Huh. No tickets, no passports. About as imminent a threat as Saddam. And if I read one more account about what the U.S. did....this case was solved by British law enforcement, not because of the Patriot Act, not because of illegal wiretaps, not because anyone was tortured and not because of the Dept of Homeland Security. It appears that all the Bush Administration did in respect to this alleged terrorist plot was provide media consultation to the Brits and ban lip balm on airplanes.
Posted by ann at August 13, 2006 01:05 PMYes, and it served its purpose; i.e. to suck up the news cycle after the Lamont victory. And coming in October: a) Another terra plot foiled and b) A statement by bin Laden to be interpreted by the Republicans as an endorsement of Democrats.
Posted by nlacey at August 13, 2006 01:55 PMAnd let's not forget that the CIA immediately concluded that Osama's 2004 election-eve message was intended to help re-elect Nero jr. and continue his disastrous policy of "strength" (i.e US military intervention in the Islamic world).
More of the same likely this October.
Will the American people fall for it yet again?
Posted by euzoius at August 13, 2006 02:21 PMRemember the terra threat being elevated the day Kerry named Edwards as his running mate? This political weapon is still an effective Bushco tool.
Fran Farkle Townsend spoke more truth when she was on "Laugh In" before her marriage to Mr. Townsend. Goldy Hawn would make a better spokesperson.
Posted by TIKI AL at August 13, 2006 03:18 PMBush and Dick Pow Wow
Bush -- Hey, I got it! Since Joe lost let's trot out that British case where they are going to attempt to blow up a bunch of planes in mid air. That will remind the people that we are the party of security.
Dick -- Great idea but won't that remind the people that we screwed up -- I mean we made a strategic decision to go into Iraq and not pursue Bin Laden and the rest of his gang. I mean if we kept after him we probably would have got him by now. Maybe someone will connect the dots.
Bush -- Naw Joe Six Pack is to stupid. He is thinking about this weekends NASCAR race and NFL had some preseason games this week. That is what they are thinking about.
Posted by Ishmael at August 13, 2006 03:59 PM"Please, let’s not be under the illusion any more that the arrests weren’t driven in large part by the White House’s domestic political considerations."
Steve, EVERYTHING is driven for political gain inside this WH.
Posted by Judith at August 13, 2006 04:37 PMI heard that 5 of the hijackers weren't caught, and wonder if that was because they were forced to jump the gun?
Posted by Eric at August 13, 2006 04:51 PM"And let's not forget that the CIA immediately concluded that Osama's 2004 election-eve message was intended to help re-elect Nero jr. and continue his disastrous policy of "strength" (i.e US military intervention in the Islamic world)."
"More of the same likely this October."
"Will the American people fall for it yet again?"
euzoius, this will of course happen. That is why I get so damn mad and frustrated. Why doesn't some opposition (hello Democrats)party tell people that is what is going to happen. And while they are making that particular prediction, they might want to tell how their prediction is based on reality and fact.
You can take it to the bank that there will be an October Surprise this year and in '08.
Posted by Judith at August 13, 2006 04:54 PMSoto:
[...]and that it may have been more advantageous to wait several days to roll up more of the participants[...]
Steve, unless you have some sort of special operational knowledge, I don't see how you can say that. But, at least you acknowledge that there was a plot to blow up several airliners ---and that this wasn't just some sort of imaginary neocon plot.
Posted by Toby Petzold at August 13, 2006 09:08 PMToby once again shows his amazing ability to hang on to the merest of straws that he can grasp. To him, everything is better done quickly and sloppily rather than thoroughly and completely.
If this is true about Americans pressuring the UK officials, then the British authorities thought the risk of not catching all members was greater than the risk of the plotters moving too soon. After all, they were under surveillance, but unaware that the cops had a bead on them.
Considering the overwhelming pattern shown by the Bush administration to let political concerns override all other concerns, I'd say the Bushies were hungry for the PR and didn't give a damn about making sure all of the baddies were caught. They just don't care about anybody other than themselves.
Posted by Saint Fnordius at August 14, 2006 04:18 AMSince when is it up to BushCo to tell the UK when they can release information about a terrorist attack, anyway? Plot or no plot, the simple fact that Bush had any say whatsoever in the release of the information smacks of political posturing.
Posted by ann at August 14, 2006 05:36 AMI imagine this is a dead thread at this point but I know that some commenters was pointed at least in my direction. To that I will offer a mea culpa. I didn't think it possible that the British intelligence and police services could be as much of a dupe of Bushco. as Blair is. When you wrote about the Brits acting to quickly I was thinking you thought they jumped the gun on there own account. It didn't even occur to me that they would have jumped to quickly under pressure from Bush.
Something else, since this whole thing went down I haven't read any accounts that speak about the actual possesion of the supposed elements of the bombs. Has there been a definite statement that they were in possesion of the materials to create an explosion?
Posted by snark at August 14, 2006 06:02 AMthis is like when we nabbed one of numerous "al qaeda #3"s in pakistan couple years back (something about a laptop). after we trumpeted it, the brits were forced to roll up an operation they weren't ready to act on. (they had to catch one suspect in a high-speed chasxe, IIRC)
Posted by benjoya at August 14, 2006 09:46 AMPerhaps the Cheney administration needed a WELL TIMED event to change the narrative and keep the proles in line. Cable news has been telling us all weekend that we MAY have all died, at least that's the theme from the American versions of Pravda. Faux spews has been foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs.
But the fact remains, the alleged attack wasn't imminent, OUR government pressured the British(for political reasons) and now the Fox "news" watching sheeple are convinced that without Bush and his rubber stamp congress WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE......unless we give them free reign to shred the constitution. The real message is....vote Democratic, and DIE!!!!!!! And our "free press" falls in line again. Welcome to the Rovian/Cheney vision of Amerika.