Downplaying 'What Ifs'

Two Muslim men were charged Saturday with plotting to bomb a New York subway station near the Republican National Convention. But top city officials insisted the federal conspiracy case had no tie with the GOP gathering or intelligence suggesting that al-Qaida wants to attack financial targets in New York City and elsewhere before the Nov. 2 election.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly emphasized the pair had no explosives and no timeline for a plot that NYPD began tracking a year ago. “They had no connection to an international terrorist organization and they had no explosives in their possession,” Kelly said.