A U.S. war with Iraq could sharply escalate a growing and hard-to-disrupt variant of international terrorism: sudden assaults by sympathizers acting alone or in small groups and motivated by religious fervor, U.S. and allied counter-terrorism officials say. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft warned the nation Friday of renewed threats by Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, publicly insisting that a recent spike in activity by terror cells around the globe is unrelated to the increasing likelihood of a military showdown with Iraq. Privately, however, U.S. counter-terrorism authorities and their counterparts overseas said that there is a connection, and that Al Qaeda cells are thought to be planning attacks against Americans and other Westerners as a show of solidarity with Muslims in Iraq. Full Story