Jump to content
Washington DC Message Boards

President Bush Congratulates United Kingdom (Britain)


Luke_Wilbur

Recommended Posts

The Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist branch and security service in London claimed this morning that a terrorist plot to detonate bombs mid-flight on as many as ten planes travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States has been thwarted. The bombs were to be smuggled onboard in passengers' hand luggage. It could have been the biggest terrorist attack since 9/11, government officials said. Information gathered after recent arrests in Pakistan convinced British investigators they had to act urgently to stop the plot.

 

The counter-terrorism operation took several months to complete. Scotland Yard say twenty-one people are in custody, and they were arrested in London, Birmingham and the Thames Valley. At a press conference this afternoon, Home Secretary John Reid said the police believe the "main players" are accounted for.

 

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Paul Stephenson said this morning: "We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction and to commit, quite frankly, mass murder. We believe that the terrorists' aim was to smuggle explosives on to aeroplanes in hand luggage and to detonate these in flight. We also believe that the intended targets were flights from the United Kingdom to the United States of America. I can confirm that a significant number of people are currently in custody and the operation is ongoing."

 

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is currenly holidaying in the Caribbean, paid tribute to the the security services and the police. "I thank them for the great job they are doing in protecting our country. There has been an enormous amount of co-operation with the US authorities which has been of great value and underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it," he said in a statement.

 

It is believed that terrorists planned to detonate explosives on three US airlines. The White House has said the plot had been a direct threat to the US, and security officials there say aspects of the plot were suggestive of al-Qaeda. The US is also sending out more air marshals on flights between the UK and the US. President Bush said the arrests are a "stark reminder" that the U.S. is "at war with Islamic fascists."

 

BELOW ARE REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

 

UPON ARRIVAL IN WISCONSIN

 

Austin Straubel International Airport

 

Green Bay, Wisconsin

 

10:54 A.M. CDT

 

THE PRESIDENT: The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

 

I want to thank the government of Tony Blair and officials in the United Kingdom for their good work in busting this plot. I thank the officials in Washington, D.C. and around our country who gather intelligence and who work to protect the American people. The cooperation on this venture was excellent -- cooperation between U.K. and U.S. authorities and officials was solid. And the cooperation amongst agencies within our government was excellent.

 

This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11. We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously, we're still not completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in. It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America. And that is why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people.

 

Travelers are going to be inconvenienced as a result of the steps we've taken. I urge their patience and ask them to be vigilant. The inconvenience is -- occurs because we will take the steps necessary to protect the American people.

 

Again, I appreciate the close cooperation between our government and the government of the United Kingdom. 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.

 

Thank you. - President George W. Bush

 

END 10:56 A.M. CDT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today issued the following statement:

 

The terrorists arrested today were aiming for our cities and innocent civilians, and we only know that because we had visibility into their planning and plotting. With the PATRIOT Act, FISA courts, and other intelligence programs, we can learn what the terrorists know and where they go, and then we have a chance to disrupt them. But it is those same tools that saved the day today that the Democratic Leadership have repeatedly tried to vote down, thereby weakening America's intelligence efforts and lowering our guard against terrorism.

 

 

The British Home Secretary made an official statement about this morning's major counter terrorist operation to quash a significant terrorist plot and the subsequent increase to UK threat levels.

 

"Overnight the police, with the full knowledge of Ministers, have carried out a major counter-terrorism operation to disrupt what we believe to be a major threat to the UK and international partners.

 

"The police, acting with the Security Service MI5, are investigating an alleged plot to bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life.

 

"The police believe the alleged plot was a very significant one indeed.

 

"At 2am this morning the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the UK threat state to its highest level – critical.

 

"This is now being publicly announced as I promised to Parliament last month.

 

"This is a precautionary measure. We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist activity.

 

"This will mean major disruption at all UK airports from today.

 

But as far as is possible we want people to go about their business as normal.

 

"The police will provide an update on the operation later this morning and Ministers will keep the public regularly informed."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the type of bomb they planning to make.

 

"This liquid explosive type of attack is particularly worrying," Peter Neumann, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at London's King's College university, said.

 

"Planes remain vulnerable and in the coming weeks terrorists will be thinking of something else to do that we have no idea about," he said.

 

Neumann said the suspected plot appeared similar to a 1995 plan to blow up 11 planes using nitroglycerine mixed in contact lens solution and a battery powered detonator hidden in a shoe.

 

That's two posts now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah!! But all bombs can be tracked. Each bomb has a unique color code to it, even separated chemicals.

 

The machines that can detect it are EXPENSIVE.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the type of bomb they planning to make.

 

"This liquid explosive type of attack is particularly worrying," Peter Neumann, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at London's King's College university, said.

 

"Planes remain vulnerable and in the coming weeks terrorists will be thinking of something else to do that we have no idea about," he said.

 

Neumann said the suspected plot appeared similar to a 1995 plan to blow up 11 planes using nitroglycerine mixed in contact lens solution and a battery powered detonator hidden in a shoe.

 

That's two posts now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone else noticed how a little over 2 months from the mid-terms and suddenly "terrorists" are popping up like a Jack-in-the-Box?

 

I always thought the terror alerts were fishy to say the least. Although I believe they are stopping actual plots, I think maybe they are hyping them for political purposes (Except for the British arrests, those seemed pretty scary). I would not put that past anyone in Washington. This is a lot harder for the left to attack as well since there are actually people in jail. With the Terror Alerts, it was easy to accuse them of political manipulation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jesse James

Has anyone else noticed how a little over 2 months from the mid-terms and suddenly "terrorists" are popping up like a Jack-in-the-Box?

 

I always thought the terror alerts were fishy to say the least. Although I believe they are stopping actual plots, I think maybe they are hyping them for political purposes (Except for the British arrests, those seemed pretty scary). I would not put that past anyone in Washington. This is a lot harder for the left to attack as well since there are actually people in jail. With the Terror Alerts, it was easy to accuse them of political manipulation.

 

Political manipulation my ass. We are at war. The enemy wants casualties. To bring fear to us. But, terrorist are going get burned by us, then they can burn in HELL. President Bush will lead us to victory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...