"The threat from terrorism is real. It is here, it is deadly and it is enduring."
Don't panic!Peter Clarke, announcing the decision of the CPS to charge 11 of those held over the terror plot to blow up aircraft, did his best, but still scaremongered over the true threat level facing the UK. The police have been stung in recent days by the accusations that the plot has been at best politically motivated with other events in mind and at worst with being entirely concocted. The reply of Ken Jones to Craig Murray's article in the Guardian was a prime example of this.
Clarke then decided to go in for non-sequiturs in his statement, in one sentence saying:
"I would like to reassure the public that we are doing everything we can to keep you safe so that you can live your lives without being in constant fear.
then in the very next he continued with the quote which is this post's title. We're doing our best but you're probably all going to die anyway, so please don't panic.
The police then claim to have found chemicals, with hydrogen peroxide being named, and electrical equipment, which may have been used in the preparation of the bombs. The consensus still seems to be that the materials for the bombs were to be mixed together once the suspects were in the air, something which has already been dismissed as incredibly difficult to nigh on impossible to achieve. Whether the men had the motive, as suggested by the "martyrdom videos", which still have not been conclusively identified as containing the suspects rather than just being the readily available propaganda of radical Islamist groups, may come to be the key factor. Taking together all the evidence currently revealed,there appears to be a lot less than that against the men who talked about bombing the Ministry of Sound, as they had ammonium nitrate fertilizer almost ready to use. Questions will also inevitably be asked about the point of attempting to blow up airliners, which has so many potential pitfalls, when there a lot of easier, or "soft" targets in the UK.
The announcement of the charges being brought against 11 of the suspects after less than 2 weeks in custody also shows the stupidity of the calls by the likes of the Sun for 90 days detention to be re-considered. It now seems highly unlikely that the full 28 days available will be used, as some reports had claimed. Despite what their denials, the police, the majority of the media and the government are determined to try to keep the nation in a constant state of fear. That passengers demanded two entirely innocent Asian men were removed from their flight for "looking suspicious" shows just how successful this is becoming, as does the increasing amount of those who seem to want "tough" action on terrorism. The terror threat is real, but it is nowhere near as acute or "deadly" as it is being made out to be, and at the moment, Labour, which looked to be trapped with huge problems, is benefiting substantially from the hysteria.
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