Edited

the timing couldn't have been "worse"

Posted August 10, 2006

Alleged terrorist plot delays flights, leads to new travel restrictions
USA Today
LONDON — British police say they smashed a scheme to use liquid explosives smuggled inside carry-on luggage to blow up 10 American planes over the Atlantic. The plot was in its "final stages" when British police arrested 24 suspects Thursday, authorities said.
We are confident that we've prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," London's deputy police commissioner, Paul Stephenson, said Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the plotters intended to smuggle liquid explosives and detonators onto planes in beverages, electronic devices and other carry-on items.

Beginning Friday, U.S. travelers with carry-on bags will be double-searched, once at security and once at their flight's gate. Authorities began those searches Thursday at U.S. airports with flights to Europe.

The would-be terrorists hoped to target U.S. flights from Britain to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations, one U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press. The targeted airlines: American, Continental and United. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. A counterterrorism official said the plot involved 10 flights.



In Green Bay, President Bush called the foiled plot a "stark reminder" that the United States is "at war with Islamic fascists."



http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/APC0101/60810...