ahead five or ten years later, when some terror groups are almost certain to get weapons of mass destruction, possibly beginning with biological weapons.  It is that prospect that makes it sheer folly to underplay the terror risk.

It's also sheer folly to revert back to our old strategy, popular again at the Department of Justice, to treat terror as simply a law-enforcement issue.  Please notice that the unmasking of this huge plot was accompanied by a dramatic increase in military strikes in Pakistan, many by pilotless drones.  Police forces simply do not have the "reach" of military forces.  I hope this plot makes that clear, even to Eric Holder.

October 2, 2010