Liquidating Bombers

The British judicial system has some built-in disadvantages for police trying to prosecute terrorist suspects. British law prevents the admission of wiretap evidence, so what police apparently knew about the plot to bring down the planes could not have been admitted into evidence. And since plea-bargaining is also prohibited in Britain, authorities were unable to offer one of the less-involved suspects an incentive to turn state's evidence against the others.

None did in this case. And no one expects authorities to allow building a case to take precedence over protecting the public. The prohibition on carrying liquids on board flights won't be lifted as a result of this week's acquittals, retrials or not.

It's just the latest in a series of embarrassments for Britain's antiterrorism efforts. A suicide-bombing plot of a Manchester United game fizzled, with all ten accused released without charges. An innocent Brazilian was shot dead at point-blank range by police marksmen who mistook him for a would-be suicide bomber. And a much-publicized plot to use the deadly nerve toxin ricin on the London Underground led to a mere four convictions--for causing a public nuisance and possessing fake passports (though a police officer was stabbed to death by one of the suspects, who was convicted of his murder).

Officially, Scotland Yard hailed the prosecution as a victory in the effort to combat terrorism. The three terrorists convicted of conspiracy to commit murder already face life in prison for that crime. Since 2007, police pointed out, they've seen 74 persons convicted of terrorism or related offenses and sentenced to a total of 870 years in prison. And of course, the liquid-bomb plot never did result in any deaths. "I don't worry about gravity," says Ayers, "and I don't worry about the difficulty of arresting and convicting people for things they didn't do yet." Still, it is something to worry about when extremists know they can get away with plotting murder, even mass murder.

With Abbas Poptani in London

© 2008