Saving You From Ghosts

Earlier this week, the British government made a big deal about thwarting a terrorist attack that planned to fly planes into Heathrow Airport and targets in London. It seems that you never hear about the attacks that get stopped, and for good reason. Public disclosure could potentially compromise the sources used to stop the attack. That is, unless there never was an attack in the first place:

Peter Hain, the Leader of the Commons, has denied media reports that the security services foiled a plot by al-Qa'ida to fly planes into the skyscrapers at London's Canary Wharf.

In a pre-recorded interview for Channel 4's Morgan & Platell programme tonight, Mr Hain said: "If there was a specific threat to Canary Wharf or anywhere else, we would have said so ... That leak, if it was a leak, did not come from a government minister or as far as I know a government source."

Asked if there have been any specific threats against Britain since the 11 September terror attacks, he said: "I don't know of a specific threat. But what I do know is that the intelligence services ... have constant intelligence on al-Qa'ida-type cells in Britain."

Maybe the British government is so good at stopping Al Qaeda that their own government officials don't even know about it! Right? Or maybe they're just trying to take credit for absolutely nothing, further proving their worth as a benevolent protector of their citizens. Jeez, I thought the US government was sleazy and underhanded.

The Brits are about to learn the dangers of crying wolf, just as Colin Powell did last week with his unsubstantiated report about Iran readying their warheads to accept nuclear weapons. Once you lie to people, they have a more difficult time believing you again.