SCHUMER: "I am going to be very angry if this did not go through the FISA Court!!"
Posted on 08/11/2006 10:11:50 AM PDT by LM_Guy
It all began with a tip: In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on London's transit system, British authorities received a call from a worried member of the Muslim community, reporting general suspicions about an acquaintance.
From that vague but vital piece of information, according to a senior European intelligence official, British authorities opened the investigation into what they said turned out to be a well-coordinated and long-planned plot to bomb multiple transatlantic flights heading toward the United States -- an assault designed to rival the scope and lethality of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.
By late 2005, the probe had expanded to involve several hundred investigators on three continents. They kept dozens of suspects under close surveillance for months, even as some of the plotters traveled between Britain and Pakistan to raise money, find recruits and refine their scheme, according to interviews with U.S. and European counterterrorism officials.
Precise details of the plot -- how many planes, their destinations and the date -- remain unknown. The shape of the operation changed regularly as the would-be bombers considered which transatlantic flights to target and prepared for a practice run, which was expected to take place in the next few days, U.S. law enforcement officials said.
Investigators eventually pieced together enough information from a blizzard of stakeouts, tips and wiretaps to make clear that something big was in the works, and that the plotters' preparations were nearing an end.
"It's not like three weeks ago all of a sudden MI5 knew about this plot and went to work," added a U.S. law enforcement official, speaking of the British security service. "They'd had a concern about these guys for some time -- for months. ........
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Much thanx to the person who came forward.
Encouraging that the tip came from a Muslim. It also shows that an alert citizenry can more effective than general untargeted surveillance programs.
Charles Lindbergh's style of flying is looking better all the time.
Can someone help me. I understand that these attacks, if successful, would have been devastating. But I don't understand how they would have matched 9-11 in terms of loss of life. Would they have caused enough damage to kill 3000 people? Can that many people fit on a dozen planes? I'm just confused about the logistics.
SCHUMER: "I am going to be very angry if this did not go through the FISA Court!!"
300 people on 10 planes = 3000 deaths
And may your head not come unattached from your body by the handiwork of your fellow peaceful brethren...
Full 747 450- 500 people
Full 767 250 people
Ah, okay. Yeah that's pretty devastating. Thanks for the info.
I think a 747 can have 400-500 passengers. Since they wouldn't be trying to take over the planes they would go for the most crowded flights instead of the least crowded ones like on 9/11.
I don't know about what planes and routes they might have targeted, but 747s can carry in the neighborhood of 300-390 passengers depending upon the model, and so 10 planes targeted could certainly push it into the range of 3,000+ dead. Whatever the exact numbers, the terrorists were certainly aiming at massive carnage.
Not to mention more deaths if they had detonated over the major cities where they were headed
Lotsa info Bttt.
They probably would not have blown the planes up over the Atlantic.
More likely they would have detonated their explosives over the large cities where the planes were bound and creating collateral damage on the ground and full press coverage.
Lockerbie looked and was more devastating and dramatic than floating debris in the middle of the ocean.
Even at that, the terrorists were going to be on planes during high occupancy periods.
Large planes with total passengers of around 200-300 each, times 20 planes plus ground casualties and the number could have been as high as 10,000.
10 planes, 300 passengers each, equals 3000 passengers. Most overseas flights are full when they take off. This could have resulted in hundreds of other deaths if the planes were over major cities when they exploded.
>>>"Investigators eventually pieced together enough information from a blizzard of stakeouts, tips and wiretaps to make clear that something big was in the works, and that the plotters' preparations were nearing an end."
They have yet to indicate if these efforts were conluded with or without the use of a warrant.
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