• A British intelligence success: The intelligence agencies succeeded here, kudos
• Planned by natives: It’s another plot allegedly involving 2nd gen Pakistani Brits (along with an Anglo-Iranian Brit, a white Muslim convert and some North Africans)
• More female suicide bombers: Some of the operatives may be women; the Chechens have used female bombers on airplanes (thanks, Sree)
• Iraq is a distraction: Yet again, the Iraq war has nothing to do with real terrorism against the U.S.
• The government isn’t keeping you safe: The liquid explosive threat has been known for 11 years, yet the government still hasn’t defended against it; the security regime is reactive, not proactive; Ramzi Yousef actually assembled a liquid explosive aboard a Philippine Airlines flight 11 years ago, killing a Japanese passenger
• Security theater: All the liquid-intercepting scenes at British and U.S. airports are silly since the plot was prevented before it went operational; the government is acting on the small chance that any rogue operatives would accelerate rather than lie low, which is the far more common response
• The engineering problem: It’s odd that an entire plane can be brought down by a tiny hull breach; it’s because of the pressure difference inside vs. outside, the inverse of the situation in a submarine; great graphic explains the issue
• The 11th of the month again: The plot was foiled just before another 11th (of August)
• Terrorism not new to Birmingham: In ‘84, the JKLF kidnapped and shot dead an Indian consular employee in Birmingham

Details of the plot:

ABC News has learned the details of an alleged terror plot to bring down at least nine commercial airliners, using liquids concealed in sports beverage drink bottles.

According to sources, the suspected plotters arrested in London today planned to use liquid or gel explosives, triggered with the flash from a disposable camera. The plotters planned to leave the top of each bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage, but add a false bottom filled with the explosive. The volatile mixture would have been dyed to match the color of the beverage.

Sources say the suspects believed this would guarantee them safe passage through security, even if they were ordered to sip the beverage to prove it was harmless… One of the suspects arrested is a woman… [Link]

The arrests in Britain followed the detention of terrorist suspects in Pakistan, it is believed, within the past fortnight. According to some government sources, after the arrests a message was sent to the suspected terror cells in Britain telling them: “Do your attacks now.” In effect, it was a “go” order to the British bombers. According to these sources, the message was intercepted and decoded by either British or US intelligence in the past 72 hours… [Link]

[The British authorities] had an undercover operative deep inside the group of at least 30 terrorists… When the arrests were made Thursday morning, the plotters had reached the point of identifying airlines and routes, but had not yet picked flight numbers… But five key members of the cell — described by authorities as the ringleaders — remain at large. [Link]

Who the suspects are:

Most of the suspects are second or third generation British citizens of Pakistani descent whose families hailed from war-torn Kashmir. [Link]

How explosive decompression happens:

Clifford Jones, of the University of Aberdeen, said that if an explosion on an aircraft raised atmospheric cabin pressure by just 1 per cent, windows were likely to shatter. If a blast raised pressure by 10 per cent, structural damage and possibly death would result. [Link]

To puncture an aircraft’s fuselage would require an explosive charge “half the size of a cigarette packet,” he said. [Link]

Liquid explosives have been on the radar since they were successfully tested aboard a flight 11 years ago, yet they’re still not defended against:

… two months earlier Yousef had tested it, leaving a device on a Philippines Airlines flight to Tokyo which killed a Japanese businessman and wounded dozens. The plane survived and the pilot made an emergency landing. [Link]

The plot gives new meaning to the phenomenon of exploding laptop batteries:

The sources say the power to detonate the devices could have come from iPods, laptops or mobile phones. [Link]

Related post: Heathrow bombing plot foiled