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London Attacks Planned for August 16

The London attacks were scheduled for August 16 according to British authorities.

Investigation by British intelligence agents has revealed that Wednesday, August 16, was D-Day for the foiled terror attacks. Flight tickets for that day were reportedly found at one of the suspects' houses.

Details are now available about the 19 suspects arrested and in British custody.

The list includes a security guard, a science student and a university drop-out who works for a music company.,,,One of the suspects has recently become a father and worked in security at Heathrow Airport.

There have been 7 arrests in Pakistan.

Among those arrested in Pakistan was Rashid Rauf, a British citizen who was detained along the country's border with Afghanistan. His brother, Tayib, was among the people arrested in Britain. A statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry described Rashid Rauf as a central figure in the plot and said he had an "Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda connection."

U.S. agents kept the FISA court busy with requests for warrants related to the London plot:

In the days before the alleged airliner bombing plot was exposed, more than 200 FBI agents followed up leads inside the United States looking for potential connections to British and Pakistani suspects. The investigation was so large, officials said, that it brought a significant surge in warrants for searches and surveillance from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret panel that oversees most clandestine surveillance.

One official estimated that scores of secret U.S. warrants were dedicated solely to the London plot....The purpose of the recent warrants included monitoring telephone calls that some of the London suspects made to the United States, two sources said.

The Justice Department sounds like it is itching to get into the legal action over the plotters.

At the Justice Department, prosecutors have debated and identified possible criminal charges that could be filed against those arrested, because they were targeting U.S.-bound flights. One official said they would defer to British prosecutors in the case, but wanted backup options in case their London counterparts encountered problems.

Meanwhile, friends and family of those arrested portray them as "normal guys." And many are skeptical about the investigation:

There is a perception that this is a trial by media," said Jahangir Mohammed, director of the Center for Muslim Affairs, an independent research organization based in Manchester. "The general feeling is that people believe this has been concocted and it is very timely" as a diversion from the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Several Muslims said they condemned any terrorist plot but were skeptical about the police investigation and evidence that tied so many seemingly normal, middle-class Muslims to the alleged plot.

Fears of racial profiling abound in the Muslim community:

Khalid Sofi, a senior member of the Muslim Council of Britain, told the BBC....that British police made sweeping arrests of Muslims based on ethnic and religious profiling and used unwarranted stop-and-search procedures, and that most of the Muslims were released without being charged.

British authorities don't deny that some of those arrested will be released:

"Of those we have arrested, some will be released without charge -- that is the nature of an investigation. Some will interpret that as meaning the evidence is not there, but there is a good reason for us to have acted as we have," said Rob Beckley, a senior police officer who heads community and counterterrorism programs for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

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    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#1)
    by Andreas on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 01:28:19 AM EST
    Before all but the sparsest details of the alleged terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights have been revealed, the American people are being subjected once again to a campaign of fear-mongering and intimidation directed from the White House. The aim of this propaganda drive, aided and abetted by the media, is to portray opposition to the war in Iraq and to the policies of the Bush administration in general as tantamount to collusion with or capitulation to terrorism and mass murder. The administration did not even wait until the arrests were announced, but got a head-start in the form of a loathsome statement issued by Vice President Dick Cheney, who staged a rare teleconference with the media Wednesday to deliver his verdict on the Democratic primary defeat of incumbent Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
    In wake of London arrests: Another attempt to terrorize the American people By Bill Van Auken, Socialist Equality Party candidate for US Senate from New York, 12 August 2006
    The claim that American and British security forces have thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up commercial flights between Britain and the United States should not be accepted uncritically. It is impossible to determine at this point whether or not such an attack was in the offing, although the mass media have, as usual, reported the assertions of the British and American governments as indisputable fact, without bothering to ask for any specific information that would substantiate the official story.
    Britain's airline terror plot: Questions that need to be answered By the Editorial Board of the WSWS, 11 August 2006

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 03:52:02 AM EST
    Funny how the ticket were found after there was much complaining about how there were no tickets.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#3)
    by lilybart on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 06:39:14 AM EST
    There is only one way to stop terrorists, and society will never stop them all. Good police work, with international cooperation, along with reducing support for these terrorists in their communities. no war will ever stop terrorists unless you kill almost all people in the world.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 07:07:29 AM EST
    What do you want to happen Andreas? Should they have let the plot move forward?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 07:09:08 AM EST
    et al - If these guys can be described as normal members of the Moslem communnity in England, then it is obvious that there are some real problems with what England has been doing, and what England will tolerate being taught and said by the so-called "religious leaders." Roscoe - No, what is amazing that people such as yourself can always find reasons to disbelieve the police when it comes to investigating terrorists. Lilybart - Well, military action worked rather well against the Nazis and the Japanese. Your problem is that you don't recognize, and probably will never be able to make the connecion, that this also a war, and this will also, and does, require military action. As for "police action alone," you need to remember.
    1979 - US Embasy siezed in Tehran by Iranians. In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid. Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed.. Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed. The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in1988, killing 259. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women. June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime And then 9/11....
    (Portions of the preceeding dervied/copied from various email sources.) Yes. Police action lone worked well, eh?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 08:43:35 AM EST
    Wow, Jimaka, I guess Bush and Cheney must have started planning these attacks back in the 70s then. We should forget about homeland security and put all our time and effort into proving how it's Bush alone that had made the muslim world angry at america.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:27:21 AM EST
    Jim, Don't you read your own fearless leaders' comments? This is not a conventional war. Unless, of course, you are grasping for moral relativism in a losing argument. Apples over here. Oranges over there. Get it yet? Comparing the "WOT" with WWII is like trying to intill Democracy in a Muslim na... Never mind.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:39:39 AM EST
    Proof? We don't need no steenkin' proof. They bought Tracfones....whaaaaa? Book 'em, Danno

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#9)
    by JSN on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:51:05 AM EST
    We do know that the Bush administration will out a CIA agent to gain a political advantage. If I were an informant I would demand that the US Government be kept in the dark as long as possible as a condition for providing information simply as a matter of self preservation. It appears that the British police kept the information to themselves until just before they made arrests. The tables have been turned. The CIA did not want to share intelligence with the Brits because they found it was being passed to the USSR.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#10)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:53:15 AM EST
    If these guys can be described as normal members of the Moslem communnity in England, then it is obvious that there are some real problems with what England has been doing, and what England will tolerate being taught and said by the so-called "religious leaders."
    ppj just hates trials and charges having to be proved. better to torture them in a secret prison till they confess, eh jimmy?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 11:01:41 AM EST
    And then 9/11....
    PPJ.That's of course if we eliminate "Doubt" from our vocabulary and just believe then there would be no need to question. Right. PPJ. Remember "Doubt" is a strong asset to have in ones mindset. We do have a right to "Doubt" and question authority. Although to you that's expressed as a Bush Hater.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#12)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 11:52:36 AM EST
    If these guys can be described as normal members of the Moslem communnity in England, then it is obvious that there are some real problems with what England has been doing, and what England will tolerate being taught and said by the so-called "religious leaders."
    PPJ...the truly ironic thing is that you and others like you preach the same sermons as the Mad Mullahs. Tragically, so do the people running our foreign policy. The calls to violence, backed up by nationalist/religious symbolism, the appeals to the gut level instinct for retaliatory violence...all of this is from the same playbook that the mullahs use to recruit martyrs for their cause. The only difference is that their adherents are willing to die for the cause, while ours are only willing to send other people's kids to die. So PPJ, your unwillingness to back up your beliefs with anything more than words is what defines you. In certain quarters (those outside the neocon community) this is known as cowardice.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 12:18:54 PM EST
    Madness forestalled, alas not forsaken. Milton, I think, and very fitting. Thank god they caught them when they did.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#14)
    by Dadler on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 02:03:39 PM EST
    Jim, Play devil's advocate with your own thinking for me, just once. The harsh reality is if it weren't for the TIP called in by a fellow Muslim, there's a good chance this whole "plot" (if indeed it proves out) would never have been uncovered. Now, call me crazy, but is this not the kind of cooperation from the Muslim community you constantly bemoan a lack of? And your gool ol' list of terror incidents could be countered quite rationally with a much longer list, covered by any number of books, one being PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE by Gore Vidal, your favorite World War II veteran.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 02:34:31 PM EST
    Che - Perhaps you should get an eye exam, and maybe some help with your logic. I never compared this war to WWII. I said that military force wiped out the Nazis and the Japanese, and that force will be required here. But it will not be the same. And you just ignore the tears and years of attacks. Dadler - Let me flip the table on you with a re-raise. If the existing culture didn't have huge problems, the plot would never even have happened. And if it did, it would have multiple tips at the very beginning. And your:
    (if indeed it proves out)
    definitely moves you into the lunatic fringe. Pity, but you've been edging that way for a few months... Ernie - Thank you for your kind words. As you are well aware I served ten years in Naval Aviation. I can never remember if you did, somehow I don't think so. But keep on saying ignorant things like calling people cowards. It defines you for the casual visitor. Furillo - No one has said that you don't have the right to doubt. But when you come up with a statement like Dadler's (above) you are in the lunatic fringe. As for the list, I don't think anyone will deny the attacks didn't happen.. Of course you may make that a first. xtra! xtra! Read all about it! 9/11 was a fake! Movie shot in Canada! Thousands thought dead returning home!! xtra! Sailor - We have some 20 plus, some middle class, some second generation people plotting to blow up airliners... and you think the way we have been handling things are correct? Gesh.... I am giggling. jsn - Yes, we know that the Mrs. Wilson-Plame affair was most horrible while telling the Moslem Terrorists about our abilities to follow money trails and listen in on terrorist calls is okay.... Another Gesh. No giggles. Much eye rolling though and shaking of head. rumi - Wrong terrorist plot. But yeah, they did. 200 of them... fahrenam - Excellent point. Tell the Brits to let those terrorist go.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 02:47:22 PM EST
    Jim I missed the connection that was made that tied the phone purchases directly to a terrorist plot. So far, all I've heard is conjecture incorrectly passed as fact. What exactly is the nature of the Texas contact for repurchase/distribution? Links? Can this not be folks trying to make a buck....the entrepeneurial spirit Bush pushes?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 04:21:48 PM EST
    rumi - These loverlies were found with 1000 cell phones...
    They also told officers they get stopped frequently and say they buy the phones for $20 and sell them elsewhere for $38. They sell them without the packaging or charger.
    "Uh.....say there mister.. can I buy a cell phone from you for twice what I can pay for it at WM....? No, I don't want a package with the documentation....No, I don't want a charger....?" Are you daft enough to believe that? I mean, pleaseeeeeeee you are making me laugh so hard my sides are hurting. What? You do? Figures.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#18)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 07:19:52 PM EST
    We have some 20 plus, some middle class, some second generation people plotting to blow up airliners
    how do you know? poor ppj, bush has lied to him about everything ... but he has such a desperate need to believe that no logic, sense, experimental repeatability can deter him. good thing 66% of Americans digagree with him.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 07:44:32 PM EST
    Jim How does this prove what they're being used for? I see a lot of evidence for criminal activity but none for proof of actual terrist activity. Maybe they were phones to use and discard for other criminal activity, but not what you decide they're used for. Is this possible?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 07:50:54 PM EST
    Also from Jim's link
    The men have been "cooperative, upfront, not hiding" anything according to police. They also told officers they get stopped frequently and say they buy the phones for $20 and sell them elsewhere for $38. They sell them without the packaging or charger.
    Maybe they're actually CIA...you know, like the ones busted in Italy for extraordinary rendition by their cell phone records.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#21)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:03:25 PM EST
    Jim, Well, military action worked rather well against the Nazis and the Japanese. Your problem is that you don't recognize, and probably will never be able to make the connecion, that this also a war, and this will also, and does, require military action. That's not a comparison? Yeah sure. Whatever. My eyes are fine. It's your POV that's blurry.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#22)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Aug 12, 2006 at 09:57:39 PM EST
    PPJ...I guess your ten years in trumps the entire neocon squad. Funny, I don't hear you complaining about their lack of time in service.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Aug 13, 2006 at 11:52:23 AM EST
    Ernie - Get a grip, dude. I never complain about anyone's lack of service, unless they bring the subject up. Hope that's not to complex for you. Che - Nope, it is a statement of what worked in WWII and a note that it won't be the same this time around. Is English your second language? (It is mine. I speak Southern.) Rumi - I see you ignored my point made in a sarcastic manner. Simpler. 1. They claim to buy'em for $20, tear off the documentation, throw away the chargers and sell'm for $38. 2. They have a 1000. 3. As dear Sailor says, I call BS. Sailor - How do I know? I read something besides Juan Cole and KOS.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#24)
    by Dadler on Sun Aug 13, 2006 at 01:54:29 PM EST
    Jim, That's not a raise, it's making my point for me. What does it say about America, then, that the 9/11 plotters lived and worked here? Or go back to McVeigh, or Nichols, or Rudolph, or the militia nuts, or any number of mass murderers we lead the world in producing, or the people stockpiling weapons out in the boonies for the apocalypse. I gave you exactly what you always ask for (a Muslim working to defeat terror by informing the authorities --and doing so in a manner which looks to have stopped a pretty involved conspiracy), and it simply doesn't seem to exist to you. And thanks for the lunatic fringe shot, bud. I can't be offended since 1) what I wrote was merely meant to indicate that what we know so far is limited and the government has a less than stellar record in this area, and 2) in relation to where you stand politically I am most certainly on a distant fringe -- though I think both of us know neither of us is a lunatic. Just a loudmouth.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Aug 13, 2006 at 03:04:33 PM EST
    Jim You're still avoiding the discussion. I'm saying that the phone purchases could have been for criminal activity other than terrorism. You seem to be saying that's not possible. Which is it?

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#26)
    by Sailor on Sun Aug 13, 2006 at 03:28:04 PM EST
    How do I know? I read something besides Juan Cole and KOS.
    since I have never quoted Kos or Cole I assume this is just another diversion and attack from ppj trying to divert attention fromm the fact that he has no facts to base his beliefs on, just the word of fellow proven liars.

    Re: London Attacks Planned for August 16 (none / 0) (#27)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sun Aug 13, 2006 at 10:37:06 PM EST
    PPJ...to recap, I said this:
    So PPJ, your unwillingness to back up your beliefs with anything more than words is what defines you.
    Then you said this:
    As you are well aware I served ten years in Naval Aviation. I can never remember if you did, somehow I don't think so.
    That's irrelevent. Those 10 years do not exempt you from taking the fight to the "Mooslems" since that was before the great WOT had even begun. Furthermore, I bet you there are National Guard guys older than you in Iraq right now, some of them on their 2nd or 3rd tour. Oh and then you said this:
    I never complain about anyone's lack of service, unless they bring the subject up. Hope that's not to complex for you.
    Actually, I did not bring the subject up, you did in response to me pointing out that you are not willing to back up your tough talk with any actual action. This type of cowardice on the part of the Yellow Elephants is what gives aid and comfort to the terrorists!