Source: Terrorists behind embassy threat in place

◼ The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports. - CBS

The threat information has been described as the most specific and credible since the foiled plot to blow up British planes en route to the United States in 2006, Miller reports. The specificity ends there.

What authorities don't have is the date, the timing or the target of the attack, which is why they have taken such an approach to warning potential targets, Miller reports.

The threat has prompted the U.S. to issue a global travel warning to all Americans for the first time since the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

White House officials said President Obama was briefed Saturday morning on the potential terrorist threat before departing for Camp David, CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.

◼ Al Qaeda haunts August as State Dept. issues
worldwide travel alert, closes embassies - Ben Wolfgang/Washington Times
◼ Vague warnings, non-specific locations, and a trail of unanswered questions hint at head fake. - Discussion at Lucianne

◼ Report: Al Qaeda in Yemen Was in
'Final Stages´ of Planning Attack - Abby Ohlheiser/Atlantic
◼ A senior Yemeni national security official told CNN that the government was "on high alert against possible attacks in the days to come." - Discussion at Lucianne

◼ On the Embassy Closures - Erick Stakelbeck/National Review Online
◼ Obama was right. Al-Qaeda IS on the run - right toward our embassies. - Discussion at Lucianne

◼ U.S. Sees Threat of al Qaeda Attack - Jay Solomon, Siobhan Gorman/Wall Street Journal

◼ link - Doug Hagmann/Canada Free Press

There is one thing certain about the publicized threat to our embassies; it is not what it is presented to be. To accept the official explanation of a nebulous threat from al Qaeda as the reason for closing our embassies across the Middle East and North Africa is being dangerously naive and simplistic.

This is much more serious than what we are being told, but not for the reasons we are being given. We are seeing the consequences of a long running “Cold War” on two major fronts of political conflict that could escalate into military engagement with proxy nations of world super powers. The world, and life as we know it, could change in an instant should we awaken one morning to the news of bombs flying across the Middle East. That is a very real possibility, as we are now in a heightened proxy war environment. We are standing in a thick forest of dry tinder, and the smallest of sparks could ignite a conflagration the likes of which we have never before seen....