Analysis: Was this meant as next 9/11? [View All]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_eu/terror_plot_the_big_one;_ylt=AmPeIXoPW7gbFsKWC5sYQQ1vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Analysis: Was this meant as next 9/11?

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

Its scope was ruthlessly ambitious, causing destruction officials say would have been "unimaginable." The alleged plot to take down several U.S.-bound planes with liquid explosives appears to be unlike anything the world has seen in years.


Counterterrorism officials said Thursday the London plot appears to bear the fingerprints of al-Qaida, and may have been "the Big One" they have been dreading since Sept. 11, 2001, particularly as the five-year anniversary of the carnage approaches.

More than 20 people have been jailed, terror threat levels have been raised to some of their highest levels, and hundreds of flights have been canceled worldwide.

"The scope or the magnitude of this attack is much larger than previous attacks," said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies.

He added that everything known so far points to involvement by
Osama bin Laden's terror group.