Posted on 02/12/2003 4:35:33 AM PST by MadIvan
London is facing a terrorist threat on the same scale as the September 11 attacks on New York, the Government warned today. Ken Livingstone has urged Londoners to remain vigilant as army and police patrols are stepped across central London.
Troops remained at Heathrow but were also deployed to areas nearby such as Windsor Great Park, reinforcing fears that terrorists could use surface-to-air missiles to bring down passenger aircraft.
Armed police also patrolled the bridges on motorways leading to the airport as more than 1,000 officers from the Met and other forces began high-visibility patrols.
Police have sealed off car parks and lay-bys along the A30 between Windsor and Staines, and massively increased their presence in villages and towns including Runnymede, Upton, Colnbrook, Stanwell, Hythe End, Eton and Wraysbury.
Pairs of officers have been posted every 150 yards along stretches of roads close to Heathrow while security around so-called "postcard" targets in central London has also been stepped up.
Such targets include Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the Underground and shopping centres.
Labour Party chairman John Reid today warned that the nature of the terrorist threat on London was on the scale of the September 11 attacks.
Asked if the deployment of troops at Heathrow was an over-the-top reaction as a war against Iraq loomed, Dr Reid angrily replied: "This is not a game. This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York.
"I am not even going to take seriously those people who suggest this is part of some sort of game."
Scotland Yard refused to reveal the details of the threat but sources did not deny the possibility of a missile attack on a plane similar to the one carried out by al Qaeda terrorists in Kenya last year.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said last night: "I don't want people to panic, people should not be alarmed, they should be alert."
Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "This is an ongoing operation in relation to a specific threat."
Sir John told ITV News that the alert was for the whole of London, not just Heathrow. "We wouldn't do this unless it was necessary. It is necessary for the safety of Londoners and people visiting this capital city. It's not just reassurance, it's necessary for the safety of the public."
In Windsor the threat of a terrorist strike was brought home when armed troops began foot patrols in the town for the first time. Soldiers in full combat gear and carrying rifles were seen scouring the wooded areas of Windsor Great Park and guarding the entrances to the park.
An area of woodland close to the homes of pop star Sir Elton John and golfer Nick Faldo was searched.
All flights from Heathrow pass directly over Windsor Great Park and the immediate area around it.
Vans and trucks going into and out of Windsor were stopped at armed police checkpoints. One laundry driver was stopped a total of five times and officers, armed with machine guns, searched the back of the van each time.
The massive security operation in London and the South-East was launched amid fears that al Qaeda could mark the end of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha to launch an attack.
Police had earlier been stopping drivers to carry out security checks, but had scaled down their activities as both night and heavy cloud drew in.
Motorists on the M4 reported high-visibility patrols on the bridges near Heathrow and approaches to London, while officers were also using automatic number plate-reading cameras to check for suspect vehicles.
The operation at Heathrow saw troops from the First Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Household Cavalry Regiment move in with armoured cars at 6am yesterday, the first time troops have been deployed at the airport since the IRA mortar attacks in 1994.
The Government and Scotland Yard said the move was "precautionary".
Last November's plane rocket attack in Kenya saw some 270 passengers and crew escape with their lives when two missiles narrowly missed an Israeli jet taking off from Mombasa airport.
A devastating suicide bombing was carried out at the same time on a hotel used by Israeli tourists in Mombasa. Fifteen people were killed.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for both attacks.
The Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles used at Mombasa airport were fired from fields eight miles away.
British intelligence is sifting up to 150 reports per day linked to international terrorism. The data is said to be "very fragmentary".
The Anti-Terrorist Branch and MI5 are also carrying out a massive operation to track down potential terrorist cells across the UK.
All hospitals across London have drawn up emergency plans to deal with the aftermath of any terror attack.
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We resisted Adolf and won. A few goat shaggers are nothing in comparison.
Regards, Ivan
Tony Blair is certainly the man right now as he pulls out all the stops to prevent this catastrophic attack. The WMD strike on London increasingly appears to take the form of massive Oklahoma City style detonations in "The City" and by the docks. Combined with several score Islamic entente Mujahadeen rampaging through London and other major UK cities with automatic weapons and grenades -- decimating first responder ranks and taking over critical economic infrastructure facilities and national landmarks -- these assaults represent the critical schwerpunkt of the opposition counteroffensive to the coming US war on Iraq.
Should the Islamic entente successfully execute this coup de main then the critical UK/US nexus will be severed at its defining moment. With London in flames and much of the nation shut down -- while the entire world watches on CNN and Sky News -- the Franco-German-Russo apologists will have the upper hand and be able to halt the American attack on Baghdad.
Some two dozen senior Islamic entente operatives in the UK now holding the fate of the entire world in their hands. Seemingly invulnerable in their ultra-secret cells, and well trained in their deadly task, these Eastern Holy Warriors with the destruction of the West within their grasp. Only a modern-day "Thin Red Line" now standing between them and a stunning Islamic entente victory that will shock the entire world.
May the Christian god have mercy on the UK...
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.
Worry about you and our beloved friend, England...praying for your safety, and our shared victory.
And Britain has disarmed her citizens subjects. A condition that has not been overlooked by the Murderous Minions of MAD MO (piss be upon his head).
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