...and over 20 suspects have been arrested by British authorities today.
From the AP: "British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the United States using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and detonators disguised as electronic devices."
WTF! I want to see how the European community is going to react to the investigation and prosecution of all those involved in this demonic plot. As the war on terror escalates it's time that West engage in its form of Shariah -- I call for speedy the investigation, trial and execution of suspected terrorists. We have no time to afford rights and lengthy legal procedures to anyone with the slightest level of complicity in killing mass numbers of innocent people.
***
To process this latest development in the WOT, I decided to scroll through the comments on the Huffington Post. Here are a few take-aways:
-- The continuous string of failures, incompetence and questions as to credibility has turned this useless and redundant part of the Cabinet, the "boy that cried wolf" of our Executive Branch. What about the Miami Terrorists and other "plots" against America? What about GITMO? What about the waste and corruption in DHS? What about the truth about 9/11?
-- Thank GOD for President Bush and PM Tony Blair. Get back to sucking your thumb under your covers chicken shit.
-- Take a good look at yourselves.. its not even 5 hours before you blame this on Bush.next why dont you say that we should stop arresting thieves because arresting them only emboldens more to become theives, right?go Ned Lamont. (until real election day, that is)
-- These people wouldn't try to blow themselves up if Bush and Blair weren't such Nazis. It's all Bush and Blair. Let's exhume Chamberlain and we'll finally have some peace.
Oh boy.
I agree that our government has become comically breathless with its color-coded terror alerts and flag waving every time they unfoil another terrorist plot. How the most well-funded, sophisticated intelligence organization in the world had no idea that terrorists were planning to level NY and Washington is beyond me. So for Chertoff to chime in now, with the anniversary of his deplorable handling of Hurricane Katrina just around the corner, is just convenient for him and unncessary for everyone else.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are sitting ducks. If you think for one second that the terror alerts and the press conferences out of Washington and London mean we are safe the next time we board a plane then you're out of your mind. I am thankful that we haven't seen another airliner attacked since 9-11 but I do not credit our current administration with this -- I call it luck. And until we find Osama and get out of Iraq and stop funding the war machine that is Israel, we will testing our luck everytime we choose to leave our homes.
14 comments:
Hear Hear!
We're spending megatons of money on wars, can't seem to catch OBL, finance IL, yet in our wonderful country we don't have Healthcare for all because of LEGAL EXPENSES, and Schools have to practically BEG for supplies... I call it the "dummification" of America, because if the population is TOO smart, you may not be able to control them well enough...
When will this END?
Urm, I'm no fan of the Bushies, but in scary times it's especially important to get the facts straight and keep a sense of perspective. MSNBC says:
"U.S. intelligence has been working closely with the British on the investigation, which has been ongoing for months."
So they did not stop this thing by stumbling over it at the last minute through blind, dumb luck. This is not a happy day, but it may not be quite as bad as you think.
*agrees with Jean Lafitte*
The best quote ever is the following: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
We cannot afford to go soft. The price is our lives.
Not surprised to see many from the Huffington Post immediately attack Britain (and the US)for....succesfully saving its civilians from a highly coordinated terrorist plot designed to indiscriminately kill as many civilians as possible. When you are down to criticizing the government for unfoiling a top-secret plot and saving its civilians, you're pretty much conceding that you are the embodiment of partisanship - happily laying waste to truth in the pursuit of winning points within one's own party.
You are absolutely, 100% wrong on saying it's "luck" that we haven't been attacked in five years. Given how intelligent you are, I can not believe you would say something so patently Anti-Bush simply to say something Anti-Bush - no matter if your better judgment speaks otherwise.
Berdo, as always your candor is much appreciated. I hope you know that I wouldn't make an anti-Bush statement just 'cuz. In my opinion, Bush is hardly qualified to lead the war on terror -- he has proven time and again that he has no regard for how his policies impact Americans around the world.
Think about it: 9-11 was not a very difficult feat to pull off. A handful of men used razor blades to bring down the two most important cities in our country.
It can happen again.
I have said it time and again --we're fighting a religious war that no amount of artillery and bombing is going to quell. Hence my "virulent" remarks on Islam.
GCL -
You should know by now that I obviously think highly of you and the terrific blog you've put tgoether. But I stand by my statement that if you think it is "luck" - and not a huge counterterrorism effort (and, yes, the Patriot Act) that has kept us completely safe from any terrorist activity on your soil in a half-decade - you speak volumes of an agenda while ignoring the blatant truth.
Your post only goes to prove my point. You make the observation that 9/11 wasn't very hard to pull off. I disagree - but even if I took it face value that would suggest that terrorists could have pulled off any number of attacks with ease over the past five years. Do you doubt for a moment they have the will? Then explain to me why it hasn't happened if all that's needed is a razor blade?
You can't sit back and discuss terrorism over coffee and Entenmann's cake. The radical Islamists have ALWAYS meant business (I won't bore everyone with detailing all the atrocities they committed well before the War on Terror) - and, FINALLY, we mean business too. I'd like somoene to tell me what the world would look like if we didn't go into Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. You think there'd be peace? Do you think the world threat from radical Islamists would have gone down or up in the past five years? What do you think the chances that we'd be celebrating the fifth anniversary of living on terror-free soil would be?
I'm sorry, GCL. Think you're posts are brilliant. But you haven't come near making your case on this one.
"Luck?" Maybe not. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking the way you think the enemy might think.
We don't know the time table of the Islamists who are waging this conflict. So "luck" might not play a role in the relative quiet we've had here in America. Maybe they just aren't ready yet.
We know they've been busy in Europe--London, Madrid, London again. Maybe it's a bit more difficult for them to operate here now. That doesn't mean they can't or won't.
We have been given information about some "trainees" and then there was that gang in Florida a couple of weeks ago. It's good they have all been caught. It shows there is surveillance on the part of some of our law enforcement officers.
We don't know, though, whether or not some sleeper cell (the 9/11 gang had been here for months) is not, as we share thoughts, putting the final plans into operation for something dreadful.
There is an element of luck in all of this; good luck for one side, bad for the other. Maybe catching a break would be a better way of phrasing it.
Vigilance (good reminder) is the best insurance for catching a break or "luck."
If GCL is worried about the specific men who are our present leaders, I agree. I also think the "company commanders and foot soldiers" are excellent at their jobs, and they are committed.
That's about all we can hope for. Otherwise, we can discuss luck, but that's too ephemeral.
The cream, in this case, does not seem to rise.
Berdo, I hate to inform you that we are not on "terror free soil."
In fact, we are at war with the world and with ourselves. Our country's involvement in the Middle East has not made us safer. When there's no color chart to dictate panic levels in this country our current administration pits Americans against each other with fear tactics: the sanctity of marriage, illegal immigration, etc.
Mind you, both the Clinton administration and the Bush administration turned a blind eye to the Taliban -- yet they were "crushed" in six weeks. Is Afghanistan safe yet?
My point is that we're back in Medieval Times. We're back fighting the Muslims and this time they've armed themselves with bombs, engineers, doctors and lots of money to bring the West to its knees.
If for one minute you think that Bush and Chertoff have fended off WWIII and our complete anhilation you're sadly mistaken. These people want us dead and the wealthiest economy in that America-hating region is BFF with our current President.
Don't forget that after blowing up a PanAm plane out of England in the 80s Mohamar Khadafi is now a friend of the U.S.
This latest development out of Britain is another scare tactic...there's more to this story and 9-11 than we'll ever know. There's no way we're safe now.
GCL - In an earlier post - you did not dispute the fact there had been no terror on our soil (though you didn't use that exact terminology). You, in fact, provided a reason for it - luck - which I think is mildly absurd. Now you're claiming we are not on terror free soil and go into a dicussion about what's going on overseas as evidence - which is, frankly, contradiction.
In any case, I agree with you about the divisiveness of this administration. Mind you, it was Clinton who created the Defense of Marriage Act, and the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy - but it is Bush trying to whip up the Christian right into a nice homophobic frenzy. If you think I am some enthusiastic supporter of this administration - please know that I absolutely am not.
But that doesn't mean I disagree with EVERYTHING he does and, in some instances, I think Bush has had the balls to do, what Christopher Hitchens has said, What the senate had only voted to do and What Clinton had only promised to do - which is to overthrow Hussein and create a Democratic Iraq.
These people, for the record, wanted us dead well before Bush was even Governor of Texas. I hate the complete nonsense that somehow anti-Americanism is simply a factor American foreign policy. Have you seen what passes for news about the US, about Jews, about the world!! in the dictatorships you reference? Their state-controlled media disseminates the most disgusting lies that would be absurd to us. But these run with the byline of respected religious and political leaders in their countries in the equivalent of the NEw York Times in countries where it is against the law to seek a dissenting opinion, let alone voice one. The Internet is tightly controlled and there is no free press. And if that doesn't do it - a gun in your face will stop you from acknowledging an opposing view. THIS is the totatilitarianism we fight - and it's a noble battle - even if it is waged with increasing incompetence.
Pan Am has nothing to do with our current relations with Khadafi - and I would never call it friendly. Khadafi captiulated to the US after the example of the Iraq invasion and offered up a full audit of his entire arsenal out of fear of what would be done if it didn't comply - a fact you chose not to mention - and one that does not speak of a friendship but of the US finally enforcing all the platitudes the EU and UN viscously put to important stationery but never actually make good on.
I don't think we're safe. I often joke that I am gay American Jew - the trifecta for any terrorist. And I live in New York. I worked in the same building as the Israeli embassy for four years. I never felt completely safe - even with the incredible Israeli security in the building. But crediting five years of terror-free living with a world of seething terrorists who exist only to kill on luck is too much to bear. I am sorry. Think your posts are incredibly smart and interesting, but I am not remotely convinced of anything you have said in this thread. I am curious to see your reply.
Best,
Berdo
Michael,
You say "We have no time to afford rights and lengthy legal procedures...".
Get a grip, this kind of talk is why we interned thousands of innocent Japanese Americans in WWII and remember last year in the London subway bombing the police shot and killed a totally innocent man because they were in such a hurry.
I have to agree with Berdo - they hate us because we exist.
But I will add a little sidenote. I don't see that much evidence that the US was particularly involved with foiling the plot to blow up airplanes. The Brits really pulled this one off. I am kinda annoyed at Bush taking credit for what seems to be more a British undertaking.
We will never be "safe." I am an Atheist Jewish American fag hag who refuses to keep my mouth shut. I already received death threats on an ex-friend's website, wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com. But I will not be quiet. I will not shut up.
I am not arguing for an internment of Muslim Americans, and no one I know is, either. But should the FBI be monitoring the mosques? You bet your bippy. That is where they organize, plan attacks, and preach their hate. Given that, they should not get religious immunity.
I am thankful that we haven't seen another airliner attacked since 9-11 but I do not credit our current administration with this -- I call it luck.
You wouldn't DARE commend the Bush administration with protecting us, would you. No credit where credit's due. No, it's just "luck".
How the most well-funded, sophisticated intelligence organization in the world had no idea that terrorists were planning to level NY and Washington is beyond me.
It's not beyond anybody who isn't blind to the fact that they were hamstrung by the B.J. Clinton administration.
When there's no color chart to dictate panic levels in this country our current administration pits Americans against each other with fear tactics: the sanctity of marriage, illegal immigration, etc.
Give us a break. If they didn't have the alert levels, you'd be at your keyboard bitching because the government won't tell us anything.
This whole "control by fear" arguement has to be one of the most asinine things liberals have come up with. Then again, it's not surprising coming from partisan hacks and those totally ignorant of Emergency Preparedness.
Let me put it to you this way:
Should we get rid of the weather alerts from the NWS? We wouldn't want the government using "fear to control us" would we? Wouldn't want to cause panic either. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I don't see that much evidence that the US was particularly involved with foiling the plot to blow up airplanes. The Brits really pulled this one off. I am kinda annoyed at Bush taking credit for what seems to be more a British undertaking.
Actually, the U.S., Britain and Pakistan participated. Bush is not trying to take credit for it.
Furthermore, to put liberals in a further tizzy, NSA contributed to MI5 with so-called "Domestic Wiretaps".
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