2006 Liquid Terror Plot - alleged bombs on UK-US planes

[TonyGosling]

Subject: Craig Murray on 'The War on Shampoo'
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:48:50 -0000
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/12/the_war_on_sham.html


Google "Rashid Rauf - mastermind". On the first page of results you will find CBS, the BBC, the Times, Guardian and Mail all describing Rauf last summer, on security service or police briefing, as the "Mastermind" behind the "Liquid terror bomb plot". So the fact that a Pakistani court has found there is no evidence of terrorism against him cannot be lightly dismissed by the cheerleaders of the plot story.

Rashid Rauf still faces other charges, including forgery, and what is touted as possession of explosives, although what he actually possessed was hydrogen peroxide, which is not explosive. As hydrogen peroxide is readily obtainable without limitation from any chemist or hardware store in the UK, why you would source it in Pakistan to blow up jets in Britain was never very convincing. The Pakistani court perhaps felt so too.

...

Despite naming him as the "mastermind" behind somethng "bigger than 9/11", the British government made no attempt to extradite Rashid Rauf on charges of terrorism. That is not difficult to do - the Pakistani authorities have handed over scores of terrorist suspects to the US, many into the extraordinary rendition process, and on average the procedure is astonishingly quick - less than a week and they are out of the country. But the British security services, who placed so much weight on intelligence from Rashid Rauf, were extraordinarily coy about getting him here where his evidence could be properly scrutinised by a British court. However MI5 were greatly embarassed by Birmingham police, who insisted on pointing out that Rauf was wanted in the UK over the alleged murder of his uncle in Birmingham. Now he was in custody in Pakistan, shouldn't we extradite him? So eventually an extradition request over that murder was formally submitted - but not pursued with real energy or effort. There remains no sign that we will see Rauf in the UK.
more

http://blogs.cjb.net/dissident/100836/

[astro3]

Can I resuscitate this last year's thread?

Three big phantom-terror events have been perpetrated in the last three years, in which no-on was harmed, no bombs went off, and no bombs were made. Whites condemn and imprison brown-skinned Muslims, each event costing this country hundreds of millions of pounds: July 21, ‘Operation Crevice’ and the Heathrow liquid bomb hoax.

I'd also say, no-one was terrified - this should surely be the first criterion if anyone s going to invoke 'terror' laws. Some people were a bit scared on July 21st but that isn't quite the same thing.

Concerning the last of these three phantom-terror events, Prime Minister Tony Blair alerted President George Bush to the investigation on Sunday 6 August 2006. American Airlines flight 109 from London Heathrow to Boston boarded a family of five, on Sunday, 6th August, however, after the plane left Heathrow authorities determined that the father appeared on a British suspect list drawn up after the 7/7 London transit attacks. The pilot was instructed to fly to Boston but refused, fearing for the safety of his passengers and crew, and quickly returned to Heathrow without informing the passengers. Once on the ground, it was discovered that the male had in his carry-on baggage the type of combination liquid explosive and electronic device now being hyped by the British and American media. (Prison Planet) On 9th August the story broke of ten planes UK-US 'targeted' and 24 suspects were arrested.

One assumes this was some Mossad or CIA agent, on board on the 6th. So the questions ought to be: was he arrested with the two dozen others, and did the others arrested have any connection with him?

Does anyone testify that this guy arrested on 6th August had hydrogen peroxide mixed with acetone, plus a separate phial of sulphuric acid, in his hand luggage? That is implicit in the story we are told – and the trial will start next year in 2008 - for ‘binary liquid explosive.’ It couldn’t have worked of course (to make TATP - that takes a good twelve hours after mixing in a fridge), the chemistry is impossible, but as no-one tried to do it maybe this doesn’t matter so much?

Each of these totally bogus phantom-terror events relies on extreme gullibility of the British media. They are in the wake of 7/7, where the Vampire Elite is milking this real terror event to get the most Fear out of it, presumably with the aim of getting their next war on.

I'm suggesting that these three events have a great deal in common, eg 'Crevice' and the Heathrow bomb hoax seem both to have relied on a torture confession in Pakistan. Thre binary liquid munutions story comes straight out of Hollywood and has no chemical feasibilty.

[astro3]

I reckon the best comment on this non-event is on the Voltaire network,
www.voltairenet.org/article143264.html
'The Liquid Bomb hoax: The larger implications' by James Petras
which well shows the sheer, pathetic absurdity of the whole fake-terror Heathrow plot. Every MP should be obliged to read this.

Of the 24 suspects arrested, British-born Muslims, some of Pakistani descent, in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, those detained included a soccer fan, cricket players, a taxi driver, an accountant and his nursery teacher wife who is expecting a baby within a few weeks, a security guard with a three-week old baby, a pizza worker, a tyre businessman and a science student. We'd like to hear: did they know each other? Do they reckon they were connected at all? Had any of them heard of this Birmingham lad Rashid Rauf (the plot seems to have been cooked up from the ISI torturing him in Pakistan while some MI6 agent was standing by).

Also concerning the strange story (which I only found on Prison Planet) about somebody being apprehended onthe 6th on an airplane, do any of those arrested know anything about this?

[numeral]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5253930.stm

[astro3]

The Heathrow Liquid Bomb Hoax

"Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson from the Metropolitan Police at the time. Nothing had actually happened, no bomb had been taken on board a plane - no-one had even made one. So what was all the fuss about? Why all the plane cancellations at Heathrow, costing hundreds of millions in delays and lost flights, and why can’t we take toothpaste in hand luggage any more? Britain’s new anti-terror legislation, where you don’t actually have to do anything to get arrested, had swung into action. Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday during these events in Barbados at Sir Cliff Richard's luxury villa, decided to stay there.

The COBRA meeting began on 9.30 pm on the 9th August 2006, in the high-tech bunker deep below the Cabinet Office. The police raids began at midnight, with 24 suspects arrested, British-born Muslims, some of Pakistani descent, from London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe. It was an overnight operation, and their finances were frozen.Those detained included a soccer fan, cricket players, a taxi driver, an accountant and his nursery teacher wife who is expecting a baby within a few weeks, a security guard with a three-week old baby, a pizza worker, a tyre businessman and a science student. British police found tins of baked beans, peanut butter, some low concentration hydrogen peroxide and a sugar solution (i.e., the latter two were probably bleach or disinfectant and a cup of tea) at the suspects' homes. These apparently normal, peaceable, well-adjusted people had all been consumed with an irresistible urge to kill themselves and were prepared to kill hundreds of others, we were told (1). These arrests appeared to be the result of a long-standing investigation coordinated between the US, British and Pakistani governments.

On Thursday morning thousands of holidaymakers began arriving at airports to discover total disruption and the biggest terror alert since 7/7. It was alleged that multiple commercial aircraft were intended to be targeted, maybe for the 16th August, and that their fiendish plot aimed to destroy as many as ten aircraft in mid-flight from the United Kingdom to the United States, using explosives brought on board in their hand luggage! News media reported that planned targets included American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, and United Airlines flights from London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; Newark, New Jersey; New York City; San Francisco, California; Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, D.C. The BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plot involved a series of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time. The plotters planned to use Lucozade bottles (or so The New York Times reported) to contain certain ‘liquid explosives’. They were going to use peroxide-based explosives, the media seemed to agree, probably the dreaded triacetone triperoxide (TATP).

These arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the Financial Times explained: “The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday” (August 12, 2006). This was an odd reversal of normal investigatory procedures, commented the French ‘Voltairenet’ (of Thierry Meyssan), in which arrests were only supposed to happen after the gathering of evidence (2). On what basis had the arrests been made? The British government, backed by Washington, averred that the Pakistani government’s arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided “critical evidence” in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. The Pakistani intelligence services (ISI) are notorious for use of torture in extracting ‘confessions.’ In this case, its evidence was based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al-Qaeda operative on the Afghan border. The Al-Qaeda agent supposedly provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. But, transmission of bomb-making information hardly required a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US-led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Were the Al-Qaeda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan supposed to have some detailed knowledge of Heathrow airport?

Prime Minister Tony Blair had alerted President George Bush to the investigation on Sunday 6 August 2006, before flying out with his family to Barbados on the 8th. Bush and Blair had discussed the matter prior to the police arrests. On 9 August, hours before the arrests, the Home Secretary John Reid gave a major speech to Demos (a British think-tank) hinting at a new round of anti-terror legislation, claiming that the country was facing

"probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war"

And he decried those who “don’t get it,” ie, who failed to comprehend that democratic liberties had to be surrendered to the state. He blamed them for the fact that “we remain unable to adapt our institutions and legal orthodoxy as fast as we need to,” making it clear that the required “adaptation” meant the gutting of traditional democratic rights. He raved on about:

[dontbelievethehype1970]

Great article. Lets hope we remember all this when the next election comes - oh, i forgot - there is no alternative to vote for, just a change in the manager.

Is there anybody with the time and the money out there who can run for parliament - we need an alternative.

[paul wright]

I thought to run for parliament on an abstention ticket
There are one or two UKIP people who I'd vote for happily, Gerrish in Plymouth or Jason Smith in Queensbury. But the rest - pah!
Now an abstention ticket - dont vote because it's a bullcrap system - that would seem to draw them in
Keeep those dumbasses away from the polling booths. They're all corrupt and manipulated anyway
Vote Abstention Candidate!

[spiv]

And to corroborate some of the above comments made in astro's extremely good posting above, take a look at the paragraph headed "Experimental Section" at the bottom left of page 13 of the PDF document from the Isreal Institute of Technology website at http://www.technion.ac.il/~keinanj/pub/122.pdf where it outlines how that Institute makes their experimental TATP, cooling to freezing point the RAW ingredients etc etc (let alone ingredients distilled from one's toothpaste and Coca-Cola!!).

Don't you think it would be a bit tricky making this sort of bomb material in the bog of an aircraft flying on an eight hour trip? Is it not a bit of a damning piece of information? So just how do the police think this could stand up in a court of law?

And one of the things which troubles me beyond measure is why are the media not asking this question. One of the people I've e-mailed this information to last year is the deputy editor of the Guardian, who seems completely unconcerned!!

[Mark Gobell]

Associated Press

[spiv]

Having stumbled across the one weakness in the dastardly cunning plan he is accused of being "The Mastermind" of (that it takes over 24 hours to make these bombs which have been plotted for the eight hour flights to America back in August 2006), he has realised that he needs a little head start just in case he is extradited back to the UK, as his flight then will only last, what, some six hours or so??

[Mark Gobell]

I've just had it confirmed from my deeply deep undercover insiders that Mr Rauf had managed to conceal two small phials of these binary liquids about his person whilst on the way to the local nick in Islamabad.

By combining these components whilst pouring them into the lock of the handcuffs he was able to micro explode said cuffs open and make good his escape.

Or maybe, Rauf has been abducted or extraordinarily rendered ?

[Mark Gobell]

Independent

[xmasdale]

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug06/Petras25.htm



FLASHBACK: The Liquid Bomb Hoax: The Larger Implications

by James Petras, Dissident Voice, 25 August 2006


The charges leveled by the British, US and Pakistani regimes that they uncovered a major bomb plot directed against nine US airlines is based on the flimsiest of evidence, which would be thrown out of any court, worthy of its name.

An analysis of the current state of the investigation raises a series of questions regarding the governments' claims of a bomb plot concocted by 24 Brits of Pakistani origin.

The arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the August 12, 2006 Financial Times states: "The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday." (FT, August 12/, 2006) In other words, the arrests and charges took place without sufficient evidence -- a peculiar method of operation -- which reverses normal investigatory procedures in which arrests follow the "monumental task of gathering evidence." If the arrests were made without prior accumulation of evidence, what were the bases of the arrests?

The government search of financial records and transfers turned up no money trail despite the freezing of accounts. The police search revealed limited amounts of savings, as one would expect from young workers, students and employees from low-income immigrant families.

The British government, backed by Washington, claimed that the Pakistani government's arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided "critical evidence" in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. No Western judicial hearing would accept evidence procured by the Pakistani intelligence services that are notorious for their use of torture in extracting 'confessions'. The Pakistani dictatorship's evidence is based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al Qaeda operative on the Afghan border. According to the Pakistani police, the Al Qaeda agent provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. The transmission of bomb-making information does not require a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Moreover it is extremely dubious that Al Qaeda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan have any detailed knowledge of specific British airline security, procedures or conditions of operations in London. Lacking substantive evidence, Pakistani intelligence and their British counterparts touched all the propaganda buttons: A clandestine meeting with Al Qaeda, bomb-making information exchanges on the Pakistani-Afghan border, Pakistani-Brits with Islamic friends, family and terrorist connections in England . . .

US intelligence claimed, and London repeated, that sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to allow the plotters to buy airline tickets. Yet air tickets were found in only one residence (and the airline and itinerary were not stated by the police). None of the other suspects possessed plane tickets and some did not even have passports. In other words, the most preliminary moves in the so-called bomb plot had not been taken by the accused. No terrorist plot to bomb airplanes exists when the alleged conspirators are lacking travel funds, documents and tickets. It is not credible to argue that the alleged conspirators depended on instructions from distant handlers ignorant of the basic ground level conditions.

Initially the British and US authorities claimed that the explosive device was a "liquid bomb," yet no liquid or non-liquid bomb was discovered on the premises or persons of any of the accused. Nor has any evidence been produced as to the capability of any of the suspects in making, moving or detonating the "liquid bomb" -- a very volatile solution if handled by unskilled operatives. No evidence has been presented on the nature of the specific liquid bomb question, or any spoken discussion or written documents about the liquid bomb, which would implicate any of the suspects. No bottle, liquid or chemical formula has been found among any of the suspects. Nor have any of the ingredients that go into making the "liquid bomb" been uncovered. Nor has any evidence been presented as to where the liquid was supposed to come from (the source) or whether it was purchased locally or overseas.

When the liquid bomb story was ridiculed into obscurity, British Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clark claimed that, "bomb making equipment including chemicals and electric components had been found," (BBC News, 8/21/2006)

Once again there is no mention of what "electronic components" and "chemicals" were found, in whose home or office and if they might be related to non-bomb making activities. Were these so-called new bomb-making items owned by a specific person or group of persons, and if so were they known by the parties implicated to be part of a bombing plot. Moreover, when and why have the authorities switched from the liquid bombs to identifying old fashion electronic detonators? Is there any evidence -- documents or taped discussions -- that link these electronic detonators and chemicals with the specific plot to "blow up 9 US bound airliners"?

Instead of providing relevant facts clearing up basic questions of names, dates, weapons, and travel dates, Commissioner Clark gives the press a laundry list of items that could be found in millions of homes and the large number of buildings searched (69 so far). If stair climbing earns promotions, Clark should be nominated for a knighthood. According to Clark the police discovered more than 400 computers, 200 mobile telephones, 8,000 computer media items (items as catastrophic as memory sticks, CDs and DVDs); police removed 6,000 gigabytes of data from the seized computers (150 from each computer) and a few video recordings. One presumes, in the absence of any qualitative data demonstrating that the suspects were in fact preparing bombs in order to destroy nine US airliners, that Commissioner Clark is seeking public sympathy for his minions' enormous capacity to lift and remove electronic equipment from one site to another in up to 69 buildings. This is a notable achievement if we are talking about a moving company and not a high-powered police investigation of an event of "catastrophic consequences."

Some of the suspects were arrested because they have traveled to Pakistan at the beginning of the school year holidays. British and US authorities forget to mention that tens of thousands of Pakistani ex-pats return to visit family at precisely that time of year.

The wise guys on Wall Street and The City of London never took the liquid bomb plot seriously: At no point did the Market respond, nose-dive, crash or panic. The announced plot to bomb airlines was ignored by all Big Players on the US and London stock markets. In fact, petrol prices dropped slightly. In contrast to 9/11 and the Madrid and London bombings (to which this plot is compared) the stock market 'makers' were not impressed by the governments' claims of a 'major catastrophe.' George Bush or Tony Blair, who were informed and discussed the "liquid bomb plot" several days beforehand, didn't even skip a day of their vacations, in response to the catastrophic threat.

And each and every claim and piece of 'evidence' put forth by the police and the Blair and Bush security authorities runs a cropper. Some of the alleged suspects are released, and new equally paltry 'evidence' is breathlessly presented: two tape recordings of "martyr messages" were found in the computer of one suspect, which, we are told, foretold a planned terrorist attack. The Clark team claimed with great aplomb that they found one or a few martyr videotapes, without clarifying the fact that the videos were not made by the suspects but viewed by them. Many people the world over pay homage to suicide martyrs to a great variety of political causes. Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan visits a shrine dedicated to World War II military dead -- including kamikaze suicide pilots, defying Chinese and Korean protests. Millions of US citizens and politicians pay homage to the war heroes in Arlington cemetery each year, some of whom deliberately sacrificed their lives in order to defend their comrades, their flag and the justice of their cause. It should be of no surprise that Asians, Muslims and others should collect videos of anti-Israeli or anti-occupation martyrs. In none of the above cases where people honor martyrs is there any police attempt to link the reverent observer with future suicide bomb plots -- except if they are Muslims. Hero worship of fallen fighters is a normal everyday phenomenon -- and is certainly no evidence that the idolaters are engaged in murderous activity.

A "martyr message" is neither a plot, conspiracy nor action, it is only an expression of free speech -- one might add, 'internal speech' (between the speaker and his computer) which might at some future time become public speech. Are we to make private dialogue a terrorist offense?

As the legal time limit expires on the holding of suspects without charges, the British authorities released two suspects, charged eleven, and eleven others continue to be held without charges, probably because there is no basis for proceeding further. As the number of accused plotters thin out in England, Clark and company have deflected attention to a world-wide plot with links to Spain, Italy, the Middle East and elsewhere. Apparently the logic here is that a wider net compensates for the large holes. In the case at hand, of the eleven who have been remanded to trial, only eight have been charged with conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism; the other three are accused of "not disclosing information" (or being informers . . . of what?) and "possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism." (BBC News, 8/21/06) Since no bombs have been found and no plans of action have been revealed, we are left with the vague charge of 'conspiracy', which can mean a hostile private discussion directed against US and British subjects by several like-thinking individuals. The reason that it appears that ideas and not actions are in question is because the police have not turned up any weapons or specific measures to enter into the locus of attack (air tickets to board planes, passports and so on). How can suspects be charged with failing to disclose information, when the police lack any concrete information pertaining to the alleged bomb plot. The fact that the police are further diluting their charges against three more plotters is indicative of the flimsy basis of their original arrests and public claims. To charge a 17 year-old-boy with "possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism" is so open-ended as to be laughable: Did the article have other uses for the boy or for his family (like a box cutter). Did he 'possess' written articles because they were informative or fascinating to a young person? Since he still possessed the article, he had not passed these articles to any person making bombs. Did he know of any specific plans to make bombs or any bomb-makers? The charges could implicate anyone possessing and reading a good spy novel or science fiction thriller in which bomb making is discussed. The eleven have already pleaded innocent; the trial will begin in due time. The government and mass media have already convicted the accused in the electronic and print media. Panic has been sown. Fear and hysterical anger is present in the long security lines at airports and train stations . . . Asian men quietly saying prayers are being pulled off of airplanes and planes diverted or airports evacuated.

The bomb plot hoax has caused enormous losses (in the hundreds of millions of dollars) to the airlines, business people, oil companies, duty free shops, tourist agencies, resorts and hotels, not to speak of the tremendous inconvenience and health related problems of millions of stranded and stressed travelers. The restrictions on laptop computers, travel bags, accessories, special foods and liquid medicines have added to the 'costs' of traveling.

Clearly the decision to cook up the phony bomb plot was not motivated by economic interests, but domestic political reasons. The Blair administration, already highly unpopular for supporting Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was under attack for his unconditional support for Israel's invasion of Lebanon, his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire and his unstinting support for Bush's servility to US Zionist lobbies. Even within the Labor party over a hundred backbenchers were speaking out against his policies, while even junior cabinet ministers such as Prescott stated that Boss Bush's foreign policy smelled of the barnyard. Bush was not yet cornered by his colleagues in the same way as Blair, but unpopularity was threatening to lead his Republican party to congressional defeat and possible loss of a majority of seats.

According to top security officials in England, Bush and Blair were "knowledgeable" about the investigation into a possible "liquid bomb" plot. We know that Blair gave the go-ahead for the arrests, even as the authorities must have told him they lacked the evidence and at best it was premature. Some reports from British police insiders claim that the Bush Administration pushed Blair for early arrests and the announcement of the 'liquid bomb' plot. Security officials then launched a massive, all-out 'terror propaganda' campaign designed to capture the attention and support of the public with the total support of the mass media. The security-mass media campaign served its objective -- Bush's popularity increased, Blair avoided censure and both continued on their vacations.

The bomb plot political ploy fits the previous political pattern of sacrificing capitalist economic interests to serve domestic political and ideological positions. Foreign policy failures lead to domestic political crimes, just as domestic policy crises lead to aggressive military expansion.

The criminal frame-up of young Muslim-South Asian British citizens by the British security officials was specifically designed to cover up for the failed Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Anglo-American backing for Israel's destructive but failed invasion of Lebanon. Blair's "liquid bombers" plot sacrificed a multiplicity of British capitalist interests in order to retain political offices and stave off an unceremonious early exit from power. The costs of failed militarism are borne by citizens and businesses.

In an analogous fashion Bush and his Zioncon and other militarists exploited the events of 9/11 to pursue a militarist multi-war strategy in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. With time and scientific research, the official version of the events of 9/11 have come under serious questioning -- both regarding the collapse of one of the towers in New York, as well as the explosions in the Pentagon. The events of 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq sacrificed major US economic interests: Losses in New York, tourism, airline industry and massive physical destruction; losses in terms of a major increase in oil prices and instability, increasing the costs to US, European and Asian consumers and industries.

Likewise the Israeli military invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, backed by the US and Great Britain, were economically costly destroying property, investments and markets, while raising the level of mass anti-imperial opposition.

In other words, the politics of US, British and Israeli (and by extension World Zionist) militarism has been at the expense of strategic sectors of the civilian economy. These losses to key economic sectors require the civilian-militarists to resort to domestic political crimes (phony bomb plots and frame-up trials) to distract the public from their costly and failed policies and to tighten political control. On both counts, the civilian militarists and the Zioncons are losing ground. The "liquid bomb" plot is unraveling, Israel is in turmoil, the Zioncons are preaching to the converted, and the US is, as always, the United States: The Democratic civilian militarists are capitalizing on the failures of their incumbent colleagues.



* James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, owns a 50-year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser to the landless and jobless in Brazil and Argentina, and is co-author of Globalization Unmasked (Zed Books). His latest book is, The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity Press, 2006). He can be reached at: jpetras@binghamton.edu.

[Usama bin Laden]

My speculation is that someone was trying to thwart a drug bust. I could be wrong, but it makes as much sense as anything else.

http://www.google.com/search?q=MDMA+Mossad

[TonyGosling]

Three liquid bomb plotters found guilty but not of airline plot

Three British men have been found guilty of planning to kill people as part of a terrorist plot involving homemade liquid bombs. However, the jury did not find Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain guilty of planning the attacks on transatlantic airliners, as the prosecution claimed.



Eight men were tried altogether as part of the airline bomb plot, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on four of them and the remaining suspect was found not guilty on all counts.

The case caused Britain and the US to introduce strict laws restricting liquids and gels in hand-luggage, causing major security check chaos in airports.According to government sources, the security restrictions could stay in place at British airports for at least five more years until x-ray technology is improved. It is estimated the liquid bomb plot cost the British aviation industry at least 250 million euros.

http://www.euronews.net/en/article/08/09/2008/three-liquid-bomb-plotte rs-found-guilty/

[conspiracy analyst]

Despite and apart from the 'war on terror' when vat duty was imposed on intra-EU flights there has been a massive drop in shopping at UK airports.

With the liquid bomb hoax many retailers are making an earner, Boots in particular but everyone else as well as one cannot bring anything in after passport control.

Having some face cream or shampoo over 100m now appears to be a 'terrorist threat'...

The only areas where the 'terrorist threat' works is where there are a lot of people so airports have become a focal point for this type of propaganda for that is what it all is.

[Light Infantree]

I frequently fly and have found some interesting ways to 'test' the system that is now in place. I once got through with a bottle of water simply by placing 2 bottles in my hand luggage. After being challenged by security I surrendered one of the offending bottles and was allowed through.

On a separate occaision I took through a pot of humous (about 200mls) with out any problems.

It is interesting to see how different airports interprete the rules. Some airports such a Berlin luggage is checked twice, once before checking in and again prior to going to the departure lounge. Yet in the departure lounge it is possible to buy bottles of beer to take on board the plane!!! A glass bottle is considerably more effective as a weapon than a nailfile.

[TonyGosling]

Last time I flew I managed to smuggle a large beaker of coffee past airport security. They checked thoroughly inside my rucsac but didn't seem to notice the hot pint of potentially explosive caffeine rich liquid in my hand.
Who was I to argue with them?

Before a later flight on the same day they stopped a very attractive young student woman friend of mine. They forced her to strip to her underwear and went through everything in her bags thoroughly making her miss her plane and she got the last flight to Bristol arriving after midnight though she had originally turned up early at the airport.

They seem to prefer to search unaccompanied people - especially attractive young women. Could there be a sub-agenda here.

[paul wright]

When I flew to Amsterdam this year from Leeds/Bradford airport, I was shaken down for no obvious reason. The guy managed to touch my c*** during the process which was oppressive/titillating

[Disco_Destroyer]

In January I as well as my companion were both taken aside for a 'random' security check even though we went to different queues to speed up the process. Nobody else was checked so one wonders how random these checks really are?

[fish5133]

Come the day when airport security will make you empty your bladder before you board. Come to think of it they will make you empty your bowels as well as a vndaloo the night before is potentially explosive expecially on top of a guinness or 2.
Sniffer dogs smelling your backside, I shudder to think.

[sycorax82]

What a farce of a country and a world we now live in. I'm sorry but that's all I've got to say right now. Watching the BBC News reports on these 'terrorists' (as they call them) has just made me too tired to think straight.

[paul wright]

[TonyGosling]

The fact is they want people to despair.
It's not news it's psyops.
That's how these shysters work.
None of the news outlets I've seen have paid any attention to the fact that the jury (however fixed) threw out most of the lies the police and bent lawyers piled on these guys.
Yes, the blokes may well have been 'led along' by NATO intelligence (MI6?) to agree to do all sorts of bad things but no, the entire liquid bombs on airliners BS was proved a hoax.
This is a concerted attempt IMO to prepare, soften up, the public & political classes for another false flag. I blame the crooked cops and credulous journalists who simply don't appear to be able to ask questions any more.

Remember though, that enormous amounts of evil time and effort has to go into all this. It really does seem to be building up to a severe extension of the war - quite how and where though is anyone's guess. They know we don't want to go there and they thrive on that. Trouble with the NATO/Israeli psycopaths is that they believe their own propaganda.

At least we've all played our small part in ensuring that millions around the country will be shaking their heads at the TV tonight.

Saying, like the little girl in 'V for Vendetta' "what a load of rubbish, they don't expect us to believe that do they?".

[mark_e]

So the CPS want a retrial as they didn't get what they wanted. now that the evidence has been thoroughly splashed around the media, how are they supposed to find an impartial jury?

[spiv]

What evidence? Sounds like evidence was quite thin on the ground, especially as this "open and shut" case resulted in the jury being completely unconvinced.

Didn't watch it, didn't want to so switched off, but even after the result of this farcicle case, it seems Aunty Beeb just could not pass up their continued propaganda with their "Special" Panorama last night

Or maybe, just maybe, they honestly faced up to the fact that this liquid bomb plot was the stuff of James Bond novels, not real life. Nahhh...

[TonyGosling]

[Reflecter]

Paul wrote: 'Take a positive optimistic hold wherever you can'- Good advice over the farcical nature of the relentless psy-ops but doesn't it also sound like the motto of the airport frisker who made your acquaintance mate

[TonyGosling]

A ridiculous 'plot' covered up by a ridiculous murdered and more lies from 'intelligence sources said' peddled as 'news'.

British Army Expert Casts Doubt On "Liquid Explosives" Threat
August terror plot is a 'fiction' underscoring police failures
Nafeez Ahmed
Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Nigel Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer, has suggested that the police and government story about the "terror plot" revealed on 10th August was part of a "pattern of lies and deceit." http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Sources_August_Terror_Plot_Fiction_U nderscoring_0918.html


MPs seek answers as CIA kills British terror suspect Rashid Rauf
Rashid Rauf
November 24, 2008

Zahid Hussain in Islamabad, Michael Evans, Sean O'Neill and Anthony Loyd

Britain's intelligence services appear to have been kept in the dark about Saturday's US missile attack on a house in northwest Pakistan that reportedly killed Rashid Rauf, a top British al-Qaeda suspect.

Although his death will take a few days to be confirmed officially, the strike by a Predator drone, armed with Hellfire missiles and precision-guided bombs, was the first time that the US had targeted a British suspect hiding in the lawless North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

Two senior MPs yesterday demanded to know whether the British Government had been given notice of the planned attack, which was a CIA operation controlled from a US military base in Nevada.

Patrick Mercer, Tory MP for Newark, said the attack had “ultimately led to the execution of a British subject”. He called for a clear statement from the Government to explain what was known about the planned attack. Andrew Dismore, Labour chairman of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, wanted to know whether British intelligence services had been consulted by the Americans.

Senior British officials, however, made it clear that intelligence of such sensitivity was not automatically shared by the Americans, adding that Saturday's strike was a strictly US operation.

The reported killing of Rauf and four other terrorist suspects, including an Egyptian called Abu Zubair alMasri, appears to have dealt a serious blow to al-Qaeda's network operating from Pakistan's tribal region.

Pakistani authorities confirmed that Rauf was the main target of Saturday's attack on a suspected militant hideout in the border village of Ali Khel in North Waziristan. Information about Rauf's death was based on intercepted communications between militants in the area. The bodies of the five people killed in the attack were removed by local militants who cordoned off the area, making investigation difficult.

Three Hellfire missiles were fired on a mud compound belonging to Khaliq Noor, a tribal elder in Ali Khel village. A few days ago a US Predator attack killed Abdullah Azzam al-Saudi, a senior al-Qaeda member. Six others died in the attack in northwestern Pakistan. Officials from Pakistan and Western government representatives said that eight of the twenty mostwanted men had been killed in the recent US missile raids, bolstering Washington's claim that the strikes in northwestern Pakistan have crippled alQaeda's capacity to launch another terrorist attack on the West.............

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5219084.ece

[TonyGosling]

British-Pakistani terror suspect still alive: lawyer
12 hours ago



LONDON (AFP) — British-Pakistani terror suspect Rashid Rauf is still alive, his lawyer told the BBC on Monday, saying reports that he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake."

The alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic jet bombing conspiracy was reportedly killed at the weekend in a US raid in a northwestern border district that is a known stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

"We don't believe that this story is true... It is a fake story," lawyer Hashmat Ali Habib told BBC radio, adding: "We still believe that my client, Rashid, is alive."

He noted that requests for Rauf's body to be returned to his family had not been answered. "This is a new technique of the government to dispose of the cases like Rashid or other missing people," he said.

Rauf died Saturday when a missile hit a tribesman's house in the village of Alikhel, a Pakistani security official told AFP.

The strike site is in a lawless tribal territory and militants there usually surround the place after such attacks, preventing access of government representatives or the army, before burying the bodies themselves.

Rauf was arrested in 2006 in Pakistan over the bomb plot and 24 people were detained in Britain in a major swoop.

A day later a massive security operation at London Heathrow Airport resulted in mass cancellations for several days, amid fears of a terrorist attack using liquid explosives on London flights bound for North America.

The Foreign Office said Saturday it was probing reports that Rauf had been killed. "We are currently investigating this at the moment, but we do not have any information," a spokesman said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i-DhIq5L7gq7ygHdLZo Y4hkR3nFg