Thursday, August 10, 2006

Terrorist Threat Thwarted

Police report that they thwarted a terror plot by at least 21 (up to 50) young Brits of Pakistani origin to down up to ten planes on flights from the U.K. to the U.S. (The cities of departure were London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow.) If successful, it would have exceeded 9-11 in its scope in the number of lives taken. The plan apparently involved liquid chemical cannisters that were to be carried onto the planes in carry-on luggage and later explode in midair. Passengers on flights from Heathrow to the States are prohibited from taking carry-on luggage or liquid onto planes: however, exceptions are made for mothers with infants. (Mothers are being made to taste the baby milk before being allowed to board.) Most European and all Tel Aviv flights into Heathrow other than ones already in the air have been cancelled. The U.K.'s Home Office raised the public risk level to "critical" from "severe." The U.S. has raised the alert level on flights from Great Britain to red and on other commercial aviation within or into the U.S. to orange. American officials believe that there was a very serious Al Qaeda connection.

Cf. Sky News and FNC.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hats off to the British police on this one!  I had originally written out several clever things to say on this comment, involving the "War on Terror" and "mother's milk" but I wisely deleted them pre-posting since they weren't very clever or funny, in hindsight.

Always remember, "Less is More!"

Anonymous said...

Obfuscator, you forgot to mention "bad teeth".

Anonymous said...

Notice Bush and his administrative official's new appellation for the anti-American agressors. Also, advocates of profiling are becoming more numerous and more stentorian.

Anonymous said...

Are the advocates for profiling really becoming more "stentorian?"  Well, let's take a look, shall we?  

Webster's New World Dictionary-  stentorian:  very loud
Webster's Old World Dictionary-  stentorian:  vociferous; proclaimed at a great volume.
Funk & Wagnalls-  stentorian:  loud; strident; bracing
O.E.D.:  stentorian-  vociferous; strident; extremely loud; of great loudage
McGregor's Tautologies-  stentorian:  very stentorian and loud; stentorian-like.
The Domesday Booke- styntoreann (old English sp.):  wythe greot loude and
 vocabus magna; harshe.
"Words You Can Use" (college ed. 1995):  stentorian:  like playing Tool at top volume; shouting words blared through a bullhorn.

So, I guess you have used the correct word once again, JKH!

Anonymous said...

stentorian here: what's wrong with profiling?
Let me get back to my water-boarding of Ahmed...