More questions about the liquid bomb plot
Thursday, August 17, 2006
James Galbraith, Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, poses some very interesting questions with regard to the alleged plot to blow up 12 airliners in his article Groundhog Day post at The Nation.
From all official statements so far, we are led to believe that August 10 was a highly developed, far-advanced conspiracy, under surveillance for some time, which could have been put into action within just a few days. And perhaps 8/10 really was the biggest thing since 9/11. But then again, perhaps it wasn’t. We don’t know yet. And it’s not too early to ask the questions on which final judgment must depend.
Well, then. Here is a checklist of some things we should shortly be hearing about. Bombs. Chemicals. Detonators. Labs. A testing ground. Airline tickets. Passports. Witnesses. Suspicious neighbors. Suspicious parents. Suspicious friends. Threats. Confessions. Let me spell this out: By definition, you cannot bomb an aircraft unless you have a bomb. In this case, we are told that there were no bombs; rather, the conspirators planned to bring on board the makings of a bomb: chemicals and a detonator. These would be mixed on board.
He goes on to detail the many questions which remain unanswered and others, for which the answers point to the alleged conspiracy as overblown political drama.