- WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The
United
States must be on a heightened sense of alert in the coming days because
of possible new terrorist action, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said
Monday afternoon.
-
- In a quickly called news conference, Ashcroft said
intelligence
sources had found "credible" information the nation could be
the focus for some sort of terrorist attack within the week.
-
- He called on law enforcement agencies, citizens and U.S.
interests abroad to be on "highest alert."
-
- Ashcroft said the information authorities received was
not specific but was sufficient to share with the public.
-
- "I trust the American people to be able to
understand
... that they can make good judgments and understand this kind of
information,"
he said.
-
- The information is good, said FBI Director Robert
Mueller,
who also attended the conference.
-
- Officials do not know what might be attacked, or how,
said Mueller, calling on police and citizens to be "extremely
vigilant."
-
- Officials with various federal agencies, including the
EPA, FAA, FBI and Department of Transportation, have been alerted, Mueller
said.
-
- Earlier in October, the FBI issued a warning that there
were indications another terrorist attack could come "over the next
several days."
-
- The next several days passed uneventfully, although
officials
said they continued to remain on high alert.
-
- Earlier Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
went on the offensive against the Taliban, accusing the organization of
using civilians as human shields by placing military equipment in
residential
areas.
-
- "Brave people give their lives for this cause, and
needless to say, innocent bystanders can be caught in the crossfire,"
Rumsfeld said, responding to Taliban accusations that U.S. forces have
targeted civilians.
-
- "But let's be clear: No nation in human history
has done more to avoid civilian casualties than the United States has in
this conflict," he said.
-
- Rumsfeld, who vigorously defended the allied military
campaign against terrorist targets in Afghanistan, said the country's
ruling
Taliban are responsible for "every single casualty in this war."
He called the Taliban "an illegitimate, un-elected group of
terrorists."
-
- Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff,
said the U.S.-led air campaign, now in its fourth week, was hitting fewer
preplanned targets and instead was concentrating on Taliban military
hardware
and forces fighting against the opposition Northern Alliance north of the
Afghan capital, Kabul.
-
- U.S. jets resumed bombing Monday on the southern Taliban
stronghold of Kandahar after a relatively quiet Sunday night.
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