• Some US attack threats 'fabricated' - Terrorist suspects probably lied when they warned that attacks on the United States were imminent, Bush administration officials have said. But they added that the dubious tip-offs were not the sole basis for raising the alert across the US last week to orange, the highest level since the anniversary of the 11 September attacks.   (Alt. Backup Link)   (Alt. Backup Link2)

• US Terror Alert A 'Hoax' - An al Qaeda informant whose 'dirty bomb' warning put America on 'orange alert' has failed a lie test, it has been reported. It means the alarm, which saw Americans being urged to put together survival kits, could have been a hoax.   (Alt. Backup Link)

• Ridge reveals clashes on alerts - The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says. Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled. His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's homeland security apparatus. Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.

• Britain accused on terror lab claim: Story of find in Afghan cave 'was made up' to justify sending marines - Britain was accused last night of falsely claiming that al-Qaeda terrorists had built a 'biological and chemical weapons' laboratory in Afghanistan to justify the deployment of 1,700 Royal Marines to fight there. The allegation follows a Downing Street briefing by a senior official to newspapers on Friday which claimed US forces had discovered a biological weapons laboratory in a cave in eastern Afghanistan after fighting near the city of Gardez this month.   (Alt. Backup Link)

• 'Chatter' about possible attacks said to be of doubtful credibility - U.S. intelligence has picked up mention of possible terror attacks planned for New York, Washington, Boston and more broadly, the U.S. coastlines. But federal law enforcement sources say there are doubts about the credibility of the threats. They also say those transmissions are not the reason why the government has raised the threat level to orange. Authorities said they have nothing credible suggesting a time, method or target. But, they're concerned that the recent attacks overseas could mean al-Qaeda is setting its sights on the U.S. again.   (Alt. Backup Link)

• HOMELAND INSECURITY: Terror alerts manufactured? - FBI agents say White House scripting 'hysterics' for political effect - Intelligence pros say the White House is manufacturing terrorist alerts to keep the issue alive in the minds of voters and to keep President Bush's approval ratings high, Capitol Hill Blue reports. The Thursday report said that the administration is engaging in "hysterics" in issuing numerous terror alerts that have little to no basis in fact. "Unfortunately, we haven't made a lot of progress against al-Qaida or the war on terrorism," one FBI agent familiar with terrorism operations told CHB. "We've been spinning our wheels for several weeks now."   (Alt. Backup Link)

• Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information - A key piece of the information leading to recent terror alerts was fabricated, according to two senior law enforcement officials in Washington and New York. The officials said that a claim made by a captured al Qaeda member that Washington, New York or Florida would be hit by a "dirty bomb" sometime this week had proven to be a product of his imagination.   (Alt. Backup Link)   (Alt. Backup Link2)

• Bin Laden video is compilation of repeats, says expert - Experts were puzzling over the latest videotape of Osama bin Laden yesterday in the hope of establishing firm clues which may indicate when and where the recording was made. Parts of the 105-minute tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel, on Wednesday night showed Bin Laden with his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who urged supporters to bury Americans in "the graveyard of Iraq".   (Alt. Backup Link)   (Alt. Backup Link2)

• Politics drove decision to raise alert level - Friday’s elevation of the terrorist threat level from yellow (moderate) to orange (high) ignited a heated debate within America’s intelligence community with some career professionals complaining the Bush administration is playing politics with the nation’s security. Highly-placed sources within both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency tell Capitol Hill Blue that while they have new information, they have no hard evidence a new attack is forthcoming from Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network or any of the dozens of other terrorist groups currently monitored.   (Alt. Backup Link)   (Alt. Backup Link2)

• France Finds No Evidence of Hijack Plot - French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said Thursday. American warnings of a plot had prompted Air France to cancel six flights on Wednesday between Paris and Los Angeles -- three in each direction -- amid a stepped-up terror alert level in the United States.

• ABC News 'suicide bomber threat' turns out to be false - AMERICA suffered a spasm of fear and alarm yesterday as two reports of terrorist activity rapidly gained credibility. The discovery of white powder on the Pennsylvania Avenue pavement outside the White House caused a section of central Washington to be cordoned off by police who put in progress a full-scale terrorist alert.

OTHER MATERIAL: -

• RELEVANT FLASHBACK TO FEBRUARY 2002: Pentagon plans propaganda war - The Pentagon is toying with the idea of black propaganda. As part of George Bush's war on terrorism, the military is thinking of planting propaganda and misleading stories in the international media. A new department has been set up inside the Pentagon with the Orwellian title of the Office of Strategic Influence.   (RELATED: See our Ministry of Truth archive)

• See our own Ministry of Truth Archive

• GLOBALCONSPIRACIES.COM - Fake Terror Alerts archive

• PRISONPLANET.COM - Fake Terror Alerts and the War on Terror