Terror Plot

Latest on the foiled terror plot in the UK:

British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage. Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said 21 people had been arrested in London, its suburbs and in Birmingham, including the alleged "main players" in the plot…

The U.S. government responded by raising its threat alert to its highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States amid fears the plot had not been completely crushed. The alert for all flights coming or going from the United States was also raised slightly.

In Washington, two U.S. counterterrorism officials said the terrorists had targeted United, American and Continental airlines. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations.

Big roundup here.

Comments

[Adam W.]

"They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case."

I've always thought this a lame excuse. Now, if they weren't authorized to speak, or if some details were classified, then fine. But the "sensitivity"???

[thoreau]

Are we sure that this wasn't a case of some crazy guys offering to blow up planes if MI5 gives them a free digital camera and combat boots?

[Adam W.]

Oh yeah, I forgot-I wonder if they used torture to find out about the plot...

[Mo]

Let's just say I'm going to have an absolute ball getting through British security this Sunday. And no carry-on? So that means I have to read SkyMall and listen to the Kenny G channel. Ugh.

BTW, I'm very glad that this was broken up now. I would much rather have the result of this incident be mild inconvience and griping by me rather than hundreds of deaths and utter fear of flying out of Heathrow.

[James Morgan]

They are never going to stop me flying.

[rox_publius]

get ready to walk everywhere...

naked.

[Mike]

All liquids and gels have now been banned from carry on luggage. Guess mile high club inductees will have to go without the K-Y for a while...

[Timothy]

All liquids and gels have now been banned from carry on luggage.

Because, clearly, MacGyver is plotting international terror now.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm glad that they've stopped the plot. Hopefully, they've apprehended everyone directly involved. The last thing the world needs is another successful al Qaeda attack on the U.S. or the U.K. I'm not sure I want to see our reaction to another major attack on our soil. Hitting al Qaeda wherever we can and forestalling these attacks as much as possible is something we can all agree on, I think. As long as our methods don't get. . .unsound.

How do 9/11 conspiracy theorists explain these guys continuing to attempt (and to commit) terrorist acts? Are they on the CIA payroll, is that the idea? Jesus. Reality is really tough for some people, I guess. And I thought I was paranoid about government!

I suppose this might not be al Qaeda, but it looks like it is. Them or the Popular Front of Judea. I always get them confused.

[John]

This is funny.

UK Panel Asks Why Do They Hate Airplanes?

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2306

Apparently Pro there are diarist on KOS who are blaming this on Blair's support of Bush. This is what you get when you are allied with Bush, because apparently the Muslim world and the radicals in particular loved the U.S. and the West before Bush. Reality is very difficult for a lot of people, especially when the reality is that there is a small but persistent group of people intent on creating as much death and mayhem as possible.

[Informed Observer]

How do 9/11 conspiracy theorists explain these guys continuing to attempt (and to commit) terrorist acts? Are they on the CIA payroll, is that the idea?

Since the only way we know about these plots are from the self-interested statements of government officials who have every reason to inflate the magnitude of the threats, reports of continued attempts at attacks are not particularly persuasive evidence that the US government was not, in some manner, complicit in the 9/11 attacks. (I'll add that I take no position on the correctness of this view; I'm merely explaining how some individuals could continue to discount the existence of al-Qaeda.)

[Garth]

Pro Libertate,

Not saying I am a 9/11 Conspircay Theorist but I would think that they would argue thusly:

1) There obviously are terrorist groups, Al Qaeda did attack the Cole and did blow up stuff in Africa and Europe and fellow travellers did attack the twin towers in the early 90's. And the fact of their existance allowed for a more credible 9/11 story. A real bolt from the blue would not have been believable... but with Osama lurking about we had a ready-made villan.

2) Our actions since 9/11 has spawned more terrorists (bcse more people are angry with us) and whether these guys are AQ or some new group matters not... if anything they are unwitting dupes: carrying on with terror attacks plays directly into the desires of the real authors of 9/11

[Pro Libertate]

Ahem. My point was that there are guys out there claiming to be responsible for all of this, and they show up on TV, in other venues, and get arrested from time to time. Unless you want to posit that all of the terror attacks in the world are secretly being carried out by the U.S. and the Illuminati, well, I think these "confessions" are yet one more item on the HUGE pile of physical and eyewitness evidence that says that JFK did not go to the Moon. Wait, is that right?

[Mark VIII]

Holy crap!

My housemate is stuck at Heathrow waiting for a flight to Morocco! She might not get away for the next couple of days...

Mmmaaannn, she is going to be in such a bad mood when she gets back. I might have to lay low.

[Pro Libertate]

Look. 9/11 conspiracists are as easy to reason with as Creationists. Proof and logic are not the issue. The core assumptions are. This is one of those extraordinary claims that requires extraordinary evidence. Yet all the good evidence is on the other side of the debate. That's a problem. Heck, I don't trust the government much at all--after all, I am a libertarian--but this stuff is simply unreasonable.

See Popular Mechanics - Debunking The 9/11 Myths.

[Don Coyote]

The suspects are all British-born of Pakistani origin according to reports.

[Mark VIII]

The suspects are all British-born of Pakistani origin according to reports.

If this turns out to be true then I think the proportionate response for the UK would be to nuke Pakistan.

'Only way to be sure'

[MikeWebkist]

The suspects are all British-born of Pakistani origin according to reports.

If this turns out to be true then I think the proportionate response for the UK would be to nuke Pakistan.

Or, to be consistent with US policy, the appropriate response would be to invade Myanmar. 🙂

[Russ 2000]

If this turns out to be true then I think the proportionate response for the UK would be to nuke Pakistan.

The proportionate response would be for the UK to also nuke Britain.

[Eryk Boston]

I happen to be in England now with plans to fly home on Sunday. I'm pleased the UK people did this right (I'm assuming for now that they did) but I'm seriously not looking forward to going through airport security.

[Mark VIII]

Actaully, I've been thinking about this for about a minute; We need to somehow get France involved in the plot. Man, I'd love it if we nuked France.

Zut Alors!

[Mo]

Eryk,
What airline are you flying on and to where (Boston?)? I'll be on American to Chitown.

[Jack D. Ripper]

I don't care what the airport policy is.

They will not forbid my precious bodily fluids.

[XON]

Not to shill for the tin-foil hat brigade, but does anyone smell the connection between yesterday's Lieberman loss to the "Anti-War" Democrat, and the, literally instant, revelation by the Republican government that "The World is Unsafe!!! We will Protect You!!"

Seems like the 2008 campaign battle lines are shaping up.

[Mark VIII]

I'm seriously not looking forward to going through airport security.

I flew to the New York about a month after Sept 11th. On the flight out of JFK they made me take my trousers off. I normally like doing this especially in public, the only downside was that I had just been to the loo and I had a pee drip, like a rough outline of Spain on my underpanse. My dignity took a hit that day.

I was going to crack a gag along the lines of 'so you think I'm concealing a deadly weapon. Well, in many ways I am' and then raising an eyebrow a la Roger Moore. However, the airport dude didn't look like the sort of person who would appreciate the gag. Plus, it's kinda gay if you say that to another male.

[R C Dean]

does anyone smell the connection between yesterday's Lieberman loss to the "Anti-War" Democrat, and the, literally instant, revelation by the Republican government that "The World is Unsafe!!! We will Protect You!!"

Only if you believe the US President controls the British police.

[Eryk Boston]

Mo, I'll be on Virgin to Virginia (funny, eh?). Boston is my last name, not my home now that I've left MA. By the way, I do hope you plan to stop at Logan on your way to Chitown...I don't recall seeing much of a landing strip there.

Mark....if you're willing to discuss the urine stains on your undergarments on the web then you really have no business complaining about your injured dignity.

[wingnutx]

does anyone smell the connection between yesterday's Lieberman loss to the "Anti-War" Democrat, and the, literally instant, revelation by the Republican government that "The World is Unsafe!!! We will Protect You!!"

Wouldn't that have worked better before the election?

[independent worm]

Curious to see how this turns out. A few years ago, I read a huge blaring headline titled "OLD TRAFFORD BOMB PLOT FOILED". The terrorists were going to blow themselves up inside Old Trafford during a Manchester United/Liverpool match, which was being telecast live around the world. The bombers had tickets and everything!

Fast forward to two weeks later: there were no bombers after all. A dark-skinned Man U fan had an old ticket stub from a match he went to tacked to his wall. Somehow, British intelligence learned about the man's ticket stub, and turned it into "60,000 people are going to be blown up."

This here plot today may well have been legit. Maybe you really can blow up a plane with a disposable camera, some peroxide and a can of Red Bull.

My wife says if this bomb plot could really happen, then there ought to be warning labels on peroxide bottles, warning us to keep them away from the nail polish remover.

[Russ 2000]

worm,

they were gonna do the mentos-and-diet-coke trick on the plane.

[Pro Libertate]

Mythbusters did the Mentos-Diet Coke thing last night. So cool. And explosive, in a non-terroristic way.

[Pro Libertate]

Mythbusters did the Mentos-Diet Coke thing last night. So cool. And explosive, in a non-terroristic way.

[Pro Libertate]

Mythbusters did the Mentos-Diet Coke thing last night. So cool. And explosive, in a non-terroristic way.

[Pro Libertate]

I wonder what would happen if I added Mentos and Diet Coke to the Hit & Run server?

[D-FENS]

they were gonna do the mentos-and-diet-coke trick on the plane.

Officer, I have a perfectly good explanation for this case of Pop Rocks and the two-liter bottle of Coke...

[Timon19]

I'm in Abu Dhabi for the next week. Luckily, my collegue from Texas didn't take American and BA through Heathrow, but it's going to be bad enough for us on our way back as it is.

Yippee.

[Chris Baker]

I hardly believe anything the feds say. I definitely think there is a connection between Joe Leiberman and this. It also might backfire this fall.

Wake up, people.

[wingnutx]

Joe Leiberman runs MI5 from behind the scenes, via his brothers in the International Zionist Conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.

[Chris Baker]

Incidentally, I tried to post similar comments on BlogSouthwest. My comments didn't get posted, and they closed the topic.