Are we to assume that you accept as fact my assertion that they are demonstrated fuck-ups? But you insist that we should place our trust in them because they “are in office”?
Under those circumstances, shouldn’t we move to elect representatives who offer more oversight? Representatives who will not take them at their word? Have we, then, your wholehearted support in our effort to sweep the Pubbies out of office, and assert more control over the Bushiviks?
Do let us know, won’t you? Perhaps when you come back with that cite, that might be convenient.
Apparently Blair told Bush about the plot only last sunday: U.S. Government Knew Of Plot ‘For Days’. It stands to reason that, had we made any significant contribution to the investigation, we’d have known about it at that time.
Perhaps the Brits and the Pakistanis played things a little closer to the chest this time because they got burned the last time the told the white house about a big operation: Did US blow cover on Al Qaeda mole?
Of course that was back in 2004, I’m sure the administration has learned that it’s really dumb to expose intelligence sources for political gain in the intervening years.
Given that some folks are reporting that the British authorities delayed raiding the terrorists for several days – to give the Bush Administration time to make anti-Democrat points for November – and that five of the terrorist suspects are still at large, can I conclude that the Administration’s political manipulation have just made folks less safe as a result? I mean, why didn’t the Brits bust them last week if the plot was already known?
The most recent news reports, which I find reasonably plausible, were that the UK authorities wanted to wait as long as possible before making arrests, to better the chances of identifying and making prosecutable cases against as many prinicpals and accomplices as possible. According to these sources, they were forced into action after several of the plotters were arrested by Pakistani authorities (mis-coordination? Doesn’t say) and a message was forwarded to one or more of the UK plotters to launch the operation ASAP.
So how is anyone to know that you’re not a terrorist? Because you don’t have “an Arab surname”? Because you have a Bush sticker on your SUV? What will you do when they come for you and there is no one left to speak out for you?
The Brits and Pakistanis move forward with police work in the war on terror. We stand around with our military stuck and getting shot at in Iraq, and work towards not securing our airways. That’s republican Leadership!
Yes, its a credible threat, no matter how inept the intended perpetrators prove to be. The bar is simply too low, there are too many ways to create havoc. The fact that the terrorists are willing to die in order to commit thier horror makes it damn near immune to defense.
But the Bushiviks are in full cry, propaganda pumps on overdrive, doing thier level best to pump hysteria and fear into the national brain stem. They stretch the implications of this almost-attack to support their policy in Israel, Iraq and Iran. That they are English of Pakistani extraction seems unworthy of mention, wouldn’t want to embarass our very bestest buddy, Pakistan (which, as you know, stands in the very front rank of military dictatorships when it comes to promoting freedom and democracy…)
There is a bright spot here. Recent reports indicate that the terrorists were turned in by a fellow Muslim in England. This is very encouraging.
Well then, good for you and me – your condition might not be terminal. OTOH, if you can’t and/or refuse to see the harm your current administration has done to your country worldwide, allow me to suggest you join one of those cognitive dissonance programs that Mr. **'luc ** has been so ardently promoting – hell’s bells, I’ve contributed and I’m far from being an American.
Not that I wasn’t offered to become one after my long residency there; I just happen to like being a Spaniard. 'cause, ya know how much us Spaniards like tacos.
Had this been in the US, the presence of an informer would probably have made getting a FISA wire tap warrant quite easy and probably a domestic one too. The bitch that the anti terrorism effort is being hampered by insisting on legal wiretaps is nonsense.
For crimes, as this case illustrates, police work beats sending in the army most of the time. Especially if you send the army on a wild goose chase.
Our prime minister, John Howard, stated on TV that the liquid explosives were a new terrorist threat. He loves to put the Fear into people.
These explosives are not new. There have been a couple of passanger flights I can think of attcked with liquid explosives over the last 20 years: in 1987 Korean flight 858 was brought down and in 1994 there was an explosion in Phillipine airlines flight 434. Fortunately Ramzi Youseff was caught in 1995 before he could carry out his plot to destroy 11 aircraft. And it is not as if it MEKP is some high-tech formulation that muslim extremist have been secretly developing. Also recall terrorists reported being caught in the 1990s with liquid explosives.
Whatever the case, any efforts to prevent passangers taking liquid containers and similar articles on aircraft from now on is a good thing. I have always been more concerned about nerve gas hairspray or many other possible deadly liquid poisons that I won’t mention.
