By DAVID USBORNE
A series of intercepted telephone conversations between suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network prompted President George W. Bush's decision to order a general terror alert for the United States last week.
The calls indicated an attack against America that would be more devastating than the September 11 atrocities.
While the intelligence from the telephone calls was chilling, officials wrangled for hours over whether the public should hear about it.
A general warning issued by Attorney-General John Ashcroft on October 11 drew sharp criticism from some Congressmen who complained that the warning then was too vague to be of much use to the authorities but sufficiently ominous to unsettle already nervous Americans.
But Mr Bush decided the latest alert had to be put out.
Transcripts of the intercepts have not been made available but officials said they were especially frightening.
The FBI was opposed to issuing a country-wide alert while nothing more specific could be made available.
The agency feared that law enforcement authorities around the country would be irritated by a warning that had no substance.
Last week, the Governor of California, Gray Davis, made public a confidential warning that had been conveyed to him and to seven other western states by the FBI.
The warning said terrorists might be planning attacks on suspension bridges on the west coast.
The governor's announcement triggered charges that he was overreacting and sowing panic unnecessarily among Californians.
But there is speculation that nothing happened after the alert on October 11 because whatever had been allegedly planned by al Qaeda was either postponed or cancelled after some of its operatives were caught in the international anti-terror operation and arrested.
While most cities across America were already on very high alert, the alert last week may have galvanised officials once more to be on their toes.
No-flight zones were established around all of America's nuclear power plants and the Sears Tower in Chicago, now the country's tallest skyscraper.
- INDEPENDENT
Story archives:
Links: War against terrorism
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
Intercepts revealed plan for great devastation
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