Terror Plot Foiled

[Willowdared]

Terror Plot Foiled In London
Terrorists Were Reportedly Planning To Blow Up Planes Flying To U.S.

(CBS News) LONDON Police in London say they have thwarted a major terrorist plot. According to the BBC, the plan was to blow up several planes flying to the U.S., using explosives hidden in hand luggage.

While few details have been made public, the BBC says the plot was uncovered and foiled by British police who have been conducting an undercover operation for a number of months.

Several individuals are reportedly under arrest.

Another report, on Sky News, says the plot may have involved blowing up 20 planes in mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean.

As a result of the plot, extra security is in place at British airports, including a ban on carry-on luggage. Passengers are allowed to take personal items - such as their passport, eyeglasses and cash - so long as they are in see-through plastic bags.

[TheOldRhino]

You won't see it on most news networks here in the US, though. It goes against the leftist agenda to make the War on Terrorism look futile.

[Trojan 42]

I bet the Baggage Handlers are rubbing there hands! Laptops, cameras, IPods all have to go in the hold now. It's going to make my flight out next week take forever!! No books either. Even reading glasses can't have the case with them. Still I suppose it's better than being blown out of the sky, just!

[KaiGywer]

I bet the Baggage Handlers are rubbing there hands! Laptops, cameras, IPods all have to go in the hold now. It's going to make my flight out next week take forever!! No books either. Even reading glasses can't have the case with them. Still I suppose it's better than being blown out of the sky, just!

And why exactly do you think baggage handlers are rubbing their hands? I used to be one (and might start doing it again on weekends), and never have I stolen anything from a bag, and neither has anybody I worked with. At an airport, there is always someone that sees you, especially considering the time it would take to look through every bag to look for valuables.

This being said, I also think the ban is ridiculous. I'm flying on Sunday, so hopefully this will be over by then.

[Trojan 42]

I say that because Heathrow has had organised gangs stealing from luggage for many years and now all these valuable items will be placed in the hold luggage, the temptation will be too great to resist.

[nitestokker]

Once again the general public misses the bigger picture. Thanks to the main stream media striking fear and paranoia into everyone, the terrorists have already suceeded. The war on terror is stupid, futile and a waste of money and manpower. TERRORISM means SCARING PEOPLE, and everyone is scared! DUH! They won! Let's put that one to bed and start a new war called the WAR ON ANY M****F****R WHO PISSES US OFF! That's a better, more broad term that the liberals would have a hard time arguing about. Hey! You over there in Crapistan....did you just piss us off?!?! I didn't think so.

[Andrewtx]

A ban on carry-on luggage? Sounds like a silly knee jerk reaction to me, like banning nail clippers. Free societies are always going to be vulnerable to all sorts of terrorist methods, and I don't think they require anywhere near the level of sophistication that the media loves to rattle on about.

[TXCharlie]

Hopefully they'll find the country or area behind it & just go over there and wipe the slate clean.

BTW, they did a poll in Lebanon, and 87% of the residents are supporting Hezbollah - So why the Hell are we worried about "collateral damage" in places like that? Bring out the MOAB's or nukes, I don't give a shit.

[Virginian]

Liquids, such as hair care products, were also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S., raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid explosive.

I always wondered how they would know if someone carried nitroglycerin or some other explosive liquid that doesn't require an electrical or heat ignition. An explosive sensitive to shock could be the perfect airborne bomb. All you really need is enough to penetrate the aircraft at high altitude, or enough to kill the pilots. Scary stuff.

[Trojan 42]

A ban on carry-on luggage? Sounds like a silly knee jerk reaction to me, like banning nail clippers. Free societies are always going to be vulnerable to all sorts of terrorist methods, and I don't think they require anywhere near the level of sophistication that the media loves to rattle on about.

Apparently the planned explosive is of a liquid variety and so easily concealed in whatever you can think of, to carry on board. I have an exact copy of a circuit board that was found for use on a real 'plane briefcase bomb' from the 1980's. They can do sophisticated!

[TXCharlie]

I heard that they're making people drink the liquids they are bringing aboard, such as baby formula, to prove it's not poisionous... But while that may work for nitro, I'm not too sure that some of the binary explosives, for example, are all that toxic or have an immediate effect.

[conalabu]

Ya know, Trojan, I am not so much worried about you being bored as I am worried for all the people that are going to have to listen to you prattling on for hours on end. That's true terror.

[Trojan 42]

Ya know, Trojan, I am not so much worried about you being bored as I am worried for all the people that are going to have to listen to you prattling on for hours on end. That's true terror.

While that may be true for an American, I couldn't possibly talk to strangers until 'd been properly introduced.

[TXCharlie]

Are you calling conalabu strange?

[Willowdared]

I always wondered how they would know if someone carried nitroglycerin or some other explosive liquid that doesn't require an electrical or heat ignition. An explosive sensitive to shock could be the perfect airborne bomb. All you really need is enough to penetrate the aircraft at high altitude, or enough to kill the pilots. Scary stuff.

Harbor Police here has a bomb-sniffing K9 - a beautiful Malinois - and it looks like Arnold has called out the National Guard for airport security.

[Andrewtx]

Make airplanes terrorist proof. Then what? Then they bomb the terminals. Or crowded shopping malls. Or sports stadiums. Or Libraries, or schools, or subways, or electrical grids, or oil pipelines -- the list goes on. Are we going to start banning purses in shopping malls and insist on women carrying ziplock bags? Give me a break. The only real defense against terrorists is a meaningful offense. Kill terrorists before they can reach our borders and deny entry to those that do.

Get rid of our self-endangering PC habits and start infiltrating and investigating groups within our own borders that support and sympathize with our enemies. Hopefully then we'll be able to stop most terrorist attacks, but even still living in a free society has a price when thousands upon thousands seek to destroy it.

[Virginian]

Make airplanes terrorist proof. Then what? Then they bomb the terminals. Or crowded shopping malls. Or sports stadiums. Or Libraries, or schools, or subways, or electrical grids, or oil pipelines -- the list goes on. Are we going to start banning purses in shopping malls and insist on women carrying ziplock bags? Give me a break. The only real defense against terrorists is a meaningful offense. Kill terrorists before they can reach our borders and deny entry to those that do.

Get rid of our self-endangering PC habits and start infiltrating and investigating groups within our own borders that support and sympathize with our enemies. Hopefully then we'll be able to stop most terrorist attacks, but even still living in a free society has a price when thousands upon thousands seek to destroy it.

A+

[TXCharlie]

This photo makes me never want to see an airport again:

[Terminator]

This whole thing to me is scary. This war against Muslim extremsists may never end. We need to come up with a better game plan. They will stop at nothing in trying to take us out.

Thank God the British M5 (one of the same agencies that said Hussein had WMD's) foiled their plan. If not for cooperation between different countries, we may not have stopped this one.

The worst part about the whole thing is one of the Muslim terrorists was a security guard at an airport, and could have smuggled the liquid on board.

They were going to fly on the following airlines: Continental, American, US, and British Airways.

They were also targeting the following cities: Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and a couple more.

The one thing I can say about all of this: END the political correctness and illegality of racial profiling when it comes to terrorist suspects. All of these crazy bastards have been Muslim. They have Muslim names, and a lot of them have a Muslim look, though now they are attempting to blend in more.

[TXCharlie]

Amen.

And they have to suceed only once - We have to suceed every time, which we won't.

I keep expecting them to change their targets and go after soft targets like schools and such, as the muslems did in Russia - The preperation for small operations like that would take mere weeks, not years. It's probably only a matter of time, because I don't think we could stop them unless the plot was discovered in advance like this one was. Sure SWAT would arrive in time to mop up the blood and kill the terrorists, but that's not good enough to suit me.

BTW, my Chief seems to think I'm nuts or a terrorist myself for arguing that to him & the Mayor as one justification for patrol rifles and reservists (crazy kids as in Columbine being the other more likely threat)... But I don't give a shit what he thinks about me. And as it turns out, they did find a way to fund them (or so they say - I'll believe it when I see the racks in the cars). We had a big blow-up over that sorta thing in his office several weeks ago so I'm no longer affiliated with this Chief or his PD by mutual consent, as they say.

But patrol rifles are only one element - Several components of SWAT need to be distributed in the field at all times, seems to me, and officers should be cross-trained more than they are now.

I think Reservists and other qualified, highly trained volunteers (esp ex-military) also need to be on-call at a moment's notice to protect other soft targets should one be hit, since the hallmark of these groups is coordinated attacks - There's just not enough cops to go around.

But I'm just a dumb CPA graduate so what the hell do I know... And it'll probably never happen here in my specific town, so it's a lot easier to just say I don't give a shit, and watch it on CNN after it happens rather than try to convince people that it's worth the effort to prevent it, or at least to mitigate the damage.

As for bombs of course, that's a whole other ball of wax, but things can be done there too - Such as volunteers helping evacuations, training CERT volunteers for search & rescue and to administer emergency medical treatment after a blast, etc. A lot of things could be done that aren't.

And I think CERT grant funding will be running out too, very shortly