July 27, 2006, LONDON
Posted on 08/09/2006 11:18:30 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Thursday they have thwarted a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the United States, arresting a number of people in the London area.
Britain's security service MI5 raised the threat level to the country to "critical" from "severe," meaning an attack is expected imminently.
News of the arrests and heightened security threat came amid high international tension over Israel's war against Hizbollah in Lebanon.
Police said the aim of the plot was to detonate bombs smuggled on board aircraft in hand luggage.
"A major terrorist plot to allegedly blow up aircraft in mid-flight has been disrupted in a joint, pre-planned, intelligence-led operation by the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch and security services," a London police spokesman said.
He said police believed the intention was particularly to target flights from Britain to the United States.
The BBC said about 18 people were arrested.
The police spokesman could not confirm the figure, saying only that an unspecified number of people had been detained in London during the night. The operation was the culmination of a major covert counter-terrorist operation lasting several months, he added.
Following the arrests, security at all British airports was increased and additional security measures put in place for all flights.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under strong criticism at home and abroad for following the U.S. lead and refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.
The security alert comes 13 months after four Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network on July 7 last year.
The Home Office Web Site showed the threat rating had been raised to "critical" from "severe" earlier on Thursday. Britain has a five level rating for security threats, ranging from low to critical, which is the highest level.
Thanks! It never ends, huh?
"God bless the British"
God bless them, every one. I was just watching a Sky News interview with a lady at the airport whose flight to New York had been canceled because of this, and she was so stolid, brave and sensible...none of your liberal hysteria and finger-pointing...she was just going about her day. That's the stuff that saw them through the dark days of WWII. Stiff upper lip and all that. Very glad to see that the horrifying influx of immigrants from third world countries has not yet destroyed the "Britons never shall be slaves" spirit.
You would never hear that from a pilot in PC America. Good on ya, Captain Brit.
I was just watching BBC, and it was unbelievable...the anchorwoman all of a sudden said, let's change topics now, and "smoothly" moved in from this terror plot to the fact that Israel is starting an offensive against Lebanon...classical liberal doublethink, it was unbelievable, the message was clearly "see, this is happening because we haven't done enough to help destroy Israel." It's unbelievable how taxpayer-funded BBC has become a fifth column in England. Is there no dignity in that country anymore? How can the people in England allow the govt. there to treat them this way? They're foiling plot after plot, well eventually one of them will work--you can't be reactive. Why are Muslims still allowed to fly without background checks????
The BBC has a history. They snubbed a firebrand from getting broadcast time prior to Britain entering WWII. He was not from the Neville Chamberlain school of appeasement so they decided he shouldn't get air time. Who was this British lawmaker who was censored by the BBC? Winston Churchill!
Terrorists could nuke half of England, and the BBC would still be bashing Israel for everything wrong in the middle east.
British born men of Pakistani descent..., hmmm
Less than 2 weeks ago they had a London 'peace' march where they displayed signs saying "Britain your 911 is coming".
July 27, 2006, LONDON
Were the arrestees British? Their train bombing were from their own citizens. The September 11th attacks were from foreigners.
The Muslim extremists should be opposed, not obeyed, even if it is less safe.
Actually they--and the Latinos--seem to be culturally prone to hyperbole. They would subjugate the West if they had the chance, though.
I doubt this is to do with the Lebanon. You surely can’t turn around a major terrorist plot in such a short space of time.
Breaking: Major Terror Plot Foiled in UK
Plane Terror Plot Disrupted. (Hat tip: GNIDAthe#seCond.) link: 227 comments more Comments (18) "Asian" is simply the standard British euphemism for "Muslim."
They're already screaming about "crackdowns" and "intimidation."
Obviously, it's not enough.
Got to love that British understatement:
' designed to cause a considerable loss of life '.
Uh, yeah. 20 planes, avg load this time of year around 250-300+ per aircraft... the undercurrent from the UK broadcasts that they are afraid that they haven't gotten them all.
| #128 |  |
extrabob 8/9/2006 11:39PM PDT |
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I've been thinking a lot lately about the parallels between George Orwell's brilliant prophecy/novel 1984, and the world as it is today. Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth (MSM) where his job is to alter photos and newspaper stories (Hajj Reuters pics, Rather & Mapes TANG memos) to match the current political thinking. Language has no meaning; the proles all must adhere to Newspeak & doublethink (PC). Those that don't play the game are guilty of Thoughtcrime (hate speech, hate crime). Winston dares to keep a forbidden diary (blogs... ok, blogs are still legal, but isn't control of the internet one of Big Brother Kofi Annan's pet projects?) The world of 1984 is one of perpetual warfare (WWI, WWII, Cold War, Mideast War) where the allies become the enemies, and vice versa (Japan, Germany, Italy now all our allies, and a former ally Iran now our worst enemy, post-Carter). The sheeple are forced to watch Two Minutes of Hate (but we have 24/7 hate on dKos, DU, and most of the MSM news channels). Kinda scary when you think about it. Depressing. |
I don´t know why anyone would be surprised by the news this morning. Iran and Syria have been telling us for the last two years that they will attack the US and Britain and it will be worse than 9/11. I only hope that if it should happen we retaliate swiftly instead of waiting for the investigations and UN approval.
Thanks a lot. My sources say its 21 now with quite a few more to come.
21 detained now with more to follow.
On the "live" thread there was discussion that those students may have been engaged in a diversionary tactic to misdirect our security forces.
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