Bomb-plot skepticism

Rodger Payne at Duck of Minerva leads us to this interesting blog post by the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray.

...this, I believe, is the true story.

None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time...

As they were all under surveillance, and certainly would have been on airport watch lists, there could have been little danger in letting them proceed closer to maturity - that is certainly what we would have done with the IRA...

In all of this, the one thing of which I am certain is that the timing is deeply political. This is more propaganda than plot. Of the over one thousand British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, only twelve per cent are ever charged with anything. That is simply harrassment of Muslims on an appalling scale. Of those charged, 80% are acquitted. Most of the very few - just over two per cent of arrests - who are convicted, are not convicted of anything to do terrorism, but of some minor offence the Police happened upon while trawling through the wreck of the lives they had shattered.

As always, it is worth being very critical in one's acceptance of claims about terrorism made by the US and UK governments (or anyone, including Murray). This has nothing to do with conspiratorial thinking; it has to do with precedent. When you're sold a supposedly fresh bill of goods that proves repeatedly rotten and you continue to buy, your actions are providing an instance of the meaning of stupidity.