Question: Is there anything which would improve Blair & Bush's ratings?

[non sociopath skin]

Answer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1841140,00.html

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. I'm just pointing out how it's come at EXACTLY the right time ...

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Just as well Tony flew out before this

or he'd be seriously inconvenienced too. They have said that he did know about the operation in the last few days.

Do you think this would improve Blair's ratings? I don't - people will grumble. What it might do is give him ammunition for yet more laws and restrictions. If Parliament does get recalled becuase of Lebanon, it wouldn't surpirse me if he didn't have a debate on security too, with lots of "I told you so - we need 90 day detention" and more.

[non sociopath skin]

2. Maybe in the case of Blair, Mu, I should have said "credibility" ...

... rather than "ratings" although I do think that he and the Abominable Doctor Reid will gain political kudos in the eyes of the Ovine Classes.And yes, expect the Thought Police to get a pay rise ...

As for the US of A, our American comrades have pointed out that the Rovites are already playing the "Dump Leiberman, Get Osama" card for all it's worth. Bush must be jumping with joy.

Me, I'm just waiting for more details. I loathe terrorism and accept that you can't play footsie with sociopaths but my crap detector has been ringing all morning. Already, I'm hearing "well, maybes .."

The Skin

[Mr Creosote]

3. You are way off the mark Skin

If for example, the cabinet were split over Middle Eastern policy and one member of the government had just resigned in protest I could see that they might put this up as a smokescreen.















Oh.

[non sociopath skin]

4. Shit! They're ahead of me ...

:argh:

The Skin

[malaise]

18. Bingo

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/10/nprescott10.xml

[malaise]

17. Nothing like a good Labour party revolt

to make poodle see a terra plot.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/10/nprescott10.xml

[Briar]

5. Am I the only person

to look at John Reid's "We're doomed! We're doomed! Don't panic - surrender your freedoms!" speech yesterday and at today's headline making activities and ask myself if this can just be a coincidence?

[mr blur]

6. No, you aren't. (nt)

[Briar]

12. Thank goodness

I was getting worried. The BBC are totally onboard with this "crisis".

[ikri]

8. So....

Whilst Blair is on holiday we've got and running the country?

May as well replace John Reid with a .wav file

[FBBulldog]

11. New MI5 Terror threat level indicator...

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Brilliant! Did you make that, or did you find it seomwhere? (n/t)

[FBBulldog]

15. sadly not my work, nicked it from...

http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog/archives/category/lilbittapolitix/page/3/

[Karenca]

16. Here in the US,

we're thinking "terra, terra"
'cause bush's boy Lieberman lost the primary.

We had the same "we're doomed speech"
yesterday from the White House Press Secretary.

[hootinholler]

27. I missed that one...

Got a link? I'd like to see it.

-Hoot

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Have no fear - John Prescott's in charge

I'm sure he's squeezing himself into his sheriff's uniform as I type.

[non sociopath skin]

9. Oh God, Mu, I'm going to have to live with that mental image all day ...

Sigh!!

The Skin

[FBBulldog]

10. Oh Sweet Jesus! We really are doomed!

[BooScout]

21. As long as it's just a six shooter in his pocket....

O8)

[Kipling]

14. If I hated Western civilisation I'd want to keep Bush and Blair in power.

What better way to ensure the fall of the Great Satan than to keep Chimpy and his Poodle in place?

[CJCRANE]

19. It's less about ratings

and more about control and fearmongering.

[cal04]

20. War and Piece

Britain arrests 18 overnight in operation to avert terrorist plot to blow up planes between the UK and US. "It is believed that the plan was to cause near simultaneous explosions on around three planes from the UK travelling to the US using explosives smuggled onboard inside hand luggage," the Guardian reports. "Police have arrested around 18 people in the London and Thames Valley areas. They are described as 'British-born' and were held as part of an operation which has been ongoing for several months." Blair, in the Carribean, briefed Bush during the night. No handluggage allowed for planes out of the UK, including no cell phones, laptops, or notably, liquids. Sky reports those arrested are 20 mostly young, British-born Asian men. Arrests come after speech by British home secretary John Reid Wednesday to think tank criticizing civil liberties groups. "They just don't get it," he said.

http://www.warandpiece.com/

Anti-terror critics just don't get it, says Reid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1841132,00.html

[RogueTrooper]

22. Or, It could be true

From Billmon...

In it, Dr. Bernard Haykel, distinguished professor of Middle Eastern studies at NYU, warns that Hizbullah's star turn in the spotlight profoundly threatens Al Qaeda both ideologically and commercially, increasing the risk the group might go on another killing spree in order to protect the diminishing value of its name brand:

Al Qaeda, after all, is unlikely to take a loss of status lying down. Indeed, the rise of Hezbollah makes it all the more likely that Al Qaeda will soon seek to reassert itself through increased attacks on Shiites in Iraq and on Westerners all over the world -- whatever it needs to do in order to regain the title of true defender of Islam.

Just remember: You didn't read it here first.

[T_i_B]

23. All I can say is that I'm glad I don't work on air freight.

Mind you, after seeing some of the comments on DU I have to say that there are quite a lot of people on here whom I'm glad don't work on air freight! :rofl:

As to the terror alert, well all I can say that suspects have been arrested and I hope for the sake of the old bill that they actually get convictions. It really does not benefit anyone to have any more of the sort of pallaver we have had over Forest Gate arrests and the Stockwell shooting.

Until then I'll steer well clear of the tin-foil hat brigade who seem convinced that everything that goes against their agenda is a massive global conspiracy on the part of Karl Rove/Tony Blair/Joe Lieberman/Bilderberg/Freemasons/Opus Dei/Iluminati etc, and I hope that things get back to normal ASAP.

[mogster]

24. I wondered if any of you could have a look at this

It's about the ricin plot prior to the Iraqi invasion. Is this information correct? It is a very credible source, but I'd like it confirmed. Do you have information that correlates?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1874132&mesg_id=1876355

[evermind]

29. Sort of. Check this Register story for more info and links

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/27/guardian_pulls_ricin_piece/

Guardian pulls ricin terror debunk from website

Story about imaginary terror now itself imaginary
By John Lettice
Published Wednesday 27th April 2005 14:31 GMT

A Guardian story on "The ricin ring that never was" has been pulled from the newspaper's website, for what are said to be 'legal reasons'. The story, by Duncan Campbell (the investigative writer, not the Guardian journalist of the same name), analysed the collapse of the UK's 'ricin conspiracy' trial, and reported Porton Down evidence that had made it clear that claims of mass poisoning attacks had no basis.

Campbell's story, which is still widely available on the web (including here), covered similar territory to George Smith's pieces at GlobalSecurity.org (here and here). Campbell and Smith were both involved in the preparation of the defence case in the ricin trial, and what they and the Porton evidence had to say was essentially that ricin is a one-on-one poison, not a weapon of mass destruction; that Kamel Bourgass' efforts to manufacture it were amateurish and had left no sign of having been successful; and that the distribution of ricin by smearing it on car door handles was not feasible, because it is not absorbed through the skin.

Experiments undertaken by Porton Down had made this clear at the trial (subtext: no ricin terror campaign), but these tests did no more than support the generally known facts about ricin. The Guardian has not yet responded to a Register request for an explanation for the story's removal, but The Insider reports that it was told the article was "removed from the archive for legal reasons", and that a further request for clarification received the response: "The article was not removed because of any inaccuracy. It was to do with a PII certicate protecting the identity of Porton Down experts who appeared as witnesses in the trial."

Campbell's piece had named a Porton scientist who had given evidence, but the names of Porton Down scientists are not a state secret. Or they weren't, anyway. A Public Interest Immunity Certificate is a relatively seldom-used legal mechanism for placing restrictions on evidence. According to the Crown Prosecution Service "the government now considers that where government documents or information are material to legal proceedings, PII will only arise if disclosure could cause real damage to a genuine public interest."

... continued at link...

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. And a followup blog commenatary when the article reappeared

http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/2005/10/the_guardian_explains_why_it_c.html

[mogster]

32. And there was the article too

Back on the web:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1585130,00.html

Great, thanks! :hi:

[mogster]

33. Thank you

Intriguing information.
The removal was described as:
"Corrected version: this article has been restored to the website after being removed and corrected following a legal complaint"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1585130,00.html

[hootinholler]

25. Man, I was so far off on my answer...

I was thinking the publication of thier obituaries would boost thier approval ratings.

-Hoot

[bvar22]

26. If true, it should be pointed out

..that this terror plot was disrupted through GOOD POLICE WORK,
NOT by bombing, invading and occupying Middle Eastern Countries!!!!

[Karenca]

28. I cross-linked this page.....

I figured that we American DU'ers
should see what your thoughts are on the phoney
terror alert.

Obviously, we all think the same! This post made the 'Greatest Page' too.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1872074

[Anarcho-Socialist]

31. Blair might get a slight rise in the opinion polls, (1-2%)

but it will not last. I think too many people hate his guts for him to regain the popularity he had pre-2002.

As others have expressed in this thread the Blairists will seek to use this to push for further curbs on our civil liberties to 'protect' us in the name of counter-terrorism.

I don't know how this would play out in regards to Bush's ratings. I don't think any long term bounce will result for his poll ratings. The American public see too many problems with Bush and the Congress' handling of all sorts of affairs.