Posted on 07/01/2007 1:49:16 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) - British officials intensified the hunt Sunday for what they called an al-Qaida-linked network behind three attempted terrorist attacks, announcing a fifth arrest and conducting pinpoint raids across a country on its highest level of alert.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
We've got well educated Muzzies from Iraq, Iran, and Jordan involved in this "plot". And yet it's strangely amateurish and so far unsuccessful.
Something stinks.
Terrorism fight is our Cold War, says Brown
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Tough anti-terror measures, including detaining suspects without charge beyond 28 days and the use of phone-tap evidence in court, are being considered by Gordon Brown following the London and Glasgow attacks.
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The Prime Minister yesterday compared the lengthy struggle against terrorism to the 40 years of the Cold War, saying it would involve a battle for the hearts and minds of young Muslims as well as new security measures.
The Conservatives promised to co-operate with Mr Brown and indicated that they may be willing to drop their opposition to the extension of the 28-day detention period, provided it was shown that the police need the extra time.
William Hague, the Tory foreign affairs spokesman, stressed that the Government would have to provide "compelling'' evidence that an extension to as much as 90 days was needed, and warned that MPs would not give Mr Brown a "blank cheque" to bring in tougher security powers.
Extended detention without charge is expected to be brought forward by Mr Brown in a terrorism Bill in the autumn to tighten security.
It was doubled to 28 days two years ago, but Tony Blair's attempt to push through 90 days in the face of strong opposition from the Tories, Liberal Democrats and many Labour MPs was defeated.
Mr Brown has already indicated his support for 90 days, but said yesterday that he would seek "consensus".
He has cited the need for the police and security services to trawl through computer records, emails and the use of multiple identities and addresses by terrorists as reasons why a longer detention period may be necessary.
Interviewed on BBC television's Sunday AM programme, Mr Brown stressed that any new detention measures would include safeguards to protect civil liberties, including enhanced judicial and parliamentary oversight.
The terrorists were making a long term and sustained attack on Western values and it would have to be countered by not just military and security means, Mr Brown said.
"It's also about hearts and minds. If in the long term we cannot separate the moderates from the extremists and the extremists prey on young lives both in this country and in other parts of the world, then we will see culturally a distancing of people with extreme views from the rest of the community.
"And that's why the cultural effort, almost similar to what happened during the Cold War in the 1940s, 50s and 60s when we had to mount a propaganda effort to explain to people that our values represented the best of commitments to individual dignity, to liberty and to human life being taken seriously. And that's what we are going to have to talk about in the next few years."
Mr Brown said he wanted wide debate among MPs and the public before introducing any new security powers. He confirmed that the Government was looking at allowing phone tap or other intercept evidence to be used in court, despite security and intelligence service concerns that it could alert criminals to the scope and extent of electronic surveillance.
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The Glasgow airport car bomb was intended to create a devastating fireball which would have swept through the heart of the main terminal building, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent people, it emerged last night.
As forensics teams continued to examine the burnt-out shell of the 4x4 vehicle, an initial analysis of Saturday afternoon's astonishing events revealed just how close the terrorists came to causing an unprecedented atrocity.
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Last night five people were in custody as it emerged that:
The same two men may have been responsible for the Glasgow and the London bomb attempts;
Police were on the trail of the suspected bombers before the airport attack and narrowly missed tracking them down;
Doctors and a woman are in custody;
Police are still hunting at least one suspect;
Experts revealed the attack on Glasgow airport aimed to kill and maim hundreds in a massive fireball;
Gordon Brown raised the prospect of detaining suspects without charge for more than 28 days and allowing the use of phone-tap evidence in court.
The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the same two men may have been responsible for all three car bombs.
Anti-terrorism police are confident they have the key men involved in custody - one of them suffering from 90 per cent burns after smashing a Jeep, packed with petrol and gas canisters, into the terminal at Glasgow.
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But they are still searching for at least one more member of what is believed to be an al-Qa'eda cell intent on launching attacks across the country.
Officers raided the house of Dr Mohammed Asha, in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs, at around 10pm on Saturday night.
Neighbours said he was a Lebanese doctor working at the North Staffordshire Hospital, Stoke, and lived there with his wife and baby boy. Asha, 26, and a woman of 27 were arrested as police cornered them on the M6 near Sandbach, Cheshire. Police sources said Asha was arrested as he approached Sandbach services driving north.
In Liverpool, people living near houses raided by police said they believed the occupants were medical students.
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At the nearby village of Houston, police said two other men, who are now in custody, are believed to have rented a semi-detached house and had only been north of the border for three months.
Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said: "The people we have in custody came to Scotland a short while ago to seek work. I'm sure the community in Glasgow in particular will be reassured. These are not your young people."
There was a suggestion that police had been hot on the trail of the two men before they attempted their attack.
The director of an agency which rented out the property in Houston said he returned home around 10 minutes before the attacks in the airport to find a note from Strathclyde Police asking him to get in touch about two of his tenants.
Officers wanted to speak to him about the Asian men living at Neuk Crescent, which was raided at 4.30am yesterday. Daniel Gardiner, the owner of the Let It agency, said it would be "heartening" to know that the police had intelligence on the men involved, even if they failed to prevent the attack.
More arrests are expected as police try to hunt down the al-Qa'eda cell responsible for the co-ordinated attacks.
Not really. Being highly educated and having a well thought out plan has no bearing on how well or capable the individuals will be at caring out the mechanics of their plan. I have actually witnessed many academics fail miserably in my field of specialty.
Obviously experience helps, but unfortunately it is difficult to find experienced suicidal terrorists. And the ones that are good have a tendency to promptly leave the field.
LOL!
Actually, I think we'll see them start moving towards remote attacks for that very reason. That was what they did in Madrid - no suicides in those attacks. The nutcases didn't want to waste their trained terrorists. Fortunately, they blew up in their house later when the police were trying to capture them, but that wasn't their initial plan.
All the detail, time lines, history and without PC BS we need on these events is in the incredible link below, provided by Tex Kat.
CNN BREAKING NEWS: Police carry out two controlled explosions at hospital in Glasgow (Royal Alexandra Hospital)
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