Shoutbox

This is much less of an incident than the big deal the media and the U.K./U.S. authorities have made of it.  I certainly do not feel the knee-jerk airport security response and the endless press coverage, sometimes calling it "the big one", are warranted.

First of all, the explosive mixed in toilet, using some unspecified peroxide substance and a "British sports drink" as many sources suggest, doesn't sound like anything serious.   Unless the British have sports drinks formulated for Bender the Robot, it is hard to see how that could amount to more than the Menthos experiment.

Secondly, it is reported that this group had been infiltrated by  British intelligence for quite a while.  Make no mistake -- it is not like we learned of the plot when we caught them at an airport security checkpoint yesterday. 

They have been followed for quite a while and were arrested when there was sufficient evidence.  It is possible that the infiltrating intelligence officers were active contributors to the "plot" and they certainly were on top of it.  This is hardly a justification to disrupt the air traffic system by enacting some "emergency" security mandate in "response" to something the government has been following for months.

Lastly, the timing of this revelation couldn't be more convenient for two countries unconditionally backing Israel -- and, no doubt, hoping for a press diverson, right about now.