[Marxism] Doubts flow on watery plot

[Brian Shannon <brian_shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is an exceptionally large group, which gave up evidence  
remarkably quickly for terrorist fanatics. And there is a vagueness  
about almost every link.

Contrary to the 9/11 plot, connections are made between 24 people,  
and these are the "main suspects."

They think they have got them all. Which makes one ask whether this  
wasn't various groups of friends, created originally by the torture  
of some individual in Pakistan. Hundreds of FBI agents fanned out in  
the U.S. on a wild goose chase that did not develop any leads. What  
were they following up on? Were they lists of names and phone numbers  
of family members and personal contacts that were from phone lists of  
these suspects?

If so, a similar "six degrees of separation" may be all that connects  
these twenty-four.

They did not wait for a "dry run" which was to come "in the next few  
days" by people whom they didn't yet know if they had tickets even  
though some "flights" were "identified." Pardon my racist phrase, but  
"no tickee, no flighty." Had they even applied for visas? Did they  
have passports?

Despite all of this and people who must have been under close  
observation, the arrests were moved up because they feared flight  
once a single person was arrested. However, flights to other  
countries were not stopped -- only to the U.S.

Brian Shannon

================

<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-081006airports-gb, 
0,5897440.graffitiboard?coll=la-home-headlines>
OR http://makeashorterlink.com/?T29D51B8D

The New York Times

August 11, 2006
Pakistan Is Thanked for Aiding Inquiry
By ALAN COWELL and DEXTER FILKINS

LONDON, Aug. 11 — The British authorities today froze the assets of  
19 of the 24 suspects arrested in the airline bombing plot, as the  
country’s security apparatus remained on high alert.

The Bank of England, which moved to shut down the bank accounts at  
the government’s direction, also released the names of 19 suspects,  
who ranged in age from 17 to 35.

In interviews with British news services, friends and neighbors  
painted a picture of A VARIED GROUP, with one man described as recent  
convert to Islam, and another as a Muslim of longstandng piety who  
was also a lover of British soccer.

. . .
He said he BELIEVED THE MAIN SUSPECTS were in custody but it was  
right to "err on the side of caution.’’

Mr. Reid today thanked Pakistan in particular for its help in the  
investigation, and . . .  intelligence officers there had arrested  
seven men in connection with the plot.

. . .A man arrested there about a month ago had played a key role in  
uncovering the plot.

. . .  an advanced terrorist plot to blow up airplanes flying from  
Britain to the United States using liquid explosives that would have  
escaped airport security.

The officials said they had arrested 24 men, all British-born  
Muslims, who planned to carry the liquids in drink bottles and  
combine them into explosive cocktails to commit mass murder aboard as  
many as 10 flights high over the Atlantic.
. . . they believed that some plotters were probably still at large,  
requiring increased airport security.

Airports, which faced chaotic delays and cancellations, instantly  
changed rules on what passengers could carry on board. In the United  
States, liquids, gels and creams were banned from carry-on luggage.  
In Britain, all carry-on items were barred except objects like  
wallets and eyeglasses without their cases.

. . . at least one person affiliated with Al Qaeda. The official said  
it was after that person’s arrest by Pakistani authorities that the  
British, fearing that word of the detainment would send the plotters  
into hiding, decided to move in.

. . . “critical,” meaning an attack was imminent.

. . . the plotters were PLANNING a “dry run” of the operation IN THE  
NEXT FEW DAYS when they planned to test whether they could board  
flights simultaneously. IF THIS HAD WORKED, a full-scale attack would  
have been carried out WITHIN DAYS, the official said.

. . .One American official said the attack was not imminent. “I would  
caution about how close it was,” he said. “THEY HAD MATERIALS but it  
wasn’t like they were driving out to the airport the next day. They  
identified a number of flights.”

Peter Clarke, London’s top counterterrorism police officer, said,  
“The intelligence suggested that the devices were TO BE CONSTRUCTED  
in the United Kingdom and taken through British airports.” But he  
also said that some UNSPECIFIED EVENT OR DEVELOPMENT LATE WEDNESDAY  
convinced British counterterrorism operatives that they must move  
quickly to thwart a conspiracy with what he called “global dimensions.”

In recent days, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent HUNDREDS OF  
AGENTS AROUND THE UNITED STATES to chase down POSSIBLE LEADS from  
British intelligence sources.

“There is NO INDICATION AS OF NOW THAT ANYONE IN THE U.S. was tied to  
this,” a senior Justice Department official said.

About 8:30 Wednesday night, federal officials called security  
officers at the major airlines and told generally of what was  
happening as well as the security measures that would begin on  
Thursday. Among the airlines believed to be targets were United,  
American and Continental, according to officials from the Department  
of Homeland Security, although IT WAS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE PLOTTERS  
HAD BOUGHT TICKETS.

Mr. Chertoff said the attackers planned to carry explosive material  
and detonation components “disguised as beverages, electronic devices  
and OTHER COMMON OBJECTS” onto the planes.

A bulletin issued Thursday by the F.B.I. about the plot gave details  
of some of the properties of liquid-peroxide-based explosives. It  
noted that they are sensitive to “heat, shock and friction” and can  
be detonated with heat or an electric charge.
. . .
But all of them have defied official British efforts to forestall new  
attempts, either through ever-more stringent security arrangements  
that have angered civil rights groups or through efforts to embrace  
what are seen as moderate Muslim leaders. The latest conspiracy came  
despite the jailing or forced exile of prominent radical clerics like  
Sheik Abu Hamza al-Masri and Sheik Omar Bakri Mohamed.

For the first time in the United States, the threat assessment level  
on transatlantic flights was raised to its highest — “red” — and  
stringent new security measures were enforced, as was the case in  
Britain.

The suspects were arrested in nighttime police raids on modest- 
seeming homes AS FAR APART AS East London’s Walthamstow District;  
High Wycombe, west of the capital; and Birmingham, in the Midlands.  
The conspiracy, which British officials said had been under  
surveillance for months, again raised the question of how closely  
British-born terrorists were linked to Al Qaeda.

Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, said the plot had “ALL  
THE EARMARKS of an Al Qaeda plot” but added that there was NO DIRECT  
EVIDENCE of this.

Also in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Michael  
Chertoff said new restrictions imposed on travelers reflected A  
BELIEF THAT THE PLOTTERS PLANNED to use liquids, “each one of which  
would be benign, but mixed together could be used to create a bomb.”

He added, “It was not a handful of people sitting around and dreaming.”
. . .
The scale of the British raids and arrests was particularly  
remarkable since, only weeks ago, the police drew criticism from  
British Muslims for arresting two brothers in East London whom they  
later HAD TO RELEASE for lack of evidence. At the time, the police  
indicated that they were LOOKING FOR A CHEMICAL BOMB.
. . .

In Paris, . . . air traffic bound for the United States was close to  
normal, spokesmen for different airlines said.

Many passengers [CONTINUED] their travel via Paris. At train stations  
and airports, uniformed members of the police and military increased  
their patrols.
. . .
Reporting for this article was contributed by Stephen Grey and Pamela  
Kent in London; Karla Adam in High Wycombe, England; Katrin Bennhold  
and Marlise Simons in Paris; Raymond Bonner in Jakarta, Indonesia;  
Carlotta Gall in Kabul, Afghanistan; Eric Lichtblau and Mark Mazzetti  
in Washington; Renwick McLean in Madrid; and David Rohde in New York.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/world/europe/11cnd-terror.html? 
_r=1&oref=slogin>
OR http://makeashorterlink.com/?R3AD52B8D





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