Yeah. I heard about it last night and then later this morning. Did you??? A plot to blow up 6 to 10 airliners flying over the Atlantic from the UK to the USA. But they captured and arrested 21 fellows -- gentlemen -- of Pakistani background though I believe they were, as the jargon goes these days, "homegrown."

See, they wanted to do something big. Several trans-Atlantic planes exploding near simultaneously would have been big, too. Better lie low for a month or so.

So they came up with a plan to have liquid explosives within contact lens solution bottles, say, and assemble their devices probably in the jet's bathrooms and then detonate oh, maybe with a cellphone. Gotta admire the innovative nature of the enemy. But if your sole higher purpose in life is discovering ever new and novel ways to explode things, well, then you've got your finger on the pulse beat of the Demolition Community, I suppose.

All of which makes me wonder what the end game is. What do you get when/if you win? What is this Alternative New World Order you Big Boom types would like in the place of our formerly mostly functional societies and civilizations? And I am so pissed that my 82 year old mom, who was already loathe to fly because of the difficulties of dealing with airports, will be even less likely to leave her Michigan home. Thanks a lot, guys.

In the meantime, not only the Iraq war but also the Eez{{{rah}}}ay-Lee Aggression seems to have fallen by the Cable News Wayside. End the Occupation Now. Big A.N.S.W.E.R. rally coming up Saturday by the way. Gotta get the Jewish Threat under control and all the major Muslim groups are participating.  Then there's bu$hCo trying to undermine the world and evade prosecution for his war crimes.  There's so much to do!  

Time to go gather my dwindling wits and finish this cup of coffee.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

That's a relief, Erwin!  For a teeny tiny moment, I thought there might be a pattern emerging.  Guess I was leaping to a connect-the-dots mode too quickly.  I'll settle back now, wait a few more years and check back with you later.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Here's the way George "Stratfor" Friedman breaks it down as of now. It's rather optimistic vis a vis Al Qaeda. Wish I could say the same of Iran and their Hezbollah-boys-gone-wild. 

Susan

STRATFOR SPECIAL REPORT

08.10.2006

Red Alert: The Plot to Attack British Airliners

Scotland Yard successfully penetrated the plotters of a mass terrorist attack against airliners bound from the United Kingdom to the United States on Aug. 10 British time, resulting in the capture of nine people who planned to use liquid explosives contained in carry-on luggage to down the planes. Current reports indicate at least 21 people have been arrested in total, and perhaps the cell contains as many as 50 people.

There are four takeaway lessons from this incident:

First, while there obviously remains a threat from those not only sympathetic to al Qaeda, but actually participating in planning with those in the al Qaeda apex leadership, their ability to launch successful attacks outside of the Middle East is severely degraded.

Second, if the cell truly does have 50 people and 21 have already been detained, then al Qaeda might have lost its ability to operate below the radar of Western -- or at least U.K. -- intelligence agencies. Al Qaeda's defining characteristic has always been its ability to maintain operational security. If that has been compromised, then al Qaeda's importance as a force has diminished greatly.

Third, though further attacks could occur, it appears al Qaeda has lost the ability to alter the political decision-making of its targets. The Sept. 11 attack changed the world. The Madrid train attacks changed a government. This failed airliner attack only succeeded in closing an airport temporarily.

Fourth, the vanguard of militant Islam appears to have passed from Sunni/Wahhabi al Qaeda to Shiite Iran and Hezbollah. It is Iran that is shaping Western policies on the Middle East, and Hezbollah who is directly engaged with Israel. Al Qaeda, in contrast, appears unable to do significantly more than issue snazzy videos.

This shift will obviously refocus Western -- and particularly U.S. -- foreign policy from the old threat to the new threat.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

George is busy today. Just received this email message on the same subject. The thing is, the airlines don't feed you anymore and they often lose (misplace) your checked bags. But you can't carry your lotions, you can't carry on a bottled water or your Starbucks Latte, and heaven forbid you've got cough medicine in your carry-on.

Ah, I miss the good old days when you parked at an airport and ticketed passengers along with their friends and family could just walk into the terminal, stroll down to the gate and together wait for boarding. You could even go ON the plane to say goodbye. No metal detectors, no lines, and full meals served with metal flatware.

Thanks a lot, you humiliated losers. Though I don't think they can be blamed for the shrinking leg room.

Susan

Don't even get me STARTED on him and his attitude today. (Well, if you need to, my blog says it all, but believe me, it's not for the sqeamish,) but. what part of the phrase "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" did he not hear?

............it is EXACTLY what happened here today, and is going to be happening for the next few days (we have been told that every airport in the country is on critical alert and investigations will be going on at least for a few more days, delays, no travel unless absolutely essential, etc, etc) That is the kind of thing that puts me off going to the fest, or rather getting a flight to the U.S.  I knew something like this was coming, and we are being told an attack is still imminent. 

And the reaction we get from the U.S is people complaining about having to throw out a bottle of water or be without an I-Pod?????  If I give full vent to my feelings at the moment I will probably be banned so I will have to grin and bear it. 

To give you a better clue of how I am feeling about this whole thing, I shall leave you with this...

you can use your imagination to work out who the dude on the right is.

"watch out for my cousin.."

Oops, I think Maddy misinterpretted my "George."  Either that or she is really pissed off at George Friedman for some reason.  Who knew George was so well-known as to inspire blog rants?

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Huh. I hope you never go to my blog and copy something and then paste in into some public forum... Now you know, mister!

Ditte 

Maddy's blog entry has totally confused me....

Jordan .

By the way, nice work by M I 5, Scotland Yard, Musharef's intelligence group, and U S's NSA phone chatter pick up. Glad the New York Times didn't tip off the terrorists on this one.

(Man, i wish I had a dollar for every time I heard or read the word " twarted" today.)

What does "schtum" mean?

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

How is it possible Susan doesn't know what 'schtum' means?

On topic:

Roll on the golden future age of teleporting as means of transportation.

 I deliberately removed the blog from my profile hoping no-one here would be able to read it, except friends, etc. And by the way, Clown I didn't mention it "so prominently", I mentioned it ONCE.

Due to the fact I had already moved it from my profile I am curious as to how you got the link, and why you felt it your right to put it there? Because it's not. If I wanted everyone to see it, I would have left it there on my profile, or said "hey! go read my blog at.." As it is though, I shall just change it to a private or friends only entry if I don't delete the damn thing altogether.

It's exactly this kind of violation of privacy that makes me feel like I have no damn freedom of speech anymore I am not even saying it ON here, I am saying it on my own blog and, as I alrady said was not prepared to discuss it anyway (at length I mean). And I am not answering any questions about my entry on here, I said ON here what I wanted to say in reference to the discussion, above. Maybe I should close the damn thing down. I have already made everey entry private for the last month almost but obviously people think it is their right to violate that.

And yes Susan I did misinterpret your George.

"watch out for my cousin.."

Internet stalkers- have no life.

"IMHO" - YOUR opinion, does not mean everyone else agrees with you, or you have rhe right to violate people's privacy or stalk them all over the internet.

Entry now gone! As will be your access to it in a minute!

By the way, an internet blog is an online journal/diary.   It is not an extension of this board as you seem to think, or have anything to do with this board and what I post here, unless I say it is/have it on my user profile, which I don't.

It does have privacy, in the sense that I, and only I, decide who gets the address, or link, and when.

If you have nothing better to do with your time than stalk me- well, that says it all really.

"watch out for my cousin.."

Do you know, all I'm going to say is yes, a blog can be a public domain and easily traceable but that doesn't mean you want pieces quoted from it in other places without your prior knowledge. Whatever the quote may be and however harmless it might seem, it is all too easy to take one sentence from a whole entry out of context.

It is a bit rude, frankly. Maddy is entitled to her opinion on this subject and if she can't post it on her own blog without it then turning up on an unrelated site without her knowing, whether or not it is on the same subject, then that's a little out of order.

Anyhoo. I look forward to carrying my meagre possessions in a clear plastic bag when I fly to France next month to see my parents...

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

That´s not fair at all, CCC. Now you are just making fun of her. It´s childish.... 

These are times that cry out for the wisdom I learned from the webmaster himself, Jordan.

Here was his advice to me many moons ago. I've employed it countless times since before whipping out a reactionary email in the heat of the moment and I've done the same here particularly on the Political forum -- Sleep on it. In fact, I did it yesterday. Here. On this thread. Though I left the one question.

None of this distraction would have occurred had that wise admonition been utilized.

Everybody has moments of excessive emotional overflow. Offering it up on the Internet provokes a response. I think that's natural. If there are fundamental differences of opinion - i.e. supporting war or anti-war -- colorful opinions served up fresh with raw emotion are likely to add fuel to other simmering flames. Perfectly natural.

Then we end up debating privacy issues on the Internet. Or etiquette. And on to the absurd realm of criminal behavior!

I would like to mention that a 17-year old, a pregnant young woman and a young mother would be considered by many to be in that amorphous group known to some as "civilians" who are afforded special hands-off immunity in some circles. One of each of these three categories has been arrested in connection with the terrorist threat to commit mass murder yesterday.

Years ago in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I heard someone say that the long struggle ahead would be not so much a war of destruction but a war of disruption. Yesterday was an example. Disruption can be a prelude to destruction but how I hope that it is not the intended victims of the jihad who destroy one another.

Susan

PS  I've never been good with foreign languages 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Been looking around the Internet for info on the 21 guys arrested for something in England and find this guy...

...whose sister claims he was chummy with Jihadi George Galloway! Shocking. Not.

So this guy did the obligatory "martyrdom video." I can't wait to see what he used as a backdrop! Maybe we'll have to wait a good while though since I believe the Brits are more careful about releasing pre-trial information.

Do we think it's time for some nouveau type of prosecution for terrorist suspects, by the by? I'm looking ahead and it just seems to me we might not want to draw from the same jury and defense lawyer pool as your common criminal. I'm opposed to treating terrorist suspects as "soldiers" as if they are POWs. Well, we'll have many many years to work out the kinks and come up with a special category.

Susan 

British police find martyrdom video
Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent
12aug06

BRITISH police claim to have found a "martyrdom video" in which one of the 24 British Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to destroy up to a dozen passenger aircraft sets out his reasons for joining the planned suicide attack.

British officials said the damning evidence had been found in the home of one of the suspects, who include a 23-year-old biochemistry student and a Heathrow security guard with an all-areas access pass.

The guard was in his airport uniform when he was arrested and led away in handcuffs.

The suspects are mostly of Pakistani origin but two are white converts to Islam. Abdul Waheed, 21, changed his name from Don Stewart-Whyte six months ago after growing up as the son of a Conservative Party official.

Neighbours said Waheed, whose father died when he was 14, had abandoned a life of drugs and alcohol when he became a Muslim, and was working as a salesman at an electrical store.

Another convert, 25-year-old Oliver Savant of east London, had changed his first name to Ibrahim.

Each of the converts grew a beard, shaved his head, began wearing white robes and married an Arabic or south Asian Muslim woman.

Waheed, of High Wycombe, west of London, and Savant were arrested on Wednesday night as hundreds of police swooped to head off what they allege would have been a deadlier attack than the 9/11 World Trade Centre disaster. Most of the suspects were described by neighbours as devout Muslims.

Another two of those arrested in High Wycombe were named as cricket-loving brothers Amjad and Assad Sawar. The brothers, in their 20s, are married and live in a semi-detached house with their wives and parents.

"They used to play football with everybody down the park up until about three years ago," one neighbour said. "Since then they have been very quiet."

Other neighbours said the men had recently shunned their local mosque and had started to wear more traditional clothing and visit an Islamic bookshop.

Witnesses in Birmingham said they saw up to 20 police chase two brothers, who ran away but were caught.

British officials said they acted after learning that the 24 men were planning to conduct a "trial run" as soon as this weekend and that, if it worked, they would have gone ahead within days and blown up a number of packed holiday-season flights to the US.

Police have not yet found any explosives or chemicals but a US congressional source told reporters the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a peroxide-based compound to make a potent explosive that could be ignited with an MP3 player or mobile phone.

Pakistan announced that it had arrested two British men of Pakistani origin in Lahore and Karachi last week to help break the plot and said it had provided crucial information to help British investigators.

The Pakistani Government, which is keen to improve its reputation for fighting terrorism, also said it had detained the head of the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba. However, it was not clear if that was directly related to the British plot.

US officials said money had been sent from Pakistan to the ringleaders, several of whom had visited Pakistan. Britain froze 19 of the suspects' bank accounts, which reportedly hold suspiciously large amounts of money.

The alleged plot led to a security clampdown on Thursday that forced the cancellation of 600 flights at London's Heathrow airport alone.

The knock-on effect at other airports disrupted the travel of more than 400,000 people.

Police say the plot involved taking liquid chemicals on board as hand luggage and using them to make explosives.

Security officials responded with the tightest-ever crackdown on hand luggage, which will continue for some time.

American officials said the plot was the most serious terror threat to the US since September 11, 2001, with President George W.Bush saying it was a reminder that his country was "at war with Islamic fascists".

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the scheme had been "really quite close to the execution phase".

"The conception, the large number of people involved, the sophisticated design of the devices that were being considered and the sophisticated nature of the plan all suggest that this group that came together to conspire was very determined, and very skilled, and very capable," Mr Chertoff said.

Despite a long-running investigation, intelligence agents had learned only in the past fortnight that the targets would be flights to the US.

Mr Chertoff said the plan had many of the characteristics of an al-Qa'ida operation - a so-called terrorist spectacular aimed at multiple targets.

The plotters are believed to have studied the timetables of three US airlines - American, Continental and United - and to have planned to attack flights to New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The ABC television network in the US reported that five suspects were still at large.

However, British police insisted they had detained all their known suspects.

Home Secretary John Reid said he had imposed the country's top level of security warning as a precaution in case there was some unforeseen back-up plan to launch another terror raid.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

QUOTE: ...and a Heathrow security guard with an all-areas access pass.

If this is true, then this is scary.

Kelly

How Do You Live Your Dash?

Check out the Kids' blogs:
The CaleBlog and the Zoe Blog

To risk being politically incorrect and even a bit of a stereotypist , but I gotta say that parking garage at Sea-Tac International always gives me the temporary willies. When we pick up our rental car, I like to get out from under that massive structure in a jiffy. Seems to me a strategically located explosive down below might be very devastating. KAPOW! Something about the 'fashion' down under in that garage that makes me feel I'm at Islamabad's international airport...

I once had a roommate who was very late in coughing up her half of the rent every month. As the time rolled around each month, I'd ask her, "Roommate, do you have your share of the rent?" The lease was in my name. She often responded like this: "I don't want to discuss it!" "Oh," I would answer.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Quote :    "   Another convert, 25-year-old Oliver Savant of east London, had changed his first name to Ibrahim. "

Oliver should have changed his first name to Idiot.