Newest Updates On "Bojinka II"
Ah, lunchtime at last, and the first chance I have had since getting up this morning to address this plot. Late last night, we picked up the story as many in the nation were still asleep. And as for the name of the plot, I must agree with Michelle and the guys at Hot Air: Is there a better name for the plot?
Anyway, ABC News there are five more suspects still being sought in Britain:
Five of the suspected London terrorists are still at large and are being urgently hunted, according to U.S. sources who have been briefed on the airplane bombing plot.
Officials tell ABC News 24 people now have been taken into custody. Twenty-two are believed to be of Pakistani descent. One is Bangladeshi, and another is of Iranian descent, according to the officials.
So fifty was too high of a number. But with news coming out fast and furious about this plot, I can't fault Marcie for citing that. It was in a news report, and she has been on top of this thus far today. However, Allah Pundit does point out that FOX News is stating that British officials are seeking ten additional suspects. With the numbers jumping back and forth, we may not know for awhile how many are still being looked for. I do know that Michael Medved had an interview with a US official today (I believe he was from either DHS or the FBI), and he stated he was unaware of any connection to any recent arrests in the US in connection with this plot. So, the speculation is OK for the Dearborn story, but nothing solid connects the two ... yet.
ABC News continues with a piece regarding the explosives that would have been used:
The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.
ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.
This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security -- even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage.
The flash in a disposable camera has enough electrical power, they apparently believed, to set off the homemade explosive.
There are any number of homemade or modified commercial liquids that would have made effective explosives, with enough energy to damage or destroy a plane.
Clever boys, and who says our enemy can't adapt to fight us? These people aren't hicks from the sticks here. These people are motivated, decently-trained, and highly intelligent. (Which is more than I can say for the Left ... ) For people to think that the next guy caught was going to be a "winner" like Richard Reid, that was supremely foolish. I am guessing (just guessing here) that these people have paid very close attention to the upgrades in airport security over the last several months. In fact plenty of experts--British and American--have stated that this plot took months to put together. And while Operation Bojinka might have been the base for the plot, there are plenty of new additions to it, such as this one.
And US News gives some more details about the explosives themselves, along with a chilling reminder of how close they might have actually been:
Terrorism suspects plotting to blow up American planes headed from the United Kingdom to the United States were planning to smuggle hydrogen peroxide-based liquid/slurry explosives in modified sports drink bottles, U.S. News has learned. The suspects had figured out a way to modify the bottoms of the factory-sealed bottles and fill them with the explosives that were similar to those used in other recent attacks in London, and at least nine planes were targets, the official said. So far, British police have arrested at least 24 suspects in the plot, which had been months in the planning.
At least some of the suspects had ties to those involved in the July 7, 2005, coordinated bombings on the London subways, a law enforcement source told U.S. News. British police were watching the suspects for weeks and had to make some "gutwrenching" decisions on how long they could wait before making the arrests, this law enforcement source said. Several of the plotters made trips to and from Pakistan for meetings, recruiting, and training. British police decided to make the arrests after some of these men, believed essential to the plot, returned to the U.K. This source told U.S. News that the British police realized that the suspects were "accelerating" their efforts "quicker than we realized" and that the subjects were close to "getting ready to get on planes to do it." ...
... Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that the suspects were in the "final stages" of carrying out the attacks. "There were very concrete steps underway to execute all elements of the plan," he said. ...
... "We knew timing; we knew method; we knew they had obtained all the components," says one U.S. intelligence official. "They were probably in the final stages of getting ready to run a test and do the real thing. That's why we went to red." Officials caution that other plotters might still remain at large and that as many as 10 additional plotters are being sought.
The men arrested in London were mostly British citizens of Pakistani origin. They were intending to use several bombers per plane. Because the attacks were to be nearly simultaneous, officials note that they might have been targeting a number of different airlines. But despite some press reports to the contrary, the would-be bombers had not yet attempted any trial runs.
Chertoff said the plan was similar to the one cooked up in the mid-1990s by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific Ocean. The plot "was as sophisticated as any we have seen in recent years, as far as terrorism is concerned," Chertoff said.
I don't know about our readers, or those paying close attention to this story, but it sounds like these guys took the original Bojika plans, scrapped the part about killing the pope, and streamlined the airline bombing protion of it. They worked out the kinks, and thought everything was ready to go. I'm guessing (and I could be wrong) but they may have been within days or a couple of weeks of attempting the trial run. We'll find that out soon enough, but this definitely shows that our enemies take their war seriously, and that they're willing to go to any lengths to accomplish it. And that includes modifying drink bottles to hide their explosives.
Publius II
Ah, lunchtime at last, and the first chance I have had since getting up this morning to address this plot. Late last night, we picked up the story as many in the nation were still asleep. And as for the name of the plot, I must agree with Michelle and the guys at Hot Air: Is there a better name for the plot?
Anyway, ABC News there are five more suspects still being sought in Britain:
Five of the suspected London terrorists are still at large and are being urgently hunted, according to U.S. sources who have been briefed on the airplane bombing plot.
Officials tell ABC News 24 people now have been taken into custody. Twenty-two are believed to be of Pakistani descent. One is Bangladeshi, and another is of Iranian descent, according to the officials.
So fifty was too high of a number. But with news coming out fast and furious about this plot, I can't fault Marcie for citing that. It was in a news report, and she has been on top of this thus far today. However, Allah Pundit does point out that FOX News is stating that British officials are seeking ten additional suspects. With the numbers jumping back and forth, we may not know for awhile how many are still being looked for. I do know that Michael Medved had an interview with a US official today (I believe he was from either DHS or the FBI), and he stated he was unaware of any connection to any recent arrests in the US in connection with this plot. So, the speculation is OK for the Dearborn story, but nothing solid connects the two ... yet.
ABC News continues with a piece regarding the explosives that would have been used:
The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.
ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.
This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security -- even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage.
The flash in a disposable camera has enough electrical power, they apparently believed, to set off the homemade explosive.
There are any number of homemade or modified commercial liquids that would have made effective explosives, with enough energy to damage or destroy a plane.
Clever boys, and who says our enemy can't adapt to fight us? These people aren't hicks from the sticks here. These people are motivated, decently-trained, and highly intelligent. (Which is more than I can say for the Left ... ) For people to think that the next guy caught was going to be a "winner" like Richard Reid, that was supremely foolish. I am guessing (just guessing here) that these people have paid very close attention to the upgrades in airport security over the last several months. In fact plenty of experts--British and American--have stated that this plot took months to put together. And while Operation Bojinka might have been the base for the plot, there are plenty of new additions to it, such as this one.
And US News gives some more details about the explosives themselves, along with a chilling reminder of how close they might have actually been:
Terrorism suspects plotting to blow up American planes headed from the United Kingdom to the United States were planning to smuggle hydrogen peroxide-based liquid/slurry explosives in modified sports drink bottles, U.S. News has learned. The suspects had figured out a way to modify the bottoms of the factory-sealed bottles and fill them with the explosives that were similar to those used in other recent attacks in London, and at least nine planes were targets, the official said. So far, British police have arrested at least 24 suspects in the plot, which had been months in the planning.
At least some of the suspects had ties to those involved in the July 7, 2005, coordinated bombings on the London subways, a law enforcement source told U.S. News. British police were watching the suspects for weeks and had to make some "gutwrenching" decisions on how long they could wait before making the arrests, this law enforcement source said. Several of the plotters made trips to and from Pakistan for meetings, recruiting, and training. British police decided to make the arrests after some of these men, believed essential to the plot, returned to the U.K. This source told U.S. News that the British police realized that the suspects were "accelerating" their efforts "quicker than we realized" and that the subjects were close to "getting ready to get on planes to do it." ...
... Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that the suspects were in the "final stages" of carrying out the attacks. "There were very concrete steps underway to execute all elements of the plan," he said. ...
... "We knew timing; we knew method; we knew they had obtained all the components," says one U.S. intelligence official. "They were probably in the final stages of getting ready to run a test and do the real thing. That's why we went to red." Officials caution that other plotters might still remain at large and that as many as 10 additional plotters are being sought.
The men arrested in London were mostly British citizens of Pakistani origin. They were intending to use several bombers per plane. Because the attacks were to be nearly simultaneous, officials note that they might have been targeting a number of different airlines. But despite some press reports to the contrary, the would-be bombers had not yet attempted any trial runs.
Chertoff said the plan was similar to the one cooked up in the mid-1990s by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific Ocean. The plot "was as sophisticated as any we have seen in recent years, as far as terrorism is concerned," Chertoff said.
I don't know about our readers, or those paying close attention to this story, but it sounds like these guys took the original Bojika plans, scrapped the part about killing the pope, and streamlined the airline bombing protion of it. They worked out the kinks, and thought everything was ready to go. I'm guessing (and I could be wrong) but they may have been within days or a couple of weeks of attempting the trial run. We'll find that out soon enough, but this definitely shows that our enemies take their war seriously, and that they're willing to go to any lengths to accomplish it. And that includes modifying drink bottles to hide their explosives.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 1:11 PM
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