What's really boring? These Terror "Busts"... that's what

Stardate 6242.83

It's kind of interesting these recent terror busts. There was that doozy in Toronto... You know, the one where CSIS (and other outfits) had been watching these guys for years, and in fact, were encouraging them in their plans. These guys were attempting to buy unrealistic amounts of fertilizer for making bombs, but frankly, the only way they were going to get it was if the cops gave it to them... oh wait, that's pretty much what happened. It was great timing too, what with the big announcement just previous to the bust about Canadian homegrown terrorists.

Now, the latest massive plan that has been foiled by intelligence agencies far and wide and has caused many people to squeeze out their toothpaste tubes into garbage bins before boarding planes all over the world has some doubt cast over it by common sense and some words by the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray. His post "The UK Terror plot: what's really going on?" has been circulating for a few days now, and after reading it, I agree completely.

These suspects have been held, nearly released and now continue to be held due to a court order but there is yet to be any evidence against them. Time magazine says:

So far, no one has been charged in the alleged terror plot to blow up several airplanes across the Atlantic. No evidence has been produced supporting the contention that such a plot was indeed imminent.

And then we go back to Craig Murray's revelations...

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.

In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms.

What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests.

Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth ...

So these guys that were on the verge of blowing up all these planes didn't even have passports, bombs and tickets? Hmmm.

We then have the extraordinary question of Bush and Blair discussing the possible arrests over the weekend. Why? I think the answer to that is plain. Both in desperate domestic political trouble, they longed for "Another 9/11". The intelligence from Pakistan, however dodgy, gave them a new 9/11 they could sell to the media. The media has bought, wholesale, all the rubbish they have been shovelled.

Much like the announcement from CSIS and the ensuing arrests in Toronto that showered accolades from the Bush administration all over Harper's government, this is a political move that has worked in the past, and continues to work today. The British did not even want to make the arrests yet, but it was Bush's Administration that pushed for their arrest.

Next time you are getting searched and probed at the airport, remember what this is *really* all about... governments trying to cling to a power that is slowly slipping away by instilling fear of a group of people into their populations.

"I just cannot believe any of this voodoo bullshit." - Childs, John Carpenter's The Thing

UPDATE: This article in The Register shows how difficult it would actually be to create some form of Hollywood liquid explosives, especially in the air... It is definately worth a read. h/t to Phyrrus.