umm hussain
Junior Member
Sorry if someone has already posted this. I used all the search words i could think of and it didn't come up
Five Years of Phantom Plots
By Jim Brann*
Since September 11, 2001, Britain has seen a continuous stream of “phantom” terrorist plots: things which are widely publicised as serious plots which then “disappear” with little or no publicity.
They can be classified into 3 types:
1. “Plots” where no one is arrested or charged and no evidence is presented to back them up;
2. “Plots” where people are arrested but no trial takes place, so that any evidence, if it exists, can’t be examined;
3. “Plots” which go to trial and then collapse after the evidence is presented to a jury; the collapse of the trial is given minimal or no publicity.
The “Terrorist Training Website Plot” – October 2001
One week after September 11, 2001, widespread publicity was given to the existence of a “terrorist training operation” in London.
A man was arrested and charged in connection with the operation on two counts of "instruction or training in the making or use of firearms, explosives, or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons" for terrorist purposes. These were said to be the first charges since September 11 to be brought against a Muslim in Britain under the Terrorism Act 2000.
At the lower court hearing, the prosecution reportedly claimed that there were 40 anti-terrorism officers working on the case 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week in 55 countries. Both the British and the United States authorities were said to have been monitoring the operation for at least 18 months. The accused was held for over 10 months in prison. At the trial at the Central Criminal Court in August 2002, the prosecution claimed that the operation was "wholly for the purposes of assisting or preparing terrorism". The defendant said it was a failed commercial venture. The accused told the jury, "I have appeared before the highest court in the land and what evidence have they produced? It's a joke."In “an extremely embarrassing outcome”, after a five-day retirement the jury cleared him of all charges. The accused man died in December 2002, four months after being found “not guilty”.
The “Plot to Assassinate Tony Blair” – June 2002
In September 2005the former head of the Metro*!politan Police, John Stevens, told readers of Britain’s biggest-circulation Sunday newspaper that “terror*!ists linked to al-Qa’ida” were suspected of plotting to assassinate British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002. Blair was to be shot dead by snipers at a parade to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.
Both Blair and his wife had refused offers of bull*!et-proof vests on the day and were surrounded by "covertly-armed" officers during the celebrations.
Stevens has said that eight terrorist attacks were thwarted during his five years as Metropolitan Police Commissioner. But he has failed to identify the “plots” and to provide evidence.
The “Gas on the Tube” plot – November 2002
In November 2002, three men were arrested on terrorism charges in London amid press reports of a plot to target the city's underground railway (“the tube”) in an attack using cyanide gas.
The Deputy Prime Minister played down the story, but an earlier government warning of a possible chemical or nuclear terrorist attack on the UK using a "dirty bomb" or poison gas had been issued and then withdrawn to be replaced with more gener*!al advice. The newspaper stood by the story, saying it had come from a reliable source.
Terrorism charges against the men were later withdrawn.
The “Al-Qa’ida Scottish Plot” – December 2002
In December 2002, in a £1.5m operation, eight Algerians were arrested in London, Oxford and Edinburgh. They were charged in Edinburgh with terrorism offences. A ninth man was arrested in February 2003 as part of the “plot”.
The nine were held in prison for up to four months before being released on bail in March 2003.
In December 2003, one year after they were first arrested, the Crown Office announced that t he charges against them were to be dropped.
The “Ricin Plot” – January 2003
On January 5, 2003, police raided a flat in north London. Two days later the discovery of the “Lon*!don Ricin Plot” was broadcast around the world.
In the “hunt for the ricin plotters”, British police visited 26 countries. 103 people were arrested in Britain in connection with the “plot”. Of these, 12 were initially charged as actual “plotters”.
The “ricin trial” began in September 2004. The original list of 12 accused had been reduced to nine. They were to be tried in two “batches” – the first five followed by the remaining four.After a seven-month trial, of the first five defendants four were found “not guilty” on all charges. One man was convicted of “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” – some*!thing which hadn’t been on the charge-sheet when the trial began.The prosecution then abandoned the trial of the remaining four.
On the same day that the “discovery of the ricin plot” was first broadcast to the world, a first test in a government laboratory confirmed that there was no ricin involved. As the highly-publicised “hunt for the ricin plotters” continued over the following weeks, a series of further tests repeatedly confirm*!ed that there was no ricin present.
One month after the exposure of the “no-ricin” plot, and the massive publicity which follow*!ed, the United States’ Secretary of State – Colin Powell – went to the United Nations to make his case for war on Iraq.Weapons inspectors had spent two months check*!ing out US and British claims of Iraq’s possession and hiding of weapons of mass destruction and had come up empty. Powell told a story about “Iraq’s involve*!ment in terrorism” which “linked” Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Iraq and a “terrorist poisons” threat from there through the Middle East to Europe. The “London ricin plot” was key to his tale. Ignoring the jury’s verdict, top British officials have since used the “ricin plot” to justify detention for three months without charge and the use of information obtained under torture, among other things.
The “Tanks at Heathrow Plot” – February 2003
On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, it was announced that there was a serious terrorist threat to Britain, and to London’s Heathrow airport in particular.
In a very “high-visibility” operation, 450 troops with tanks and about 1,700 extra police officers were sent Heathrow. They were also used to stop vehicles under flight paths within about eight miles of the airport.
The government and police said the operation was linked to fears that “al-Qa’ida” could use the end of the Muslim festival of Eid on Satur*!day, February 15, as a trigger for an attack on London. But the “tanks at Heathrow” operation came in the run-up to the London demonstration on Saturday February 15, 2003, against war on Iraq. Up to 2 million people marched in the biggest protest in British history on the biggest day of protest in world history. The government was accused of staging the “tanks at Heathrow” operation to justify the “war on terror”, of which the Iraq war was said to be a part. No evidence was produced to back up the government claims of a threat at Heathrow.
The “Manchester United Plot” – April 2004
In an operation involving 400 police officers led by Special Branch and MI5, 10 people – eight men, one woman and a boy of 16 – were arrested on terrorism charges in raids across the north and Midlands of England.
The arrests reportedly followed months of sur*!veill*!ance and monitoring of mobile phone calls. It was widely reported that the suspects planned to set off bombs during a match between Manchester United and Liverpool football teams that weekend – one of the biggest games in the English season.Within 10 days terrorism charges against all the suspects had been dropped. Police had seized items relating to Manchester United as evidence in the homes of two of the suspects. But the men told police that was because they were fans. One had been a professional footballer in Iraq and had kept some photos he had taken outside Manchester United's ground and a ticket stub from a game two or three years before.
The “Canary Wharf Plot” – November 2004 In November 2004, British media headlined stories about the “foiling of an Al-Qa’ida attack on Canary Wharf”.Canary Wharf is a group of three skyscrapers in east London and is one of the key financial centres in London. The buildings are the tallest in Britain. The plot supposedly involved flying aircraft into the buildings to create a “British September 11th”. It was also claimed that Heathrow Airport had been “another high-profile target for a possible simultan*!eous strike” The plot was “among four or five … that security chiefs believe they have stopped”. The information came from a “senior authoritative source” but no details were given of when, where or how the “plot” was uncovered or disrupted. The story came shortly after the Home Secretary had claimed that “al-Qa’ida is on our doorstep and threatening our lives”. It also came after the head of the Metropolitan Police had spoken about “his frustration at not being able to talk about anti-terror successes” and the head of MI5 (the “Security Service”) had spoken publicly about “Britain's success in thwarting fanatics”. The story also came immediately before the “Queen’s Speech” – the announcement of the government’s programme for the year ahead – which was to include new anti-terrorism legislation.
The “Red Mercury Plot” – September 2004
Three men were arrested at a hotel in north-west London which was surrounded by police marksmen and surveillance teams. A fourth man was arrested at his home. All were detained on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. The News of the World newspaper claimed its undercover report*!er, posing as a Muslim extremist, had exposed the alleged plot after a tip-off that a "Mr Big in Saudi Arabia" who was sympathetic to “the Muslim cause” would pay £300,000 for a kilogram of “radioactive red mercury”. Three of the four were charged with conspiring to possess a "radioactive mercury-based substance" for terrorist purposes and of "conspiracy to enter into a funding arrangement for purposes of terrorism". Two of the accused faced additional charges of possessing documents useful to terrorists.
There is no proof that "Red Mercury" exists. It was said to have been developed in the Soviet Union to be used in "briefcase nuclear bombs" in the 1980s, but no evidence of this has been produced.
The trial began in April 2006. It lasted three months and is estimated to have cost more than £1m. Before it began, the defense team urged the judge to throw out the case, arguing it would be an abuse to let it go ahead
After deliberating for two weeks, the jury found the three accused not guilty on all charges.
The News of the World defended its role saying that its “involvement in this investigation and subsequent trial was conducted under the direction of senior anti-terrorist police officers … The methods used in the investigation were … both authorised and, from an early stage, continued in close liaison with the police."
The “Forest Gate Plot” – June 2006
At 3.58am on Friday, June 2, 250 police officers, MI5 agents and chemical weapons experts raided two houses in Forest Gate, east London.
They were said to be acting on "specific intellig*!ence" following “months of intense surveillance ” and were said to be looking for a bomb factory.
Police in the raid shot one man and two other people were also hospitalized.
Two men were arrested on suspicion of involve*!ment in terrorism but were released a week later without charge.
* Jim Brann is Treasurer of the Stop the War Coalition
Five Years of Phantom Plots
By Jim Brann*
Since September 11, 2001, Britain has seen a continuous stream of “phantom” terrorist plots: things which are widely publicised as serious plots which then “disappear” with little or no publicity.
They can be classified into 3 types:
1. “Plots” where no one is arrested or charged and no evidence is presented to back them up;
2. “Plots” where people are arrested but no trial takes place, so that any evidence, if it exists, can’t be examined;
3. “Plots” which go to trial and then collapse after the evidence is presented to a jury; the collapse of the trial is given minimal or no publicity.
The “Terrorist Training Website Plot” – October 2001
One week after September 11, 2001, widespread publicity was given to the existence of a “terrorist training operation” in London.
A man was arrested and charged in connection with the operation on two counts of "instruction or training in the making or use of firearms, explosives, or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons" for terrorist purposes. These were said to be the first charges since September 11 to be brought against a Muslim in Britain under the Terrorism Act 2000.
At the lower court hearing, the prosecution reportedly claimed that there were 40 anti-terrorism officers working on the case 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week in 55 countries. Both the British and the United States authorities were said to have been monitoring the operation for at least 18 months. The accused was held for over 10 months in prison. At the trial at the Central Criminal Court in August 2002, the prosecution claimed that the operation was "wholly for the purposes of assisting or preparing terrorism". The defendant said it was a failed commercial venture. The accused told the jury, "I have appeared before the highest court in the land and what evidence have they produced? It's a joke."In “an extremely embarrassing outcome”, after a five-day retirement the jury cleared him of all charges. The accused man died in December 2002, four months after being found “not guilty”.
The “Plot to Assassinate Tony Blair” – June 2002
In September 2005the former head of the Metro*!politan Police, John Stevens, told readers of Britain’s biggest-circulation Sunday newspaper that “terror*!ists linked to al-Qa’ida” were suspected of plotting to assassinate British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002. Blair was to be shot dead by snipers at a parade to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.
Both Blair and his wife had refused offers of bull*!et-proof vests on the day and were surrounded by "covertly-armed" officers during the celebrations.
Stevens has said that eight terrorist attacks were thwarted during his five years as Metropolitan Police Commissioner. But he has failed to identify the “plots” and to provide evidence.
The “Gas on the Tube” plot – November 2002
In November 2002, three men were arrested on terrorism charges in London amid press reports of a plot to target the city's underground railway (“the tube”) in an attack using cyanide gas.
The Deputy Prime Minister played down the story, but an earlier government warning of a possible chemical or nuclear terrorist attack on the UK using a "dirty bomb" or poison gas had been issued and then withdrawn to be replaced with more gener*!al advice. The newspaper stood by the story, saying it had come from a reliable source.
Terrorism charges against the men were later withdrawn.
The “Al-Qa’ida Scottish Plot” – December 2002
In December 2002, in a £1.5m operation, eight Algerians were arrested in London, Oxford and Edinburgh. They were charged in Edinburgh with terrorism offences. A ninth man was arrested in February 2003 as part of the “plot”.
The nine were held in prison for up to four months before being released on bail in March 2003.
In December 2003, one year after they were first arrested, the Crown Office announced that t he charges against them were to be dropped.
The “Ricin Plot” – January 2003
On January 5, 2003, police raided a flat in north London. Two days later the discovery of the “Lon*!don Ricin Plot” was broadcast around the world.
In the “hunt for the ricin plotters”, British police visited 26 countries. 103 people were arrested in Britain in connection with the “plot”. Of these, 12 were initially charged as actual “plotters”.
The “ricin trial” began in September 2004. The original list of 12 accused had been reduced to nine. They were to be tried in two “batches” – the first five followed by the remaining four.After a seven-month trial, of the first five defendants four were found “not guilty” on all charges. One man was convicted of “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” – some*!thing which hadn’t been on the charge-sheet when the trial began.The prosecution then abandoned the trial of the remaining four.
On the same day that the “discovery of the ricin plot” was first broadcast to the world, a first test in a government laboratory confirmed that there was no ricin involved. As the highly-publicised “hunt for the ricin plotters” continued over the following weeks, a series of further tests repeatedly confirm*!ed that there was no ricin present.
One month after the exposure of the “no-ricin” plot, and the massive publicity which follow*!ed, the United States’ Secretary of State – Colin Powell – went to the United Nations to make his case for war on Iraq.Weapons inspectors had spent two months check*!ing out US and British claims of Iraq’s possession and hiding of weapons of mass destruction and had come up empty. Powell told a story about “Iraq’s involve*!ment in terrorism” which “linked” Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Iraq and a “terrorist poisons” threat from there through the Middle East to Europe. The “London ricin plot” was key to his tale. Ignoring the jury’s verdict, top British officials have since used the “ricin plot” to justify detention for three months without charge and the use of information obtained under torture, among other things.
The “Tanks at Heathrow Plot” – February 2003
On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, it was announced that there was a serious terrorist threat to Britain, and to London’s Heathrow airport in particular.
In a very “high-visibility” operation, 450 troops with tanks and about 1,700 extra police officers were sent Heathrow. They were also used to stop vehicles under flight paths within about eight miles of the airport.
The government and police said the operation was linked to fears that “al-Qa’ida” could use the end of the Muslim festival of Eid on Satur*!day, February 15, as a trigger for an attack on London. But the “tanks at Heathrow” operation came in the run-up to the London demonstration on Saturday February 15, 2003, against war on Iraq. Up to 2 million people marched in the biggest protest in British history on the biggest day of protest in world history. The government was accused of staging the “tanks at Heathrow” operation to justify the “war on terror”, of which the Iraq war was said to be a part. No evidence was produced to back up the government claims of a threat at Heathrow.
The “Manchester United Plot” – April 2004
In an operation involving 400 police officers led by Special Branch and MI5, 10 people – eight men, one woman and a boy of 16 – were arrested on terrorism charges in raids across the north and Midlands of England.
The arrests reportedly followed months of sur*!veill*!ance and monitoring of mobile phone calls. It was widely reported that the suspects planned to set off bombs during a match between Manchester United and Liverpool football teams that weekend – one of the biggest games in the English season.Within 10 days terrorism charges against all the suspects had been dropped. Police had seized items relating to Manchester United as evidence in the homes of two of the suspects. But the men told police that was because they were fans. One had been a professional footballer in Iraq and had kept some photos he had taken outside Manchester United's ground and a ticket stub from a game two or three years before.
The “Canary Wharf Plot” – November 2004 In November 2004, British media headlined stories about the “foiling of an Al-Qa’ida attack on Canary Wharf”.Canary Wharf is a group of three skyscrapers in east London and is one of the key financial centres in London. The buildings are the tallest in Britain. The plot supposedly involved flying aircraft into the buildings to create a “British September 11th”. It was also claimed that Heathrow Airport had been “another high-profile target for a possible simultan*!eous strike” The plot was “among four or five … that security chiefs believe they have stopped”. The information came from a “senior authoritative source” but no details were given of when, where or how the “plot” was uncovered or disrupted. The story came shortly after the Home Secretary had claimed that “al-Qa’ida is on our doorstep and threatening our lives”. It also came after the head of the Metropolitan Police had spoken about “his frustration at not being able to talk about anti-terror successes” and the head of MI5 (the “Security Service”) had spoken publicly about “Britain's success in thwarting fanatics”. The story also came immediately before the “Queen’s Speech” – the announcement of the government’s programme for the year ahead – which was to include new anti-terrorism legislation.
The “Red Mercury Plot” – September 2004
Three men were arrested at a hotel in north-west London which was surrounded by police marksmen and surveillance teams. A fourth man was arrested at his home. All were detained on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. The News of the World newspaper claimed its undercover report*!er, posing as a Muslim extremist, had exposed the alleged plot after a tip-off that a "Mr Big in Saudi Arabia" who was sympathetic to “the Muslim cause” would pay £300,000 for a kilogram of “radioactive red mercury”. Three of the four were charged with conspiring to possess a "radioactive mercury-based substance" for terrorist purposes and of "conspiracy to enter into a funding arrangement for purposes of terrorism". Two of the accused faced additional charges of possessing documents useful to terrorists.
There is no proof that "Red Mercury" exists. It was said to have been developed in the Soviet Union to be used in "briefcase nuclear bombs" in the 1980s, but no evidence of this has been produced.
The trial began in April 2006. It lasted three months and is estimated to have cost more than £1m. Before it began, the defense team urged the judge to throw out the case, arguing it would be an abuse to let it go ahead
After deliberating for two weeks, the jury found the three accused not guilty on all charges.
The News of the World defended its role saying that its “involvement in this investigation and subsequent trial was conducted under the direction of senior anti-terrorist police officers … The methods used in the investigation were … both authorised and, from an early stage, continued in close liaison with the police."
The “Forest Gate Plot” – June 2006
At 3.58am on Friday, June 2, 250 police officers, MI5 agents and chemical weapons experts raided two houses in Forest Gate, east London.
They were said to be acting on "specific intellig*!ence" following “months of intense surveillance ” and were said to be looking for a bomb factory.
Police in the raid shot one man and two other people were also hospitalized.
Two men were arrested on suspicion of involve*!ment in terrorism but were released a week later without charge.
* Jim Brann is Treasurer of the Stop the War Coalition
