Another near miss

[Walsingham]

I'm drawing attention to this because I ran into a guy two weeks ago who said terrorism was entirely made up by the government. The threat is all too real. Apparently Germany is also on high alert.

 

~

 

British security forces deactivated what appeared to be a crude firebomb in a vehicle that crashed into a trash bin in central London's Haymarket district early June 29. If the device was intended to cause casualties as part of a militant plot, however, its amateur construction and the way it was placed suggest the plotter or plotters have no connection to a major militant organization.

 

The incident began shortly before 2 a.m. local time when an ambulance crew, responding to a call about an injury at a nearby nightclub, noticed a Mercedes E-190 with what appeared to be smoke pouring out of it. Bouncers working the doors of nightclubs in the area reported that the vehicle was being driven erratically before it crashed it into the trash bin. Afterward, the driver and several other people reportedly fled the scene.

 

Police called to the site cordoned off the area, while explosives experts examined the vehicle, finding what a police spokesman described as "a potentially viable" explosive device. Police manually disabled the device and later were seen removing gas canisters from the vehicle.

 

The Mercedes reportedly contained several canisters of propane gas, a large amount of gasoline, nails -- presumably to act as shrapnel -- and a means to detonate the device. The amount of gasoline was so great that the fumes it emitted looked like smoke rising from the car.

[Gfted1]

Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web?

 

(CBS) This article was written by CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hours before London explosives technicians dismantled a large car bomb in the heart of the British capital's tourist-rich theater district, a message appeared on one of the most widely used jihadist Internet forums, saying: "Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed."

 

CBS News found the posting, which went on for nearly 300 words, on the "al Hesbah" chat room. It was left by a person who goes by the name abu Osama al-Hazeen, who appears regularly on the forum.

 

Al Hesbah is frequently used by international Sunni militant groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, to post propaganda videos and messages in their fight against the West.

 

There was no way for CBS News to independently confirm any connection between the posting made Thursday night and the car bomb found Friday.

 

Al-Hazeen's message begins: "In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. Is Britain Longing for al Qaeda's bombings?"

 

Al-Hazeen decries the recent knighthood of controversial author Salman Rushdie as a blow felt by all British Muslims. "This 'honoring' came at a crucial time, a time when the whole nation is reeling from the crusaders attacks on all Muslim lands," he said, in an apparent reference to the British role in Iraq.

 

"We say to Britain: The Emir of al Qaeda, Sheikh Osama, has once threatened you, and he carried out his threats. Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed," the message reads.

 

Speaking at a news conference Friday after the bomb scare in central London, the Metropolitan Police force's Counter-Terrorism Commander Peter Clarke said that officials had "no indication that we were going to be attacked this way".

 

Prior to the Thursday night posting by al-Hazeen, there had been no specific allusions to threats against London or Britain seen on al Hesbah, or any other major jihadist forums in recent weeks.

 

Several responses to the posting by other forum members expressed hope that an attack against London would be realized in the near future.

 

In response, al-Hazeen urges patience, saying, "Victory is very close, but you are just rushing it."

 

Reached by CBSNews.com Friday, the Metropolitan Police's media office could not confirm whether investigators were aware of the Internet posting on al Hesbah.

 

Intelligence sources who spoke to CBS News Friday morning seemed to express surprise at the discovery of the device, suggesting there had been "no warning, no intel, no smell" as a prelude to the plot

Edited June 29, 2007 by Gfted1

[Gfted1]

Second Car Bomb Discovered In London

[Gorgon]

Thank god these guys appear to be such utter amateurs. Is this second fid connected to the investigation of the first one, or did the police just get lucky again ?

Edited June 30, 2007 by Gorgon

[theslug]

Congrats on having a competent police force!

[Walsingham]

What we're witnessing is the direct consequence of the disruption caused to jifascists* in the wake of the last few years' operations. There are fewer large scale training camps, and a lot of the opposition's experts have been either killed or captured. Of the remainder all the 'best' are working in Iraq and Afghanistan, because these areas are seen as critical (even if we seem to miss this point).

 

This attack seems to have been a local cell operating without supervision, and merely on inspiration. Imagine that you or I decide to open a burger restaurant run exactly like MacDonalds, but without a proper franchise. However, the sad news is that after an embarassment like this I would expect Al Qaeda to dispatch some of their first team across here to make sure we suffer.

 

Interestingly, some friends of mine very much enjoy the nightclub, Tiger Tiger, that the bomb was outside.

 

 

*I've finally found a term I like for these buggers that acknowledges the islamic influence, but makes it clear that this is really about a bunch of wannabe goose-steppers.

[Walsingham]

Flaming car hits Glasgow airport.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6257194.stm

 

Although apparently not being treated as terrorism it looks damned suspicious to me.

[Meshugger]

Is it just me, but these unsuccessful attacks seems to be an act of Al-Qaeda-rejects, rather than Al-Qaeda-terrorists.

[Gorgon]

They didn't even have the stones to blow themseles up in the process.

[Sand]

Well, if they are found guilty in court they should be executed.

[Walsingham]

They had enough stones to set themselves on fire in the attempt. Given the erratic behaviour of both vehicles prior to 'detonation' my guess would be that they tried to let the fumes build, showing the understand how petrol explodes, but not how humans react to concentrated petrol fumes! This isn't Al Qaeda rejects. This is Al Qaeda scared by past police monitoring into not using traditional explosives/explosives making materials.

 

Sand, I suppose it has ocurred to that firstly we do not have the death penalty in the UK, and in any event that death would serve no purpose. It would certainly not make them any less happy, and would deprive us of the opportunity to let them stew and work out they'd made a ghastly mistake.

[Dark_Raven]

UK's security and intelligence departments falling down on the job?

[Xard]

No wai, they have Mr. Bond!

 

Good to see those suckers failing

[Walsingham]

UK's security and intelligence departments falling down on the job?

 

Nope. We've broken enough of their apparatus that they are forced down to the lowest denominator. It looks like these are ops being run by newbies. One thing that will be interesting is to what extent the terrorists have avoided mistakes made by peole on trial for 7/7 and 21/7. Because I was wondering to what extent details of police investigative methods should be made public at trial.

[metadigital]

That's an interesting point, though I disagree with security by obscurity in principle. (These people will still be able to get the information, in the form of centrally-distributed training tapes, for example.)

 

I was drawn to the illustration of not filling in one's tax return, as an attempt to secure one's fiduciary status, by obscurity.

[Kaftan Barlast]

And all of this because of Blair's decision to become (what the world saw him as) the Bush legacy's spokesperson in Europe?

 

 

Al-Hazeen's message begins: "In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. Is Britain Longing for al Qaeda's bombings?"

 

So... god, being compassionate and mercyful, would be perfectly alright with blowing innocent people to tiny bits? *makes Jon Stewart-ish face*

[Gorgon]

Infidels aren't people.

[Dark_Raven]

Neither are religious zealots.

 

They should have let that mother****er burn after crashing that Jeep. One less infidel to waste the tax payers money on a trial.

[Walsingham]

Al-Hazeen's message begins: "In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. Is Britain Longing for al Qaeda's bombings?"

 

So... god, being compassionate and mercyful, would be perfectly alright with blowing innocent people to tiny bits? *makes Jon Stewart-ish face*

 

I can't get enough of hearing Al Qaeda claim this is about Iraq or Afghanistan, when early propaganda said that our LACK of action on Iraq and Afghanistan were proof of our base infidel motives. Never mind the fact that Al Qaeda was blowing stuff up years before we went into either country. Moreover they will be blowing stuff up after we leave.

[Sand]

Wouldn't a "near miss" be a hit?

 

"Look, they nearly missed, BUT NOT QUITE!" (George Carlin)

[Walsingham]

I think that's one reason to throw very large objects, like elephants.

EDIT:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6259620.stm

 

Points out that the use of cars full of gas cylinders could well have been copied from trial notes of Dhiren Barot.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Infidels aren't people.

 

 

So simple, yet so easy to miss.

[Walsingham]

I love the logic behind it. Apparently if you are killed in terrorist action you are either

 

1. A true believer, in which case you will be happy to die.

2. A non-believer in which case it doesn't matter what you think.

 

Note that this argument is pleasingly circular. Might make for an interesting democratic system. "You can vote for someone other than the government, but if you do then you are clearly a traitor and shouldn't be allowed to vote."

[Atreides]

Seems like the suspects are doctors. Guess well educated professionals can be a fundies too.

[Surreptishus]

Seems like the suspects are doctors. Guess well educated professionals can be a fundies too.

 

Sure but remember to note that one is from Syria and one is from Iraq. Both qualified in their respective countries in teh last few years. Osama Bin Laden went to school too. *shrugs*