Trust the Ferret, the Ferret is Wise

But when I see a news story about British police arresting a bunch of would-be terrorists after having them under survelliance for six months, I take that as a good thing, and a reason to be less scared, rather than a reason to be more frightened. But some people seem to take it as a moment of "HOLY SHIT PEOPLE WANT TO KILL US!" and think that means there's terrorists under every bush. No. There's not. There's a very small percentage of people who are willing to do this kind of thing and have the means to do anything. At least as long as they have other options, or we haven't say, killed all of their family by bombing.

Especially when the last "Terrorist threat" that the British police broke up was a bunch of guys who were going to blow us all up with liquid binary explosives that would take hours and extreme cold to mix in a very smelly way, with chemicals they didn't even have yet.

Here's the BBC's take, make sure you read the bit at the end.
And here's breathless fearmongering over at Bizarro world. Warning, the comments over at RedState are completely disconnected from reality.
And here's a bit of breathless fearmongering about the government from a different source.

My guess? I can't guess on the truth of the actual claimed plot until more info comes out. But I'm confident that the danger's been hyped. Terrorists are not going to kill you in your beds. Sleep well, citizens.

So, the British have charged fifteen of the guys they arrested in the wake of the "airline plot". Four have been released, and five are being held awaiting charges, which the British government has to do within seven days or release them.

An Article from the LA Times

And yet...so?

First of all, the hype around the arrests? Ten planes, "unimaginable destruction"? No. It's perfectly imaginable. Ten planes fall out of the sky, somewhere probably between 1,000 and 2,000 people total on board.

Except... "British and European counter-terrorism officials said they now believe the suspects planned to down about six jets, perhaps fewer."

And "Dozens of searches turned up six videos in which suspects described their reasons for participating in a plot to smuggle aboard materials to make liquid explosives while in flight, British and European officials said."

Okay. So, these guys didn't have passports, but they were busy screwing around and making "martyrdom videos" with a camcorder and webcams. With "bombs" that would take a lot of time and care to make in an airport bathroom. Which would be interrupted by the line of angry people waiting to go to the bathroom. Seriously, this is the kind of plot we're supposed to wet ourselves and run from? These guys who were approaching it like a bunch of fratboys psyching themselves up by taping each other? THIS is the great existential threat to our nation?

Sweet fucking Christmas. I can't take a bottle of hand lotion on a plane because of these yahoos? I dread to think of how our governments would react to a terrorist threat that wasn't run by complete morons.

Remember that plane that was diverted to Boston the other day? It was because a 59 year old lady had a tube of hand cream and a book of matches. BBC

And how about those guys who were going to blow up DOZENS OF PLANES, on a SCALE NEVER BEFORE SEEN? Well, they're still being held by the British. Most of them, anyway. A couple were let go without charges.

Of course, "Two top Pakistani intelligence agents said Wednesday that the would-be bombers wanted to carry out an al Qaeda-style attack to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11 strikes but were too "inexperienced" to carry out the plot, AP reports.

The agents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if the terror cell members arrested in Pakistan and Britain had appropriate weapons and explosives training, they could have emulated attacks like the ones on September 11, 2001.

The detainees in Britain and Pakistan had not attended terror-training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan and had relied on information gleaned from text books on how to make bombs, the officials said, according to AP."

And if I had the appropriate training and equipment, I could climb buildings like Spider-Man, or build a space ship.

Oh, and the British police had all of them under surveillance. For almost a year. But the pushed for early arrests. And, apparently, "In contrast to previous reports, one senior British official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports."

And they hadn't even gotten all of the chemicals required for any potential bomb, or even tested it. With no tickets. Or passports. While they're under surveillance. So why arrest them now?

Partially, because of the testimony of a guy arrested in Pakistan. "Reports from Pakistan suggest that much of the intelligence that led to the raids came from that country and that some of it may have been obtained in ways entirely unacceptable here. In particular Rashid Rauf, a British citizen said to be a prime source of information leading to last week's arrests, has been held without access to full consular or legal assistance. Disturbing reports in Pakistani papers that he had "broken" under interrogation have been echoed by local human rights bodies."

Ah. So testimony from a guy who was probably tortured. About a group of guys who were nowhere near ready to blow up any planes, and were already under surveillance. That's why we got huge headlines about "TERRORIST PLOT FOILED! BAD GUYS WERE GOING TO BLOW UP PLANES WITH MILK BOTTLES OMG!!!!"

What kind of bullshit is this? Sweet fucking Christmas. THAT'S why we can't take carry on baggage onto airplanes any more? To quote Teresa Nielsen Hayden, I deeply resent the way this administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist."

I was going to link to today's Wondermark, by David Malki! who's an awesome dude I met at the con in New York, because it's a really awesome comic and a good busting of the stupid "security" rules for airplanes.

But boingboing already did, so I'd be willing to bet you've all already seen it.