BBC: Terror police find 'martyr tapes' ~ 'Terror plot' inquiry spanning UK

BBC ^ | Last Updated: Friday, 18 August 2006, 19:30 GMT 20:30 UK | BBC staff

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Terror police find 'martyr tapes'

Some 23 people are currently being held by police

Police investigating an alleged plot to bring down airliners have found several martyrdom videos in the course of their searches, the BBC has learned.

Unofficial police sources said the recordings - discovered on laptop computers - appear to have been made by some of the suspects being questioned.

Scotland Yard has refused to comment on what officers are finding.

Police are continuing to search woodland at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and 14 addresses.

The Metropolitan Police, which is leading the inquiry, has said it has already completed searches of 36 business and residential sites.

A total of 20 vehicles have also been searched.

'Routine' help

Meanwhile, it has emerged that every police force in the UK is now involved in the investigation.

The 43 forces in England and Wales, eight in Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland have sent, or are sending, officers to assist.

ARRESTS OVER 'BOMB PLOT' 10 August: 24 people arrested in London, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and Birmingham 11 August: One released by police without charge 15 August: Another person arrested in Thames Valley area 16 August: Police given extra time to question suspects; one person held in Thames Valley area released without charge 21 August: Police have until this date to question two of the suspects arrested on 10 August 23 August: Police have until this date to question 21 of the suspects arrested on 10 August Ryanair issues ultimatum Inquiry search locations

Hundreds are said to be involved with further officers on patrol at airports.

A spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "It's routine in a big investigation that ACPO coordinates mutual aid for forces.

"All forces across the UK are providing officers to help with the operation by the Metropolitan Police."

The alert began on 10 August after raids in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham.

A district judge has granted anti-terror officers an extra seven days to question 21 of the 23 people being held, and an extra five days to question two.

Under the 2006 Terrorism Act the maximum period someone suspected of terrorist activity can be held without charge is 28 days, subject to regular court approval.

It is believed up to 17 people are being held in Pakistan over the alleged plot - with two British nationals of Pakistani descent among them.

Scotland Yard officers have also flown to Pakistan to liaise with the authorities there over the questioning of Rashid Rauf, the only man who has so far been named by Pakistani authorities.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not sure why BBC is just now putting this out,....earlier thread:

British police find martyrdom video
The Australian ^ | 08/12/2006 | By Peter Wilson

[Tspud1]

You mean they can view & listen to them? What a disregard of their rights.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Adding this from link at the original article:

Terror detectives 'find bomb kit'

*****************************************************

Last Updated: Thursday, 17 August 2006, 21:29 GMT 22:29 UK

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Printable version

Terror detectives 'find bomb kit'

Police have been searching the wood for several days

Police probing an alleged plot to bring down flights have found a suitcase containing items which could be used to construct a bomb, the BBC has learned.

Officers have been searching a piece of land called King's Wood in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

A police source told the BBC the case contained "everything you would need to make an improvised device".

Other officers have confirmed only that a suitcase was found. Scotland Yard has not officially commented on any finds.

Some 49 residential and business premises and one area of woodland have been searched in connection with the inquiry, police say.

Of that total, 36 searches have finished and 14 are ongoing, including the search at the wood.

The alert began last Thursday. A district judge has granted anti-terror officers an extra seven days to question 21 of the 23 suspects being held, and an extra five days to question two.

ARRESTS OVER 'BOMB PLOT' 10 August: 24 people arrested in London, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and Birmingham 11 August: One released by police without charge 15 August: Another person arrested in Thames Valley area 16 August: Police given extra time to question suspects; one person held in Thames Valley area released without charge 21 August: Police have until this date to question two of the suspects arrested on 10 August 23 August: Police have until this date to question 21 of the suspects arrested on 10 August Passenger baggage advice NHS 'ill-prepared for attacks' 'Terror plot' search continues

In other developments:

• Major hospitals around the UK are ill-prepared to cope with a major incident, a survey of doctors has warned

• A public meeting was held in Walthamstow, east London, to discuss the issue. Several of the 23 suspects in custody come from the area

• Flights are gradually returning to normal, with British Airways saying only 19 short-haul journeys out of Heathrow airport were cancelled on Thursday, and a full schedule is anticipated on Friday.

• BA also said all 5,000 pieces of luggage misplaced in the confusion at Heathrow would have been sent out to passengers by the end of Thursday.

The 23 suspects in custody in London were arrested in raids in London, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and Birmingham last week.

Under the 2006 Terrorism Act the maximum period someone suspected of terrorist activity can be held without charge is 28 days, subject to regular court approval.

It is believed up to 17 people are being held in Pakistan over the alleged plot - with two British nationals of Pakistani descent among them.

One has been named by Pakistani officials as Rashid Rauf, but they released no details about the other Briton.

Pakistani intelligence believe it was his role to plan and co-ordinate the operation on behalf of a senior al-Qaeda figure, the BBC was told.

[Velveeta]

Because last week there was one martyrdom tape and now they've found more.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I bet the senate will demand hearings on the matter.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...

[Enchante]

It's OK, don't worry folks, today Larry Johnson (raving leftist stooge who's been pumping Plamegate) told the good folks at Huffington Post that the whole "UK terror plot" was just a set-up by the eviiiiil Bush/Cheney dictatorship to manipulate the US public. Nothing to see here folks, just move along....

[tkathy]

Martyr or death cult zombie butcher?

[wolfcreek]

Oh, come on! Everyone has done a martyrdom video on their laptop. Right?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the tip:

Larry C. Johnson
Bush's Weapon of Mass Deception

*********************************************

It is a week since news broke in London about an alleged plot to blow up nine commercial jetliners and there are emerging indicators that Bush and Blair exaggerated the truth about the actual readiness of the so-called plot. And yes, I mean so-called plot. Why would Bush and Blair hype a terrorist threat?

A very simple answer. The White House was on notice that Seymour Hersh's story that the Bush Administration encouraged Israel to invade Lebanon as part of a broader scheme to set the stage for war with Iran. Tony Blair, Bush's enabler, went along with the ruse.

The initial story out of London gave the average traveler the clear impression that Muslim terrorists were thwarted at the last minute from planting bombs made of liquid explosives on board aircraft. Since then, the facts about the story shifted significantly. It is true that some of the people in the custody of British and Pakistani security forces had thought about bombing airplanes. But there is substantial evidence that the plot was far from implementation.

First, no evidence has emerged that the plotters had in hand a functioning prototype of the device they wanted to take on board a plane. That's an important point. The Bojinka plot of 1994--when Ramsi Yousef, Khalid Sheikh Mohamad, Walid Khan, and Hakim Murad planned to blow up 12 jumbo jets in the Pacific--was preceded by Ramsi Yousef's December 1994 success in testing a bomb that exploded on a Philippine Air flight and killed a Japanese man. Yousef, Mohamad, and Murad are in jail. Walid Khan is dead. No one from that group is around to provide technical advice on the amount of explosive required to down a plane.

There is a press report from Pakistan that monitoring of one of the plotters, a fellow named Rauf, revealed that:

the plotters had tested the explosive liquid mixture they planned to use at a location outside Britain. NBC News has previously reported that the explosive mixture was tested in Pakistan. The source said the suspects in Britain had obtained at least some of the materials for the explosive but had not yet actually prepared or mixed it.

We'll say it again--the plotters had not yet actually prepared or mixed a potential explosive. More importantly, they did not have a working prototype of a viable explosive charge that would pass muster at a screening checkpoint. The British plotters reportedly did have hydrogen peroxide. Big deal. Go to your local drug store and you too can buy some. Hydrogen peroxide is not an explosive and there is no easy, safe way to make an explosive with it. The plotters in Britain still had a lot of work to do in order to carry out their plot.

I'm also struck by the fact that more then twenty people were allegedly involved in this plot. The Al Qaeda of Ramsi Yousef's day had a viable plan for blowing up 12 planes using only 5 people. Now we learn that the radical Islamic copycats need 20 folks for at least 6 planes. Is this evidence of Al Qaeda's degraded capability?

Second, no evidence has emerged that the group had purchased tickets or even had passports that would allow them to board a plane to the United States. How exactly were they supposed to bomb planes that they could not even board.

Third, British police are still scrambling to come up with evidence to keep these guys in jail. If the plot was well advanced that would not be a problem. If they had tickets, passports, and explosives in hand that would be, shall we say it. . . A SLAM DUNK!

Fourth, there is the curious response of the Bush Administration to this news. Instead of coming to the White House Briefing Room to announce new initiatives to develop technology to detect liquid explosives at passenger screening checkpoints or to close loopholes posed by unscreened cargo, the Bush White House attacked Democrats for making America vulnerable to terrorists. Last I checked, Howard Dean was not in London trying to put a bomb on an airplane. And Dick Cheney is still on the campaign trail playing the fear card.

I have no doubt that British intelligence had succeeded in penetrating a group of Muslim extremists who had big dreams about hurting the United States but they lacked a viable terrorist plan ready for execution. We also know that the Bush Administration, who was being regularly briefed by the Brits about the plot, pushed London to act prematurely. What is particularly galling is that no one at the Bush White House apparently felt compelled to look for ways to boost aviation security in the United States. Instead, they sought to create a firestorm of fear in order to distract public attention from the devastating article written by Sy Hersh. One of Sy's key points:

The Bush Administration, however, was closely involved in the planning of Israel's retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah's heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel's security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preëmptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.

That is the kind of news the White House would like to bury, particularly as a ceasefire took hold in Lebanon that left Hizbullah standing ten feet tall. As Keith Olberman showed the other night, the Bush Administration has been zealous about trotting out bogus threats when there is political bad news afoot. If I'm right about this latest incident, Keith Olberman has a new item to add to his list of ten.

-- No Quarter

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This SOB ( referring to Larry Johnson ) needs to be crucified.....

[NormsRevenge]

bUMp your sentiment re: Johnsion,,

IED components, cell phones , suitcases stashed in the wodds,

hmmmm.

nope, nothing to see here,,

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Don't forget the Matryr tapes ,....several of course....

[NormsRevenge]

I'm sure those tapes will get tossed, Oh wait , this is in the UK, not the USA.

[Enchante]

Yes, Larry Johnson is once again trying to pooh-pooh the threat of Islamic fascist terrorism. Of course he's doing this for "political" reasons to try to run down the standing of the Bush administration. You'd think this merde-brain would have learned his lesson since in July 2001 he wrote the single most idiotic op-ed in NY Slimes history (that's quite a distinction) arguing that Americans have a greatly exaggerated fear of terrorism and that unless you are in Colombia or Kashmir there's very little to worry about..... a few weeks later came 9/11, showing Larry to be the biggest buffoon known to mankind.

[ScaniaBoy]

You beat me too it.

One would have thought that even a maggot like Larry Johnson would stay away from this issue considering his NYSlimes article, but Oh No!

Quite honestly even a cursory read through of his article divulges so many non sequitors, so much faulty logic and factual errors that one would think any editor with a smidgen of human decency would stop Mr Larry Johnson from making a total fool of himself in public once again.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another one of the lefties over here:

'War' doesn't describe threat to America

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What a clown....along with the Greely guy...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See link at post #18!