Britain thwarts hijacking/mass murder plot

We can truly never let our guard down. Regardless of what we do in the world, where we do or don't fight, this is the threat we will always face until we can eliminate terrorism and have Islam retake it's true peaceful from the Islamofascists who've stolen it. As long as Islam harbors these murderers, we will never be safe. LONDON, Aug. 10 -- British authorities said Thursday they have disrupted a sophisticated and well-advanced terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners using liquid explosives, arresting 21 people who police said had planned to commit mass murder over the Atlantic Ocean. Police said they were confident they had the "main players" in custody, but authorities in London and Washington ordered a full-scale security clampdown at U.S. and British airports out of concern that other plotters may still be at large. A number of transatlantic flights from Britain were canceled, others were delayed, and new security procedures caused major tie-ups at U.S. airports as authorities enforced a ban on bringing liquids aboard planes in carry-on luggage. And of course this will affect airport travel worldwide... delays, delays, delays. Liquid explosives explains the caution US officials are taking banning all liquids on flights. The Brits say the 21 arrested appear to be mostly of Pakistani decent and that the plot suggests al Qaeda may be behind it. The plan was to destroy as many as ten planes in flight over the Atlantic, and the only reason the Brits moved today as opposed to when they were scheduled to move on the suspects was because they lost track of one or two of them. They believed the operation to be too close to it's execution time, to let it go any further. We can all imagine that it was quite possible for the loss of life here to have exceeded the death toll from 9/11. Still, we've got to give major kudos to all involved in the discovery and take down of the suspects. And man, am I glad my flight came in on Tuesday and that they were able to fly my luggage out yesterday... UPDATE @ 11:35am: ABC is reporting that British intelligence has ID'd the three ringleaders of the 21 they arrested earlier this morning: Rashid Rauf, Mohammed al-Ghandra, and Ahmed al Khan. British authorities believe 5 suspects are still at large and have begun a massive manhunt across the country. UPDATE @ 2:38pm: The San Francisco Gate is reporting that the terrorists were most likely attempting a "dry run" on the operation and the actual attack would have followed a couple days later.