Larry Johnson on Thom Hartmann - He's skeptical about this threat

He's saying the Brits can't keep the story straight and he's not dismissing this as Blair playing politics.

He's says they should limit liquids taken by passengers on planes be limited to 8oz or less. That in a qty below 8oz will not take down a plane, but of course you wouldn't want to be holding it when it went off.

He's calling today mindless security.

Thu Aug-10-06 09:27 AM
Original message
British Lose Their Minds: By Larry C Johnson
Edited on Thu Aug-10-06 09:28 AM by kpete
British Lose Their Minds
by
Larry C Johnson

I'm sitting in Europe, scheduled to take British Air back to the states on Friday, and I'm watching British Authorities meltdown in the face of an alleged terrorist plot. Rule of thumb--initial, panicked reports are usually unreliable. The Brits reportedly have taken at least 18 people into custody--all residents of Great Britain.

The last significant, successful plot to bomb a plane was in January 1995, when a group linked to Osama Bin Laden (this group included Ramsi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Khalid Sheik Muhammed, nephew of OBL) had devised a way to carry on a liquid explosive disguised to look like water. The detonator was a combination of gun cotton (looked like cotton balls), a small light bulb, a nine volt battery, and a Casio data watch. Ramsi Yousef conducted a successful dry run of this device and planted one on board a Philippine Airline flight in December 1994. That bomb killed one man (a Japanese citizen) and almost brought down the plane. The plan was to blow up twelve US jets transiting the Pacific basin. It was disrupted when an informant, Ishtiak Parker, walked into the US Embassy in Pakistan and ratted out Ramsi Yousef.

...................

In the back of my mind I worry that this threat might be trumped up in order to divert attention from the disastrous US and British policy (or lack of policy) in Lebanon. More likely, we have an informant in the UK that identified a potential plot that was in the dreaming stage but had not progressed to actual implementation. Rather than act like security professionals, the Brits are acting like panicked nannies. Very sad.

more at:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/08/british_...

first heard this story this morning! All this BS about the Brits & the American security people monitoring these folks for weeks and deciding to close in today just doesn't sound plausible to me. Much more likely to have been a rat! Of course, there's always the possiblilty that the whole thing is fabricated too!

for Lamont fault. 'Nuff Said.

:sarcasm:

gives these clowns the benefit of the doubt. I would take my chances of getting blown up in a plane anyday than believe anything these people say.

given that i believe this was a real scenario, im glad they disrupted it. Many on this board think it looks good for the bush administration when terrorist cells are arrested while plotting an attack on the US or UK. However, i think its a slap in the face of his "we are fighting them over there so we dont have to fight them at home" policy. It shows how inept the policy really is. So from my prespective these arrests are damaging to the administration and its policies. Now we need a democrat to stand up and be hawkish in talk, dovish in action and we will have a candidate for '08.

Mighty big diversions and it's only Thrusday.

Also, did Mr. Johnson say anything about this terra terra alert and the timing of Cheney's full court press that the loss of lieberman in CT primary helped the terrorists? Amazing little co-inky-dinky that timing.

Don't suppose there is a chance Corporate Media will play much of Mr. Johnson's logical arguements.

Hmmm, and airline stocks dropped. Bet lots of people will be re-thinking travel plans too, further sinking airline income. Hmmmm, nothing like having to go to bankrupcy court to weasel out of contract and pension obligations to the workers who have made it possible for CEOs to get such nice pay and perks...

Yeah, it is all done for the Corporations by the Corporations.

for years.:sarcasm:

His analysis has been right on many issues/events, and he missed by a mile on on the mother of all terrorist attacks.

http://afghanlaw.de/The%20Declining%20Terrorist%20Threat.htm

New York Times
July 10, 2001

The Declining Terrorist Threat

By LARRY C. JOHNSON

WASHINGTON -- Judging from news reports and the portrayal of villains in our popular entertainment, Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism.

None of these beliefs are based in fact. While many crimes are committed against Americans abroad (as at home), politically inspired terrorism, as opposed to more ordinary criminality motivated by simple greed, is not as common as most people may think.