Anticipating Al Qaeda's Next Bomb Plot
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Intelligence agencies are revealing more about the plot to send package bombs to Chicago. We hear about a possible dry run in September, about al Qaeda in Yemen and about the threat to worldwide shipments of air cargo. Also, the ugly campaigns and angry voters of 2010 midterm elections. On Reporter's Notebook, stalled talks on Iran's nuclear program were on again last Friday. On Sunday, President Ahmadinejad said they're off again. We get an update on the talks and the growing impact of international sanctions.
Banner image: A Yemeni man leaves a branch of the US package delivery firm UPS in Sanaa on October 30, 2010. Photo: Mohammad Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
Making News
The Ugly Campaigns, Angry Voters of Midterm Elections 2010 ()
The late House Speaker Sam Rayburn liked to say that in Washington, "if you want to get along, go along." Now there's a new rule: "if you want to get along, make damn sure you don't go along." That's according to Carl Cannon, executive editor of PoliticsDaily.com.
Guests:
- Carl Cannon: Executive Editor, Politics Daily
Main Topic
What's the Next Surprise from al Qaeda? ()
Intelligence agencies say that last September they may have discovered a dry run for the package bombs found Friday in the UK and Dubai. All the intercepted packages contained were books, papers, CD's and household items, and they were allowed to continue to their destinations. Both recent incidents involved shipments from Yemen bound for Chicago, and it's now presumed the bombs were designed to explode in the air. We hear more about the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who tipped off Saudi intelligence, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and politics in Yemen. Is there any way to protect the multi-billion dollar air-cargo system that's a mainstay of the global economy?
Guests:
- Robert Worth: Beirut Bureau Chief, New York Times
- Gregory Johnsen: PhD Candidate in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
- Brian Fishman: Counterterrorism Research Fellow, New America Foundation, @brianfishman
- Yossi Sheffi: Director, MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Iran Agrees to Talk, but Not about Its Nuclear Program ()
President Ahmadinejad says international sanctions are making Iran stronger, but there's evidence they're squeezing the economy and making life increasingly difficult for individual citizens. Meantime stalled talks on Iran's nuclear program were on again, but now they're off again. This month, the US Institute of Peace Press will release The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and US Policy, which contains top-level briefings by 50 seasoned experts from 28 foreign-policy think-tanks, eight universities and six administrations. The editor is former reporter Robin Wright, now a fellow at the Institute.
Guests:
- Robin Wright: Senior Fellow, US Institute of Peace, @wrightr
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