Is al-Qaeda's Man Playing Games?

By Elaine Shannon

Abu Zubaydah, the strategist for al-Qaeda nabbed in Pakistan last month, may be taunting the American military and intelligence personnel who visit his hospital bed at a secret facility overseas. He told them Osama bin Laden's terror cells are targeting U.S. banks on the Eastern seaboard, but the Americans wonder if it's for real. "If he could screw with our heads," says a U.S. official, "he probably would." When the interrogators' report reached Washington last Wednesday, it triggered a series of White House meetings and secure teleconferences among top Bush Administration officials. There was plenty of skepticism. And no one wanted to upset the banking sector with an unnecessary alert. (A warning issued the previous Monday was traced to a hoax perpetrated by a Dutch teenager.)

On the other hand, Abu Zubaydah's mention of financial institutions as potential targets was bolstered, says an official, by "cryptic references to banks" gleaned elsewhere by U.S. intelligence. "These kind of things are not taken lightly," says an official.

In the end, the FBI issued an alert carefully hedged with disclaimers about the sources' credibility and lack of specifics. The alert level remained at yellow. Nonetheless, the warning, issued Friday, cast a pall over the stock market in afternoon trading and provoked complaints about vague alerts.

This may not be the last scramble Abu Zubaydah sets in motion. He is said to be recovering fast from multiple gunshot wounds suffered as he tried to escape the strike force of Pakistani security officers, supported by FBI and CIA personnel, who tracked him down in central Pakistan. U.S. officials find him surprisingly talkative, for an unrepentant fanatic, but insist he's not being subjected to duress and is not heavily drugged. Says one: "We have our ways." Yes, but so does Abu Zubaydah. --By Elaine Shannon