"Most of the al Qaeda surveillance of five financial institutions that led to a new terrorism alert Sunday was conducted before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and authorities are not sure whether the casing of the buildings has continued since then, numerous intelligence and law enforcement officials said yesterday.

More than half a dozen government officials interviewed yesterday, who declined to be identified because classified information is involved, said that most, if not all, of the information about the buildings seized by authorities in a raid in Pakistan last week was about three years old, and possibly older." [via The Washington Post]

Interstingly, CNN is reporting that the arrest of Muhammad Naeem Moor Khan, rather than three-year old intelligence, has led to the increased terror warning.

Because President Bush is apparently fond of a children's book called "The Pet Goat," I'll endeavor to bring things down to that level. We all learned the problems associated with situations like this as children, thanks to the fairytale of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

We've already lost the faith and support of most of the world. Lets not lose the faith of the American public by releasing three year-old information as if it is something new. I'd hate for real information to be lost because the public stops believing the Bush Administration's warnings. And, certainly, don't release this information at a time when it could be interpreted as a political ploy.