Ok. This is going to be short and I'll delete if it's a duplicate. There wasn't an open thread.
NBC news (on MSNBC) is reporting that the United States pressured the UK to bust the airplane bomb plotters earlier. There's no link yet, I just heard it on MSNBC.
The news spin on this is that the US is jittery and eager to prevent another 9/11, but the British felt they had the situation under control and wanted to cement their case.
I get this all-too-familiar yet strange feeling that BushCo wanted the British to bust the suspects very shortly before the Connecticut primary.
It's, I dunno, too Rovian to resist this cynicism.
What do you think?
Take the poll....
UPDATE: MSNBC is reporting this was an active dispute and that the British wanted the investigation to proceed because some of the suspects did not have passports, airline tickets weren't purchased, and the British wanted one suspect who wanted to do a "dry run" to buy a ticket.
There was also a dispute over a British citizen picked up in Pakistan. The Americans wanted to pick him up immediately in Pakistan; the British wanted to wait and, in fact, the suspect was arrested before the British wanted it to happen. Wonder if that tells us who Pakistan listens to more....
UPDATE II: Not to update a dead horse, but MSNBC is going strong with the story, bringing it up in every related interview and saying that more details will be revealed on NBC Nightly News tonight.
UPDATE II 1/2:
Here's at least written confirmation of the story from the NBC Nightly News blog, The Daily Nightly:
We have new information tonight about the foiled plot in Great Britain to blow up airliners headed for the U.S. NBC's Lisa Myers is in London tonight with the latest on the investigation, including news of a disagreement between British and American authorities over the timing of arrests this week.
Hat tip to
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse for finding the quote.
UPDATE III: Hudson and inclusiveheart help with links that put some chips in place. You'll note above the claim that the Pakistanis arrested their suspect before the British wanted it done, but right in line with US desires? Juan Cole and The Independent flesh the story out a little and, perhaps, connect the dots.
Juan Cole notes:
But the British official narrative that is emerging says that the Pakistani arrest of Rauf was carried out by mistake or on unrelated grounds, and that it forced Scotland Yard to go ahead and arrest 24 members of the cell in London lest Rashid's arrest cause them to scatter.
Cole backs this up with a link to
The Independent:
The police were rushed into making the arrests after one of the alleged ringleaders - a British citizen - was arrested in Pakistan on Wednesday (that's August 9, y'all), US intelligence sources have disclosed.
****
It was also disclosed that the reason the police had to bring forward their plans by about a week was that one of the leading alleged plotters was mistakenly arrested in Pakistan.
The detention on Wednesday of a man named by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry as Rashid Rauf, a British national, caused alarm among the British police and intelligence agencies because they feared that his arrest would scare his alleged conspirators into bringing forward their attack plans.
So left to draw our own picture, we start with Bushco pressure on Britain to make the arrests before August 9. Bushco hits resistance, so, it appears, they pressure Pakistan to arrest Rashid Rauf over British objections. Bushco wins out and the UK has no choice but to follow through with the UK arrests to prevent the plotters from carrying out any of their plans, in spite of the fact that the plotters had yet to obtain passports, purchase airline tickets, or do a dry run.
In case you didn't notice, the timing of the arrest in Pakistan (August 9) smells fishy to me and looks an awful lot like a US-Pakistan Hail Mary pass at the primary.
NBC Nightly news has yet to run on the West Coast, but here's the report from
MSNBC:
A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.
*****
At the White House, a top aide to President Bush denied the account.
*****
Another U.S. official, however, acknowledges there was disagreement over timing......
The British official said the Americans also argued over the timing of the arrest of suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan, warning that if he was not taken into custody immediately, the U.S. would "render" him or pressure the Pakistani government to arrest him.
British security was concerned that Rauf be taken into custody "in circumstances where there was due process," according to the official, so that he could be tried in British courts. Ultimately, this official says, Rauf was arrested over the objections of the British.
Sounds like the British might be pissed. Check the comments below for those who have seen the NBC Nightly News report.