ABC News and FOX aren't done with this one yet. ABC says five deadly terror suspects on the loose - that's not enough for FOX who say ten are on the run.

Reports differ as to when the supposed plot was discovered - BBC says Bush spoke to Blair about it some days ago - other reports say its been known for weeks.

Known for weeks - and yet SNAP - all the ridiculous measures about hair gel, baby milk and water bottles are implemented on a whim. A decision had been made to introduce this latest fraud exactly on time this morning. If it was such a deadly imminent plot why did they wait to put these measures in AFTER the arrests has already taken place?

BBC: "Security chiefs said the group believed to be planning the attack had been under surveillance for some time."

The terrorists were caught engaging in a dry run before the attack. This translates as 'the patsies were making sure they got noticed' - actor James Woods tried to alert the authorities to a similar drill before 9/11 but was ignored.

Bush's comments are totally transparent.

"The American people need to know we live in a dangerous world, but our government will do everything we can to protect our people from those dangers."

The men pointing sub-machine guns at old ladies are here to help. Display the proper level of obedience to your government and we will protect you from the terrorists. Impinge on our ability to 'defend' America and something might go boom boom.

This latest PR scam will subside into implausible buffoonery within days - every other major terror alert that we have encountered is always exposed as a monumental fraud and we see no other eventuality.

That's right: While millions of travelers are going through absolute hell today because of the sudden terror "news," it was last week when the U.S. president and U.K. prime minister began their cold calculations on how to get the maximum political benefit from the months-old investigation.

"U.S. President George W. Bush seized on a foiled London airline bomb plot to hammer unnamed critics he accused of having all but forgotten the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks," AFP noted this afternoon.

"Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, Bush and his aides have tried to shift the national political debate from that conflict to the broader and more popular global war on terrorism ahead of November 7 congressional elections."

But the American warmongers are hardly alone in needing a "terror boost" for their fading political fortunes. The timing of the hysteria was even more useful to Blair, who was on the verge of being thrown out of Downing Street last night.

"A Scottish MP last night quit the government in protest at Tony Blair's handling of the Middle East crisis, amid warnings from ministers that the Prime Minister's continuing support for American foreign policy could cost him his job," the Scotsman reported this morning.

"Jim Sheridan, Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, became the first to resign from a government post over the war. He quit as parliamentary private secretary to the Ministry of Defense, saying he could no longer accept that Scottish airports were being used to refuel United States planes carrying arms to Israel."

The newspaper made it crystal clear that Blair had mere days left in power, with some 150 members of parliament demanding Blair's enemy Jack Straw call the politicians back to London, even though they're on summer break:

"His resignation came as ministers furious at Mr Blair's handling of the crisis said they would push for an emergency recall of parliament in a maneuver they hoped would trigger the Prime Minister's downfall."

Unlike the theoretical "massacre" of the theoretical terror plot that will soon be exposed in the courts as another make-believe scheme, actual massacres continue uninterrupted in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

At least 2,000 Iraqis were slaughtered in July alone, most in Sunni vs. Shiite violence that has exploded under the U.S. occupation. Baghdad continues to be the capital of death, but the bloodshed happens everywhere, every day, all the time. Today in Najaf, another religious shrine was blown up, leaving at least 35 dead and another 100 hurt.

Morons and Patsies

If the suspected terrorists are anything like the amateur morons arrested recently in Toronto, London and Florida, the "terror plot" will eventually be revealed to be nothing more than idiot fantasies encouraged by the usual intelligence agents.

While Muslim nations will continue be bombed by the United States and Britain, travelers are stranded all over the Western World and England's beleaguered Pakistanis can expect a new round of bogus terror raids, constant police harassment and attacks by neo-fascist skinheads, Bush and Blair can expect a solid boost for their bloodstained political parties.

The only other beneficiaries of today's insanity are the "homeland security" and private-army industries, the defense contractors and the personal-hygiene business -- having taken our corkscrews, pocket knives and fingernail clippers, airport goons are now seizing shampoo, deodorant, hair gel, toothpaste and pretty much everything else in your toiletries kit.

Not that you can even have a carry-on with your toothpaste and other essentials. As of today, British airports have banned all carry-ons.

Miserable passengers have been photographed standing around with nothing more than a clear plastic baggie holding their tickets and passports.

It's the world of the future, and it sucks.

According to the leader of Hizbullah, Shaikh Hassan Nassrullah, the Israeli war on Lebanon was approved by the Bush administration to be launched on late September or early October. However, the war was launched prematurely in reaction to the Hizbullah capture of Israeli soldiers.

Apparently, the goal is driving American voters to the candidates of the War Party, after it had lost the confidence of American voters. I wrote about this issue in my article Nassrullah and Peres: The War Was Supposed to Be October Surprise, and to Weaken Iran.

The announcement yesterday of a British terrorist plot to destroy ten US aircraft using liquid bombs can be considered the second stage of an October surprise. It aims at keeping the US voters in tense conditions, making them feel that the world is not safe around them. This, purportedly, may push them back towards the War Party, which has the reputation of being "strong on security."

The timing of the announcement of such a terrorist plot should be received with skepticism and scrutiny, particularly because the pro-war corporate media have adopted the story and fully propagated it to death. The following are some points to be taken into consideration in scrutinizing the story.

First, the announcement came just one day after the earthquake of defeating the symbol of war in the Democratic Party, Joe Lieberman, representing a determination among American voters to fire proponents of war in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike. The announcement of the terrorist plot would serve as the Bush administration counterattack against the peace camp.

Second, it came after a month of a disaster Israeli war to subjugate Lebanon. The Israelis succeeded in destroying the country's infrastructure, forcing a million Lebanese out of their homes, but they couldn't defeat Hizbullah fighters. News about such a terrorist plot may aim at distracting the American people away from the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon, leaving it to pounded even more in the coming days by the crazy Israeli leaders.

Third, the US war in Iraq is worse than any time before. There is no end in sight for the US quagmire there. Just the day before the announcement about this terror plot, US military commanders and their boss testified in Congress about the coming Iraqi civil war. This is an acknowledgement of the Iraqi disaster by the Bush administration and it is not going to serve the War Party at the ballot box. The announcement about the terrorist plot may help to divert the attention of Americans and Britons away from the Iraq disaster.

Fourth, the war in Afghanistan has not ended and Taliban fighters have been fighting against the US-led NATO forces on daily basis. They have not gone away. The announcement about the British terrorist plot may help make Americans and Britons forget about Afghanistan a little bit.

Fifth, news reported mentioned that there was an under cover British government agent inside the terrorist group, for several months. This should spark a public debate about the role of government agents who penetrate suspected groups. What if the agent was playing a leading role? What if the whole thing was prompted, suggested, and orchestrated by the government agent and his superiors? Is this really a terrorist plot or a government-staged operation created for political reasons? We still remember the case of the six African American youngmen in Florida who were influenced by the under cover government agent, who posed to them as an Alqaeda operative. Did they want really to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago or it was the government agent's idea? We don't know. There should be more public scrutiny about this issue.

Finally, there has been a relentless attempt to link it to Alqaeda. Pundits, experts, and even officials did their best to convey this idea to the public. Among what they said was the travel of two members of the group to Pakistan then receiving money from Pakistan after they had returned to buy tickets to America. This should remind us with a similar story in the US about a Pakistani father and his son who were implicated first for traveling to Pakistan then they were released after that. With regard to the money received to buy tickets to the US, it is hard to believe that plotters with all this sophistication would not be able to buy tickets from London to New York, couple hundred dollars.

There's a lot to be skeptical about in the story. I hope that the American people stay the anti-war course and change the course of our country in November. By voting the pro-war candidates out of office and bringing anti-war candidates into office, we will be able to address the true cause of wars and reactions to them, resistance and terrorism.

Comment: Every time one of there "terrorist" events happens, governments arrest all sorts of Arabs, and much ado is made about the whole affair. It is only months and often years later that we learn (through sites like Signs of the Times) that the vast majority of such suspects were released or imprisoned on charges that had nothing to do with terrorism - and the mainstream media will barely touch the story.

The third suspect believed to have converted to Islam is 28-year-old Umar Islam who was also arrested in High Wycombe.

Elsewhere in the Buckinghamshire town, 27-year-old Shazad Khuram Ali was arrested after anti-terror squads stormed his home in Micklefield Road.

Neighbours said the Victorian semi had been lived in by an Asian family for around 15 years and that they did not interact much with fellow residents.

At another High Wycombe address, a semi-detached house in Plomer Green Avenue, an Asian family was led outside by police but, according to onlookers, no-one was brought out under restraint.

Waseem Kayani, 29, was arrested and the property was sealed off by police ready to be searched.
Neighbour Brian Ashby, a 41-year-old business manager, said the family, who have a number of daughters, were "one of the quietest in the neighbourhood".

He added: "They were led out of the house and were carrying bags of clothes, not under arrest, and they left in their own cars.

"I heard one of the policemen say five or six times to the father: 'Thank you for your cooperation'."

Another of the suspects, Assad Sarwar, 26, was arrested at his family's three-bedroom, semi-detached ex-council house in Walton Drive, High Wycombe.

Locals said a family with three sons and two daughters had lived in the house for the past 15 years.
Sarwar, who was married, was thought to still live there with his wife, his brother and his sister-in-law. A third brother had moved out.

Former friends said the men used to be well known in the area, but had not been seen very much in recent years.

Philip Redfern said: "They are very quiet, they keep themselves to themselves, which is very strange because this is a very tight community."

One of the suspects worked at Heathrow Airport as a security man.

Amin Asmin Tariq, 23, was about to set off for work when he was arrested at his terraced home in Ravenswood Road, Walthamstow.

He had recently become a father and had worked at the airport for the past three years.

Waheed Zaman, 22, was arrested when officers burst into his family home in Queens Road, Walthamstow.

According to reports the biochemistry student had been watching television with his sister Safeena.
Zaman was known to be a devout and active Muslim who was head of the Islamic Society at the Metropolitan University in London.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, described Zaman as a "good guy".

She said: "He's a good guy, he's a superman of Walthamstow. He has a good rapport with lots of people. I'm really upset to think this could have happened to him. He is studying biomedical science at university and loves to play football, he supports Liverpool. I don't think he would have been mixed up in anything."

The youngest of the suspects is 17-year-old Abdul Muneem Patel, who was seized in the Clapton area of London.

Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, was at his family home in Albert Road, Walthamstow, when police raided the terraced home.

Assad said Savant converted to Islam in 1997 or 1998, began wearing traditional Muslim dress and grew a beard. He attended a local mosque, one of several in the area of Walthamstow, which has a high Asian population.

Savant was one of 19 people named on Friday by the Bank of England in connection with the alleged plot to blow up numerous transatlantic flights. The bank, acting on instructions from the government, ordered their assets frozen.

U.S. authorities said all those arrested were British Muslims.

The neighbors' surprise at Savant's alleged involvement reflect growing fears about home-grown Islamist militancy in Britain and the difficulties faced by police to track it down.

The four British Muslim suicide bombers who killed 52 people on London's transport network in July last year had appeared to live similarly unremarkable lives. One loved cricket. Another was a classroom assistant.

Savant grew up with his brother Adam and his parents in a modest, white terraced house not far from Walthamstow's railway station and just across from a mosque.

"We called him Oliver when he was a little boy but he changed his name," said Paul Kleinman, a 66-year-old firefighter who lives next door to Savant's parents' house, raided by police on Thursday.

"He loved football and used to play the trumpet when he was small. All of a sudden he started to put these white robes on," he said, adding he had known Savant's parents for some 25 years.

Assad said Savant had worked at a central London department store: "He was always sleeping on trains," he joked.

The 19 named suspects are aged between 17 and 35. Police are holding 24 people after raids in other parts of London, Britain's southeast and Birmingham.