After all the sturm und drang of last year's farcical "terrorist plot to blow up many transatlantic airliners" its almost refreshing to see this today: Terror kidnap plot suspects held.
Detectives are questioning nine men over what senior security sources believe was a plot to kidnap a Muslim member of the armed forces.
Eight were arrested following a series of early morning raids in Birmingham, and a ninth was detained on a nearby motorway in the afternoon.
See, THIS is a credible threat. A bunch of determined, ruthless people could pull this off. Stalk and kidnap ONE MAN, torture him and kill him while filming it and post the result on the net.
Small, limited, above all relatively simple; the kind of thing that happens all the time in Colombia or Mexico or Iraq. In short achievable in some analogue of the real world, not the fantasy planet inhabited by politicans and fevered journalists.
In the end though, the fevered journalists still couldn't resist. The story continues.
[...] Details have emerged suggesting the alleged plot targeted a Muslim servicemen who had served in Afghanistan and was on home leave. BBC correspondent Gavin Hewitt said the aim could have been to film the soldier being executed and post the footage on the internet.
Aaaarrrrghghgh! what's wrong with 'the cops say'? And what's with "the aim could have been"?
The aim "could have been" to feed him on drugs and film him in a compromising position with a goat, it "could have been" to do any number of things, so why this particular "could have been" over others?
Where does Mr Hewitt get his "could have beens" from?
Meanwhile, across the big ditch, the fever continues unabated. Arrest Made After 'Suspicious Packages' Paralyzed Boston as Part of Cartoon Network Marketing Campaign - I swear, you cannot make this stuff up. Look at what was causing the panic. Good grief.
BTW, one of the best sources of sense on security is Bruce Schneier, his pieces on Security Theater alone are worth the trip.
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