London Foiled-Bombing Arrests: Many Unanswered Questions

Five people were arrested in London re: the attempted car bombings (BNP 1 and BNP 2). Two of the suspects are medical doctors (Sky News).  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "We are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al Qaeda" (BBC) I'm not sure what he meant by "in general terms."

The London Times reported that police officials are publicly keeping their minds open but privately believe it was an "Islamist terrorist attack" (not necessarily an al Qaeda attack).  According to the Telegraph, the Queen's knighting of Salman Rushdie, whose novel many muslims considered blasphemous, may be related to the attempted bombing.

Some analysts said the foiled bombings appeared intended to coincide with Brown's first days in office (Washington Post). A London policy group executive said the attempted bombing "was a signal to the new government, a statement of intent and intimidation" (WaPo).

Last week, Brown's new deputy publicly called on the British government last week to apologize for mistakes in Iraq (Salon). The day before the bombs were disarmed, Brown appointed Iraq war critics to his cabinet (New York Times). Two weeks ago, British citizens were furious after learning that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had misled their nation into the Iraq war.

In short, it seems Britain's new government has been considering withdrawing troops from Iraq. Why would anyone pushing for troop withdrawal attempt to bomb the very people who might actually withdraw troops?  If only I could read minds

An odd detail came from the London Times:

"The Times has learnt that police have been fearing an attack on a large club or bar for some time. In the past week Tiger Tiger [the bar near which one of the rigged Mercedes was left] received a 53-page document from police warning them about vehicle-borne explosives.

"The document said: 'It is possible that your premises could be involved in a terrorist incident. In the worst case scenario your staff and customers could be killed or injured, and your premises destroyed or damaged in a ‘no warning’, multiple and co-ordinated terrorist attack....'

"The document was sent by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office to all police forces two weeks ago. They copied it to big clubs in their areas." (London Times)

What's puzzling is the BBC's report that police planned to step up security after the bombs were discovered -- as though they had not anticipated such an attack before the bombs were found.  Maybe the reporting was flawed.

See what others are saying about the foiled bombings:

- Lieberman Uses Foiled British Bombings to Call for More U.S. Domestic Spying (Think Progress)

- Two Were Doctors (Andrew Sullivan)

- London Car Bomb Found, Second Suspect... (Counterterrorism Blog)

- Car Bomb Found in London: Report and Updates (Hot Air)

- Picadilly Peril: Bloggers do Post-Mortem (Slate)

- London Thwarts Car Bomb Attack (Webloggin)

- Car Bomb in London: More Questions than Answers (AmericaBlog)