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<FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3> <FONT face=Arial size=2>How can the
civilized world deal with these idiots? How can anyone support this type
of terrorism while blaming the U.S.A. for causing it?
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<DIV class=head>U.K.: Plot to bomb U.S.-bound planes foiled </DIV>
<DIV class=abstract>Britain bans hand luggage fearing use of liquid explosives;
21 arrested</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><A
href="http://www.reuters.com/">Reuters</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=updateTime><BR>
<DIV id=udtD>Updated: 6:54 a.m. PT Aug 10, 2006</DIV></DIV>
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<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>LONDON - British
authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously
blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand
luggage, averting what police described as “mass murder on an unimaginable
scale.” Meantime, a U.S. counterterrorism official called the plot "the real
deal."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Officials raised
security to its highest level in Britain — suggesting a terrorist attack might
be imminent — and banned hand-carried luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights.
Huge crowds formed at security barriers at London’s Heathrow airport as
officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of
baby formula.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The extreme
measures at one of the major international aviation hubs sent ripple effects
throughout the world. Heathrow airport was closed to most flights from
Europe.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The U.S. government
responded by raising its threat alert to its highest level for commercial
flights from Britain to the United States amid fears the plot had not been
completely crushed. The alert for all flights coming or going from the United
States was also raised slightly.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>In Washington, two
U.S. counterterrorism officials said the terrorists had targeted United,
American and Continental airlines. They spoke on condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of the case.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><B>'Homegrown'
suspects</B><BR>Police arrested 21 people in London, its suburbs and in
Birmingham as part of a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted
several months, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said. Searches continued in
a number of locations.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Police are
confident they have disrupted a plot against aircraft which was “intended to be
mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” he said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The suspects were
“homegrown,” though it was not immediately clear if they were all British
citizens, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian
community, the official said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The official said
the plotters intended to simultaneously target multiple planes bound for the
United States.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Prime Minister Tony
Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed President Bush on the situation
overnight, Blair’s office said. There was no immediate public reaction from the
White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford,
Texas.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>It is the first
time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been
invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange
level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a
“severe risk of terrorist attacks.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>“We believe that
these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot
be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely
thwarted,” said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Chertoff added,
however, there was no indication of current plots within the U.S. Numerous
flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled Thursday morning.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><B>'Footprint to
al-Qaida'</B><BR>A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities
believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot,
which “had a footprint to al-Qaida back to it.” The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The plan involved
airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official
said. “They were not yet sitting on an airplane,” but were very close to
traveling, the official said, calling the plot “the real deal.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Passengers in
Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country’s
airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights. Laptop
computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among the items banned
from being carried on board.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Liquids, such as
hair care products, were also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S.,
raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid
explosive.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Huge lines formed
at ticket counters and behind security barriers at Heathrow and other airports
in Britain. Ed Lappen, 55, a businessman from Boston, who was traveling with his
wife and daughter to Russia, found himself unable to travel further.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>“We’re safe, we’re
OK,” he said at Heathrow. “Now my daughter is going to get a shopping trip in
London.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Hannah Pillinger,
24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. “Eight hours without an iPod,
that’s the most inconvenient thing,” she said, waiting at the Manchester
airport.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><B>Flights
canceled</B><BR>Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of
the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations
banning most hand baggage.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Heathrow’s block on
incoming traffic applied to flights of three hours or less, affecting most of
the incoming traffic from Europe, an airport spokesman said on condition of
anonymity in line with airport policy.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Officials at
Frankfurt’s airport, Europe’s second-busiest, Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles
De Gaulle in Paris said Heathrow-bound planes could instead land at their
airports if they needed to.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>London’s Heathrow
airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am
airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259
people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The explosive was
hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><I><I>Copyright
2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Reuters.</I></I></FONT></DIV>
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<P class=textMed>More from a counterterrorism official familiar with
the plan to blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S.: </P>
<DIV class=textHang>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The plan
called for the flights to be blown up in-flight almost
simultaneously, close enough so that flight controllers would not be
able to ground planes, and far enough out in the Atlantic so that
pilots would have no place to land.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The plan was
to have the attacks carried out near the 9/11 anniversary, but
apparently no specific date had been set for the
attacks.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The attacks
were planned for "up to 10 flights" on four airlines: Continental,
United, American, and British Airways. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The loss of
life was planned to be "comparable to the death toll of 9/11,”
meaning close to 3,000 dead.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The attack
was planned as a suicide mission.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px"><SPAN class=textMed>— The official
said that there is "very good reason to believe that this is
al-Qaida.” </SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<P class=textMed><EM><STRONG>—Robert Windrem</STRONG>, NBC News
Investigative
Producer</EM></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>