So it looks now like the British bomb plot was a big to do about not very much. British author and diplomat Craig Murray asks some interesting questions about the arrests, and reassembles the facts without the political spin.
None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.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. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests.
Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth.
The gentleman being "interrogated" had fled the UK after being wanted for questioning over the murder of his uncle some years ago. That might be felt to cast some doubt on his reliability. It might also be felt that factors other than political ones might be at play within these relationships. Much is also being made of large transfers of money outside the formal economy. Not in fact too unusual in the British Muslim community, but if this activity is criminal, there are many possibilities that have nothing to do with terrorism.
We then have the extraordinary question of Bush and Blair discussing the possible arrests over the weekend. Why? I think the answer to that is plain. Both in desperate domestic political trouble, they longed for "Another 9/11". The intelligence from Pakistan, however dodgy, gave them a new 9/11 they could sell to the media. The media has bought, wholesale, all the rubbish they have been shovelled.
We then have the appalling political propaganda of John Reid, Home Secretary, making a speech warning us all of the dreadful evil threatening us and complaining that "Some people don't get" the need to abandon all our traditional liberties. He then went on, according to his own propaganda machine, to stay up all night and minutely direct the arrests. There could be no clearer evidence that our Police are now just a political tool. Like all the best nasty regimes, the knock on the door came in the middle of the night, at 2.30am. Those arrested included a mother with a six week old baby.
Murray is not some conspiracy nut. He is a former ambassador and author, and, until his very public falling out with the Blair government, a rising star in British foreign affairs. For him to openly question the bomb plot is an interesting turn of events.
But he's not the only one with questions. The Time of London lays out a few points they would like answered as well:
The security alert Why has the security alert been raised to the highest level ever seen in Britain if the main plotters have all been caught as the police and ministers claim?The al-Qaeda link
Security experts have suggested a link to al-Qaeda and its confederates, but is there any evidence connecting the alleged British networks with Afghanistan?The recruiters and the mastermind
How were the gang brought together? Who designed the plan? Is there a leader in Britain or Pakistan?The plotters
How many were involved in the planned attacks? The police arrested 24 suspects but US sources have spoken of a network of up to 50.The attack masterplan
How many attacks were being planned? Was the plot aimed at blowing up aircraft simultaneously or in waves? How would the bombers have co-ordinated such an ambitious strategy?The devices
If suicide bombers were close to going on board aircraft, where are the explosive devices? So far the police have only said that interesting material has been found.
There is more than enough hazy information to suggest that the plot may not have been much more sophisticated than the Keystone Kop plotters arrested in Toronto a few months back. Yet, as we have seen, both the Bush and Blair governments used this so-called plot to maximum political effect. Before the inevitable outrage from conservative circles, let me answer the question: Do you really think Bush and Blair would hype terrorism to forward their own political goals?
Absolutely.
(Craig Murray link via Andrew Sullivan)
We may never know all of the details but I am willing to bet this is much ado about nothing and had more to do with Bush and Blair's sinking popularity from getting us into this outrageous ridiculous war. I would put nothing past these despicable sorry excuses for humans
And yet weh I linked to this over at BBG, a few of the cons there were almost giddy to go along with the hype, even claiming that none of these crazy new security measures and the fact that they are applying 1/2 way around the globe from the actual "plot", were infringing on our freedoms.
The mind boggles.
Gwynne Dyer makes a similar assessment of the hyping of this plot.
And right on schedule, the hype leads to a major and dangerous incident of overreaction as fighter jets are scrambled to intercept and escort into Boston a plane headed from London to Washington on which a passenger has had ... a panic attack. (She is said also to have been carrying some banned substances -- matches and/or Vaseline.)
Yo skdadl:
"Gwynne Dyer makes a similar assessment of the hyping of this plot."
I heard Mr. Dyer make the same/similar assessment on the unfortunate crew that was recently arrested in Canada for being "terrorists".
Specifically, if they were under such close observation by the forces of law - order - goodness and purity, where was the danger? The question being are our policing forces that incompetent that they would allow the dasterdly deed to happen, or is it mostly to do with PR.
Perhaps less benign than the 23 or so Muslem "students" that were "caught" earlier .... turn out they were just a bunch of spirited teens with more money than brains.
Croghan27
Tremble in fear before the young Muslim men blowing smoke (and being egged own and entrapped by various law-enforcement agencies).
All hail the forces of order, protecting us from these unprecedented dangers!!
Please leave your civil rights in the basket provided.
Thank you.
havent they already?
definitely...
the problem with so much accesible news in todays worls is you really cant use logic or common sense to hammer out what ruthful and whats not because those atttributes dont really apply much to politics.
but...dont think that one bombing square in your face wouldnt scare the living hell out of you. people in the middle east live with it every day, that kind of fear would cause severe social destruction here.
I drop in to this site regularly and find the level of analysis and commentary to be excellent and honest.
Have any one of the regular bloggers/posters previously commented on the "truth movement" in the US about the official version of 9/11? Do people on POGGE think 9/11 occurred as the US government says it did, or are there unanswered questions about the government's role? I may have missed early postings about this, so my apologies if I'm going over old ground. However, there seems to be serious doubt on POGGE that the recent airline bomb plot was just as the governments of US and UK describe.
Any thoughts on 9/11 from a Canadian viewpoint would be appreciated.
Via a commenter at TBogg comes this interesting gem from The Register, titled "Mass Murder in the Skies: Was the Plot Feasible?", here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/.
Short version - a would-be bomber trying to make the alleged TATP binary explosive out of hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid and acetone, as advertised, would have to be very carefully "cooking" the stuff for several undisturbed hours in the airplane lavatory. Might be a little tricky.
I guess I should have read Tim's comments first. I just blogged that Register piece.