Britain Says (It) Faces Terrorist Threat

[American Patriot]

Britain Says (It) Faces Terrorist Threat
Yahoo! News (Reuters) ^ | 8/1/2006 | Gideon Long



Britain says faces terrorist threat
By Gideon Long

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain launched a new security alert system on Tuesday, ranking the terrorist threat to the country as "severe" and saying an attack was highly likely.



It was the first time the government had published such information. Until now, it has argued that doing so would cause unnecessary alarm.

But faced with growing criticism that it was failing to spell out the threat from groups like al Qaeda, the government has decided to follow the lead of other countries and introduce a graded alert system.



It has five levels ranging from "low" (attack unlikely) to "critical" (attack expected imminently), and is similar to the one used in the United States for the past four years, although, unlike the U.S. model, it is not color-coded.



"Severe" is the second highest level.



The threat level was posted on a new Web site -- www.intelligence.gov.uk -- and on the Home Office (interior ministry) and security service sites.

Analysts say the decision to publish is part of a concerted effort -- not only by the government but also by the two security services MI5 and MI6 -- to be seen as more accountable.



"I don't think it'll have a massive impact on the public but I do think it might help government, the security services and the police have a clearer idea of where they all stand in their assessment of the threat faced," said Chris Pope, intelligence analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

"It might also mean the authorities are less likely to be criticized when things go wrong."



Until now, Britain operated a more complex 7-level system and never told the public what the level was.



The government was heavily criticized for having downgraded the threat level in May 2005, just two months before suicide bombers killed 52 people in London.



However, a parliamentary committee later concluded the downgrade had not meant Britain was any less able to deal with the bombings when they happened.



For decades, Britain's intelligence services have enjoyed -- many would say actively nurtured -- a reputation for extreme secrecy. Countless James Bond movies and spy novels have helped cement that reputation in the popular imagination.



But in recent years, both services have started to emerge from the shadows, launching their own Web sites and even advertising in national newspapers for new recruits.

[falcon]

**Massive Terror Plot Foiled--20 arrests**

---

20 arrests so far, 2 still missing.

Confirmed, all British Muslims.

London Police Disrupt Terrorist Plot to Blow Up Aircraft in Mid-Flight
Thursday, August 10, 2006

U.S. Raises Flight Threat Levels to Highest Point After British Plot
LONDON — British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up several aircraft mid-flight between the United States and Britain using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, officials said Thursday.

Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said the alleged plot was "significant" and that terrorists aimed to "bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life."

Police arrested a number of people overnight in London after a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted several months, but did not immediately say how many.

The U.S. government responded by raising its threat assessment to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States early Thursday.

"We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff added in the statement there was no indication of current plots within the U.S.

Britain's national threat level was also raised to critical — a warning level that indicates the likelihood of an imminent terrorist attack. The threat rating was posted on the Web site of Britain's MI5 — the British domestic spy agency.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, had briefed President Bush on the situation overnight, Blair's office said.

The British Department of Transport advised all passengers that they would not be permitted to carry any hand baggage on board any aircraft departing from any airport in the country. Passengers faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights.

British Airways said some flights were likely to be canceled. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among items banned from being carried on its planes.

"I'm terrified really, I'm really scared," said Sarah Challiner, 20, who was waiting to board a flight from Manchester's airport.

Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the Manchester airport.

London's Heathrow airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground.

The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.

A Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi of the bombing in 2001 and sentenced him to life imprisonment. A second Libyan was acquitted.

In 2003, Libya officially accepted responsibility for the attack and agreed to pay relatives of each bombing victim at least $5 million.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207682,00.html

[Ryan Ruck]

Bottle And Baby Used As Bomb

A HUSBAND and wife arrested in the British terror raids allegedly planned to take their six-month-old baby on a mid-air suicide mission.

Scotland Yard police are quizzing Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25, and his 23-year-old wife Cossor over suspicions they were to use their baby's bottle to hide a liquid bomb.

The theory is one of the reasons security chiefs are now insisting mothers taste babies' milk at check-in desks before allowing them to take bottles aboard flights.

The pair are among up to 23 suspects being questioned over a plot to bring down nine airliners over five US cities, killing thousands of people in the air and on the ground.

The questioning of the group comes as British Government sources yesterday revealed many of those suspects posed as relief workers to travel to al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan.

It has also been revealed that security services are secretly monitoring "dozens" of fresh plots involving hundreds of suspects which could be unleashed at any time.

One government source said at least 30 priority cases were under urgent investigation.

" All those 30 are seen as serious, determined attacks that will happen unless we stop them," the source said.

Police spent yesterday combing through the Alis' east London housing commission flat for clues.

Cossor took her baby with her to the police station during last week's raids but her son is now being cared for by grandparents.

Cossor's grandfather, Nazir Ahmed, 84, said Abdula had travelled to Pakistan about four weeks ago.

"We didn't understand what the hurry was and why he needed to go," Mr Ahmed said.

A neighbour at the flats where the married couple lived said he would be stunned if claims were true.

"I simply cannot believe he could have been involved in a plot like this. He is religious and seemed to love his family," the neighbour said.

"I would never have dreamed he could have been involved in anything like this."

A family friend of Cossor said she had known the arrested mother 12 years and believed her to be innocent.

"I think it is a case of mistaken identity. The last thing she'd be interested in is terrorism. They are just simple day-to-day people going about their own business," she said.

Police in England have reportedly recovered bottles containing peroxide, including some with false bottoms, from a recycling centre close to the homes of some of the arrested suspects.

It has emerged MI5 agents launched covert intrusions on the homes of some suspects several weeks ago in "sneak and peek" operations to plant listening devices and gather evidence ahead of the arrests last week.

Links between suspects in the jet bomb plot and those behind the London 7/7 attacks have also come to light.

There are reports as many as five of those arrested attended the same terror training camp in Pakistan as two of the July 7 London suicide bombers.

And US intelligence sources said they believed at least two of the suspects had trained in Karachi and met al-Qaeda operatives in the lead up to the 7/7 attacks.

[Ryan Ruck]

Plane-Bomb Bottles Found

British cops investigating the airline bomb plot have reportedly found scores of bottles that had been filled with the components for liquid chemical bombs in outdoor garbage bins.

The bottles contained liquids including peroxide, which can trigger an explosion when mixed with other chemicals and ignited with a small spark, Britain's News of the World reported today.

The newspaper also reported authorities had uncovered 30 other radical Islamist murder plots - and that among the airline bomb-plot suspects were a mom-and-dad suicide couple who planned to take their baby with them on the mission.

Eight of the suspects are believed to have been due to take bombs on the planes, the newspaper reported.

In addition, the plotters included a woman believed to be one of the organizers of the planned atrocity - and that hours of covert video and audio tapes reveal the bombers reveling in how many innocent victims would die.

[American Patriot]

In addition, the plotters included a woman believed to be one of the organizers of the planned atrocity - and that hours of covert video and audio tapes reveal the bombers reveling in how many innocent victims would die.

This is where the PUBLIC ought to be DEMANDING that the covert videos be RELEASED so that the WHOLE world can look at it.