By George Anderson
Investigators now say they have no evidence that men arrested for allegedly lying to the FBI about their involvement with al-Qaeda had specific plans to carry out an attack in the U.S.
One of the men, 22-year-old American citizen Hamid Hayat, in previous reports was said to have admitted under questioning that he flew back to the U.S. after training in an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan for six months and pledging to carry out a terrorist attack with the most likely targets being a large hospital or grocery store.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the lawyer for Mr. Hayat, Wazhma Mojaddidi, said any suggestion his client was engaged in terrorism was a "false statement."
Moderator's Comment: Is the retail industry, specifically companies in the grocery channel, prepared to prevent and/or deal with a terrorist attack should it take place in a store crowded with shoppers? Do you think stores will change their approach to security after the initial reports coming out of the alleged al-Qaeda case in California? - George Anderson - Moderator