Congress to hold new al-Qaida hearings

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Congress will hold new hearings on the revival of al-Qaida, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said Tuesday.

"In the days ahead, the House Armed Services Committee plans to hold a joint hearing with the House Intelligence Committee on the resurgence of al-Qaida and the threat that poses to the United States, and I hope that the administration will cooperate in this effort," Skelton, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, said in a statement.

"Together, we must ensure that our nation maintains its focus on the real war against terrorists in Afghanistan," the HASC chairman said.

Skelton was reacting to the news that the latest National Intelligence Estimate reported that al-Qaida had regrouped along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that it now once again had developed the capabilities it showed on Sept. 11, 2001, to launch terrorist attacks against the U.S. homeland.

The group was responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed four airliners, damaged the Pentagon and destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, killing more than 2,800 Americans. It was the worst attack on American civilians in U.S. history.