Al Qaeda “chatter” is intensifying. So, too, are threats of retaliation to any US-led invasion by Saddam Hussein. And Islamic groups sympathetic to Iraq’s plight – like the Palestinian Hamas – are threatening to strike US interests. That’s why US officials have placed the terrorist threat index at “high risk,” only the second time it’s been raised to that level since 9/11. While authorities have long predicted another terrorist attack on US targets, either at home or abroad, intelligence officials and outside experts see several factors at work that make this a particularly vulnerable time: Full Story