British Bomb Plot: More Updates

All of them care of Pajamas Media:

A man on a flight to Qatar tried to force his way into the cockpit, but was subdued by passengers and airplane crew:

Passengers and stewards onboard a Qatar Airways plane heading to Qatar from Jordan overpowered an Eritrean passenger who tried to force his way into the cockpit on Thursday, an airline spokeswoman said.

She told Al Jazeera television that the Eritrean man, 21, was carrying a box containing an unknown substance, prompting the captain to return to Jordan immediately after the incident.

"The captain declared an emergency onboard and landed in Amman, where the passenger was handed over to Jordanian security. Now the plane is about to take off for Doha with the remaining passengers," she said, adding that all the passengers were unharmed.

Earlier, a passenger had described the scene to Al Jazeera.

"Just after take-off, one of the passengers moved toward the cockpit and, when one of the flight attendants stood in his way, he hit him (the attendant)," Samir Samri, told the television by telephone.

Connection to the British plot? Maybe, but that remains to be seen as of right now. Nothing is coming out of Jordan about this man, or why he was trying to get into the cockpit. Though I would like to note that the witness that spoke to al-Jazeera stated that he was not sure if it were a hijacking, or if the man was mentally ill. (IMHO, a hijacker bent on blowing himself up, and killing dozens of people on an airplane IS mentally ill. It is called "Islamofascism."

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Liquids are being banned on flights right now, indefinitely, according to Reuters:

Tossing out cans of soda and discarding makeup and hair gel, passengers at U.S. airports on Thursday adjusted to new security measures prompted by news of a foiled plot to bomb flights to the United States.

The U.S. government raised the security alert on passenger planes to its highest level for the first time, invoking a red or "severe" threat level for commercial flights from Britain. ...

... The U.S. Homeland Security Department barred passengers from carrying liquids, including drinks, hair gels and lotions, on planes. A British police source said the plot was believed to involve a "liquid chemical" device.

So, nothing liquid goes on an airplane unless it is some sort of medication, or necessities, such as milk and formula for kids, and mom and dad have to drink some of it to prove it is not an explosive. Of course in the report DHS pats itself on the back for the quick change in security policy. Normally, accordig to the spokesman, changes could take up to four weeks.

Gee, I am relieved that we were not asleep at the switch on this one. Four weeks before a change in procedure? We are lucky we did not have another 9/11 today.

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The following come directly from Pajamas media, and are live-feed reports from television MSM:

British Airways cancels all domestic and European flights. (Sky News live broadcast, no link) 04:58 PDT

Three of the destinations of targeted flights: NY, Washington and California (Fox News live broadcast, no link) 04:51 PDT

A U.S. government source says intelligence on the foiled airline terror plot indicates “very strong links to al Qaeda.” (CNN) 04:21 PDT

Scotland Yard spokesman says at press conference right now: investigation is at ealry stages, first phase of complex investigation, plot had global dimensions, searches underway in London and Midlands (all TV news channels) 03:55 PDT

The terrorists were targeting United, American, Continental airlines, two U.S. counterterrorism officials say. One police spokesman said the attacks were planned to happen at the same time. The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said. “They were not yet sitting on an airplane,” but were very close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot “the real deal.” A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot, which “had a footprint to Al Qaeda back to it.” (Fox News) 03:41 PDT

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All right then. How many people think this will shake the Left out of their antiwar, weak-on-national-security, conspiracy nut tree? Anyone? Bueller? I doubt it, especially after Mary Katherine Ham located the first outburst of lunacy from the Left. (Obviously these people are still drunk from the Ned Lamont non-victory victory.)

Not to be outdone, the BooMan who lumps himself with the rest of the KosKiddies, has this in response to Vice President Cheney's comments yesterday surrounding Ned Lamont:

He said that yesterday. Today we get the terror alert that Steven D has been predicting for a nearly a year. I don't know the details of the terrorist plot. It may have been more serious than the man that wanted to use a blowtorch to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, or it may be less serious than the three year old intelligence the GOP used to disrupt the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. It's hard to say. All that is certain is that we have been predicting both a widening of the war in the Middle East, and an increase in terror threat reporting for this summer, and we predicted it starting last fall.

I find it interesting that here is BooMan talking about "three-year-old" intelligence, and yet he is tooting his own horn about a prediction that is over a year old. Guess what? Thomas and I have predicted that Iran would be involved in any sort of war involving Israel for over a year, but then again, so have most Middle East experts. And those experts are not bringing such prognositcations up unless confronted by someone else about them. Second, he distinctly states he has no details regarding the terrorist plot foiled in Britain. That is a key statement because he said this later in his post:

Contrary to many in the blogosphere, I refuse to be a proud member of the reality based community. That phrase is probably the most misinterpreted statement in modern history. What the aide meant was that the neo-cons create history, while we merely study it.

WE, on the other hand, prefer to operate in a reality-based community where facts are our weapons. EVERYTHING I have linked, thus far today, have been based on reports coming from a host of sources. From bloggers to the MSM; we bloggers (at least the ones that do not relish in making and wearing tin-foil hats openly in public) deal in reality every day. People like the KosKiddies could not find "reality" in the dark with both hands and God's help.

Marcie