Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

holy crap

I woke up this morning to four breaking news text messages from CNN.com and this big story:

British authorities said today they had disrupted a “major terrorist plot” to blow up passenger flights between the United Kingdom and the United States with liquid explosives, prompting a full-scale security clampdown at U.S. and British airports and a cascade of delays in trans-Atlantic flights.

London’s Deputy Police Commissioner, Paul Stephenson, said 21 people had been arrested in London and in Birmingham, England, after a months-long investigation into what he said was a plan for “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.” Peter Clarke, chief of the London police department’s anti-terrorism branch, said the investigation reached a “critical point” last night, requiring immediate disruption of the plot, the arrests and the imposition of heightened security measures…

U.S. officials raised the “threat level” for air transport to red, the highest alert. The terrorists had intended to target flights to Washington, New York and California operated by American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines, a U.S. official said … British authorities said the threat involved terrorists who aimed to smuggle liquid explosive material aboard airplanes in hand baggage, including timers and detonators that could be assembled in flight…

Reid said the operation was aimed at bringing down “a number of aircraft” — reportedly at least ten — “through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life.” The plot, he said, “was a very significant one indeed.”

(Washington Post: “Britain Thwarts Airline Terror Plot” - 08/10/06)