This entry was posted on
Friday, August 11th, 2006 at
12:39 am and is filed
under The War on Stupid.

Please excuse the following question… that’s just me thinking that something doesn’t quite add up.

Please excuse the delay…. that’s just me waiting for the crowds to abate.

(cough)

If there’s a real risk that multiple terrorists are carrying disguised explosives into an airport, why respond in a way that results in crowding, uncertainty and chaos at the target airport when one small explosion in such circumstances could (via placement and/or panic) cause loss of life that would be unacceptable (if not ‘unprecedented’)?

I smell a blown operation.

(Oh, and please excuse me for suggesting that such a thing would have something to do with Blair briefing Bush on the developing situation… that’s just me knowing that Monkey Boy has screwed us on this kind of thing before.)

UPDATE – Guardian – Blair forewarned Bush of terror threat to US airlines: Downing Street admitted Tony Blair would not have left the country on Monday for his Caribbean holiday if he had known the police would need to swoop so quickly to disrupt a terrorist plot. He has known about it in general terms for months, and has spoken to President George Bush about it on a number of occasions. The two leaders discussed it in more detail on Sunday, during a conversation on a secure line in which the prime minister outlined what he knew of the British cell being monitored by the security services. Downing Street officials said he had also mentioned the specific surveillance operation. Mr Blair warned the president that it showed there was a specific threat to US airlines and urged total secrecy, warning premature leaks would destroy the monitoring of the group.

UPDATE (12 August) – Independent – Police recover bomb-making equipment as search goes on: The police were rushed into making the arrests after one of the alleged ringleaders – a British citizen – was arrested in Pakistan on Wednesday, US intelligence sources have disclosed. The police acted swiftly because they were fearful that the arrest in Pakistan would alert British based suicide bombers and prompt them into carrying out the planned attacks in the next few days, the US sources confirmed.

Please note the presence/involvement of US ‘intelligence’…

More:

IOL – Intercepted phone call ‘urged plotters to attack’: An intercept of a telephone call made from Pakistan to Britain that urged plotters to go ahead with attacks on US-bound aeroplanes played a crucial role in foiling the alleged terror plan, Pakistani officials said today. The arrest in Pakistan of a key suspect with alleged al-Qaida links, British national Rashid Rauf, prompted an unidentified associate of his to make the call from Karachi to one of the suspects subsequently arrested in Britain, the officials said.

Independent – Arrest of British man in Pakistan triggered raid: A series of arrests in Pakistan appears to have been instrumental in uncovering the alleged plot