Data Show Bin Laden Plots; C.I.A. Hid Near Raided House

Data Show Bin Laden Plots; C.I.A. Hid Near Raided House

After reviewing computer files and documents seized at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, American intelligence analysts have concluded that the chief of Al Qaeda played a direct role for years in plotting terror attacks from his hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, United States officials said Thursday.
The C.I.A. had Bin Laden’s compound under surveillance for months before American commandos killed him in an assault on Monday, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a rented house nearby, according to several officials briefed on the operation.

The documents taken at the Abbottabad compound, according to American officials, show that Bin Laden was in touch regularly with the terror network he created. With his whereabouts and activities a mystery in recent years, many intelligence analysts and terrorism experts had concluded that he had been relegated to an inspirational figure with little role in current and future Qaeda operations.

A rushed examination of the trove of materials from the compound in Pakistan prompted Obama administration officials on Thursday to issue a warning that Al Qaeda last year had considered attacks on American railroads.

Loughner Gets New Charges

Loughner Gets New Charges

Federal prosecutors say they will file new murder charges against Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old college dropout held in the Tucson massacre.

Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, last week asked a judge to drop earlier charges in the slayings of U.S. District Judge John Roll and congressional aide Gabriel Zimmerman Jan 8.

Spokesman Robbie Sherwood told the Tucson Sentinel it was a "procedural matter" and the counts will be refiled before a March 9 status conference on the case.