Terrorist Plot To Explode Airplanes Foiled

Airlines on alert after foiled bomb plot

The suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.

'Red' Alert on British Flights to U.S.



European Carriers Cancel Flights to U.K.



Airline stocks slammed after terror arrests



Will people stop flying? No. It's too convenient, and nobody believes it will happen to them. But airplanes remain extremely available, extremely destructive weapons. Where else can you find 250,000 kilograms with 100,000 kilgrams of it being flammible fuel, travelling at speeds of 200 plus meters per second, all encased in a fragile aluminum shell and conveniently accessible to members of the public, not disincluding those who have made enemy sympathies all too clear? This is 5 gigajoules just in kinetic energy! Our current precautions are laughably insufficient, and even counterproductive. Move all that stuff to checked baggage? Get real. If electronic devices can still be checked, you've got timed detonation and people who might have been required to sacrifice their lives might simply check in but not actually get onto the plane.



Sooner or later, some more terrorists are going to succeed in taking over airplanes. What are we going to do other than warn people that we're doing out best under the circumstances, but there's a good possibility that won't be enough.



Meanwhile, back on the left, Oliver Willis believes, as usual for things of this nature, that it's just a political frame job. It's like he's got his fingers cemented into his ears and is screaming "I am not listening to Bush!" It may be possible that someday he'll discover the drawbacks of using Super Glue for that purpose, but I'm not optimistic.





via QOAE, who has her own thoughts, Americablog proves he remains a loyal party commissar, hewing to the pravda of the day, and Daily Kos is convinced the War on Terror is all the result of a Bushite plot to control our minds and out government.



Quite frankly, if the scenario the lefties posit were true, The government has already killed some 6000 Americans (9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq) and several time that number of peaceful moslems who never meant us harm. Why would such an Administration stop a second set of murderers short when they could get so much more political mileage out of dead bodies?



I thought Karl Rove was some kind of evil supergenius advising Rethuglicans on how to best maintain their absolute grip on power? I thought George Bush was an undead Hitler zombie with a genius for propaganda manipulation? Silly limited intellect that I am, I saw this in about two microseconds. Why didn't these superhuman intellects of evil?



I suppose if they didn't have fingers superglued into their ears they would be exclaiming Norman correlate! as a prelude to a Scanners-style head explosion.



Protein Wisdom takes down a delusional reporter and his enablers in much the same way. "I question the timing" indeed. Is there any point in time at which this revelation would not be politically helpful to the party which is not in complete denial about the threat we face?



Strata-Sphere connects a couple of dots.



Riehl World View notes that some of those arrested today have ties to those involved in the July 7 bombings last year.



Jawa Report relates information that the terrorists involved are linked to Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, exiled from Britain



Powerline: "No brotherhood excuses murder." I really would rather CAIR were out of the ordinary on this, but if Bar Associations, et al can't do it, why should we expect it of CAIR?



Jihad Watch notes that Moslem employees of Heathrow with "all Access" passes were involved.



via Dean's World, a timesonline report that Pakistani intelligence was a critical factor.



LGF names terrorist names.



I like the way this man thinks: Why Don't We All Consider A Little STFU?



Michelle Malkin has a massively important roundup, and another on the Moslem mindset.



via Instapundit, Irish Trojan wonders if this was the big August 22nd thing Ahmedinejad was talking about? If so, we may be going to war with Iran very soon.