WASHINGTON -- The US State Department may issue a travel warning as early as Sunday advising Americans to stay away from European tourist sites, transportation hubs and other facilities because of fresh threat information, U.S. officials said Saturday.
| It's issued, per the New York Times. |
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the administration remains focused on al-Qaida threats to U.S. interests and will take appropriate steps to protect Americans.
A European official briefed on the talks said the language in the U.S. alert is expected to be vague. It won't address a specific country or specific landmarks, the official said.
| Airports, public transport, hotels, large public spaces. Germany, France, Britain, possibly Belgium and Italy. The captured German citizen, Ahmed Sidiqui, of Afghan ethnicity, seems to be saying a great deal. Drudge has links to more news reports. |
European and U.S. officials have not identified any specific targets that terrorists might be considering, the official said. Officials have called the threat credible but not specific.
The U.S. has told European leaders that the alert would be intended to raise the warning level to match the information about the would-be attack that surfaced last week, the European official said. The European official said there had not been strong opposition to the proposed alert from European leaders.
Intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden
| if he's not cranberry jam in a cave in Tora-Bora... |
is behind the terror plots to attack several European cities. If this is true, this would be the most operational role that bin Laden has played in plotting attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.
The implications of a blanket "travel warning" for all of Europe could be big. There are hundreds of thousands of Americans in Europe at any one time, including tourists, students and businesspeople. While the government cannot stop people from traveling there or force them to return home, a warning could result in canceled airline and hotel bookings as well as deter non-U.S. travelers from going to Europe. In addition, many U.S. college and university study-abroad programs will not send students to countries for which a warning is in place for insurance and liability reasons. |