Keeping us Safe?

Well, here we go again.

According to the British newspaper "The Independent", there's a new report (link) indicating that in hind sight, the August arrest of the alleged plotters to smuggle liquids on to airplanes has resulted in the escape from capture of one of two teams that was supposed to carry out the plot.

According to the article, as was reported at the time, American Administration officials learning of the plot put pressure on Pakistani officials to arrest a possible suspect well before the British investigation was complete, forcing the British to scramble to pick up the suspects they'd already identified, thus publicizing the investigation and obviously thus notifying the "second team" to lie low.

So while it might be said that there was limited success based on the fact that the plot has not yet materialized, and the new forms of higher security may have kept the second team from enacting THIS plan, perhaps if British officials had been allowed to run their own investigation, this second team might not still be out there, free to plot new mischief.

Like a child awaiting his birthday cake, throwing a tantrum and INSISTING that mother pull it from the oven before it's fully baked, we opted for immediate gratification over allowing someone more intimately involved in the baking process to decide when the time was right.

Dear lord I hope the Democrats can do better once they take office. Bush will still have the White House, but perhaps with the threat of oversight and investigation looming, he'll be a little less apt to stick his hand in the cookie jar before dinner.

Liam.