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  1. #1
    Senior Member curiouspat's Avatar
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    U.S. raises threat level to 'red' for first time

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14280416/

    U.S. raises threat level to 'red' for first time
    Highest threat level issued for commercial flights from Britain to U.S.

    Updated: 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
    WASHINGTON - The U.S. government raised its threat warning to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States early Thursday in response to a terror plot disrupted in London. Multiple flights to multiple American cities were put on alert, a western counter terrorism official said.

    In addition to the highest alert for flights from Britain, the alert for all flights coming or going from the United States was also raised.

    “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 Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in announcing that the threat level for flights from Britain to the United States has been raised to the highest “severe or red” level.

    “To defend further against any remaining threat from this plot, we will also raise the threat level to high, or orange, for all commercial aviation operating in or destined for the United States,” Chertoff said.

    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.”

    No U.S. arrests
    A statement issued by Chertoff said “currently, there is no indication ... of plotting within the United States.”

    A U.S. law enforcement official said there have been no arrests in the United States connected to the plot.

    A senior U.S. counter terrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the overseas plot that was unraveled Wednesday evening. The plan “had a footprint to al-Qaida back to it,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

    It was not believed to be connected to the Egyptian students who disappeared in the United States more than a week ago before reaching a college they were supposed to attend in Montana. Three of the 11 have since been found and the FBI has said neither they nor the still-missing eight are believed to be a threat.

    The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carryon 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.”

    Another Western counter terrorism official, also speaking on condition of anonymity about the highly sensitive investigation, called the investigation “very serious.”

    U.S. intelligence has been working closely with the British on the investigation, which has been ongoing for months, the second official said.

    Authorities have not yet arrested or detained all suspects who are believed to be involved in the plot, the official said, prompting Chertoff’s alarm.

    “Consistent with these higher threat levels, the Transportation Security Administration is coordinating with federal partners, airport authorities and commercial airlines on expanding the intensity of existing security requirements,” Chertoff said.

    “Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane.”

    He said the changes take effect at 4 a.m. local time across the United States and will be undated as warranted.

    Chertoff said travelers in the United States “should also anticipate additional security measures within the airport and at screening checkpoints.”

    'Usual suspects'
    Multiple airlines with flights to multiple U.S. airports were at risk, according to a western counter terrorism official. Another official refused to identify the airlines because they were still being notified of the threat but referred to them as the “usual suspects.” In the past, U.S. cities with terrorism threats or plots have included Washington, New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Airlines whose planes were hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, were United Airlines and American Airlines. British Airways has also dealt with numerous threats in recent years.

    “These measures will continue to assure that our aviation system remains safe and secure,” Chertoff added. “Travelers should go about their plans confidently, while maintaining vigilance in their surroundings and exercising patience with screening and security officials.”

    Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office said in London that the prime minister, vacationing in the Caribbean, had briefed President Bush on the situation overnight.

    There was no immediate public reaction from the White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

    “The United States and the United Kingdom are fully united and resolute in this effort and in our ongoing efforts to secure our respective homelands,” said Chertoff.

    The Homeland Security Department devised the alert system after the Sept. 11 attacks. The last time the U.S. government raised the terrorist risk here to orange, or high, was in July 2005 after the subway bombings in London. It was lowered to yellow a month later, the elevated risk status that has been the norm since the system was created.

    U.S. authorities, including the Transportation Security Administration, planned a news briefing early Thursday.

    © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
    But our borders are not secured.
    TIME'S UP!
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  2. #2
    Senior Member lsmith1338's Avatar
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    Our government is not sure if Britain arrested all of those who were involved with this terrorist effort to blow up planes in mid-air. This threat is ever present today in our country as well. Our security is lax at our airports and ocean ports of entry not to mention our completely open borders. Yet they prosecute our border patrol officers for doing their job. It is not a matter of it but a matter of when there will be another terrorist attack on the US as well. Of the 12-50 million illegal aliens in this country there are hundreds of terrorists as well. This was pointed out at the Congressional hearings by a senior border patrol officer. They are just biding their time.
    Freedom isn't free... Don't forget the men who died and gave that right to all of us....
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  3. #3
    Senior Member steelerbabe's Avatar
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    It is sad how complacent we have become as a country

  4. #4
    Senior Member curiouspat's Avatar
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    This threat is ever present today in our country as well. Our security is lax at our airports and ocean ports of entry not to mention our completely open borders. Yet they prosecute our border patrol officers for doing their job. It is not a matter of it but a matter of when there will be another terrorist attack on the US as well.
    Ismith, you posted my thoughts exactly! The prosecution of the BP officers immediately came to mind.

    I'm immediately going to email all the lawbreakers on this craziness.

    WHAT NATIONAL SECURITY!???
    TIME'S UP!
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  5. #5
    Senior Member curiouspat's Avatar
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    British Authorities Thwart Plot to Blow Up Aircraft Heading

    Further info...

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir ... id=2295838

    British Authorities Thwart Plot to Blow Up Aircraft Heading to U.S.; 21 People Arrested
    By DANICA KIRKA

    LONDON Aug 10, 2006 (AP)— 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 carry-on luggage. Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said 21 people had been arrested in London, its suburbs and in Birmingham, including the alleged "main players" in the plot.

    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.

    Officials raised security to its highest level in Britain and banned hand-carried luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights.

    The extreme measures at a major international aviation hub sent ripple effects throughout the world. Heathrow airport was closed to most flights from Europe.

    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.

    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.

    A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations.

    Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said 21 people had been arrested in London, its suburbs and in Birmingham following a lengthy investigation, including the alleged "main players" in the plot. Searches continued in a number of locations.

    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.

    The official said the plotters intended to simultaneously target multiple planes bound for the United States.

    "We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we've prevented and attempt to committee mass murder on an unimaginable scale," Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.

    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.

    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."

    "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.

    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.

    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.

    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."

    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.

    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.

    As part of the foiled Bojinka Plot to blow up 12 Western airliners simultaneously over the Pacific Ocean in the mid-1990s, terrorist mastermind Ramzi Youssef had planned to put together an improvised bomb using liquid in a contact lens solution container.

    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.

    "We're safe, we're OK," he said at Heathrow. "Now my daughter is going to get a shopping trip in London."

    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.

    Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.


    Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington and Matt Moore in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.


    Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
    TIME'S UP!
    **********
    Why should <u>only</u> AMERICAN CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants, have to obey the law?!

  6. #6

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    It is not a matter of it but a matter of when there will be another terrorist attack on the US as well.
    Well, I personally believe this is all intentional. Some may say I'm a conspiracy theorist, but where do you draw the line in theories and reality when your whole world is unraveling? How long does one say the Prez isn't listening and ask why? When does one begin to consider that all the crackpot conspiracy theorists might just be on to something? I'll tell you when. When they finally start to accept that there is no other explanation that makes sense. Have any of you ever listened to the 1960 recordings by Myron Fagan? Here they are if you haven't.

    Download free Windows Media Player 7 CLICK HERE
    Part 1 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-one.mp3
    Part 2 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-two.mp3
    Part 3 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-three.mp3
    Part 4 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-four.mp3
    Part 5 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-five.mp3
    Part 6 http://www.apfn.org/audio/fagan-six.mp3


    This is how I see it. Bush and all those surrounding him, primarily CFR members (aka the name the Illuminati was given when it reemerged) are globalists and internationalists and they do not want the sovereignty of this country to survive and they are and have been doing everything they can to destroy this country for some time. THAT IS WHY THEY WON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE BORDERS AND ARE PUSHING NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA etc.

    Who are they? Well you see them and listen to almost every night on the alphabet channels...
    http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/pu ... 3098.shtml

    Tommy Franks said it himself in the Newsmax article of 11/2003 http://www.newsmax.com/archives/article ... 5048.shtml
    that the constitution would be scrapped next time we had a 9/11 type event and with borders wide open, terrorists galore walking into our country, and you know that they want to kill as many of us as they can if we don't convert to Islam, how long do you really think we can go on without having rockets go off in our own streets. THEY, our gov't, CONDONE THIS or they would enact our laws - period.

    Their lip service and lack of action prove it, and we are just sitting ducks, in my opinion.

  7. #7
    Senior Member xanadu's Avatar
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    Hi Sherri, Welcome.

    NO I don't think your a conspiracy theorist. I think you are seeing it for what it is. It is just hard for people after being immersed in 007 and sci fi fiction as forms of "entertainment" for the past decades to accept reality of that nature as credible.

    Hang in there Thank you for the links.
    "Liberty CANNOT be preserved without general knowledge among people" John Adams (August 1765)

  8. #8
    Senior Member curiouspat's Avatar
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    Sherri,

    I agree with xanadu. I didn't believe it till mid-March. I do now after all the research on this issue.

    Thanks for the links.
    TIME'S UP!
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    Why should <u>only</u> AMERICAN CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants, have to obey the law?!

  9. #9

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    Thank you both for your votes of confidence. I believe that until we remove the blinders and accept what seems unfathomable, we don't have a snowballs chance in hell of turning this around. As a matter of fact, at this late stage in the game, I fear it's all but too late.

  10. #10
    Senior Member CountFloyd's Avatar
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    I don't know whether this story is a diversion or not, but I do know one thing.

    Nobody is going to be reporting on the kangaroo court trial of the two Border Patrol agents now.
    It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.

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