Countdown Newsletter: 08/10/06 -- Airline Terror Plot

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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The terror scheme disrupted in London is "suggestive of an al-Qaida plot," the Bush administration said Thursday as it issued its highest terrorism alert ever for commercial flights from Britain to the United States and raised the threat level for all domestic and international flights. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said there was no indication of plotting in the United States but said officials cannot assume that the terror operation in Britain had been completely thwarted. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14280416/

U.S. air travelers poured out liquids, opened their bags for inspection and endured long waits Thursday as airports heightened security and some flights were canceled or delayed after the discovery of a terror plot aimed at airlines traveling from Britain to the United States. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14282396/

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Its scope was ruthlessly ambitious, causing destruction officials say would have been "unimaginable." The alleged plot to take down several U.S.-bound planes with liquid explosives appears to be unlike anything the world has seen in years. Counterterrorism officials said Thursday the London plot appears to bear the fingerprints of al-Qaida, and may have been "the Big One" they have been dreading since Sept. 11, 2001, particularly as the five-year anniversary of the carnage approaches. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14285388/

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