28 days

So what do we know about the alleged, bigger than 9/11 plot currently being played out in the UK and splashed around the world?

So far:

John Howard has condemned as disgusting those arrested for planning on using a baby as a sheild for a bomb, does anyone recall the children overboard affair? Or story he told of Saddam's infamous Human Paper Shredder?

Dick Cheney and The Furry Bush have proclaimed a victory over these "islamofascists". I do believe that they have missed the word "alleged", and the ever diminishing foundation of UK/US/AUST law, innocent until proven guilty. Ah fuk it, mission accomplished, arrest is as good as guilt. The worst part is that the Bush regime were given an early warning of the arrests and made great political setups to undermine the Democrats when the raids went down, there is even the suggestion that the raids were held at the time they were through Bush Regime pressure. Ugly politics at its karl rove worst.

from cbs news:

Just two days ago, our Homeland Security Secretary made a highly-spun speech, hinting that new anti terror laws are on their way and that those who disagree with further limitations by this Government on our freedom, “just don’t get it”. Of course he knew about the story that was about to break and of course he knew about the threat to our safety and security that the police were about to reveal. And he couldn’t resist using that knowledge, so that a few hours later he would be able to say, “I told you so”.

It’s cynicism like that that makes this one of the most untrusted Governments we've ever had -- even at a time like this.

We have links to Al Qeda and the attacks of 9/11. All completely unproven, but all well publicised.

CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar says the trail begins in the rubble of last year's earthquake in Pakistan and bears the fingerprints of al Qaeda.

Intelligence sources say that beginning in February, the suspects — trying to avoid detection — transferred relatively small amounts of money; $1,000 here, a few thousand there, from Pakistan into various accounts in Britain. (or alternately, they transferred small amounts of money not to avoid detection but for perfectly legitimate reasons, to fly under the radar of reporting they could have transferred anything under $10,000. We also have no idea how much was transferred, was it $3000 over the last 8 months, which would make the plot so minor as to be laughable, or was it ...we wont know for at least another 28 days. The paranoia level of the media is at about the same level as the governments. Who can forget the doodles that convicted the Lackawannna 7, an government expert testified that they were the exact layout of a turkish US airbase, the prosecution then hid the photos of the airbase which demostrated that the doodles bore not even the slightest resemblance to anything other than random doodling)

We know that the original charges stem from the arrest in Pakistan of a man, who when "interogated" named names and confessed. Pakistan has a very well documented and consistent use of torture to extract confessions, could he simply be naming relatives because of such?

US homeland security chief Michael Chertoff, who said the plot was "suggestive" of al-Qaeda, claimed the planning was in its "final stages".

We know that the imminent and immediate threat was a lie. How? Many arrested members of the plot did not have passports, making boarding an international flight a bit difficult, and so far, the police have said that very few plane tickets had been purchased, and that no co-ordinated flights have been found. Going on holidays is not as yet a criminal offence.

We know that on the back of the arrests the Blair government is looking to increase its security powers (internment up to 90 days without charge plus a raft of other measures) and that the police and security forces are seeking increased powers. Does this have anything to do with the arrests?

Home Secretary John Reid, responding to questions on whether the government would once again push for a 90-day detention of terror suspects, the home secretary said the current situation did not represent "a good time" to look at such measures.

We know that the arrests have led to allegations of rampant extremism in the muslim community despite a lack of any proof of such. Muslims have become the new face for those in politics (and loopy, paranoid comentators like Melanie Phillips) who are forever making the easy, cheap "law and order" bids to buy votes. The problem is that any Muslim taking a critical line on issues such as Iraq or the conflict in Lebanon become targets and labeled as "extremist", when serious debate is genuinely, desperatly, needed and the government position is uniformly condemnded by broad popular concensus, not just by the muslim minority of the population. Criminalising dissent is a sure fire way to encourage real extremism.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1850856,00.html

So who is currently being detained in the UK?

Amjad Sarwar said his brother had no link to terrorism. "They've got it all wrong," he told Channel 4 News. "He is an innocent guy. He's been helping the youth out considerably in the area. He condemns terrorism."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article1219492.ece

Despite the British judicial system stating that a person is "innocent until proven guilty", the press seems to have a different stance. Is the innocence of a person not compromised by them being named and shamed? The reputation of a man is tarnished when he is named, even if he only stands accused - not convicted - of a crime.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1844721,00.html