Times UK: Police foil gas attack on Commons

[Newsjock]

I just heard CBS Radio News reporting this at the top of the hour, and I swear... when they said "dirty bomb," "sarin," and "chemicals" all in the same sentence, I broke out laughing. They think we're still falling for this stuff?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1743818,00.html

SCOTLAND YARD believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan.
Police and MI5 then identified an Al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the attack.

The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda “supergrass”. By revealing the terrorists’ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots.

The discovery of the suspected Commons nerve gas plot was behind the decision to increase security around parliament this summer.

... This weekend a senior officer disclosed that the thwarted plot mentioned in the document involved a gas or chemical “dirty bomb” attack against parliament. “The House of Commons was one of their targets as well as the Tube,” he said.

“They were planning to use chemicals, a dirty bomb and sarin gas. They looked at all sorts of ways of delivering it.”

more

[sam sarrha]

1. nerve gas... that means they found bleach 'and' amonia under the sink

[evermind]

4. Actually, if there was any physical evidence, it would have been

mentioned; but all we got was "coded emails". No house searches or arrests.

David Leppard has a record of this sort of story. They usually look like plants emanating from "anonymous intelligence sources".

He is best known for his sudden switch over the Lockerbie bombing - google Leppard Lockerbie for more info..

[Greeby]

2. You want to launch a gas attack on the commons?

Just give John Prescott something spicy before he goes in :evilgrin:

[Kicked in the Taco]

8. lol!

:rofl:

[bemildred]

3. Need a bit of distraction from the Menenzes mess, I suspect. nt

[western mass]

5. Breaking News: MI5 foils widespread tiger attacks!

Obviously they're doing something right. England has become a virtual tiger attack-free zone.

Have some faith, people. The war on tiger terror has been a wild success.

[smirkymonkey]

12. A Tiger??? In England???

I mean, Africa??

[geomon666]

6. At least they're just lying now...

and not gunning down innocent people anymore. At least for now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. How do they know the 'supergrass'

isn't just some potent weed?

[Ian David]

11. It could be that pot that turns people into lizards.

I saw that in a documentary once called "Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams."

I think it was on The Discovery Channel.

[Ian David]

9. Is The Commons an outdoor area? If so, is that really good target for gas?

I would think a gas attack would be more effective indoors.

[evermind]

14. Where MPs sit, in the House of Commons, is indeed indoors. (n/t)

[Ian David]

15. Ah, okay. HOUSE of Commons. Somehow I missed that. That would be bad

That would be like attacking our Congress.

[evermind]

16. Yep. Referring to our two houses as "the Commons" and "the Lords"

is a confusing Britishism ;-)

"The Commons" definitely sounds like a few anonymous pieces of scrubland if you don't know that..

[NNN0LHI]

10. How many Brazilians did they kill? n/t

[LivingInTheBubble]

13. "foil" "cracked"

To foil something people have to actually be doing it not merely thinking about it.

This sounds like they found some ramblings that came to nothing. How is this something to crow about.

[daleo]

17. And they didn't even have to shoot any unarmed innocent people this time

I guess this shows the tube bombings weren't connected to Al Qaeda, since the British police have cracked their code. Surely they would have stopped that too, if it was an Al Qaeda operation.