YUP, BUSH BLUNDERED AGAIN

As I've written before, we need to expose the incompetence of how the GOP is fighting the war on terror. Almost 2 years it was reported that the British were forced to prematurely arrest a group in England because the U.S. insisted that Pakistan immediately arrest Rashid Rauf. This resulted in too many "not guilty" verdicts. Note that the arrest of Rauf in August 2006 can plausibly be described as a campaign ploy by the criminal Bush regime to blunt the looming threat of a Democratic take over of Congress in the upcoming November election.

No conviction on key charges in liquid-bomb trial in London
By John F. Burns and Elaine Sciolino
Published: September 9, 2008
International Herald Tribune

The arrest in Pakistan of Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani descent who American, British and Pakistani officials said was a liaison to Al Qaeda, set off a series of events that forced the British police to roll up the London-based cell far earlier than they had intended. The haste in making sweeping arrests, in turn, made it hard for prosecutors to persuade the jury that the bomb plot had reached the stage at which an attack on airliners was imminent.

The Daily Mail reports that some believe that U.S. bungled this investigation:

Why DID the £20m bomb plot trial fail?

By Charlotte Gill
Last updated at 12:44 AM on 10th September 2008
The Daily Mail

Others laid the blame squarely at the door of the U.S. for prematurely forcing the hand of the British police by capturing a key Pakistanbased suspect, Rashid Rauf, in August 2006.

Patrick Mercer, the Prime Minister's security adviser, queried the then Home Secretary John Reid's comments after the August 2006 round-up when he spoke of an attack which would have led to a loss of life on an ' unprecedented scale'.

The Tory MP, his party's former homeland security spokesman, said: 'What seemed like a very open and shut case clearly is not. And it makes me wonder slightly at some of the language that John Reid was using.

'He was quite sure that this was the plot that was going to go ahead. Well, clearly, a jury is less sure.'

Mr Mercer also spoke of the U.S. action which provoked the arrests in Britain and potentially compromised the prosecution case.

He said: 'As a result, a number of operations against our enemies inside this country were not executed to the level that we would have wished. There wasn't as much evidence gathered, for instance, as people wanted.'

Peter Clarke, the Scotland Yard anti-terror chief who led the investigation, also made reference to Rauf's arrest.

The retired Assistant Commissioner wrote in The Times: 'This was not good news. We were at a critical point in building our case against them.'

It was the capture of a key suspect in Pakistan which triggered the wave of arrests in Britain in the summer of 2006.

Under direct instructions from the CIA - thought to stem from President Bush himself - the Pakistani-authorities pounced on Rashid Rauf and forced the Yard's hand.

A series of dramatic arrests in the UK followed.

But British police had had the suspected gang under surveillance since May 2006 and had been reluctant to move in, confident that they would reveal more details about the plot.

Peter Clarke, the then anti-terror police chief, said yesterday that the CIA diktat and subsequent arrest in Pakistan was 'not good news'. He said: 'We were in at a critical point in building our case against them.'