Ludicrouser And Ludicrouser: The Alleged Liquid Bombing Plot, Revisited Again

In the UK, the prosecution has laid out its case against the alleged terrorist plotters who have come to be known as the "Liquid Bombers", and it's much different than the stories that were leaked just after the suspects were arrested, two years ago this weekend.

Those stories sparked considerable interest at this blog, where chemistry is no barrier. And the previous leaked versions of the alleged plot were utterly preposterous, as I've pointed out several times since they were leaked.

But the new alleged plot -- the one testified to in court by British authorities -- is even more ludicrous than the alleged plots in any of the previously leaked stories.

The technical difficulties inherent in the new alleged plot have been hinted at -- just barely -- in mainstream media reports, such as one from New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino, as published in the Seattle Times, which read:

Using a sealed 17-ounce sports drink, the men planned to drain the plastic bottle through a tiny hole in the bottom and then inject an explosive mix of concentrated hydrogen-peroxide, along with food coloring to make it look like the original beverage. Super Glue would seal it shut. AA batteries filled with the explosive HMTD would serve as the detonator; a disposable camera would serve as the trigger.

Prosecutors said the men planned to carry the components onto seven trans-Atlantic planes, assemble them and then explode them in midair.

WOW! Is that ALL they were trying to do?

Is this admirable brevity, or lying by omission? You decide.

Instructions for such a plot, in plain English, would run like this:

Go get some AA batteries, and start taking them apart. But do it very carefully; make sure you don't damage them. We have to be able to put them back together later -- without the cores -- and make them look like new.

What? It sounds tough? Don't worry: that's nothing compared to the other things we have to do.

Buy some bottles of sports drink -- Oasis, Lucozade, it really doesn't matter. And get a syringe, too. We'll use it to empty the bottles, and we'll use it again to refill them later. Remember to inject air into the bottles while emptying them; otherwise they'll collapse.

And that would be no good, because we need to keep them in mint condition. That's why we're not going to unscrew the tops. But don't worry. With enough patience, this part of the job is easy.

Also, buy some hydrogen peroxide -- lots of it. We won't need much, but the peroxide we need is much stronger than what you can buy in the shops. So we'll have to boil it down ourselves. This part of the process will be difficult and dangerous, but don't worry.

The danger has to do with the nature of hydrogen peroxide. It decomposes spontaneously, producing water and oxygen and heat. So if you boil it, you've got additional heat, and a strong possibility of spontaneous detonation. But don't worry. The concentrated peroxide we produce will be our ticket to paradise -- and countless virgins!

Get some Tang, and some cherry Kool-Aid, too. We'll add them to our concentrated peroxide, once it's ready, to make it look like the original sports drinks.

Then, using the syringe, we'll refill the bottles. This is going to be difficult and time-consuming. Remember to draw air from the bottle with each injection. We don't want the pressure in the bottle to build up.

It's dangerous, but not too dangerous. So don't worry. Just don't let any of the concentrated peroxide touch you -- or your clothing -- because it'll burst into flame.

Get some disposable cameras. We'll re-wire the flash and use that surge of electricity for something else. Ha ha ha!

Oh, right! The primary charge. Here's the sort of dangerous part. We're going to make some HMTD. That's "hexamethylene triperoxide diamine". We can make it with common household items, so you'd better buy some nitrogen-based fertilizer, and some bleach or strong acid, too.

Once we've made the HMTD, we're going to put the batteries back together with HMTD inside them. Take your time with this stuff; HMTD is sensitive to shock and friction, so we always have to be careful with it. But Allah will protect us. So don't worry.

Then we'll sneak everything onto airplanes, and be cool about it. Once we're safely aloft, we'll tape the battery to the bottle, wire it to the disposable camera, and presto! An anti-aircraft bomb.

The sugar in the Tang will give it even more explosive power. Just wait and see.

When the Lucozade bottles are full, seal the holes with Super Glue. This is where it gets tricky. But don't worry.

The concentrated peroxide will continue to decompose, giving off oxygen and building up pressure in the bottles. The bottles are not designed to hold pressurized contents; so it won't take much to rupture them. And that's why -- as I say -- things might get a bit tricky once they're sealed.

Because after we seal them we're going to put them in our pockets, and we're going to carry them to the airport that way, and of course if any of the bottles burst from the pressure, our clothing will burst into flame immediately. So we'll pray for Allah to be with us -- and maybe we should also pray for some help from the maniac who thought this plan would work.

Where is he, anyway? Why is he never around when you need him? And do you really think the conspiracy theorists are crazy when they say he must have been working for ISI -- and MI6?

I'm not claiming the "instructions" quoted above were delivered. We have good reason to believe no instructions of the sort were ever delivered to anyone. But that's a bit of a problem for the British authorities.

The jury is out in this case -- they've been out for a while, and now they're enjoying a two-week holiday. From the look of things, they appear set to deliberate forever. According to published media reports, it seems they haven't got enough evidence to convict the accused "terrorist plotters", and in the virulently anti-Muslim political climate of the day, they clearly haven't got enough confidence to acquit them. So there it hangs -- in a fine and apparently synthetic balance.

The prosecution showed the jury a video of a bomb exploding. They said this was the sort of bomb that the alleged plotters were allegedly plotting to make. And the explosion was terrific. In fact the bomb components were so sensitive that the police had to assemble the demonstration bomb with a robot -- in order not to risk injuring anyone through premature detonation.

But the judge had to remind the jury that the explosion they saw had come from a bomb made by the police, and that the alleged plotters had made no such bomb.

The police seized many bottles of garden-variety [3%] hydrogen peroxide, and one bottle of highly concentrated peroxide. The prosecution showed surveillance tapes of the alleged plotters visiting the shops, buying Lucozade and glassware ... but where did the concentrated peroxide come from? Nobody's saying. Why isn't this question of interest? I have my ideas.

Concentrated peroxide cannot be obtained without credentials. Who in this case had credentials? Who could obtain peroxide without leaving an incriminating trail? Who had the ability to plant evidence?

The alleged plotters met in a flat they had bought for about $270,000. Where did the money come from? Nobody's saying. Why isn't this question of interest? I have my ideas.

Several of the alleged plotters have already pleaded guilty to planning to cause a disturbance. But they all deny that they were trying to destroy airplanes, and the prosecution doesn't appear to have proven that they were.

The police had a surveillance camera in the alleged plotters' flat. The saw and heard everything that went on there. And yet they don't have enough evidence to convince a jury that the alleged plotters were doing what they were allegedly doing. So the jury continues to deliberate.

We could see this coming a long time ago. The police began a search of the woods near where the suspects lived two years ago, on August 9th. On that day, they claim, they found a suitcase presumably owned by the suspects, containing bomb-making materials, presumably put there by the suspects. But they continued to search the woods, apparently finding nothing, and the search was finally called off in December, having cost the taxpayers tens of millions.

If I were on the jury, I'd be saying:

Let's get out of here. If the cops had access to the flat to install a video camera, they had access to plant evidence. If they can't show where the most incriminating stuff came from, it's only logical to assume they put it there themselves. What are we gonna do, miss the rest of our lives sitting here arguing about it? We've been had, again. Enough is enough. What are we waiting for?

I might not convince everybody, but that wouldn't be my goal. I'd be waiting for the judge to indicate that a unanimous verdict wasn't necessary, that 11-1 or 10-2 would be good enough -- just like in the most famous previous HMTD case, and then I would only have to find nine intelligent life forms among the other eleven jury members, and we could all get out of there alive.

Not that it would matter much. The alleged plotters aren't smart enough to disassemble AA batteries without destroying them, much less get over all the other technical hurdles. But that's not a knock; nobody's smart enough to do things that are impossible.

And meanwhile the forces of tyranny already have everything they could have asked for from this case: There's ridiculously tight airport security all over the world now, all because of this palpably bogus story. And that's just the beginning of what they have gained.

The fear injected into the political echo machine two years ago reverberated for a long time -- long enough to provide some "political capital" for those who fight this bogus Terror War -- and played no small part in the passage of the Military Commissions Act, which gives our unelected president retroactive immunity for having ordered torture, as well as the power to define what shall constitute torture in the future.

This outrageous presidential power is much more important than putting a handful of knuckleheads in prison.

And so, even if the alleged plotters are acquitted, the forces of darkness will have won -- again!

~~~

I'll have more on this story again soon.

thirty-fourth in a series

~~~

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Inadequate Deception: The Impossible Plots Of The Terror War

Terror Games

Suppose you were running a counter-terrorism unit. What would you need? A huge budget -- obviously! But what else? You'd need lots of good people, and you'd need good ways to train them, and good ways to test them. You'd also need to make sure that they passed their tests.

If you were running a conventional military unit, you could do quite a bit of training and testing using relatively short war games. A war game is a simulated battle, with people from the same army (or its allies) playing both "sides". One side "attacks" and the other side "defends", and even though it's not exactly like a real battle, it can be an excellent learning tool. Some war games are designed to last a long time, but many are not, because you can do a lot of training, and a lot of testing, in a week, or even a weekend.

But the war on terror is a different kind of war, and it requires a different kind of war game. Instead of a series of battles, the war on terror involves complex surveillance operations lasting months -- or years. So a war game in the war on terror -- a "terror game" -- would be designed to last a while.

If you were planning a terror game, you wouldn't want your people playing bad guys for months at a time, if you could get somebody else to do it. Fortunately for you, it wouldn't be too hard to recruit some "bad guys" and give them a "plot" to work on. Then your people could watch them while you waited for -- or arranged -- a most opportune moment to "foil" "their" "plot".

In this way you could "pass" your "test", "prove" your "worth" and "justify" an enormous increase in your huge budget.

Knuckleheads And Cutouts

As in most endeavors, much depends on your people. For this job you'd need to avoid anybody bright enough to suspect you of scamming, so you'd be looking for knuckleheads. Fortunately, plenty of knuckleheads are available.

You couldn't do the recruiting directly. The knuckleheads you'd be looking for would never knowingly work for you. Instead you'd have to use a "cutout" to do the recruiting for you. But this wouldn't be a problem. And it would have some powerful advantages.

If the cutout did his job properly, the knuckleheads would never think anything was amiss. They wouldn't suspect they were dealing with a cutout, let alone working for you. And they certainly wouldn't know they were part of a terror game.

It would all be very serious business to them -- and rightly so, for the aftermath of a terror game isn't like that of a conventional war game, when the two "adversaries" get together for steaks and beers to compare notes and so on ...

The "bad guys" in a terror game won't be invited to any barbecues. They'll be arrested; incarcerated and possibly tortured; tried, and potentially convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. For them, it's not a game by any means.

There's enormous deception going on here, and if you were running it, you could set it up in a couple of different ways. You could use a single cutout, but he'd have to be a great actor because he would have to deceive all the knuckleheads all the time. Or you could use two cutouts, one of them deceiving the other, who then passes the messages on to all the rest. In this model, the cutout dealing with the knuckleheads is himself a knucklehead!

People are always more convincing when they believe what they're saying. So using a knucklehead as a "leader" of knuckleheads is almost always a good idea. It simply requires a second cutout.

The term "cutout" comes from covert operations. In a covert op, a cutout isolates the perpetrators from the planners. The perpetrators think they're working for the cutout; they don't know anything about the planners. So even if the perpetrators are captured, they can't implicate the people who are actually running the operation.

This is one of the ways in which covert operations stay covert. And most covert operations do stay covert long enough to be considered successful, if not forever. But if things go wrong and the perpetrators get captured, then the planners can protect themselves by eliminating the cutout (or cutouts).

Using multiple cutouts may seem overly complicated to you. But to any reasonably sophisticated covert agency, it's child's play.

The Plot

If you were running a counter-terrorism unit, and you decided to recruit some knuckleheads for a terror game, you would want to engage them in some tactical or logistical planning, but not in any strategic decision-making.

In this way you could retain overall control of the plot, by proxy through the cutout (or cutouts). And there are many ways in which you could use this control to your advantage. Above all, you'd want to make sure that, technically, the plot was well beyond the knuckleheads' ability to implement it.

You'd do this for two reasons. First, you wouldn't want to cause any damage. (You may be scamming here but you're not trying to hurt anybody. In fact your job is to make sure nobody gets hurt.) And it would be time-consuming and very expensive to watch all the knuckleheads all the time. So you'd need other ways to make sure that their plot would never amount to anything. And you could achieve this quite simply by making the plot impossible.

It would still have to be frightening, so it would have to seem possible, at least superficially. Otherwise no potential victims would be scared, and no potential knuckleheads would be interested.

So it would have to be at least semi-plausible. But it would also need a very serious core difficulty. And this difficulty would have to be kept as secret as possible.

Foiling The Plot

The second advantage of making the plot impossible is that it would take the knuckleheads forever to get anywhere with it. So you could let the plot "simmer" for as long as you liked, and "foil" it whenever it best suited you.

And this would also work to your advantage, because you could plan things. You could make a big deal of the bust. You could get some quotables to exaggerate the danger of the "catastrophic act of terror" that you and your crew had "prevented". And so on. In another walk of life this would be called making hay while the sun shines.

It would be perfect. You'd be a hero, and your budget and your power would be increased. Your boss would never say a word -- even if he suspected (even if he knew!) that you were scamming -- because he'd be a hero too, and his budget and his power would be increased as well.

So even if you didn't play your cards quite right, there'd be nobody with both the incentive and the ability to stop you.

Politics And Terror Since 9/11

In the years since September 11, 2001, it has often happened that a spectacular bust has been made at a key political time, and a big splash has been created over a semi-plausible narrative, while a core impossibility has been hidden.

Thus Shahawar Matin Siraj became New York City's "Subway Bomber" in August of 2004 after he was arrested for allegedly planning to bomb the Herald Square subway station.

Politically, the timing of the Siraj bust was extremely oppotune. In the summer of 2004, many New Yorkers were furious that the Republicans had chosen to party in the city they hadn't managed to protect three years earlier -- yet here they were, using the ruins of Manhattan as a backdrop for their festivities.

But the publicity generated by the arrest of "the subway bomber" turned things around -- for that convention and for a long time thereafter -- and instead of having to defend themselves against charges of incompetence or even complicity, the Republicans were suddenly able to scold the protesters: "See how much danger you're in? See how well our policies work? How dare you criticize?"

And this sudden shift happened despite the facts that Siraj had no bomb, no bomb-making materials, no knowledge of bomb-making, no independent access to any of the above, and no desire to hurt anyone.

It is said that Siraj was planning to blow up the subway during the Republican National Convention. Judging by the absence of bomb-making materials, that couldn't have been the case. The police just chose to arrest him right before the convention started, in order to maximize the publicity value of the bust (and to provide a pretext for their coming assault on those who did protest at the convention).

The "Liberty City Seven" have become similarly infamous for a plot that was similarly implausible. Homeless men from the Miami area who couldn't even afford boots were somehow going to get themselves to Chicago and bomb the Sears Tower? Fanciful at best, no?

The so-called "JFK Airport Bombing" plot was even less plausible -- some would say "even more impossible" -- because of the technical difficulties in what the plotters were allegedly planning to do. And the same characteristic also appears in many less-famous cases.

But the most outrageous foiled terror plot of all was a very famous one, in conjunction with which the most drastic security measures have been taken.

The Liquid Bombers

On August 9th and 10th, 2006, British authorities arrested 25 so-called "terrorists" who came to be known as the Liquid Bombers.

We were told they were planning to to destroy ten or twelve airplanes simultaneously by smuggling common household liquids aboard the planes and using them to make bombs, which they would then detonate, killing "hundreds of thousands of people" in a coordinated attack even more devastating than 9/11.

We were also told that even though the police had been watching the suspects for many months, they weren't sure they'd captured all the plotters, and that the 25 arrests had caused an increased risk of something or other. Extremely tight security arrangements were implemented, virtually shutting down Heathrow Airport for a while and banning such innocuous items as books!

Eleven of the 25 suspects have been charged with "conspiracy to murder", and another four have been charged with lesser offenses. All fifteen have said "not guilty"; their trial is expected to begin in late spring of 2008. The other ten alleged "terrorists" were released without charges.

Realistically, there's never been any increased threat of anything because of those 25 arrests, and the security arrangements were relaxed -- a bit -- after a while, but a very restrictive regime of airport security remains in place. And we can still fly, but we can't take a bottle of water with us, unless it holds no more than four ounces and is enclosed in a clear plastic zip-locked bag, along with our passport and, presumably, all our other vital documents.

Why must we do this? Are we afraid some terrorists are going to smuggle bomb-making ingredients aboard an airliner and mix them up and make a bomb and blow the plane out of the sky? Not at all! It can't happen! But if you got all your news from the papers and/or the TV, you might have no idea just how outrageous the "Liquid Bombers" plot was.

It's not just that they didn't have tickets, or reservations, or passports. These facts prove that the attack was not imminent, and lead some skeptics to question the timing of the bust, which in the political context seemed most opportune. Such questions tend to challenge the sudden increase in security that came along with news of the arrests.

But the timing is not the main point, in my analysis. Terrorists can get passports, they can buy tickets, and they can make reservations. So even if no attack was imminent, that doesn't mean the plot wasn't dangerous.

It's not a question of whether the danger was imminent or not, in my view. There was no danger -- ever! -- because the plot was impossible.

As with all the other implausible plots, the main difficulty is always hidden from the public. In this case, the hidden difficulty lies in the chemistry.

Mother Of Satan

It is definitely possible to make explosives out of household liquids. The simplest such explosive is TATP (tri-acetone tri-peroxide), which can be made from hydrogen peroxide, acetone and bleach. But it's not easy, nor is it quick.

If you wanted to make some TATP, you'd need good quality glassware, otherwise the impurities might cause a weak or premature explosion. And the ingredients themselves would have to be pure, otherwise you'd get the same result, a weak or premature explosion, or none at all.

If you're a suicide bomber, there's no point in killing yourself if you don't hurt anybody else. So you'd want to do it right: you'd want to get the purest ingredients you could find. You'd want to store them in the best glassware you could get. You'd want to do everything possible to protect the purity of these liquids, which would be vital to your plan of attack.

If you'd been studying your chemistry, you'd be ready to go once you got yourself and your liquids on the plane. But you'd wait until the plane was "safely" aloft. And then there would be no time to lose.

You'd mix the acetone and the peroxide first. From that point on, the reaction would generate a lot of heat, and you'd need to watch the temperature carefully. If it rose above 10C (50F) you'd be finished. So you'd need a thermometer -- and plenty of ice.

Having mixed the acetone and peroxide, you would then start adding the bleach -- one drop at a time -- while stirring constantly. Once all the bleach was added, you'd stop stirring and leave it alone for a while. Quite a while, actually.

The reaction takes at least 6 or 8 hours -- some sources say overnight, while others say 2-3 days. And the TATP -- the explosive compound produced by the reaction -- is a white crystal that must be filtered out, then rinsed and dried before it can be used.

They must have been hoping the transatlantic flight was going to be a long one. Only a very hopeful plotter -- or an utter knucklehead -- would imagine that there'd be enough time for all this, between London and New York.

Worse still, it would take a bathtub full of acetone, peroxide and bleach to make enough TATP to knock a hole in the fuselage of a commercial airliner. But that didn't stop the Liquid Bombers.

Lucozade

According to the official story, the "terrorists" were planning to disguise their bomb-making ingredients by adding dyes to make them look like Lucozade -- a popular British "sports drink" which comes in yellow, orange and red (or "citrus", "orange" and "fruit punch", if you prefer).

The plotters were going to make false bottoms for Lucozade bottles and dye their ingredients the same color as the drinks. Then they would fill the bottoms of the bottles with their color-matched bomb-making ingredients and the tops of the bottles with real Lucozade, or so we're told.

Then, presumably, if they were challenged while trying to bring the bottle onto the plane, they could drink from the tops of the bottles. And when they tipped the bottles upside-down and started drinking, the security guards would never notice that the bubbles rose only halfway up the bottles.

So the terrorists would get through the gates that way, and once they had boarded their planes and got themselves over the Atlantic, they were going to step into the restroom, mix their ingredients together, and come back out a minute later with a bomb. Or so we're told.

But what we are never told is crucial. Making such a bomb would take hours -- or days -- even if the ingredients were pure. And it wouldn't be possible at all if the ingredients were contaminated -- no matter how much time and space the terrorists were given on the plane, and no matter how many false-bottomed Lucozade bottles they were carrying.

Thus the "Liquid Bomber" plot wasn't just impossible. It was beyond impossible. And the natural next question is: Why? Who would recruit so many knuckleheads for a mission that was so thoroughly doomed?

Rashid Rauf

We were told that Rashid Rauf was the recruiter. Given the little we know about him, he would be the perfect man for the job.

Rashid Rauf was raised in Birmingham, UK, and moved to Pakistan in 2002, just after the fatal stabbing of his uncle. Shortly after he arrived in Pakistan, he married a very close relative of the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, so we are told.

J-e-M is a vicious terrorist group which likes to attack India and Kashmir, and which has made successful bombing attacks on Indian trains and train stations. J-e-M is also suspected in the London bombings of 7/7/2005.

Rashid Rauf is elsewhere described as affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba, another vicious Pakistani terrorist group, which has received open support from members of the Pakistani government, and which has also made successful attacks on India and Kashmir. L-e-T has recently gone underground in the face of the GWOT, only to re-appear as JUD.

In August of 2006, when the Liquid Bombers were arrested, we were told that Rashid Rauf was the mastermind, or the bomb-making expert, or maybe just the messenger. But no matter what his role was, he was always described as the link to al Qaeda.

Given his family connections in the UK (including his brother Tayib, who was one of those arrested and released without charges in August of 2006), plus his "street credibility" as a fugitive from British justice (and a potential killer), and his affiliation with various terrorist groups, Rashid Rauf had an admirable profile -- as a potential cutout.

It was Rashid Rauf's arrest in Pakistan that triggered the 25 arrests in Britain, according to the official tale, although the mechanism is unclear.

Some analysts think Rashid Rauf was tortured into giving up the names of the British plotters, who were promptly arrested; others say that when he was arrested he (or perhaps an accomplice) sent a text message to the plotters telling them to go ahead with their attack, and that this message was intercepted by the police. The questions may never be answered -- satisfactorily or otherwise.

There are many ways to eliminate a cutout. Rashid Rauf supposedly "escaped" from the Pakistani police, even though it's fairly clear that he was deliberately released. And we may never see him again.

Thus the cutout has been removed, and the trail from the knuckleheads to the planners has been cut. But if you could follow it, where would the severed trail lead? To J-e-M? L-e-T? al Qaeda? More than one of the above -- or even all three?

Here we can get profoundly confused, especially if we forget that J-e-M is tolerated and L-e-T openly supported by the military government of Pakistan, which itself doesn't like India very much. Both these banned terrorist groups are apparently protected by the Pakistani intelligence service ISI, which itself cooperates closely with Britain's MI6, as befits a virtual branch of the CIA.

You may recall Major General (Retired) Tanvir Hussain, who in the previous session served as Parliamentary Defense Secretary. Major Hussain raised a few eyebrows in a parliamentary debate when he said he had been a member of L-e-T. When he was asked for clarification, he didn't distance himself from the terrorists, nor did he claim that his association with them had ended. Instead the Parliamentary Defense Secretary of America's leading Asian ally in the Global War On Terror said that he speaks at L-e-T's conventions and admitted that he gives them other forms of assistance, too.

Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of this. Tanvir Hussain's statements were reported matter-of-factly in the Pakistani press, mentioned in a quizzical way by an Australian daily, and howled over by the Indian papers. But they were never reported anywhere else; no Western "news" outlet breathed a word of the story.

The connections between and among the various banned and/or state-sponsored terrorist groups are enough to make your head spin, and potential understanding of crucial issues can easily be lost on this very point.

In my view of the plot, and of the surrounding context, it doesn't really matter which -- or how many -- of these terrorist groups Rashid Rauf belongs to.

The confusion is irrelevant here, so the deception is ultimately inadequate. It's clear that the central and essential question looks like this:

Why?

Why would any terrorist group waste so much time and effort -- and sacrifice so many people -- trying to do something that's six kinds of impossible?

There's no question that J-e-M and L-e-T know how to make bombs. Hundreds -- thousands! -- of otherwise healthy people are now dead because of their bomb-making skills.

And we've been warned once or twice about al Qaeda and their sophisticated style of coordinated attacks, how they can bomb an embassy, or a warship, or a couple of office buildings and a military headquarters -- all on the same day!

So it seems only fair to ask: If they can do such things, why would any of these groups waste their time -- and their people -- trying to implement a plot that's beyond impossible?

And if you don't believe the world's most dangerous terrorists would knowingly waste their time and energy instigating plots that were doomed to fail, then you have to ask youself: Who would?

The answer to that question seems clear:

Suppose you were running a counter-terrorism unit...

~~~
thirty-first in a series

Pakistan Offers To Extradite Alleged Liquid Bomber Mastermind Rashid Rauf

Pakistan's Interior Ministry has offered to extradite Rashid Rauf to the UK, according to a sketchy report from Lahore via The Post.

Rashid Rauf has been called "the mastermind", the al Qaeda connection, and "a key person" in the so-called "Liquid Bombers" story, an alleged plot allegedly foiled in London last August.

The alleged plotters were allegedly plotting to make bombs out of common household liquids while in flight and use those bombs to knockdown ten or twelve intercontinental airliners more or less simultaneously, killing "hundreds of thousands of people" as Michael Chertoff breathlessly informed us.

The alleged plot shut down Heathrow Airport in August of 2006 and led to airline travel restrictions which are still in effect, despite the simple chemical and logistical fact that the alleged plot was impossible.

Several explosive substances can in fact be made out of household liquids, but in each case the reaction takes several hours to complete, during which the reacting liquids must be kept cold. The idea that anyone could occupy the restroom of an airliner for several hours without being disturbed is beyond ludicrous. And even if it did happen, the resulting explosive compound must then be isolated and processed before it could be used as a plane-killer. Nobody could possibly do such a thing on one plane, let alone a dozen of them at the same time.

Nonetheless, twenty-five people were arrested in Britain, of whom eleven are now charged with "conspiracy to murder" and four are charged with less serious offenses. Their trial is supposed to begin the spring of 2008. The other ten, including Rashid Rauf's brother, Tayib Rauf, were released without charge.

The arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan was said to be the trigger for the arrest of the 25 in the UK. Police said at the time that the implementation of the alleged plot was imminent but later it was determined that only one of the alleged plotters had bought an airline ticket, and some of the alleged plotters hadn't even applied for passports. But according to police, Rashid Rauf sent out a text message, a "go" signal, for the ticketless, passportless alleged plotters to put their impossible plot into effect.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the charges against Rashid Rauf have been dropped -- twice. The prosecution dropped the charges in December of 2006 only to have the government move quickly to have them reinstated. And last month -- in a surprise move that was said to pave the way for Rashid Rauf's extradition -- the charges were dropped again last month -- just after President Musharraf's declaration of emergency and his sacking of the courts.

The charges that were dropped in Pakistan concerned 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide, which Rashid Rauf allegedly owned and which were somehow to have been involved in the alleged plot. And it's true that in the UK, the alleged plotters were allegedly plotting to use hydrogen peroxide in their doomed attempt to kill hundreds of thousands of people. But how was Rashid Rauf's peroxide in Pakistan going to be used against planes flying to the USA from Britain? Nobody wants to talk about that.

This is not the first trial balloon that's been floated regarding the possibility of Rashid Rauf's extradition. But Pakistan and the UK have no extradition treaty, so there's been some difficulty regarding arrangements.

Great Britain has not charged Rashid Rauf in connection with the alleged "Liquid Bombers" plot, and in seeking his extradition the British have concentrated on his potential connection with the 2002 murder of his uncle in Birmingham, after which Rashid Rauf fled Britain for Pakistan. The Brits appear to believe the Pakistanis will extradite more readily on a murder charge than for a terrorism-related offense...

For its part, Pakistan has offered Rashid Rauf for extradition previously, asking for eight alleged Balochi militants in exchange. Britain declined. Again there's a quid pro quo, says The Post: now Pakistan wants a builder who fled to the UK from Pakistan after the Margalla Tower collapsed in the earthquake of October 8, 2005. It is not yet known whether Britain will accept the offer.

If I were the British authorities, I'd say, "Sorry, old chap! We can't give you the builder. Ask for somebody else."

And then, no matter who or what they asked for, I'd say, "No, sorry. We can't do that. Try again."

And I'd hope everyone would just forget about this case altogether.

~~~

twenty-fifth in a series

Charges Dropped: Family Appeal For Release Of Rashid Rauf

Family and friends of Rashid Rauf have received some support for their attempt to prevent what appears to be his imminent (and illegal) extradition from Pakistan to Britain.

Rashid Rauf has been called "a key person" in the bogus alleged "Liquid Bombers" plot in which a dozen teams of suicide terrorists were supposedly going to knock a dozen airplanes out of the sky more or less simultaneously, killing "hundreds of thousands of people", using bombs they were preparing to make out of common household liquids.

(As regular readers of this page well know, it was not possible. It was not even remotely possible. For more details see "Uninformed Nonsense: Juan Cole, Rashid Rauf, Liquid Bombs and Whole Cloth" and/or "The Alleged "Liquid Bombing" Plot Revisited -- Maybe It Was Possible After All".)

Cageprisoners dot com:

Illegal Extradition of Rashid Rauf (in full; edited very slightly for clarity)

Rashid Rauf was arrested from Bahawalpur in August, 2006 and shown arrested at Airport Police Station on false charges regarding terrorism on 7th November, 2007.

Rashid Rauf was given a release order on account of being innocent by the Anti Terrorist Court, Rawalpindi, comprising Sakhi Muhammad Khaut.

It was ordered that on 15th November, 2007 he will be released.

His uncle went to receive him on 15th November, 2007. But he was shown a document saying that the British Government is seeking Rashid's extradition, therefore it is apprehended that he is to be implicated under some false offences on the basis of which he could be handed over to the British government.

Newspaper reports suggest that since there is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and UK, therefore it would be an illegal act on the part of the Government, to hand him over to Britain.

The spouse of Rashid and two of his innocent daughters have traveled to Islamabad all the way long from Bahawalpur in miserable condition.

They have appealed for Rashid's release and demanded from the government that they should be allowed to meet him. They also pleaded not to hand him over to any other country.

Since he has been released by all Pakistani Courts, and there is no charge against him and that on the basis of false fabricated accusation, no Pakistani national can be handed over to any other country.

Remarkably, mention of Rashid Rauf's case also appears in the International Herald Tribune (from the AP, in full again):

The family of Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners, appealed Thursday to Pakistani authorities to drop proceedings to extradite him to Britain and release him from custody.

"Rashid did nothing wrong and he is innocent and this has been proved in the court of law too ... please release him, let him meet his family and his two daughters," said his wife, Saira Rashid.

Rauf, who is of Pakistani origin, was arrested here in August 2006 on a tip from British investigators. He has been described as a key suspect in a purported plot to blow up jetliners flying from Britain to the United States which prompted a major security alert at airports worldwide and increased restrictions on carry-on items.

Rauf was arrested and charged in Pakistan with possessing chemicals that could be used in making explosives and with carrying forged travel documents. But the prosecution later withdrew the case against him, and the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi ordered his release.

Britain had asked Pakistan to hand over Rauf in connection with a 2002 murder inquiry in Britain that is separate from the alleged terrorism plot.

Rashid remains in jail awaiting a decision on the British request.

His lawyer, Hashmat Habib, said he has filed a petition to block the move, saying the two countries did not have an extradition treaty and that Rashid had already been found innocent of involvement in terrorism.

Members of Rashid's family said they also would appeal directly to Pakistan's human rights minister to block any extradition.

The irony in this "legal" battle over Rashid Rauf's future is very thick. One layer concerns the bogus bombing plot.

Another concerns those "chemicals that could be used in making explosives." Rashid Rauf allegedly had 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide. And rather than explain how peroxide in Pakistan could to be used to blow up airplanes flying to the USA from the UK, the Pakistani authorities dropped the charges.

Under normal rule of law Rashid Rauf would have been released from prison last week.

But this isn't normal; this is Pakistan under emergency rule, and the rule of law doesn't apply anymore.

The President, General Pervez Musharraf, claims his declaration of emergency is necessary to bring the country back to "normal".

This may also be considered ironic.

~~~

twenty-fourth in a series

Uninformed Nonsense: Juan Cole, Rashid Rauf, Liquid Bombs and Whole Cloth

Today's reading is from "Combating Muslim Extremism" by Professor Juan Cole, of the highly respected blog "Informed Comment", as published in the November 19, 2007, edition of The Nation. The piece reached me via George Mason University's History News Network.

Professor Cole's essay includes a short passage about the one "terrorism" case with which I am most familiar, that of Rashid Rauf [photo] and the so-called "Liquid Bombers". I am very unhappy to report that this passage contains a significant amount of fiction.

The rest of Professor Cole's essay may make perfect sense, or it may not. I don't know. For the purposes of this essay, I have set myself a much smaller task: to look at a single paragraph in depth, and to separate what is false from what is true.

For ease of discussion, I have broken the passage in question into four smaller sections, as follows:

The Administration clearly is not very interested in doing the hard work of dealing effectively with small fringe terrorist networks. That is why Osama bin Laden is at large and the CIA unit tracking him disbanded.

This is a highly contentious subject and the assertion is not only unsubstantiated but also absurd. How, pray tell, does the good professor know why Osama bin Laden is at large? Does he really expect us to believe that the administration talks about al Qaeda all the time because it considers al Qaeda a "fringe terrorist network" which is not worth dealing with?

Does he really believe that the administration hasn't made a serious effort to catch Osama bin Laden, a CIA asset whose family does business with the Bush family, because the administration is not very interested in doing the hard work?

Do we really spend $500 billion a year trying to do something the administration is not very interested in doing? I'm sorry to say so, but this explanation cuts no ice with me. So let us move on.

Next, Professor Cole says:

Successful counterterrorism involves good diplomacy and good police work.

And here I agree. I wish Professor Cole had thought to use a better illustration, though:

A case in point is the plot last summer by young Muslim men in London to bomb several airliners simultaneously using liquid explosives in innocent-looking bottles and detonators hidden in disposable cameras. Contrary to the allegations of skeptics, the techniques they envisaged were perfectly workable.

... because here I most emphatically disagree. The techniques envisaged by the plotters were utterly impossible, and if you're willing to spend a few more minutes reading, I will tell you why this is so. But first, let's deal with the rest of the passage.

Professor Cole continues:

The plotters were determined enough to make chilling martyrdom videos.

But determination is no substitute for technical ability. And if they couldn't do it, then it really doesn't matter how badly they wanted to do it! I wish I could flap my arms and fly. I really, really, wish I could do that! But I can't. So I won't.

And the alleged plotters could not have done what they were allegedly plotting to do.

How Do I Know This?

If I dare to speak with a voice of authority about this case, it is because I have done the research.

On the night of August 9, 2006, pro-Bush "Democrat" Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic Senatorial primary in Connecticut to the anti-war candidate, Ned Lamont. As soon as the result became clear, the Republican noise machine suddenly shifted into high gear, calling Democrats all over the country "Defeatocrats" and "soft on terror" because the Democratic primary voters of Connecticut had chosen Lamont over the faux-Democrat Lieberman. At the time I was guest-hosting a high-traffic blog, and I figured this was a newsworthy story. So I started digging. And since I would be writing for a larger than normal audience, I started digging hard. I've been digging hard at this story for the past 15 months.

While I was composing the piece, which came to be known as "An Avalanche Of Bullshit", breaking news arrived from the UK, telling us about two dozen Muslims who had been arrested for allegedly plotting to attack a dozen intercontinental airlines simultaneously. The synchronicity -- Democrats soft on terror while British allies foil a horrifying plot -- seemed too good to be true, and I kept digging.

Within a few days the British press had obtained the names of those who had been arrested (or so they thought: they wound up paying dearly for a couple of minor errors, but that's another story). The papers printed the names, and I set up Google alerts for all of them. (It was because of my Google alert for Rashid Rauf that I found Professor Cole's article at the History News Network.)

For the past 15 months, I have received email whenever any of those names appeared in any news or blog item, and I have read everything about all of them. In addition, I have done more reporting -- and more detailed reporting -- on this story than anyone else, anywhere.

I don't mean to be immodest here -- just truthful. Since August of 2006, I have spent hundreds of hours reading about this case. I've written an extensive series (of which this is the 21st installment) which links to hundreds of source articles. And at my other blog, "Winter Parking", I have posted copies of more than 160 news articles concerning the alleged mastermind and al Qaeda connection, Rashid Rauf.

Because of the nature of the alleged plot, I also did considerable research into the chemistry behind the alleged method of attack, and I acknowledge and thank my science adviser, Bruce, who has that rare combination -- a PhD and good common sense. Bruce's help has been most valuable, as has the assistance of a former Army explosives expert with whom I consulted while I was working on the Ronald Swerlein story.

A Simple Chemistry Lesson

According to the reports which scared us silly in August of 2006, the "Liquid Bombers" were allegedly plotting to take down as many as a dozen airliners en route to the USA from the UK, using bombs made from common household liquids. They were allegedly going to smuggle their ingredients onto the airplanes in soft-drink bottles, then create and detonate the bombs while the planes were in flight. Let's do a little chemistry and see how credible these allegations are.

There are three commonly-known explosives which can be made from hydrogen peroxide and other household ingredients. Hydrogen peroxide is a key ingredient because it has been mentioned in all technical accounts of the bomb-making aspect of the alleged plot, and also because the alleged al Qaeda connection, Rashid Rauf, faces trial in Pakistan for possession of articles for the purpose of terroism, in which the articles in question are bottles of hydrogen peroxide.

The three peroxide-based explosives which have been discussed in conjunction with this case are TATP, HMTD, and MEKP. For legal reasons, I won't link to the recipes for any of these compounds, and for security reasons I won't give enough detail for anyone to make them. I will, however, give you enough detail so that you can understand why the alleged plotters simply couldn't make any of these three explosives, not in sufficient quantity, and not on intercontinental flights.

TATP

Let's start with the first peroxide-based explosive mentioned in the press in connection with this case. Triacetone triperoxide, aka TATP, aka Acetone Peroxide, is reportedly called "the Mother of Satan" by the terrorists who try to make it, because it is so unstable. In other words, it tends to detonate prematurely.

But according to the official story of 7/7, TATP was the explosive used by the four notoriously uninvestigated London Bombers, each of whom supposedly wandered around with 10 kilograms of TATP in their backpacks before the "bombs" detonated, miraculously blowing the undercarriages of the trains upwards into the passenger compartments. It's quite a magical explosive, and according to an article published in the UK by the Guardian, TATP may have been the explosive the alleged plotters were allegedly plotting to make.

In a post called "To Mix The Impossible Bomb", I examined the process by which TATP is made. Here's a short and deliberately vague outline:

Start by mixing the acetone and the hydrogen peroxide together, in the right proportions, using lab-quality glassware (otherwise the impurities will destroy you). And be very diligent about chilling the mixture. You'll need to keep it cold throughout the entire process, otherwise you may get a weak and premature explosion. Add the third liquid, very gradually, stirring constantly and checking the temperature frequently. The addition of the third liquid starts the reaction, and the reaction gives off a lot of heat.

This will be inconvenient for you because the liquid ingredients are highly concentrated and the fumes are extremely noxious. But you need to keep the mixture very close to the freezing point, so you must add the third liquid as slowly as necessary to avoid overheating. When you've added enough of the third liquid, you can stop stirring. But you have to keep the mixture cold, and you have to wait.

The reaction is a slow one and it produces a white crystal. After six or eight hours (some sources say two or three days!), you can pour the result through a fine paper filter, to separate the crystals from the liquid. You can discard the liquid, but you should keep the crystals. They must be rinsed and dried before they can be used.

These explosive crystals formed by this reaction are very unstable and relatively powerful. But airplane fuselages are not cigar tubes. They are built to withstand a significant pressure differential, otherwise they couldn't fly at high altitudes. So it takes a significant quantity of these explosive crystals -- roughly 250 grams (half a pound) in a properly shaped charge, to blow a hole in the fuselage of a modern passenger airplane, according to one demolition expert whose work I read while researching the original series.

If all goes well, you can get as much as 8 grams (a quarter-ounce) of TATP crystals per liter (quart) of liquid. And you need about 250 grams (half a pound) of TATP, so you'll need roughly 32 litres (8 gallons) of liquid ingredients. Now: How are you going to mix that? If you do it all in one batch, you'll need a 40-liter (10-gallon) beaker, which will be difficult to smuggle onto the plane without attracting attention. Of course you can make the TATP in small batches, but then you will need multiple teams, and that means you'll need multiple restrooms.

How many restrooms on an intercontinental flight do you suppose could be occupied by Muslim men bearing glassware and large bags of ice, without attracting attention? It hardly seems possible to fit a 2-liter (half-gallon) flask in an airplane sink full of ice, but if you can do that, you'll only need sixteen teams (and sixteen washrooms). And of course if you make it in smaller batches, you'll need even more teams.

In summary, you will have big problems -- insurmountable problems! -- if you decide to blow up the planes using TATP. So what are your other options?

HMTD and MEKP

An article published by the New York Times on August 30, 2006 (which British subscribers were not allowed to read!), suggested that the alleged plotters may have been thinking of making Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD. And a bit of research revealed that while HMTD is made from a different combination of liquids than TATP, the processes by which they are produced are virtually identical. Crucially, you can't make HMTD any faster than you can make TATP. Again you'll have to chill the mixture and wait for crystals to form, then filter them out, wash them and dry them before they can be used.

If you try to make HMTD on a plane, you'll run into all the logistical problems inherent in trying to make TATP. In other words, it's impossible, unless you get all the passengers and crew to help you.

So what's left? Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, or MEKP.

The idea that the alleged plotters were planning on making MEKP has been floated on a few internet discussion boards, although to the best of my knowledge it has never been suggested in any mainstream news report. It does represent a third possibility, however, so the chemistry behind the synthesis of MEKP deserves some study.

MEKP differs from TATP and HMTD in that the reaction produces an explosive liquid, rather than crystals. So instead of filtering the result, the MEKP must be decanted -- never an easy task on a moving plane. And again, the plotters will need either an enormous piece of glassware and a way to keep it cold, or else uninterrupted access to more than a dozen washrooms for several hours at a time.

In other words, forget it. It can't be done, not without an enormous number of accomplices, not without the active cooperation of the flight crew, not unless the Atlantic crossing takes an inordinately long time.

To envisage one attack succeeding using this method is an excercise in fantasy. To envisage a dozen such attacks succeeding simultaneously is madness.

I do not say that the alleged plotters were not plotting along these lines. I have no way to know whether they were plotting or not; assuming they were, I have no way to know whether they were mad or simply clueless. But I do know, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that the alleged plot as described was absolutely impossible.

And to make a statement such as

Contrary to the allegations of skeptics, the techniques they envisaged were perfectly workable.

without offering any supporting evidence, or any indication of having done any research, is ... well ... I was about to say "unfathomable", but let's just say a statement like that doesn't bring any credit to its author.

And considering what's at stake -- ridiculous airport security, enhanced police powers, and further legitimization of the GWOT -- Professor Cole's very superficial treatment of this apparently bogus case strikes me as not only "uninformed nonsense" but much, much worse. And here's the reason:

None of this uninformed nonsense would have been necessary if Professor Cole had merely wished to establish the point on which I noted our agreement, namely that "successful counterterrorism involves good diplomacy and good police work". If that was the point he was trying to make, there were a thousand ways he could have illustrated it. And so ...

One cannot help but wonder why Professor Cole would tell a tale made of whole cloth, as it were. Could he be so woefully uninformed? Or could he be trying to prop up the phony war on phony terror? The questions are not pleasant, but then again, none of this is pleasant.

~~~

For my best estimate of what may have driven the alleged plotters, please see "Inadequate Deception: The Impossible Plots Of The Terror War".

~~~



In recent "Liquid Bomber" news, Rashid Rauf's petition for a bail hearing was accepted by a judge in Lahore last week after being rejected in Rawalpindi last month. He is scheduled to return to court in Lahore on November 6th.

As the Frontier Post reported:

On the orders of Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut, the kids and wife of the accused Rashid Rauf were allowed to meet him at the premises of the courtyard of the ATC [Anti-Terror Court] here.

When accused Rashid Rauf met his family he began to cry as the environment became sentimental and emotional [scenes] were witnessed.

The meeting continued for 20 minutes.

~~~

NEW! IMPROVED!
A previously posted version of this piece was longer and somewhat speculative in spots. It also contained some crucial spelling mistakes. I have removed passages that may have been extraneous and/or misleading, and fixed the spelling, too. I apologize for any confusion caused by this deviation from the normal procedure of editing articles before posting them.

~~~

twenty-first in a series

No Bail For Rashid Rauf, Alleged Liquid Bomber Mastermind, And No Court Date Either

Rashid Rauf, the alleged "mastermind" of the so-called "Liquid Bombers", has been denied bail by an Anti-Terrorist Court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He has been held since August of 2006, when his arrest was said to have triggered the arrests of 25 people in the UK and perhaps half a dozen more in Pakistan. Of the 25 arrested in Britain, ten (including Rashid Rauf's brother, Tayib Rauf) were released without charge, eleven have been charged with conspiracy to murder, and the other four have been charged with lesser terror-related offenses, such as failure to divulge information. Trial for those who have been charged is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2008, according to long-ago whispers.

In addition to the charges and upcoming trial, airport security was tightened dramatically after the arrests were made, and only relaxed much later, and then not entirely. So if you were thinking of taking a bottle of drinking water with you on your next flight, you can forget it. Why? Because of the Liquid Bombers!

According to the story floated at the time, the British Muslim wannabe-terrorists were plotting to take down multiple transcontinental airliners, more or less simultaneously, killing "hundreds of thousands of people" according to a breathless Michael Chertoff.

Their plot -- according to the story -- was a devious one: they were planning to circumvent airport security -- especially the bomb-sniffers -- by making their bombs on the planes, from common household liquids that they would bring onto the planes in their carry-on luggage.

And they were inspired, or directed, or at the very least al-Qaeda connected, by Rashid Rauf, a British-born Muslim real-terrorist who had fled to Pakistan following the murder of his uncle and who had been allied with a shifty sequence of murky characters ever since. Or so the story goes.

But then, like the trail in Robert Frost's famous poem, the paths begin to diverge.

Back in August of 2006, there were conflicting stories about Rashid Rauf's exact connection to the plot; there were conflicting stories about where, and when he had been arrested -- and why; and there were conflicting stories about how his arrest had triggered the arrests in England.

Some sources said Rashid Rauf was the mastermind of the plot, some said he was the mastermind's right-hand man, and some said he was merely the messenger. But nearly everybody said he was the al-Q'aeda connection -- everybody except the Pakistanis, who kept calling him a "key figure" in the investigation.

Some sources said the British had the whole crew under surveillance for months and were being patient since there was no danger and not enough incriminating evidence either, but the Americans were anxious to score some political points and as soon as they found out the British were following some wannabe-terrorists, they threatened to go into Pakistan and arrest the "mastermind" themselves. This threat, according to these sources, forced the Pakistani security services to arrest Rashid Rauf, to keep him out of the hands of the Americans if nothing else. But other sources hinted that all this was just a cover story put out by the British, who were the ones actually seeking to score political points, and doing so at the expense of the Americans.

Some sources said Rashid Rauf (or a friend to whom he sent some sort of a signal, or who had seen him being arrested) sent a text message to the UK Liquid Bombers, saying to go ahead with the plot. This message might have made sense if they all had airline tickets; or if they all had passports; or if they had all applied for passports -- which they hadn't. But all such details are conveniently left out of this version of the tale, in which the heroic British authorities promptly arrested all those who had received the text messages. Other sources say Rashid Rauf was arrested several days before the others and was tortured into revealing their names, after which they were summarily arrested.

British newspapers reported on a search of the woods near where the suspects lived, which cost about 30M pounds or roughly $60M before it was called off after four months. Ironically, at the same time as the search was stopped, all terror-related charges against Rashid Rauf were dropped!

And rightly so, from the chemical point of view, because although one can make a number of different explosives from freely available liquids, it is not possible -- for many reasons -- to make any of them on an airplane, unless you have unlimited time, space, ventilation, and refrigeration, to name just a few of the requirements.

The charges against Rashid Rauf were dropped last December and since then, the Liquid Bombers have dropped out of media sight, even though the charges were reinstated shortly thereafter.

It's been a long time since Rashid Rauf or any of his alleged accomplices were mentioned in any Western media, but the travel restrictions are still in place, and Rashid Rauf is still being held without any indication that a trial may be imminent, and all this rigmarole, unless I'm reading this story way wrong, plays directly into the hands of the British.

The British won't sign an extradition treaty with Pakistan because, as they explain it, Pakistan has the death penalty. But without an extradition treaty, the British have very little chance to get their hands on Rashid Rauf, for a trial. This they apparently would love to do. But they are bound to honor Pakistan's legal claim against the suspect, so the Brits have said they would wait for charges against Rashid Rauf to be settled in Pakistan before they press for his extradition to the UK, where he is wanted not only in connection with the Liquid Bomb plot but also because of his uncle's murder. That's the story; but the legal case against Rashid Rauf appears to be proceeding (if that's the right word) as slowly as possible; and this makes Britain wait, and it raises the possibility that the others will be tried without the testimony of Rashid Rauf, and it remains my hypothesis that this suits the British just fine!

Because the case is not what it is cracked up to be, in any respect. The alleged plotters couldn't possibly have killed hundreds of thousands of people. They probably couldn't have killed any people. They surely couldn't have brought down any airplanes. There's nothing to be afraid of; no reason at all why you shouldn't be able to bring a bottle of drinking water on your next flight. And if all this ever came out at a trial -- especially a trial involving Rashid Rauf, the alleged mastermind and al-Q'aeda connection -- a public airing of the facts could demolish the whole war on terror, not to mention the CIA, ISI and MI6.

In short, there's more coverup here than plot, and this short article from Khalid Iqbal of Pakistan's The News is very good news for the coverup:

Court rejects Rashid Rauf’s bail plea

Rawalpindi: The Special Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) here on Wednesday rejected bail application of accused Rashid Rauf allegedly involved in a plane hijacking case in 2006.

The hearing in his bail application was completed two weeks back. The court announced its judgment on Wednesday and rejected bail application of the accused.

Rashid Rauf has allegedly been involved in a plane hijacking case registered with the Airport Police Station last year. He was arrested from Bahawalpur and explosive material and weapons were recovered from his possession. According to police, the accused wanted to hijack a plane, which was going to New York from Britain.

Shaukat Aziz Saddique, counsel of Rashid Rauf, told ‘The News’ that he would move the bail application of his client in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench.

Of note: the "explosive material" recovered from his possession was hydrogen peroxide, one of the common liquids that can be used to make explosives.

This is the first report, to my knowledge, that mentions weapons being seized from Rashid Rauf. But that's no surprise as the story keeps changing all the time anyway.

This is also the first report, to my knowledge, in which the accused wanted to hijack a plane going from New York to Britain. In previous reports, he wanted to facilitate others who were trying to hijack a dozen planes going from Britain to the United States. But whatever...

Even if it were possible -- which it is not -- to make enough explosives to damage an airliner, from hydrogen peroxide and other common liquids, in a short time, without any other technical requirements -- even if all that were possible, nobody has ever explained how a man in Pakistan -- hydrogen peroxide or no! -- was going to blow up a plane flying between Britain and the US.

It's one of the great mysteries of our century, one that nobody even wants to think about anymore. And it looks like it's gonna stay this way for a long time. His attorney is going to ask for bail in another court, in another city. And the judge will most likely say "No". And months will have elapsed. And nobody else will even breathe a word about it.

But, as the man says, stay tuned, for I will surely keep you posted.

~~~

twentieth in a series

Baghdad Residents Protest Against Dividing Wall

Hundreds of Iraqis marched on Wednesday in a non-sectarian protest against the building of a concrete wall separating their Baghdad neighborhoods.

AFP reports:

Hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis marched on Wednesday in protest at the building by US troops of a tall concrete wall separating their northwest Baghdad neighbourhoods, an AFP photographer said.

The protesters complained that the wall would promote sectarianism and demanded its removal.

Residents said that US forces last week began building the two-kilometre (1.25 mile) wall along the border of the mainly Shiite al-Shuala and adjoining Sunni-majority al-Ghazaliyah neighbourhoods without consulting them.

The demonstrators -- tribal leaders, clerics and local residents -- marched from one neighbourhood to the other carrying banners reading "No to the dividing wall" and "The wall is US terrorism."

Perhaps it's not "terrorism" in the sense we are used to seeing the word. It's not Muslim extremists with box-cutters and hydrogen peroxide. But the wall imposes extreme difficulties on innocent people who have had more than enough imposed on them already.

The protesters demanded in a statement that the government intervene to halt the wall and ensure that the section already completed is demolished.

"The wall is in accordance with Al-Qaeda's plans," the statement said, adding that the barrier was being built to "separate family from family."

"The wall is dividing small neighbourhoods and will lead to the partitioning of Iraq," said Hassan al-Taii, a leader of the large Taii Sunni tribe.

He demanded that the Baghdad government destroy the wall and act against those "planting division and sectarianism among Iraqis."

Unfortunately the only thing propping up the government is the military force planting division and sectarianism among Iraqis -- in accordance with Al-Qaeda's plans!

It's eerie how often George Bush's plans and Al-Qaeda's plans coincide.

Since early this year, US and Iraqi forces have been erecting walls around or between some Baghdad neighbourhoods in what their commanders call a "concrete caterpillar" designed to protect residents from sectarian violence.

In April the military came under flak when it began constructing a ring of six-tonne (14,000 pounds) concrete blocks around the Sunni Adhamiyah neighbourhood to prevent it from being mortared from the nearby Shiite areas.

This is, a preposterous excuse if there ever was one: are we supposed to believe nobody has artillery that can lob shells over the wall?

No, we're probably not supposed to believe that. We're not supposed to think about it at all.

Many Iraqis argue that the barricades will only heighten tensions between Sunnis and Shiites by segregating the once mixed city.

This is indeed part of the plan -- a plan of divide-and-conquer which the president and his courtiers are pleased to call "democracy".

This is the democracy we are bringing to the Middle East. This is the noble cause for which more than 3700 Americans have now died. This is the grand scheme for which more than a million Iraqis have been murdered, and millions more have been made homeless -- and stateless!

Do the millions of dispossessed Iraqis count for nothing? Or is their plight what General Petraeus refers to when he talks of "progress"?

During Wednesday's protest, demonstrators carried Iarqi flags and chanted, "No, no to terrorism", and "Yes, yes to unity."

"This wall does not provide security and stability," said Shiite cleric Abdul Baqir al-Subaihawi.

"The government must maintain security in Baghdad rather than separate its neighbourhoods," he added.

What are they doing? They're painting the wall.

Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr has urged artists to paint the concrete barriers springing up around Baghdad with murals showing what he dubbed the "ugly face" of the US military in Iraq.

The Baghdad council has employed professional artists to paint the walls with calming landscapes and scenes depicting Iraq's natural beauty, but Sadr -- a firebrand preacher and militia leader -- had something more dramatic in mind.

"I call on you to draw magnificent tableaux that depict the ugliness and terrorist nature of the occupier, and the sedition, car bombings, blood and the like he has brought upon Iraqis," he said.

And what are we doing? Anything?

For more background, please see these two excellent pieces from Chris Floyd:

In the Ghetto: Bush Begins Forced Ethnic Partition of Baghdad

Ghetto Blaster: Bush Accelerates Concrete Cage Plan for Baghdad

Report Says Fate Of Alleged Liquid Bomber Mastermind Will Be Decided Today!

After more than a year of detention, Rashid Rauf, alleged mastermind of the so-called "Liquid Bombers plot", will be brought before Pakistan's Federal Review Board later today, according to a report from the Daily Times.

“We will present Rashid Rauf and Raingzieb Ahmed before the Federal Review Board (FRB) on Friday, where the judges will decide the fate of their cases,” a law enforcement agency source told Daily Times on Thursday.

The report says:

Rauf was arrested on August 9, 2006, in Multan while headed for Rawalpindi.

If this is true, then one of the stories we've been told, that Rashid Rauf was tortured for several days before he revealed the names of the British co-conspirators, is false, because the 25 people arrested in Britain were picked up on the 9th and 10th of August. The alternative tale, that Rashid Rauf (or a friend) sent a text message to the British co-conspirators saying to go ahead with the plot, would appear to be the only remaining credible explanation, if it were credible at all. Only one of the people arrested last August had an airline ticket. Some had not even applied for passports. Were they expected to board planes without tickets of passports because they got a text message from a stranger in a foreign country?

According to the most recent reliable reports, Rashid Rauf is charged with possession of objects for the purposes of terrorism, specifically 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide that supposedly threatens airliners traveling from the UK to the USA. He also faces charges of forgery and impersonation in regard to allegedly carrying false papers. But this is not considered a terrorist offense and the Federal Review Board, as I understand it, must dispose of the terror-related charge first.

Of the 25 Britons arrested last August 9th and 10th, ten have been released without charge and the remaining 15 are due to stand trial beginning in the spring of 2008. In another few hours we may know whether Rashid Rauf will be joining them.

But on the other hand, we may still know nothing. The Pakistani legal system has a way of moving people backwards. Detentions get extended, charges never actually get formalized, decisions get reversed and appealed and reinstated.

So for example, the terror-related charges against Rashid Rauf were dropped last December but quietly reinstated a short time later. He was brought to court several months after his arrest but the police had not yet filled out a proper charge sheet. He was promised a quick appearance months ago and instead the term of his detention has been repeatedly extended.

I will try to keep you posted on the strange and bogus case of Rashid Rauf, alleged mastermind.

~~~

nineteenth in a series.

Ronald Swerlein Charged: Ten Counts Of Illegal Explosives, One Count Of Drug Possession

The continuing saga of Ronald Swerlein continues to unfold and the media splash remains confined within Colorado state lines. Ronald Swerlein appeared in court on Friday and was charged with ten counts of illegal possession of explosives and one count of illegal drug possession. In this post, excerpts and links to the newest handful of reports, all from news sources in Colorado, as well as a few comments about aspects of this story that make you go "Hmmmm...."

The snazziest graphic of the day comes (with a peacock) from Chris Vanderveen at 9 News dot com in Colorado whose headline reads:

Man charged after explosives pulled out of home

Boulder County prosecutors have charged a man with 10 counts of illegal explosives possession on Friday.

Ronald Swerlein, 50, offered no comment as he, his wife, and his attorney walked into a Boulder County courtroom Friday afternoon.

His attorney, Jeffrey Larson, did say in court that he believes Swerlein "has no intention of harming anybody or frightening anybody."

Over the weekend, Longmont Police say they pulled out from Swerlein's home more than 200 chemicals, numerous guns, and even a few magazines connected with eco-terrorist organizations. In court documents Swerlein has reportedly told police he was interested in model rocketry.

Police have not said if they think Swerlein posed a threat to anyone other than himself.

Police first searched Swerlein's home on June 15 after a neighbor reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.

Swerlein will be back in court next month.

Technically it is true that police searched Swerlein's home after receiving a report three days earlier. It is also technically true that police searched Swerlein's home after 9/11, or that police searched Swerlein's home after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, for that matter. Personally, when I think of this case in its proper historical context, I believe it's important to note that police searched Ronald Swerlein's home after Lincoln was assassinated.

If you get my drift.

This short report gives no hint that police had received 15 reports of explosions in Swerlein's neighborhood dating back to January of 2006. Regular readers of this frozen page know that already, of course, because they've already read "Ronald Swerlein's Out On Bail And Going Home But The Neighborhood Is Safe Because The Cops Have All His Explosives, Weapons, Glassware, Magazines ...".

It also doesn't mention the one drug-related charge. Ahem. Next up in our roundup of the Colorado regional media Swerlein extravaganza is a report from the AP via KJCT-8 (ABC, Grand Junction / Montrose):

Longmont man charged with possessing illegal explosives

A Longmont man accused of keeping explosive chemicals and handguns in his home was charged today with ten counts of possessing illegal explosives and one count of drug possession.

Fifty-year-old Ronald Swerlein, a retired electrical engineer, was arrested last Sunday after local and federal agencies spent the weekend searching his home. Neighbors had reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.

Authorities says they found more than 400 chemicals in Swerlein's house, including homemade nitroglycerin. Officers say they also found model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets and books on homemade explosives.

They also reported finding magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI considers to be a terrorist group.

Swerlein told police he was developing fuel for model rockets.

Homemade nitroglycerin?

That's the first indication I've seen that Swerlein's nitroglycerin was homemade.

Why would you make nitroglycerin?

Because it's not too difficult to make and you can't legally buy it.

How much of it would you need? Police reportedly found half a pound of it. Would that be enough for a model rocket hobby?

It would, and it would also be enough to make a good-sized car bomb!

If you want to fuel a rocket, you need a fuel stable enough not to explode on the way to the launch pad, no? Police detonated Swerlein's nitroglycerin -- half a pound of it -- in his driveway last Saturday, because it's so unstable they couldn't risk moving it! How could something this flaky serve as a rocket fuel?

It may not be all that simple!

I asked my science advisor several questions along these lines and here's what I learned:

First of all you have to understand how much difference there is between a rocket and a bomb. Think of fireworks: a rocket with a bomb on it. The rocket has to fly. It has to have a long powerful steady thrust in order to go up in the air. If the fuel burns too fast -- if it explodes -- it ruins the rocket and it doesn't fly anywhere. In effect it becomes a bomb. Heck, it already is a bomb; it becomes more dangerous because it's going to explode on the ground rather than up in the air.

OOOhhh! Science! ... Seriously, though: my chemistry background is not too bad and my science advisor has a PhD so having him around helps a lot.

Meanwhile back in media-land, FOX 31 has the most detailed coverage of the three television reports that came in late last night:

Longmont Man Charged With Possessing Illegal Explosives

A Longmont man accused of keeping explosive chemicals and handguns in his home was charged Friday with 10 counts of possessing illegal explosives and one count of drug possession.

Ronald Swerlein, 50, a retired electrical engineer, was arrested June 17 after local and federal agencies spent the weekend searching his home. Neighbors had reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.

Authorities said they found more than 400 chemicals in Swerlein's house, including homemade nitroglycerin and MEKP, a volatile chemical that had been stabilized and hidden in the basement.

Officers said they also found model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets, books on homemade explosives, expensive chemistry glassware, a handwritten "to-do" list and warning note, flare guns, a Taser weapon and three metal grenade shells.

They also reported finding magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI considers to be a terrorist group.

Swerlein told police he was developing fuel for model rockets. He and his lawyer, Jeffrey Larson, declined to comment when they walked into a Boulder County courtroom Friday.

Larson has said he believes Swerlein's neighborhood is safe.

This is the first report I've seen that mentioned

model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets

... and it's not surprising when little bits of evidence dribble out here and there; in fact it's interesting to watch.

Speaking of interesting, most of the detail so far has come from Pierrette J. Shields of The Daily Times-Call who filed this report prior to Swerlein's court appearance:

‘I am not sure I feel all that safe’: Explosives arrest rattles neighbors

Longmont detectives are trying to make sense of evidence seized from the home, Lewis told residents. None of it so far indicates Swerlein had any plans to use the explosives outside of his own yard, he said.

“Truly, we have that he was doing this as one of his hobbies and his projects,” Lewis said.

Police have cleared the house and Swerlein and his wife may move back in and begin cleaning the mess left behind by searches and tear gas if they choose. That left some neighbors uneasy.

“What if he wants to get revenge on the neighbors who turned him in?” neighborhood resident Dennis Bruns asked.

Butler said he empathizes with neighbors, but said the police do not have the authority to keep him out the the neighborhood or his home.

“We do not believe he will be able to do what he has been doing in the past,” Butler said. “We will be doing extra patrols in the area.”

Lewis noted that Swerlein’s bond conditions require that he not possess chemicals or weapons. Swerlein has not been charged or tried and has a right to be presumed innocent, Lewis noted. He will not be under police surveillance and control.

I'm anxious to see what Pierrette Shields will have next. I'm especially hoping for an answer to the question lingering in my mind at the moment:

Nobody so far who has reported anything about Swerlein having been remanded or anything to that effect; presumably he is still out on $50,000 bail and still free to clean up the damage from the tear gas and resume his normal peaceful life as it was ... or as it would have been without any chemicals or weapons or magazines ... is Ronald Swerlein still free on $50,000 bond?

In the Rocky Mountain News, Vanessa Miller reports:

Longmont man in court today in explosives raid

Longmont police Sgt. Tim Lewis said he expects Swerlein will be charged with more than two counts of possession and use of explosives — felony charges carrying a prison sentence of two to 12 years.

Swerlein was in fact charged with ten counts of explosives violations and one count of drug possession.

Swerlein paid the required 10 percent of his $50,000 bond to leave the Boulder County Jail on Tuesday.

Is that right? Did he really pay only 10% of the $50,000 bond the judge set? If I'm reading this right, that's $5000 bail, and remember that even after being charged he may still be free on until his next court appearance, as far as we know ...

Now my poor frozen brain comes screeching to a halt and says:

Now just hang on a minute!! Let's speculate just this once, shall we?

What if -- instead of Ronald Swerlein -- this man's name was Abdul Muhammed?

How long do you suppose it would take before he was living on a tropical island, enjoying some lemon chicken sweetened by a choice of two desserts?

How can I ever recover? Oooh. Perhaps I can't!! ;-( Because Vanessa Miller also says:

Among the chemical brews found in the tri-level house, police reported, were nitroglycerin, the main ingredient in dynamite, and M.E.K.P., the explosive linked to the liquid ban on air travel.

Ahem. If I may...

Not to blow my own nose or anything like that, but I happen to have written a sixteen-part series on the so-called "liquid bombers", whose alleged plot was reportedly foiled in August, 2006 and which led to the current so-called 3-1-1 carry-on restrictions.

The alleged plot was supposedly foiled after the arrest of Rashid Rauf, the so-called "ringleader" or "mastermind" or "messenger" but certainly a "key person" and almost always fingered as "the al-Q'aeda connection" to the alleged plot.

Rashid Rauf is currently in a Pakistani prison charged with possession of 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide for the purposes of terrorism. One of the questions that repeatedly surfaces in my mind with respect to this case runs: How could 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide in Pakistan blow up 10 or 12 airplanes headed to the USA from Britain?

So it's a great big mystery and a fascinating (though sickening) one, and to make a long story shorter, I have read and squirreled away hundreds of articles about Rashid Rauf and the so-called "Liquid Bombers" and this is the first time I have ever seen MEKP mentioned in connection with this alleged plot ... so just before my chilled and tiny brain went completely hypothermic, I asked The Google:

"Did I miss a connection somewhere? Do you know anything about Rashid Rauf and MEKP?"

And The Google said:

"Yes! those names appear together on two pages!"

I was shocked!! Shocked, I tell you!!

"Two whole pages?"

I exclaimed!

"What on Earth do they say?"

The Google replied:

One says "If it was a peroxide based liquid explosive I would have thought they would have been using MEKP" ...

and the other says "Liquid Bomber exposed as ISI agent / plot was used to renew fledging support for WOT"

Well as you must have guessed I could go on and on, but that's my story for today -- a story of Ronald Swerlein, who would surely be looking at the world through a narrow slot if he were fortunate enough to be born under a different name, or in a different skin ... and a story of a nearly frozen blogger and The Google. working together to catapult the propaganda -- right back over the fence.

And now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get colder...

~~~

[ related posts ]

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Police Seize Huge Cache Of Explosives From Colorado Home, But Say It's Not Enough For An Act Of Terrorism

Friday, June 22, 2007
Ronald Swerlein's Out On Bail And Going Home But The Neighborhood Is Safe Because The Cops Have All His Explosives, Weapons, Glassware, Magazines ...