British say Ridge gave terror suspects a heads up

[whirlygigspin]

The Christian Science Monitor 19, 2004 edition

On the arrest of the eight alleged terrorists in Britain this week--

"...intelligence experts say that privately there is great concern that the operation was jeopardized by US public pronouncements that were made before the British suspects were even apprehended.

"For reasons not so far satisfactorily explained, the US authorities decided to broadcast specific intelligence material upon which they must have known a vitally important future UK arrest operation would be based," says Charles Shoebridge, a former British counterterrorism intelligence officer now based in London."

"The broadcast would have inevitably compromised that operation and by implication the actual security of the United States itself."

The broadcast was made on August 1 by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, two days before the Britons were arrested. Mr. Ridge said the intelligence from Pakistan indicated that Al Qaeda was targeting several buildings including the IMF and World Bank, Prudential Financial in New Jersey, and Citigroup and the NYSE in New York.

Significantly, the charges levelled at one of the Britons in court on Wednesday mentioned exactly the same buildings. The implication, Mr. Shoebridge says, is that the suspects would have been startled by Mr. Ridge's pronouncements, alerting them that the net was closing.

As a result, subsequent arrests were dramatic and dangerous..."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0819/p07s01-woeu.html

oy.

[necso]

1. No surprise here.

Everything is political with these guys, everything.

They make their announcements for political reasons, and the timing is political.

Little stuff like protecting valuable intelligence information means nothing to them, nothing.

[DeadHead67]

2. OY ! OY ! OY ! as Al would say . . . .

There is something 'rotten in Denmark'as the old saying goes.(and smelly as well) Has it occured to anyone else that the goons employed by this administration seem to be compromising agents(Plame,what's his name in Pakistan,etc.)and anti-terrorist operations(Britain)on a now regular basis. If one of our guys did something like any of the above, the assbreaths would be calling for their head on a platter.:wtf: :mad:

[MrPrax]

3. Or the British Case...

Or the British Case made by the Crown is based on what Ridge told them about the 'supicious looking Arab gentlemen' they grabbed, and since the Crown has virtually no case and bLIAR has to keep the ship of state sound ... etc etc


Makes you wonder whether the dudes snatched there we're US intel or the US screwed up the original 'feed' in Pakistan or they we're counter-agents whose cover was purposely blown by the UK...

Not that I feel any safer yesterday or today or tomorrow...