From: "John Beamish" 

1.  (And this doesn't surprise me a whit). The "threat" of the
plane bombers was trivial and came up because somebody needed aome
visibility.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14320452/

Source: U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests British wanted to
continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says    NBC VIDEO


ƒ › Disagreement over terror arrests Aug. 12: U.S. and British authorities
disagreed on when to break up an alleged plot to blow up airliners bound
for the United States, officials say. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.

By Aram Roston, Lisa Myers, and the NBC News Investigative Unit NBC News
Updated: 8:13 p.m. ET Aug 12, 2006

LONDON - NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a
significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the
alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United
States.

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.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not
imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In
fact, some did not even have passports.


2.  (This explains the cell phones perfectly:  somebody wanted a quick
score -- the capitalist way)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/12/AR2006081200692
.html

3 Texas Men Arraigned on Terror Charges

The Associated Press
Saturday, August 12, 2006; 11:07 PM

CARO, Mich. -- Three Texas men were arraigned Saturday on terrorism-related
charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan, and
prosecutors say they believe the men were targeting a bridge connecting
Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas.

But two of the men said they were only trying to buy and sell phones to
make money, and one said the money was intended to help pay for his
brother's college education.

(In other places, you can see that apparently [I'm not tied in to these,
uh, "enterprises", so I have to take others' analyses as not
unreasonable] somebody has found a way to hack the cheapie pre-paid cell
phones so they work on other networks.  Besides ... what terrorist network
is going to need 1000 cell phones?  If you need that many you'd pick them
up in a bunch now, a bunch several months from now ...

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