British Muslims Skeptical, Fear Backlash

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 Britain has named 19 of the 24 people arrested yesterday on suspicion of plotting to blow up passenger jets flying to the United States and has frozen their assets. Police said the plan was to take liquid explosives disguised as drinks on up to 10 planes with detonators hidden in electronic devices.

All of those arrested are British citizens, aged seventeen to thirty-five, and lived in areas of east London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. Most are believed to be of Pakistani descent. One of the suspects was said to be a young mother, though Scotland Yard has not officially confirmed this. British authorities say that they have been investigating the group for "about a year."

Under new anti-terror laws, police have up to twenty-eight days to question the suspects before deciding whether to charge or release them.

Pakistan said it played a role in thwarting the suspected plot. A senior Pakistani government official said that two British nationals arrested in Pakistan last week provided key information. While British authorities said all the main figures had been caught, ABC News quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying five suspects were still on the loose.

Authorities said the airlines to be targeted were United, American and Continental, bound for New York, Washington and California. Hours after news of the arrests broke, President Bush spoke about the alleged plot.

• President Bush: "The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

The suspected plot sparked chaos at Britain's airports at the height of the summer holiday season with hundreds of flights canceled as airlines imposed strict security measures. Armed police have been deployed in many airports and passengers are no longer allowed to take their hand luggage into the cabin.

• Milan Rai, co-founder of the groups Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness. His latest book is "7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War."
• Salma Yaqoob, head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a founder and vice-chair of RESPECT The Unity Coalition in England. This year she won a seat on the city council in Birmingham and became the first elected hijab-wearing councilor in the city.

AMY GOODMAN: Hours after news of the arrests broke, President Bush spoke about the alleged plot.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom.

AMY GOODMAN: The suspects’ plot sparked chaos at Britain's airports at the height of the summer holiday season, with hundreds of flights canceled as airlines imposed strict security measures. Armed police have been deployed in many airports, and passengers are no longer allowed to take their hand luggage into the plane.

Salma Yaqoob is joining us now on the line from Britain. She is the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition, founder of RESPECT The Unity Coalition in England. This year, she won a seat on the Birmingham City Council and became the first elected hijab-wearing councilor in the city. We’re also joined by Milan Rai, co-founder of the groups Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness. His latest book is called 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!

MILAN RAI: Thank you.

SALMA YAQOOB: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you both with us, and I know, Salma, you’re on the road with a cell phone, so we appreciate you pulling over to the side to talk with us. Let’s begin with you, Milan. If you could talk about the climate in Britain right now and the response to what the British government says was a plot -- they say they have arrested about two dozen people. It looks like they’re of Pakistani descent. They're British citizens.

MILAN RAI: I think that there is a bit of hesitancy, even in the mainstream media, in mainstream political opinion, because of the massive blunders, which there have been with British intelligence. So, the Forest Gate incident two months ago, when 200 armed police dressed in chemical and biological warfare suits raided a house in East London and shot one of the men inside it, only to discovery that there wasn’t anything there and no terrorism-related charges were laid on anyone connected to that house. So there’s a real sense of hesitancy about fully accepting what the government is saying. However, obviously, as details emerge, then that will change.

I think that there is a certain stiff upper lip attitude in Britain, which is partly to do with the way in which Britain has dealt with the long-running IRA campaign, which was running up until a few years ago, and so that has kind of conditioned people's response to these kinds of incidents also.