Breaking News
Armed police at Gatwick 'Mass Murder Terror Plot'
Updated: 13:35, Thursday August 10, 2006

There is chaos at British airports after police disrupted a plot to cause "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by blowing up transatlantic airliners.

The explosives would have been smuggled aboard at least six airliners as hand luggage - and could have been missed during x-ray screening.

Speaking at Scotland Yard, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said he was confident the police had disrupted a plot "to cause mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

He said 21 people arrested in London, Birmingham and the Thames Valley were still being held - the culmination of a covert counter-terrorist operation lasting several months.


Security raised to 'critical' The Home Secretary John Reid said the "main players" were in custody but cautioned against complacency.

"We are involved in a long, wide and deep struggle against very evil people," he said.

Sky News' Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men.

Another senior Met officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said the arrests followed "an unprecedented level of surveillance".

A number of business premises and houses have been sealed off by the police, including one in High Wycombe.


Queues at Heathrow Sources in the United States have reported that three airlines targeted were United, American and Continental.

Security sources believe that liquid explosives would have been used which could have been mixed during the flight into a lethal concoction.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the conspiracy was sophisticated, well-advanced and well-planned and "suggestive of an al Qaeda plot".

He has introduced a ban on liquids being carried on to US planes, saying the plotters would have used liquid explosives disguised as drinks and electronic devices made to look like everyday items.


Many flights were lost Whitehall sources said the Prime Minister and President Bush had been in contact over the plot for some time.

The official level of security - indicating public risk - in the UK had been raised from 'severe' to 'critical'.

Big queues were building up at UK airports as passengers trying to board international flights were not being allowed to carry on normal hand luggage.

The British Airports Authority urged passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

British Airways cancelled all domestic and European flights while those to Britain operated by Lufthansa, Iberia, Olympic, KLM and Air France were also stopped.

Low-cost airlines Ryanair and Easyjet cancelled their flights during the day at Luton, Stansted and Gatwick.
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If you're still naive enough to believe there's "no war on terror," would you at least admit there's a terrorist war on us and our allies? Please wake up, people.

Hats off to our UK allies and officials!

Yea, I'm just waking up to this story this morning. How awful.

This phrase it what scares me:

"to cause mass murder on an unimaginable scale". I'm so glad it was "thwarted" (hopefully nothing will happen today) but still am very nervous about this, especially since I'll be flying next week.

I do hope this isn't the beginning of string of terror threats/attacks. It's just awful.

TIS

Thank God it was stopped.

Unfortunately, I think its going to take another 9/11 or similar tragedy in the U.S. for people to get their heads out of the sand and stop worrying whether the President is using ECHELON to listen to their phone conversations (you're really not that important, seriously) and get behind initiatives to stop these bastards. And I know, I'll await all of the responses (rationalizations) about how once we've lost our personal freedoms, we've lost the war. Wow. As if the fucking government couldn't listen to your conversation and you'd would have ever known anyways.

Once again, it leaves me longing for the glory days of the CIA...hmm.

Good point, Double-J. You know, I told myself I'd start staying away from this BB because of all the ludicrous crap some people are espousing to believe about political and social issues. Just serves to get my blood pressure up and drives me to believe there's no hope left for this once-great country. But I guess I keep hoping that incidents such as this would shake people out of their naive utopian-ideal-mindset and face reality..yeah, I'll probably have to keep hoping, but...

Wow, I was just in London a few weeks ago. That is really scary.

BRAVO!

No one is saying the government should not be listening in on conversations or intercepting e mails or anything else. What the cirtics of the president are complaining about is that he thinks he can do it without getting a warrant. The constitution is very clear on this subject, and there are laws on the books that say a sealed warrant which can be obtained AFTER the eavesdropping takes place, legitimizes the wiretap. Someone can come up with the exact number, but I believe there have been thousands of these warrants issued over several administrations and apparently less than a dozen have been rejected.

I happen to love my constitutional freedoms more than I hate the terrorists, and there is nothing in the law which prevents the kind of wiretapping necessary to keep track of what is going on. The point is we are a country of laws, not of men (or women) and unlike the Islamo-Muslim fanatics, we should not go forth like a bunch of sheep at the say so of any single person. Unfortunately this president disagrees with that principle.

So those of you who say there are people out there with their heads stuck someplace or another, please get your facts straight before opening your pie holes.

Did you just miss the 1000 or so threads I thought we had on this topic?

Seriously, pretty stupid on the President's part. Unless you consider the fact that if they went for a warrant, the press would have made a huge deal out of it (as they did) eventually and totally blow the cover off the operation. Even if they were supposed to be prevented from leaks, we all know how that usually works.




Lemme guess...your public enemy #1 & #2, right? :rolleyes:


Wow.

I consider the source.

Cheers,
DJ

As I said before, perhaps when folks wake up with orange afros, then they'll finally figure out, "Golly-Gee! These folks really are trying to wipe us out!" What good is freedom if you are d-e-a-d?? *Sigh* Time to take my Sabbatical again. I knew my revisitation wouldn't last long.

Don't leave, Snake! We need you!

Back in April of this year, center of policy studies writer Peter Oborne accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of using scare tactics on the public by "fabricating and inventing" terrorist plots, and using "scare tactics" to get the public on his side.

I wonder what he thinks now?


Great Britain's intelligence agencies and leaders did a fantastic job in thwarting this as it was days from actually being carried out.

It's a shame that those, both in the American Government and the British Government, who've continually bashed the leaders who see the terrorists for what they are and are willing to do whatever needed to protect the citizens of their respective countries, are suddenly quiet and nowhere to be found.

How come we haven't heard from the Barbara Boxers, the Ted
Kennedys, the Peter Orbornes or the Nancy Pelosis?


To echo what has already been pointed out by some of the others here, when are these assholes going to realize that we are facing an enemy that breeds hatred and can only quench their thirst for blood by destroying anyone and everyone who does NOT believe in their twisted and demented doctorine?

Hat's off to those in British intelligence who were obviously on top of this and steadfast enough to thwart this plot despite the attacks and critisim by those within their own government and nation who are obviously clueless to what is really going on in this world.


Don Cardi

Nice job by the British here.

And as horrible as the successful culmination of this plot would've been, in a way it's good to know that Al Qaeda - or whoever - is reduced to tactics like this which, IMO, would not be nearly as bad as, say, setting off a nuclear device in Times Square.

I mean, a plan like this doesn't seem to be that difficult to put into effect - certainly a lot easier than the 9/11 attacks.

Yeah, that's true. I expected more out of a smart man like Al-Zawahari, who is the brain of Al-Qaeda

That might show that the leaders of Al-Qaeda are getting weaker or smaller in numbers, and that's the key zone.
The people on the base, the buttonmen, are not the ones who have to be taken out cause they grow 10 times faster than it takes Bush to say howdy.

I read today that one of these terrorists worked as a security guard at Heathrow Airport. How focking scary is that?


Don Cardi

SUSPECTED terrorists. :p

What people really need to realize is that terrorist attacks have not just started in the last 5 years. 9/11 was just 1 attempt that was successful out of hundreds of thousands. The use and idea of biological warfare has been going on since Vietnam. So kudos to the British intelligence and every undercover field agent that is putting their lives in danger collecting the information that really saves your and my ass.

SUSPECTED terrorists. :p [/b][/quote]Mission accomplished! I KNEW that you'd respond to that!

But you're getting soft in your old age. I expected you to reply :

The ALLEDGED,ACCUSED SUSPECT arrested for POSSIBLY being involved in the ALLEDGED terrorist plot. You left some key words out there Plaw. I think that you've started to slide down the sliperry slope my friend!


Don Cardi

There is no one who is unhappy about the fact this plot was uncovered before there was another tragedy

The shame of it is how you wingholes continue to politicize the issue and frame it in a way that implies that anyone who dares to criticize your Dear Leader is pro Terrorist.

DC, I know you are smarter than that, so why do you insist on continuing with such inane rhetoric?

BTW what did George Bush do in light of this? He interrrupted his vacation to go to a fundraiser, while he let Dick Cheney (who knew the arrests were coming) have a rare press conference before the arrests to insinuate the beginning of the end of Joe Lieberman's career was good for the terrorists. SHAME!!!

Because I know that you'll reply and by doing so I'm really just tryng to help you get your post count up so that I can start a congrats thread for you! It's a democratic party strategy that I picked up on, the same way that they inflate their own polls. :p


Don Cardi

You're right.

He should have just pushed the big red button.



Cheers,
Double-J

Under Bill Clinton :

Soldiers are mauled, maimed and dragged through the streets in Somalia.

A pakistani terrorist kills two CIA employees in front of CIA headquarters.

World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000.

A terrorist kills a hasidic jew and wounds four other students by shooting them on the Brooklyn Bridge

An armed man who turns out to be a part of a terrorist organization opens fire on tourists at the observation deck atop the Empire State Building killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claims this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".

The USS Cole is attacked by terrorists.

Usam Bin Laden, a self proclaimed jihadist and leader of Al Qeada, and the self admitted plotter behind the attacks on U.S. soil and interests up until this point in time, is captured and offered to the United States for extradition, and the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, refuses to take Usama into American custody, not once, but twice!!!


So tell me, what did Bill Clinton do in response to these attacks? NOTHING! NADA.

Please DonT, let's not even go there for the one thousand time. Because just like the 999 other times that we've debated this, you'll lose this arguement again.


Don Cardi

Not all of those terrorists that you mention, DC, were part of organized terror groups or terror operations.

I might even go so far as to say that you can't properly define someone as a terrorist if they are operating alone and not part of an organization.

We can fight (and be winning) the "War on Terror" from now until the cows come home, and we'll never be able to wipe out very many of the "lone nut(s)", like the Brooklyn Bridge killer.

As long as there are individuals - acting pretty much alone and on their own initiative - who want to engage in these types of actions, I don't see that there is much that anyone - not Clinton, not Bush, not our next president - can do to stop them, short of just getting lucky and simply stumbling upon them.

SUSPECTED terrorists. :p [/b][/quote]Mission accomplished! I KNEW that you'd respond to that!

But you're getting soft in your old age. I expected you to reply :

The ALLEDGED,ACCUSED SUSPECT arrested for POSSIBLY being involved in the ALLEDGED terrorist plot. You left some key words out there Plaw. I think that you've started to slide down the sliperry slope my friend!


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]Well well well, DC, one of the people you already tried and convicted as a "terrorist" has been let free. I know how these cumbersome and disturbing principles like due process and presumtion of innocence get in the way of your blood lust.

Under Bill Clinton :

Soldiers are mauled, maimed and dragged through the streets in Somalia.

A pakistani terrorist kills two CIA employees in front of CIA headquarters.

World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000.

A terrorist kills a hasidic jew and wounds four other students by shooting them on the Brooklyn Bridge

An armed man who turns out to be a part of a terrorist organization opens fire on tourists at the observation deck atop the Empire State Building killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claims this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".

The USS Cole is attacked by terrorists.

Usam Bin Laden, a self proclaimed jihadist and leader of Al Qeada, and the self admitted plotter behind the attacks on U.S. soil and interests up until this point in time, is captured and offered to the United States for extradition, and the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, refuses to take Usama into American custody, not once, but twice!!!


So tell me, what did Bill Clinton do in response to these attacks? NOTHING! NADA.

Please DonT, let's not even go there for the one thousand time. Because just like the 999 other times that we've debated this, you'll lose this arguement again.


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]

Under Bill Clinton :

So tell me, what did Bill Clinton do in response to these attacks? NOTHING! NADA.


Don Cardi [/b][/quote][/b][/quote]George Bush had the chance to get Bin Laden AFTER 9/11 and he blew it at Tora Bora

I guess e was too damn busy getting all the bin Laden Family members out of the country on 9/12 (when all other plabes were grounded, and later holding hands with that Saudi Prince.

There has never been a question that Terrorists are out to get us. The question is are our actions in the Middle East only exacerbating this? Given that terrorism has risen trifold, I say yes. Perhaps our efforts need to be re-thought at the same time we work to uncover these plots (which sounds like it would have been 9/11 on steroids).

Or we can keep bombing the shit out of everywhere, but with no central control you can knock it out: you can no more attack terrorism than you could wipe out 'Catholicism' by nuking the Vatican. We have to do some re-thinking here. Why do they hate us? Let's get out of the Middle East? Israel? What.

According to what I've read so far the suspects are all British-born with links to... Pakistan. If this is the case, where does Bush stand on his "War on Terror"? Will he launch a joint invasion of Pakistan? Pakistan seems to fulfill the same conditions as Iraq.

Yeah, let's try to understand them. Let's sit down with them and sing Kubaya around a campfire and have them explain to us why they are bent on destroying us. :rolleyes: All you need to understand is that you and I are INFIDELS in their eyes. We are non believers. All anyone needs to understand is that as long as there are people in this world who do not succumb to their twisted religious beliefs, than they think that they must destroy them. The bottom line is that they HATE ANYONE who is not of their faith. And when they say that they 've attacked us because we support Israel and the Jews, it's all just a bunch of bullshit rhetoric. They'll find any excuse in the world to attack us every chance that they could. And they bank on their rhetoric in hopes to cause people of this country to say "You see, if we didn't support the Jews then they would leave us alone," and before you know it those same people are blaming their own people for something that the terrorists have done to humanity and to our own society. And that's what you are coming close to doing here.

When are people like you going to learn that these terrorists are animals who raise their own children to hate and to destroy us? Teach their children that they must murder our children? When are people like you going to wake up and see all this for what it really is.... HATRED for anyone who does not have MUSLIM EXTREMIST BELIEFS!

They want to kill you, no matter what. Their f**king animals filled with hate and do not have even an ounce of humanity in their bodies.

That's all we need to understand.


Don Cardi

Lots of evidence that terrorism has risen dramatically worldwide, yes, tripling. If you haven't been reading the reports, you haven't looked very closely.
I'll throw you one:; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002243262_terror16.html, go search for more yourself.

I'm not saying to start a knitting club with them, but to know our enemy better. (UNLIKE we knew our "enemies" in Iraq). Where, do you suppose, are we going to bomb them? What country? The "war on terror" might be "winnable", not by conquest, but by policy. Right now we are feeding more terrorists and making them more possible.

Can you accept that it is possible in principle that the War on Terror itself is what is increasing terrorism rates so dramatically?

And, they don't hate us for just the sake of it. They want us to get the fuck out of their region and mind our own business when it comes to Mid East affairs. Despite the hype, they don't necessarily "hate our freedom." They fear that we're trying to eradicate their culture and replace it with ours. (We've done it before, and we can do it again.) Most Muslim men probably don't care that Western women are running around half-naked-- they just don't want their wives and daughters doing the same thing. I think vacating the Holy Lands and areas where Muslims live and worship would be a nice start.

I won't get started on Israel...

You really believe that vacating the Holy Land would be a start to getting the Islamic Extremists to start liking us? With all due respect, if you really believe in that, then I must be frank with you and tell you that you are living in a fantsy world. Maybe you really do sing Kumbaya.


No, they don't want there wives and daughters running around like the woman from the western world. As a matter of fact they would rather their wives and daughter be killed or commit suicide just for even talking to another man. What a peacful people. :rolleyes:

Did you know that over 5000 women and girls are killed every year by family members in so-called 'honour killings'? These killings occur where Muslim Extremists believe that a woman's unsanctioned sexual behaviour brings such shame on the family that any female accused or suspected must be murdered. Reasons for these murders can be as trivial as talking to a man! And in many cases as innocent as suffering rape. These honor killings are almost exclusively carried out by Extremist Muslims.


I hope that we DO eradicate this type of culture and these type of extremist beliefs and practices. Otherwise if we don't, then they just may eradicate our culture.

You are right when you say that they don't hate us just for the sake of hating us. They hate us because we are not believers of their twisted religious beliefs, and they teach and preach that ANYONE who is not a part of their religion, who does not believe in what they believe in, is an Infidel, is the Devil, and must be destroyed.


Don Cardi

A big part of the problem in all of these discussions about terrorism is that we cannot all agree on the motivation of the terrorists.

Is it to wipe us completely off the face of the earth, or

Is it to convert us, religiously speaking, to some brand of Muslim fundamentalism, or

Is it simply to get us out of the Middle East and leave these people alone?

I'm not sure myself, and I don't think that anyone can rightly claim to be sure either, since terrorists become terrorists for different reasons.

All this stuff, though, about "honor killings" appears to be a cultural thing - since it is and has been practiced by many different religions and cultures of the world for hundreds of years - and absolutlely not a practice limited to Muslim Fundamentlists.

And while I don't condone the practice of course, I also think it's dangerous to talk about eliminating cultures that are different from ours, unless you think that the goal of that culture is to completely eliminate us.

Personally, I don't believe that to be the goal of the terrorist organizations of the world.

They need us to buy their oil and support their economies, and they're smart enough to realize that the idea of wiping everyone off the face of the earth who does not agree with their religious beliefs is a totally unrealistic one.

I believe that this is all way more about politics than it is about religion