Republican Doubts Taliban Link to New York Plot --Obama can't be that smart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee cast doubt on Tuesday on the Obama administration's assertions that the Pakistani Taliban orchestrated the attempted car bombing in New York on May 1.

Senator Kit Bond, after a briefing by U.S. counterterrorism and law enforcement officials, said it was not confirmed the accused bomber -- Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan -- was working for the Islamist group.

"I am not convinced by the information that I've seen so far that there was adequate, confirmable intelligence to corroborate the statements that were made on Sunday television shows," Bond told reporters after the classified briefing.

"We've heard lots of suspicions and tenuous connections, but as far as I'm concerned you can't make statements prior to getting the intelligence."


Republican Doubts Taliban Link to New York Plot