Liquid Bombers On Trial: Jury Sees Martyrdom Videos, Crown Identifies Targets

The trial of the so-called "Liquid Bombers" has begun in London. As you may recall, twenty-five people were arrested in August of 2006 in connection with an alleged plot to assemble and detonate bombs on board transatlantic airliners, killing hundreds or thousands or "hundreds of thousands" of people.

Of the twenty-five who were arrested, fourteen were released without charges; the remaining eleven are now on trial. Eight of them are charged with conspiracy to murder, three with lesser offenses. The trial is expected to last six to eight months.

Six of the eight charged with conspiracy to murder made martyrdom videos, excerpts of which were shown to the jury last week. Everyone says these martyrdom videos are "chilling", but nobody says why. And the actual contents are reported almost nowhere.

The fullest excerpts available were reported by The Scotsman and are reproduced here along with photos courtesy of The Telegraph:

Abdulla Ahmed Ali

Ali is pegged as one of the ringleaders.

YOU show more care and concern for animals than you do for the Muslim ummah [the Islamic nation]…

Thanks to God I swear by Allah, I have the desire since the age of 15/16 to participate in jihad in the path of Allah.

I had the desire since then to punish the kuffar [non-believers] for the evil they are doing.

I had the desire since then for jannah [paradise] for the Koran. I want to go to my prophet and his companions.

Leave us alone. Stop meddling in our affairs and we will leave you alone.

Otherwise expect floods of martyr operations against you and we will take our revenge and anger, ripping amongst your people and scattering the people and your body parts and your people's body parts responsible for these wars and oppression decorating the streets.

Ibrahim Savant

ALL Muslims take heed – remove yourself from the grasp of the kuffar [non-believer] before you are counted as one of them.

Do not be content with your council houses and businesses and western lifestyle…

All Muslims feel the need to dust your feet in the training camps of jihad where men are made.

Cease debate and enter the battlefields seeking paradise. Mujahideen, for years I've desired to meet you, to walk the paths you've walked, to sacrifice what you have sacrificed. Now Allah has honoured me with an invitation to his kingdom.

Obviously after this beautiful operation they will accuse us brothers of all sorts of things and most of the things they will accuse us of is killing for the sake of killing, hating freedom, hating the west, being fed up with our lives.

Arafat Waheed Khan

WE WILL rain upon you such a terror and destruction that you will never feel peace and security. There will be floods of martyrdom operations and bombs falling through your lands. There will be daily torment in this world and a greater torment awaiting in the hereafter. Now I'd like to address the bootlickers who stand shoulder to shoulder with Kuffar in condemning these beautiful operations and the Mujahedeen.

In particular, I'd like to address the scholars to whom Allah has given knowledge which they concealed and play with to please the Kuffar, to save themselves from their disapproval.

What a miserable deal. Pleasing the Kuffar all while just pleasing Allah. Fearing them instead of fearing Allah.

I would like to thank Allah for giving me this opportunity to bless me with this Shahada [martyrdom]. I ask Allah to forgive me for all my sins, to accept me as a martyr. I ask Allah to help the Mujahedeen everywhere in every way.

Umar Islam

THIS is revenge for the actions of the USA in the Muslim lands and their accomplices such as the British and the Jews.

This is a warning to the non-believers that if they do not leave our lands there are many more like us and many more like me ready to strike until the law of Allah is established on this earth.

Know that without doubt your dead are in the hellfire whilst the Muslims who died due to your attacks will be in paradise …

You are just sitting there, you are still funding the Army, you have not put down your leader, you have not pressured them enough.

Most of them are too busy watching Home And Away and EastEnders, complaining about the World Cup, drinking your alcohol, to care about anything.

That is all you seem to care about – and I know because I have come from that.

Waheed Zaman

I HAVE been educated to a high standard and, had it not been Allah had blessed me with this mission, I could have lived a life of ease; but instead chose to fight for the sake of Allah's Deen [his religion or way].

All of you so-called moderate Muslims, there's only one way to solve this crisis. The problems will not be solved by campaigning, big conferences, peaceful negotiations with the disbelievers.

The only solution to this current situation of the Muslims is by fighting Jihad for the sake of Allah until the enemy is fully subdued and expelled from our lands.

America and England have no cause for complaint for they are the ones who invaded and built bases in the land of the Muslims.

I have not been brainwashed.

I have been educated to a high standard. I am old enough to make my own decisions.

Tanvir Hussain

PEOPLE keep on saying, you know, that we keep on targeting innocent civilians, yeah.

We're not targeting innocent civilians. We're targeting economic and military targets.

They're the battle grounds of today, so whoever steps in these trenches, they, yeah, you haven't got us to blame.

You've got to blame yourself and collateral damage is going to be inevitable and people are going to die besides, you know, it's work at a price.

You know, I wanted to do this myself. For many years, you know, I dreamt of doing this, but I didn't have no chance of doing this. I didn't have any means.

Thank God Allah has accepted my duas [prayers], and provided a means to do this. You know, I only wish I could do this again, you know come back and do this again, and just do it again and again until people come to their senses and realise, you know, don't mess with the Muslims.

Two of those charged with conspiracy to murder did not make martyrdom videos.

Both are considered -- along with Abdulla Ahmed Ali -- the "ringleaders".

Assad Sarwar

Assad Sarwar didn't make a martyrdom video himself, according to the prosecution, because he didn't intend to die. He was allegedly getting ready to send seven martyrs and thousands of infidels to their deaths, but Sarwar wasn't ready for martyrdom yet. He had further plans.

The Scotsman again:

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said one key figure obtained detailed information about other possible targets.

He said Assad Sarwar was too important to give up his life in the wave of mid-air suicide attacks.

Mr Wright said: "The horizon in respect of Mr Sarwar's terrorist ambition was, we say, limitless."

In addition to the alleged plot against transatlantic airliners, there were allegedly also other targets, as AFP reported:

Wright said a computer memory stick found at Sarwar's home suggested the gang had assessed other targets, including London's Canary Wharf tower -- the tallest in Britain -- a gas pipeline and a number of power stations.

Mohammed Gulzar

The eighth defendant on charges of conspiracy to murder is also pegged as one of the ringleaders, according to The Guardian, which reported:

[Wright] described Ali, Sarwar and Mohammed Gulzar as the main men behind the plot.

The Sunday Express has more:

Mr Wright said Abdulla Ahmed Ali from Walthamstow, Assad Sarwar and Mohammed Gulzar were the main men behind the murderous plot.
...

Mr Wright told the court police had watched several members of the gang for many months.

He said: “From what had been observed in the days and months prior to the arrests it was realised that these men, together with others, were engaged in some sort of terrorist plot.”

The court heard how Ali and Gulzar were watched by police as they met frequently at a flat in Forest Road, Walthamstow, to make final preparations.

About that flat: David Byers reported in The Times:

The “bomb factory” allegedly used by the eight-strong terrorist gang to develop liquid explosives, with the intention of blowing up transatlantic airliners, was described in court [April 4].

The flat in Forest Road, Walthamstow, East London, was bought by Abdulla Ali, the self-declared leader of the gang, for £141,191.63 in cash on July 20, 2006, the prosecution said...

Targets

The Sunday Express account continues:

Police recovered a computer memory stick belonging to Ali which contained detailed information about flights and airport security, the jury was told.

“The memory stick contained details in respect of flight timetables, baggage information, security advice in respect of restricted items and other information about Heathrow airport,” said Mr Wright.

The jury was shown files on the memory stick giving details of flights from Heathrow to cities in North America including Boston, Denver, Chicago, Miami, New York and Montreal.

The information included the airline, terminal at Heathrow, departure times, arrival times, flight numbers, aircraft type and number of stops, the court heard.

The information on the memory stick focused only on one-way flights from Heathrow. These were all commercial airliners with passenger capacities of almost 300 people per plane.

“Collectively the flights were each of them non-stop transatlantic journeys to north American destinations,” said Mr Wright.

Of the flights on the memory stick, seven had been highlighted, the jury was told. They were on three airlines - Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines.

The Guardian and others have named the seven highlighted flights:

1415 United Airlines Flight 931 to San Francisco
1500 Air Canada Flight 849 to Toronto
1515 Air Canada Flight 865 to Montreal
1540 United Airlines Flight 959 to Chicago
1620 United Airlines Flight 925 to Washington
1635 American Airlines Flight 139 to New York
1650 American Airlines Flight 91 to Chicago

The Toronto and Montreal connections are new and have aroused some interest in the Canadian media.

The CBC reported:

John O'Connor, a former commander with Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit, told CBC News Thursday that it's not surprising that Canadian flights were among the targets.

"It might seem difficult for Canadians to understand, but when you're looking at Canada and America, one tends to on this side of the Atlantic combine them as one, and I'm sure that's what the terrorists do," he said from London.

"They see them as very close cousins, and they wouldn't discriminate them against one or the other…. As far as the insurgents are concerned, any Western country which is an ally of the United States is going to be seen as a legitimate target."

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thirty-third in a series

Alleged Liquid Bombers Plead 'Not Guilty'; Extradition Of Alleged Mastermind 'Conditionally Stalled'

The alleged plotters who were allegedly plotting to bomb intercontinental airliners headed from Great Britain to the USA -- the so-called "Liquid Bombers" -- have finally entered their pleas: not guilty! The accused were among 25 people arrested in the UK last August.

Rashid Rauf, the alleged mastermind of the alleged plot, was arrested in Pakistan shortly before the UK arrests, and his arrest was said to have triggered the arrests in Britain. Rauf is still imprisoned in Pakistan, and UK officials have apparently been trying to arrange for his extradition.

Although officials in both countries have repeatedly implied that an extradition deal is in the works, recent reports describe the extradition of Rashid Rauf as "conditionally stalled". It's as good a description as any.

Pakistan reportedly wants 8 Balochi nationals in return for Rauf, and routinely imposes the death penalty, so the British are reluctant to hand anyone over to the tender mercies of the Pakistanis. Meanwhile Rashid Rauf supposedly awaits trial in Pakistan, but his trial appears to be on indefinite hold. And the Pakistanis are saying that even if the Brits were willing to hand over the 8 Balochis, Rashid Rauf is not going anywhere until his trial is over. Or so the official story runs.

But there's an unreported subtext, an aspect of this case which has not just been unreported but actively suppressed: the alleged plot was so unlikely that it must be considered impossible.

The alleged plot, as described in breathless detail by US and UK officials such as Michael Chertoff and John Reid, involved attacks on as many as a dozen aircraft simultaneously, with the objective of killing "hundreds of thousands of people", as Chertoff said at the time.

We've been told that the plotters were planning to smuggle ordinary household liquids such as acetone and hydrogen peroxide onto airplanes, mix them together in the sinks of the airplanes' restrooms, and produce explosives capable of knocking all those planes out of the sky simultaneously.

But it didn't take much research to find out that the reaction which makes explosives out of acetone and hydrogen peroxide takes at least several hours (some sources say two or three days!) You'll forgive me if I don't link to any of the bomb-making recipes, especially since the FBI considers that a serious offense now, despite the fact that some of the most accurate bomb-making recipes reside on the FBI's own website. But let's not get bogged down in tricky administrative details!

Then a bit of math revealed that the quantity of explosive needed to puncture the fuselage of a plane is at least fifteen times as much as anyone could make in a tiny airplane sink. So, unless each of the accused plotters had fifteen or twenty accomplices -- who could all find sinks to work in without being detected -- there would be no way for a plotter to make enough explosives to take down a plane.

But at Heathrow, officials imposed strict security anyway, even after all the so-called plotters had been arrested. And airline passengers are bound by very strict rules to this day, supposedly to defeat the threat that the alleged liquid bombers allegedly posed.

But it's all a sham. It couldn't possibly be anything else. The only interesting question remaining is: What kind of a sham is it?

Either the Brits are lying about everything and there never was such a plot, or else there was a plot but it was impossible to pull off and therefore of little or no danger. Certainly there was no way any number of terrorists making bombs from acetone and peroxide could kill hundreds of thousands of people! There's really no way -- barring outrageous assistance from the flight crew -- that anyone could make a peroxide bomb on a plane at all.

Nonetheless, Rashid Rauf is still being held in Pakistan on multiple charges.

In addition to his terror-related charges, he's also accused of carrying forged identity papers. The terror charges were dropped in December, then reinstated, and his case was delayed because the police didn't file a charge sheet. Later when they did the paperwork, we learned that Rashid Rauf is accused of possessing 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide for the purposes of terrorism. His trial -- off and on and off -- was scheduled to resume April 16th, but he hasn't appeared in court, then or since.

The nature of the mechanism whereby Rashid Rauf's 29 bottles of peroxide in Pakistan were supposed to be used in attacking airliners leaving Heathrow for the USA remains to be explained, as do the circumstances of his arrest, and the nature of the trigger whereby his arrest caused a wave of arrests in Britain. We've had a number of reports on these issues and they have differed greatly in ways that have never been explained, satisfactorily or otherwise. The entire case is strange from one end to the other.

It was widely reported that Rashid Rauf was the mastermind of the plot, although in some accounts he was described as the mastermind's assistant, and in other versions he was represented as merely a messenger. But he was always portrayed as the al-Q'aeda connection, for there never was any doubt that this alleged plot was the work of al-Q'aeda.

And perhaps because al-Q'aeda was established by the CIA through their friendly cutout, the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI), and Rashid Rauf is alleged to have ISI connections, it came as a surprise to see reports indicating that Rashid Rauf also had connections to the banned terrorist group JeM.

How and when was he arrested? Accounts differ. How was the news of his arrest connected with the arrests made in Britain? Accounts differ. Some say he was arrested a week before the others and tortured by the ISI until he revealed the names of those who were arrested in Britain.

Others say he was his arrest happened just before the others and was noted by an associate who sent a message to the alleged plotters in Britain -- telling them to go ahead with their plan! -- or that Rashid Rauf sent such a message himself. The "go" message would have come as a shock to the alleged plotters, since only one of them had any airline tickets, and some didn't even have passports. But it was allegedly intercepted by the British authorities, who had supposedly had all these people under surveillance for months, and this, we are told, was the reason for their arrest.

Having spent nine months arranging for the accused plotters to enter a plea, the swift British justice system now shifts into overdrive, with the trial scheduled to begin in April of 2008.

British authorities attribute the long pre-trial period to an abundance of evidence. But an enormous police search of the woods near where some of the suspects lived was called off in December, apparently because of the cost of the investigation (nearing 30 million pounds -- roughly $60M) and the apparent fact that they have apparently found very little -- if anything at all -- in their previous months of searching the woods.

For a recap on the accused, the charges and the pleas, here's the most recent report from the BBC (slightly edited for grammar and punctuation):

Accused deny airliner bomb plot

Twelve men accused of plotting to bring down an airliner with a bomb have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

They denied charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion on an aircraft between January and August last year.

The defendants also denied other charges in an indictment which contained 27 counts.

They are due to face trial at Woolwich Crown Court in April 2008.

The accused were: Abdul Ahmed Ali, 26, from Walthamstow, east London; Assad Sarwar, 26, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; Tanvir Hussain, 26, of Leyton, east London; Mohammed Gulzar, 25, of Barking, east London; Ibrahim Savant, 26, of Walthamstow; Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Walthamstow; Waheed Zaman, 22, of Walthamstow; Adam Khatib, 20, of Walthamstow; Umar Islam (also known as Brian Young), 29, of High Wycombe; Donald Douglas Stewart-Whyte, 20, of High Wycombe; Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 36, of Stoke Newington, north London and Nabeel Hussain, 23, of Chingford, east London.

Other charges

Additionally, Nabeel Hussain is accused of involved in the preparation of terrorism by meeting Mr Ali, having a will contemplating a violent death, and taking out a bank loan worth £25,000.

Mr Ali, Tanvir Hussain, Mr Savant, Mr Khan, Mr Khatib, Mr Islam and Mr Sarwar denied separate charges under the Explosives Substances Act.

Other charges on the indictment include possessing articles for use in terrorism.

A 13th man, Mohammed Usman Saddique, 25, of Walthamstow, will face a separate trial.

He denied being involved in the preparation of terrorism by owning a number of mobile phones as well as a CD containing titles such as Bombs And More.

Abdul Ali's wife, Cossor Ali, 25, will also face a trial on her own.

She denied failing to disclose information which could have prevented a terrorist act.

All of the accused, except Cossor Ali and Nabeel Hussain, who are on bail, appeared by video link from prison.

There's a bit of new information in this report, such as the fact that Mohammed Usman Saddique is in trouble because of the names of the tracks on a CD. But not much.

In other recent Liquid Bomber news, four British newspaper groups have agreed to pay substantial libel damages to Abdul Rauf for having falsely reported that he was detained for questioning over suspected involvement in the plot. Two of the papers had previously printed retractions and apologies. There was a similar report in the Turkish Press at the time, but there's been no correction or apology from Turkish media, let alone a libel settlement. Nor has there been any mention of the fact that Abdul Rauf is Rashid Rauf's father.

This is the second time British newspapers have made substantial payments over inaccuracies in their reporting. Amjad Sarwar was paid £170,000 in December after British papers falsely reported that he had been arrested in August along with the others. Amjad Sarwar's brother, Assad Sarwar, is one of the twelve facing "conspiracy to murder" charges.

It's tough not to speculate that the British media may be growing tired of huge libel suits and wondering how they could have been led so badly astray. And it's also tough not to speculate that the longer Rashid Rauf stays in Pakistan, the better it might be for UK authorities, who could be severely embarrassed by whatever he might say in a British courtroom. At this point it appears that the most incriminating thing he could say would be "Yes, I know the bombing plot was impossible, but I convinced all these aspirational jihadis to pretend they were planning to do it, so that you would have somebody to arrest when you needed to claim you'd made a major achievement and inject another jolt of fear into the bogus War on bogus Terror."

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Sixteenth in a series.