Terrorism Crimes—Trans-Atlantic Plot, New Strategy, and Egyptian Students

Terrorism is back in the headlines in a major way today as British law enforcement authorities have arrested 21 people who are alleged to be part of a massive plot to “simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the United States using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage.”^[1] All liquids have been banned on trans-Atlantic flights,^[2] and even some domestic flights have banned liquids.

According to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, “the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and set them off with detonators disguised as electronic devices.”^[3] According to two US counterterrorism officials, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Continental Airlines were the targets of the plot, specifically, “flights to major airports in New York, Washington, and California.”^[4]

There are few other details about the arrests, such as just how close the plot was to being carried out and who the suspects are, though US officials are quick to point out that it has the hallmark of an Al Qaeda plot.^[5]

The “war” against terrorism has never been very organized, and “early this summer, a new strategy for combating terrorism … arrived on President Bush’s desk.”^[6] This National Implementation Plan was written “by officials at the National Counterterrorism Center,” and its goal in its 160 pages is to “bring[] order and direction of the fight against terrorism.^[7] According to the US comptroller general, more than $430 billion has been spent on “overseas military and diplomatic counterterrorism operations,” and while White House officials say that the expenditures and the expansion of counter-terror efforts domestically have produced an environment in which there has been no attack on US soil since 2001, “critics say that after nearly five years, the fight against terrorism often seems like a chaotic work in progress.”^[8] A senior FBI official has said that the “FBI operated on the assumption that ‘al-Qaeda was The Sopranos, with a boss, an underboss, the consiglieri and the captains who ran the cells,’”^[9] which is a philosophy that somewhat still exists as—publicly, at least—the FBI says that terrorist organizations are somewhat analogous to organized crime syndicates. The National Implementation Plan seems to be calling for what many people said was necessary at the very beginning of the War on Terrorism, namely less focus on military actions, and more diplomacy and law enforcement approaches.^[10] This will be a difficult approach, because the United States has a Vice President who has said that terrorism is not a law enforcement issue.^[11] As seen today, however, law enforcement seems to have thwarted an attack, something that military power would likely be unable to have accomplished without the loss of life.

Finally, an update on the 11 missing Egyptian students: it seems that three of them have been located. One of the students was arrested in Minneapolis, and two others turned themselves in to police in Manville, New Jersey.^[12] There have been no apparent ties to terrorist or criminal activity revealed, but it’s a testament to the diminished stature of the United States in the eyes of the world that the family of one of the missing students is concerned that the United States might torture them if they are located because of the heightened fears surrounding the UK’s terrorism arrests today.^[13]

---

[1] Danica Kirka, Foiled Plot Brings New Security, Delays, AP (via Yahoo!), Aug. 10, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Karen DeYoung, A Fight Against Terrorism—and Disorganization, Wash. Post, Aug. 9, 2006.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] See our post on April 19.
[12] Dan Eggen et al., 3 Visiting Egyptian Students Held; 8 Missing, Aug. 10, 2006.
[13] Maggie Michael, Families: Egyptians May Have Sought Work, AP (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer), Aug. 10, 2006.