Waaaagh!

Gatorade of Terror

Ok. The story is convoluted, with everyone wanting to put their stamp on it - so lets get the story straight... first there was an arrest in Pakistan - that lead to an infiltration of a couple islamic terrorist cells in central pakistan... then there was a tip after the bombing in the london transit system of someone in contact with people in pakistan... at the end of last year the brits had a whole network of terror mapped out - and they informed the US and Pakistani authorities. Then two weeks ago pakistan arrested one of the members - there was a call from pakistan urging the bombers to go ahead and a transfer of money - and at that point the brits moved in. They broke into one of the houses of the bad guys to see what they could see - and found all the sundry bomb making materials - at which point they realized they had a big problem on their hands because this shit was going to be hard to stop. So they made the call to arrest everyone - Pakistan followed through on the same arresting five - and then the brits told the world and their american counterparts exactly what they'd found. Up to this point they'd been very spartan with their intelligence - speculation being on the grounds of past indiscretions within the Bush administration regarding leaked intelligence for political purposes. Regardless they released the info they had to release - but in describing the bomb making materials they asked that that information remain secret out of fear that they wouldnt know how to prevent this sort of thing.

From CBS:
The bombs were to have been assembled on the aircraft apparently with peroxide-based solution and everyday carry-on items such as a disposable camera or a music player, two U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.

So then... it turns out the terrists had bought tickets on planes for next wednesday. Though we only know that because the US continues to leak information passed on by british intelligence like a seive.

"Privately, British security officials are growing exasperated at the flow of leaked information from the US.
In particular, the ABC television network yesterday reported that MI5 had actually penetrated the UK terror cell, placing an undercover agent inside the plot as part of work known as Operation Overt. "

See. The War on Terror only works if there's Terror... the brits dont understand - you gotta get that shit out there. Protecting lives is one thing - profiting from fear is MUCH bigger.