Judge In Liquid Bomber Trial Says Verdict Need Not Be Unanimous

The judge running the trial of the so-called "Liquid Bombers" has told the jury that it may return a verdict without unanimous agreement.

The judge, Mr. Justice Calvert-Smith [photo], gave the jury the "majority option" on Thursday, their eleventh day of deliberation.

The jury can now convict or acquit the defendants based on an 11-1 or even a 10-2 majority.

The move by Mr. Justice Calvert-Smith was not unexpected.

Three weeks ago, I wrote:

... If I were on the jury, ... 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 ...

If you're comfortable with basic arithmetic and you understand how the calendar works, you might be asking yourself difficult questions, like:

Is WP clairvoyant? How could he know three weeks ago that the jury wouldn't reach a quick decision, when they've only spent eleven days deliberating?

There's no supernatural explanation. In addition to the time spent deliberating, the jurors have also enjoyed a two-week holiday.

The break may be a meager reward for having spent four months listening to lawyers, but on the other hand, how does it help the jury to focus on a decision?

The "majority option" is considered controversial in some places, where jury verdicts are taken seriously precisely because of their unanimity. It is ostensibly used to avoid mistrials in cases where one or two jury members are unconvinced.

This line of thought is based on the notion that a relatively quick and inexpensive decision is preferable to a correct one. (Any resemblance between this and the idea which brought us our current president is all too real.)

The "majority option" has been effectively used to obtain five convictions (and five life sentences) in a high-profile case which had much in common with this one:

The defendants -- a group of young Muslim men -- were accused of wanting to make HMTD bombs, although they hadn't actually made any. And their alleged plot had been infiltrated at an early stage by a government "informant", whose role has now been wiped from the pages of history.

Was the "informant" an agent-provocateur, driving the plot along and pushing it in directions it wouldn't have gone otherwise? If so, it wouldn't be the first time.

It doesn't take much imagination to see how useful the "majority option" would be in situations where the government's case is less than convincing, or less than legitimate. In such cases it might be considered necessary to sidestep one or two jurors who could see that things weren't right.

Considering that the police had a surveillance camera in the alleged plotters' "bomb-making factory", and that the prosecution obviously doesn't have solid proof of their allegations, I would be one of the jurors the "majority option" was invoked to sidestep.

And this is definitely a case in which things aren't right. The plot as alleged was six kinds of impossible, and that can only mean one thing.

~~~

thirty-sixth in a series

British Papers Paid Hundreds Of Thousands To Families Of Alleged Liquid Bombers: Why?

[Updated below]

Mistakes were made when the so-called "Liquid Bombers" were arrested, and in two instances, British national dailies reported information which turned out to be false. These false reports led to claims of defamation which have cost the publishers hundreds of thousands to settle out of court.

In the first instance, it was reported that a British man had been arrested, held overnight, and released without charges. But later a consortium of newspapers published an apology saying he had never been arrested at all, and they paid £170,000 (about $330,000) to settle a claim filed on his behalf.

The second instance concerned a man about whom many different reports were published. Thus it was variously reported that he had been arrested or detained for questioning, in Britain or in Pakistan. But later a group of newspapers apologized, saying that he had not been arrested or detained or even questioned by any police, anywhere. Again a substantial settlement was paid, but in this instance the amount was not disclosed.

When these stories came out, we didn't know very much about the people involved in the settlements. But now, thanks to the trial of the British suspects, we know a bit more.

The £170,000 settlement was paid to Amjad Sarwar. His brother, Assad Sarwar [top photo], has been described as the gang's "quartermaster" and appears to have been the intended bomb-maker.

Assad Sarwar, according to the British prosecutors, bought the bomb-making chemicals and the glassware, was responsible for experimenting with hydrogen peroxide, and held the martyrdom videos made by the other alleged plotters, although he hadn't made one himself. According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, prosecutors told the court that "Assad did not intend to die himself." He had other, bigger, plans.

The undisclosed settlement was paid to Abdul Rauf. His son, Rashid Rauf [second photo], who was arrested in Pakistan, was the alleged al Qaeda connection to the alleged plot. But Rashid Rauf has played no role in the trial, because he's missing. He supposedly slipped away from a police escort last December while on his way to a court appearance. And he hasn't been seen since, although five policemen were arrested after his "escape" and nine have been sacked in its wake.

Where would the "Liquid Bomb" plot be without Rashid Rauf and Assad Sarwar? There would be no al Qaeda connection, no bomb-making expert, no bomb-making chemicals, nothing! So these are bad guys of the highest order: indispensable bad guys who allegedly meant us great harm. Therefore it makes some sense to ask a few impertinent questions, such as:

Why have the British press paid their families hundreds of thousands of pounds? We're told it's because they printed some erroneous information; but is this true?

If it is, where did the erroneous information come from? Nobody's saying; so I'm asking: Where do you think it came from?

Let's put it this way: If you were a reporter and the police told you they had arrested Jim Bim, would you believe them? If anyone else told you Jim Bim had been arrested, would you believe them? Or would you check it out first? And with whom would you check it out? You see what I mean?

Or to come at it another way: A few days ago in Pakistan, a police superintendent told a press conference that police had raided a residence where Rashid Rauf supposedly lives, but the suspect had fled before they arrived. He says they'll try again.

But meanwhile a Pakistani journalist has reported that Rashid Rauf's name doesn't even appear on the government's list of terrorists they're looking for. So it might be a while before the police pay another visit to Rashid Rauf's place.

On the other hand, his father can probably afford to visit him -- wherever he is.

As for Amjad Sarwar and his brother Assad, we'll just have to see what happens in the trial, won't we? The jury are nearing the end of their two-week holiday, and perhaps a verdict is imminent ... or perhaps not ... as the Terror War gets weirder and weirder ... but I digress.

What has gone on here with this bad reporting and these out-0f-court settlements?

You don't suppose the sponsors are paying off the families of the cutouts, do you?

If that were the case, it would make perfect sense that they'd be doing it with somebody else's money, wouldn't it?

It would also make perfect sense to see these little episodes as messages from the sponsors of the plot to the big British media. Under such a scenario, the message would say, "We can cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds anytime we like." And the effect would be somewhat chilling, would it not?

These are difficult questions, aren't they? Because who else but the police could plant erroneous information of this sort on the media? And who else would the media protect, having been deceived not once but twice?

If this is an unsettling line of thought, then perhaps we should consider the alternative.

What if the originally published reports were correct, and the apologies and "corrections" were bogus?

That doesn't help much, does it?

~~~

[UPDATE] Here's a bit more detail on the papers involved, prompted by a great question from James at Winter Patriot dot com. James asked whether the Telegraph was one of the papers involved, and the answer is:

The papers that paid Amjad Sarwar £170,000 were:

the Guardian,
the Observer,
the News of the World,
the Mirror,
the Daily Mail,
the Mail on Sunday,
the Evening Standard,
the Independent,
the Times,
the Daily Express, and
the Daily Star.

And the papers that paid an undisclosed amount to Abdul Rauf were three national dailies:

the Guardian,
the Daily Mail,
the Times,

and three local papers (all owned by Trinity Mirror):

the Birmingham Mail,
the Birmingham Post, and
the Sunday Mercury.

Three papers were involved in both instances: the Guardian, the Times, and the Daily Mail. All three have been relatively critical of Bush and his war. The Telegraph has been embarrassingly supportive of Bush and his war ... and it wasn't involved either time.

What does this tell us?

~~~

thirty-fifth in a series

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

Liquid Bombers On Trial

top row, left to right: Tanvir Hussain, Assad Sarwar, Umar Islam, Waheed Zaman; bottom row, left to right: Mohammed Gulzar, Arafat Waheed Khan, Ibrahim Savant, Abdulla Ahmed Ali

Alleged Liquid Bombers In Google's News And Archives

A few links here for research purposes:

Mohammed Gulzar [news | archives]
Assad Sarwar [news | archives]
Abdulla Ahmed Ali [news | archives]
Tanvir Hussain [news | archives]
Umar Islam [news | archives]
Waheed Zaman [news | archives]
Arafat Waheed Khan [news | archives]
Ibrahim Savant [news | archives]

Jury Sees Martyrdom Videos, Crown Identifies Targets

[by Winter Patriot | published April 6, 2008]

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

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

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

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

Abdulla Ahmed Ali

Ali is pegged as one of the ringleaders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ibrahim Savant

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

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

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

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

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

Arafat Waheed Khan

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

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

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

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

Umar Islam

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

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

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

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

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

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

Waheed Zaman

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

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

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

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

I have not been brainwashed.

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

Tanvir Hussain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Assad Sarwar

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

The Scotsman again:

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

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

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

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

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

Mohammed Gulzar

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

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

The Sunday Express has more:

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

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

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

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

About that flat: David Byers reported in The Times:

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

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

Targets

The Sunday Express account continues:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Guardian and others have named the seven highlighted flights:

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

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

The CBC reported:

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

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

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

~~~

from Winter Patriot : thirty-third in a series