Liquid Bomb Politics

August 18, 2006

Last week the British announced they had foiled an effort by some Muslims in their country to bomb a number of US jets with liquid bombs. The Bush administration echoed concerns, saying this incident was just a series in many in the war on terrorism. Bush reiterated how there were people who hate us and we need to be vigilant. He certainly made a lot of political points within his political base and the public in general.

The problem with the incident was that the terrorism incident was simple a political move by Bush to bolster poor ratings for himself and fellow Republicans.  He once again used terrorist tactics by making Americans reluctant to fly and fearful in general.

The incident was first reported as something in progress but was foiled at the last minute. The fact is that the British had been working on the plot for several m months and did not want any announcement because their investigation of continuing. There was plainly no threat but Bush insisted that the British make an announcement. This was a political maneuver.

The incident was downgraded to a plot in a few days. It turns out the plotters did not have plane tickets and some not even passports, both necessary to fly to the U.S. They barely had money to buy what they needed and they had no bomb, liquid or otherwise.  Plus, it wasn't high tech surveillance and illegal wiretaps that “broke” the plot, it was a concerned British citizen who walked into a police station to report some men working some strange things.

To make matters even more ridiculous, the amount of liquid explosive to bring down a plane would have to be in the pounds and put in a confined space of a lavatory to destroy the outer shell.  The U.S. response was to ban small bottles of shampoo, shaving cream and water in bottles.

The incident now plot was just that. It was conversation among people who absolutely had some animosity against the West and they might even have done something is they had an opportunity. Their plot was just in the preparation stage. That's why the British did not want to act when Bush demanded they do so. 

The Bush administration once again uses Bin Laden tactics to scare, cause havoc and intimidate.