MOVING TO THE FRONT from Aug. 16: see Update.
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A former British Ambassador is skeptical:
I have been reading very carefully through all the Sunday newspapers to
try and analyse the truth from all the scores of pages claiming to
detail the so-called bomb plot. Unlike the great herd of so-called
security experts doing the media analysis, I have the advantage of
having had the very highest security clearances myself, having done a
huge amount of professional intelligence analysis, and having been
inside the spin machine.So this, I believe, is the true story.
None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane
ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of
the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn’t be a plane bomber for
quite some time.In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases
passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond
reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide
bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat
rooms.What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for
over a year – like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just
Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need
for early arrests.Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing
plot to blow up multiple planes – which, rather extraordinarily, had
not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators
of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like
canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most
extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give
the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort
to stop or avert torture. What it doesn’t give is the truth.The gentleman being "interrogated" had fled the UK after being wanted
for questioning over the murder of his uncle some years ago. That might
be felt to cast some doubt on his reliability. It might also be felt
that factors other than political ones might be at play within these
relationships. Much is also being made of large transfers of money
outside the formal economy. Not in fact too unusual in the British
Muslim community, but if this activity is criminal, there are many
possibilities that have nothing to do with terrorism.We then have the extraordinary question of Bush and Blair discussing
the possible arrests over the weekend. Why? I think the answer to that
is plain. Both in desperate domestic political trouble, they longed for
"Another 9/11". The intelligence from Pakistan, however dodgy, gave
them a new 9/11 they could sell to the media. The media has bought,
wholesale, all the rubbish they have been shovelled.
Comments are open for anyone who has more information that bears on the doubts raised here. No anonymous postings. As I am rather busy the next couple of days, comments that may take awhile to be approved. Please be patient and post only once.
UPDATE: This story from today’s New York Times suggests Mr. Murray’s skepticism was not entirely off the mark (it may yet turn out not to be off the mark at all):
Warning that Britain faced a “deadly” and “enduring” threat from
terrorism, British authorities announced today that 11 of 23 people
held in connection with a suspected plot to blow up America-bound
planes would be formally charged with offenses that included planning
to bomb the airliners and conspiracy to commit murder….
The decision to press formal charges came after days of growing
public skepticism about the extent of the plot that the authorities
announced on Aug. 10. At the time, the police warned that the purported
conspirators had planned to commit mass murder on what one officer
called an “unimaginable scale.”On that day, the police rounded up most of the suspects in early
morning raids, saying they had thwarted a plot to use liquid explosives
to bomb airliners flying to the United States from London. At that
time, investigators said that up to 10 airplanes might have been
attacked.Ms Hemming [the British prosecutor] said eight of the 11 suspects charged today were accused
of conspiracy to commit murder and an offense under new
counterterrorism laws of “preparing acts of terrorism.” The charges
accused them of planning “to smuggle the component parts of improvised
explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on
board.”The three other suspects were charged with lesser offenses under counterterrorism legislation dating to 2000, Ms Hemming said.
The nature of the charges raised new speculation about the scope of
the plot, possibly suggesting that it was more limited than indicated
by the sweep of the first arrests. Ms Hemming said the authorities had
not yet decided whether to seek the further detention of the 11 other
suspects still held without charge.
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