Timing of plot news fit Bush's agenda Some say backlash could occur if public suspects political motives

The announcement Monday that U.S. officials had nabbed an alleged al-Qaeda terrorist who had planned to explode a radioactive ''dirty bomb'' in the USA meshed neatly with President Bush's agenda.

It came four days after Bush proposed a homeland security department in his Cabinet and 10 days after he began describing a doctrine of pre-emptive military strikes against countries that threaten the United States. It seemed to add impetus to his argument that Saddam Hussein must be ousted before Iraq sells weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

But some people, especially some Democrats, wondered Tuesday whether the arrest announcement dovetailed a little too tidily with Bush's agenda.

Those questions were fueled by the fact that the announcement came a month after Abdullah Al Muhajir's arrest May 8 and by reports Tuesday that he had no radioactive material, no concrete plan and no target.

''It would just be interesting to know why any particular day is chosen more than a month after the fact to make an announcement, especially an announcement of this magnitude,'' says Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. Other Democrats in Washington said the same thing privately.

Bush's stage-managing of public pronouncements to serve his goals is a technique every president has used. Trying to dominate news coverage to remind voters that he and fellow Republicans are leading the war on terror is a perquisite of the presidency.