FBI warns on al-Qaida's English messages

WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- The FBI says al-Qaida is issuing video messages in English to get Muslim extremists in the United States to carry out terror attacks.

Speaking on C-SPAN Television, FBI Director of Public Affairs John Miller said al-Qaida leaders have stepped up the tempo of their public messages in an effort to inspire others to compensate for their network's reduced ability directly to execute attacks.

"You see that they put out more communications than they used to, that they have picked up the tempo and pace a great deal," Miller said. He said al-Qaida's "ability to function as a corporate structure" had been impaired "because of the capture and killing of so many of its key leaders."

As a result, "al-Qaida has tried to put the message out to get others to step forward ... and do things in its name," Miller said. "I think what al-Qaida is counting on now ... is trying to develop and execute the major (attack) plan while at the same time putting out the propaganda fodder and hoping that others will take that ball and run with it. And they're counting on both happening at once."

He said the result was plots like the one foiled at Fort Dix, N.J. -- hatched by "people who not only have no connection to al-Qaida but couldn't contact al-Qaida if they wanted to."

"Yet," he added, "they're acting on al-Qaida's propaganda-driven instructions, or at least inspired by al-Qaida."

Miller said al-Qaida was issuing more messages in English, or with English subtitles. "They have realized that they are reaching out to a diverse audience of people," he said. "They don't want to discriminate through language."

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor