THERE IS NO INTELLIGENCE TO SUGGEST THAT AN ATTACK IS IMMINENT

Those are the words of Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

Two items of news have appeared in today's British media that highlight the scaremongering that is occuring.

1. the media is reporting that Osama bin Laden has issued a voice message claiming responsibility for the blazing underpants bomb of Christmas Day. All reports initially state that the voice is that of ObL's, but the AP report that most quote from ends with this statement;

There was no way to confirm the voice was actually that of Bin Laden, but it resembled previous recordings attributed to him.

And the BBC has been stating the exact the same thing; it is ObL without question, but has only now started to suggest that maybe it is not ObL after all.

So take from that what you will. Reports initially state that without question it is ObL, but then end with a caveat that there is no way to tell if it is ObL. But by the time you read that caveat, if you do at all, you are already imagining planes flying into Canary Wharf and are scared shitless hiding behind the sofa. It is curious that a voice message was released and not a video so soon after the BBC Conspiracy Files focused on ObL with the videos that show he was being impersonated.

2. India sent MI5 a report that a plane flying from India could be hijacked. Now let's examine the information and the response. India did not say when the alleged hijacking would take place nor specify that Britain was the target. In fact it is reported that a war between India and Pakistan is being engineered, so a target in either of those countries is much more likely, as we have seen recently in the many bombs and attacks on hotels in India and Pakistan. But this did not stop MI5 ramping up the fear by assuming that Britain was a target and that it was to be this coming week. However other reports say the fear was inflated due to increased chatter. So which is it? Chatter, intelligence, or both? And actually, to be told that a plane flying from India, specifically from either Delhi or Mumbai, is not exact precise intelligence but is a very good start and could be classified as specific intelligence, so if anything does happen as India suggest then the incompetence of our intelligence agencies is there for all to see. All passengers on any flight out of Mumbai or Delhi should by now have been thoroughly checked out, and any future passenger should receive similar investigation.

So what's going on?

Chilcot is questioning Blair on Friday.

And The Sunday Times gives the game away today in its report on this when it suggests that Blair saved the day in 2003 when he sent tanks to Heathrow.

The warning revived long-running concerns following an Al-Qaeda plot in 2003 in which a hijacked aircraft was to be flown into Heathrow airport. That incident led Tony Blair, then prime minister, to make the largely symbolic move of dispatching armoured vehicles to guard the airport perimeter.

[source : Indian hijack plot caused new UK terror alert, The Sunday Times 24/01/2010, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6999959.ece]

When the fear factor was raised we were initially told there was no specific intelligence, and that it was just precautionary due to increased chatter. Now we are told that India told MI5 that a plane flying from either Mumbai or Delhi could be hijacked but did not say when or if Britain was a target, but it was immediately assumed that Britain was a target, even though India or Pakistan is much more likley, and that the hijack would be very soon.

Let's see what happens.