August 10, 2006
BBC News

'Airlines Terror Plot' Disrupted

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.

Police are searching premises with 21 people in custody after arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham.

High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical.

According to MI5's website, critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK".

Three US airlines are believed to have been targeted.

According to BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera new intelligence was received in the last five days which led to the decision for police to act as soon as possible.

We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction

Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson

The plot is thought to have involved a series of "waves" of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time.

He also said the plan "revolved around liquids of some kind". . . .

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Enver Masud, "Deadly Deception, Pretexts for War," The Wisdom Fund, July 30, 2001

"Iraq Insurgency Comes to London," The Wisdom Fund, July 8, 2005

[Tal Hanan, security expert and CEO of Demoman International Ltd., notes that TATP is hardly military grade. An unlucky tap or nearby cigarette can set it off, leading to fatal "work accidents" among terrorists and explosive ordinance disposal officers alike. Outside of Israel and the territories, the peroxide-based explosive is used - if at all - only as a detonator, and not the main charge, like in the hollowed out heel of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.--"Triacetone triperoxide, or TATP is highly unstable," dailykos.com, July 15, 2005]

VIDEO: Keith Olberman, "The Nexus of Politics and Terror, MSNBC, October 12, 2005

Enver Masud, "What Really Happened to 7 World Trade Center?," The Wisdom Fund, April 17, 2006

Rupert Cornwell, "Sears Tower Plot Was Not All That It Seemed," Independent, June 25, 2006

Joseph Watson, "Red Alert For Staged Government Terror Attack," Infowars.com, August 10, 2006

Erik Leaver and Raed Jarrar, "Iraq's Sectarian Bloodshed 'Made in the USA'," Asia Times, August 10, 2006

[ . . . if Blair was in discussions with Bush over the weekend about an "imminent" terrorist attack, why did he still leave for his holiday in Barbados on Tuesday? And given that the plot is said to have targeted planes, why did the security services allow him to do so?--"Questions that need to be answered," War In Iraq, August 11, 2006

[The London terror plan was "known" last Sunday by British and American authorities, according to the Indian press. American Airlines flight 109 from London Heathrow to Boston boarded a family of five, however, after the plane left Heathrow authorities determined that the father appeared on a British suspect list drawn up after the 7/7 London transit attacks. At first, the pilot was instructed to fly all the way to Boston where U.S. authorities could claim credit for apprehending the suspect. However, the pilot, fearing for the safety of his passengers and crew, refused and quickly returned to Heathrow without informing the passengers. Once on the ground, it was discovered that the male had in his carry-on baggage the type of combination liquid explosive and electronic device now being hyped by the British and American media.--Wayne Madsen, "Tony Blair government cooked up a new "terror" scare," waynemadsenreport.com, August 11, 2006]

Robert Fisk, "How London's Terror Scare Looks From Beirut," counterpunch.org, August 12, 2006

[A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. . . . In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports."Gregory, Stephanopoulos ignored, downplayed NBC report that U.S. officials rushed UK to make terror arrests," mediamatters.org, August 13, 2006]

"FBI: No terror groups in cell phone case," Associated Press, August 14, 2006

[In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms.

What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims.

. . . the one thing of which I am certain is that the timing is deeply political. This is more propaganda than plot. Of the over one thousand British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, only twelve per cent are ever charged with anything. . . . Be very, very sceptical.--Craig Murray, "The UK Terror plot: what's really going on?," craigmurray.org, August 14, 2006]

[Here is a checklist of some things we should shortly be hearing about. Bombs. Chemicals. Detonators. Labs. A testing ground. Airline tickets. Passports. Witnesses. Suspicious neighbors. Suspicious parents. Suspicious friends. Threats. Confessions.--James K. Galbraith, "Could this case blow up?," Nation, August 16, 2006]

[Police on Monday confirmed that they had seized bomb making equipment, including hydrogen peroxide--Jimmy Burns and Farhan Bokhari, "Eleven charged over alleged terror plot," Financial Times, August 21, 2006]

[The NBC News report further reveals, citing British security sources, that British police did not want to yet arrest Rashid Rauf, the alleged mastermind, al-Qaeda facilitator and key informant on the details of the plot: "British security was concerned that Rauf be taken into custody 'in circumstances where there was due process,' according to the official, so that he could be tried in British courts. Ultimately, this official says, Rauf was arrested over the objections of the British." . . .

"Under Rumsfeld's new approach, I was told, US military operatives would be permitted to pose abroad as corrupt foreign businessmen seeking to buy contraband items that could be used in nuclear-weapons systems. In some cases, according to the Pentagon advisers, local citizens could be recruited and asked to join up with guerrillas or terrorists. This could potentially involve organizing and carrying out combat operations, or even terrorist activities."--Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, "The Truth about the 'Terror Plot'.... and the new 'pseudo-terrorism'," nafeez.blogspot.com, August 21, 2006]

[The genius of this scheme is that TATP is relatively easy to detonate. But you must make enough of it to crash the plane, and you must make it with care to assure potency. One needs quality stuff to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale," as Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson put it. While it's true that a slapdash concoction will explode, it's unlikely to do more than blow out a few windows. At best, an infidel or two might be killed by the blast, and one or two others by flying debris as the cabin suddenly depressurizes, but that's about all you're likely to manage under the most favorable conditions possible."--Geov Parrish, "Was British terror plot a load of crap?," WorkingForChange.com, August 22, 2006]

Don Van Natta Jr. et al, "Details Emerge in British Terror Case," New York Times, August 28, 2006

[The criminal frame-up of young Muslim-South Asian British citizens by the British security officials was specifically designed to cover up for the failed Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Anglo-American backing for IsraelŐs destructive but failed invasion of Lebanon.--James Petras, "The Liquid Bomb hoax," voltairenet.org, August 31, 2006]

[Lt. Col. Wylde, who was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his command of the Belfast Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in 1974, described this scenario as a "fiction." Creating liquid explosives is a "highly dangerous and sophisticated task," he states, one that requires not only significant chemical expertise but also appropriate equipment. . . .

"This story has been blown out of all proportion. The liquids would need to be carefully distilled at freezing temperatures to extract the required chemicals, which are very difficult to obtain in the purities needed."

Once the fluids have been extracted, the process of mixing them produces significant amounts of heat and vile fumes. "The resulting liquid then needs some hours at room temperature for the white crystals that are the explosive to develop." The whole process, which can take between 12 and 36 hours, is "very dangerous, even in a lab, and can lead to premature detonation," said Lt. Col. Wylde. . . .

According to John Loftus, a former Justice Department prosecutor, Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza, as well as the suspected mastermind of the London bombings Haroon Aswat, were all recruited by MI6 in the mid-1990s to draft up British Muslims to fight in Kosovo. American and French security sources corroborate the revelation. --Nafeez Ahmed, "August terror plot is a 'fiction' underscoring police failures," rawstory.com, September 18, 2006]

[But Mr Ali - the alleged ringleader of the plot - and Mr Sarwar had earlier told the court they had planned only to make a video highlighting what they described as injustices against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Their protest over British foreign policy was to include a small explosion at the Houses of Parliament, in which no-one would be hurt, in order to publicise the video, they said.--"Three men admit bomb plot charges," BBC News, July 14, 2008]

[ . . . testimony has shown little evidence that the suspects were prepared to strike immediately, or of any link to Al Qaeda . . .

a defense lawyer, Malcolm Bishop, said, "Such a plot was unattainable and really amounts to no more than prosecution fantasy."

. . . Mr. Ritchie, the government scientist, testified that making the liquid bomb required lengthy research, and that the preparation and transportation of liquid explosive materials would be extremely hazardous.--Elaine Sciolino, "In '06 Bomb Plot Trial, a Question of Imminence," New York Times, July 15, 2008]

"3 of 8 Men Found Guilty in '06 London Bomb Plot," New York Times, September 8, 2008

[There have been unsubstantiated claims that the alleged plot focused on several sites, including a nightclub and a shopping centre in Manchester. But no bomb-making equipment has been found so far and one man has been released into the custody of the Borders Agency.--Jamie Doward, Rajeev Syal and Jason Burke, "A security blunder - then a frantic race to uncover bomb plot evidence," Observer, April 12, 2009]

[Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks.--"Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot," Times Online, September 7, 2009]

[Shortly after the plot was made public, chemists and scientists insisted the notion of assembling liquid bombs from hydrogen peroxide and other household substances is preposterous.--Kurt Nimmo, "Absurd Liquid Bomb Court Case Produces Convictions," Infowars, September 8, 2009]

"The July 7th Truth Campaign"