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UK Terror Watch: Terror “Ringleader” is NHS Doctor; Update: Third Doctor Detained for Questioning in Terror Plot; Update: An Eighth Suspect Has Been Arrested; Update:Terror Suspect Arrested in Brisbane, Australia; Update: Second Doctor Questioned in Australia
*****Scroll Down for Updates*****
Dr Mohammed Asha: Arrested on the M6
Caring face: Dr Asha with his son Anaf, then two, in Amman, Jordan, last year
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Jamil Abdelqader Asha, a 26-year-old neurologist who was born in Saudi Arabia but is of Palestinian origin and was travelling on a Jordanian passport. He and his 27-year-old wife, a medical assistant, were arrested on the M6 in Cheshire, in connection with the attempted bombings in London.
Dr Asha was arrested with Dana, his wife, in a dramatic chase on the M6 on Saturday. Police in unmarked cars forced the couple off the road before arresting them (SKY)
‘Terror ringleader’ is brilliant NHS doctor
The Latest:
• Controlled explosion carried out at Royal Alexandra Hospital
• Two more men arrested over Airport attack bringing total currently under arrest to seven
• Police search second house in Newcastle-under-Lyme
• Kurdish terror group is linked to London attacksAn Iraqi junior doctor and a brilliant neurologist working for the NHS are among the suspects being quizzed over the series of bomb attacks across Britain, it emerged today.
Details of the suspects were revealed as police staged a controlled explosion at a hospital near Glasgow today.
The junior doctor has been named as Bilal Abdulla, who is said to have completed his medical training in Baghdad.
The suspected ringleader of the Al Qaeda car bombers is a brilliant neurologist working for the NHS.
Saudi Mohammed Asha, 26, was arrested with his 27-year-old wife, who was in traditional Muslim dress, on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night.
Update 2:23 PM:
Sky News: A third doctor is now being detained in terror invesitgation. This doctor was arrested in Liverpool. Was this the person tasered on Saturday night?
Search for clues: police remove belongings from the home of neurologist Mohammed Asha, 26, in Staffordshire today. He is one of seven men being held over three car bombs.
Dr. Bilal Abdulla? or is this the as of yet unidentified Jhadi detained at scene of Glasgow Airport bombing; Out of harm’s way: Police officers hold down one of the badly-burned men outside the Glasgow arrivals hall moments after he had set himself alight
Three Doctors Held Over Attack
Three doctors are now being held in connection with the attempted Glasgow terror attack – one is an Iraqi doctor who trained in Baghdad.
Sky sources named the Iraqi as Bilal Abdulla – he was left relatively unscathed in the incident, pictured being led away from the explosion by police.
He worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital near Glasgow.
Police blew up a second suspect car outside the hospital on Monday – the first car was detonated on Sunday.
The other man detained at Glasgow airport had severe burns and remains in a critical condition at the Royal Alexandra – he was in the flaming jeep that was driven at one of the airport terminals.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Asha, 26, has been named as a man arrested on the M6 on Saturday night.
The Jordanian was detained with a woman of 27 dressed in traditional Muslim dress, believed to be his wife, on the M6 near Sandbach in Cheshire.
Dr Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, worked at the North Staffordshire Hospital, where police have been searching his office.
Dr. Bilal Abdulla arrested at the Glasgow Airport bombing
Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, an Iraqi from Baghdad who arrived in the UK in April 2006.
Sources told Sky News that a third man, aged 26, arrested in Liverpool, was a doctor.
He was reported to have worked at Halton Hospital in Cheshire.
A colleague told the Muslim News the doctor may have been detained because he was using the mobile phone and internet account of another man who has left the UK.
Update 3:38 PM
Sky News: An 8th suspect has now been arrested
Update: 7:41 PM
Five Doctors Held Over Attacks
Sources told Sky News that a third man, aged 26, arrested in Liverpool, was also a doctor.
He was reported to have worked at Halton Hospital in Cheshire.
AP: Terror suspect arrested in Brisbane, Australia.
Is this the 8th or 9th suspect in this case?
Doctor, father, husband…bomb suspect
He is Mohammed Asha, 26, a Jordanian-trained neurosurgeon whose family comes originally from Palestine.
Investigators believe a network of up to a dozen medics from the Middle East were sent to infiltrate the Health Service as a cover for terrorist operations.
At least five may have been involved in the plot to bring mass slaughter to the two cities.The details emerged as three more people – two of them trainee doctors – were arrested, bringing the number held to eight.
Worryingly, many of their profiles are quite unlike those of previous suspected followers of Al Qaeda. Dr Asha appeared to be a quiet and studious universityeducated doctor who dreamed of becoming a leading surgeon and raising his family in England as a good Muslim.
He was married to laboratory technician Marwah Dana, 27, a fellow Palestinian, and was said to dote on their son Anaf.
Lax immigration policies from UK former colonies is coming back to bite the Brits in the arse.
Since educated individuals are allowed to emigrate more freely, Flap wonders how many of these “doctors” have emigrated to the United States and whether ICE knows where they are?
Flap wants to know if anyone is home in immigration control?
Update 9:00 PM
Eighth Terror Suspect Held In Australia
Australian police have arrested a man wanted in connection with the terror attacks in Glasgow and London.
The suspect, described as a 27-year-old man, was arrested in the eastern city of Brisbane at the request of British authorities.
He was held at the city’s airport while trying to leave the country, Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said. He said the man was a resident of Brisbane but did not disclose his nationality.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the man had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
Sky News has already learnt that five of the eight people now being questioned over the terror attacks are trained doctors.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has confirmed the eighth person taken into custody over the recent British terror attacks, was arrested in Brisbane last night.
The 27 year old Brisbane man was detained at the international airport.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has revealed more about the joint AFP and Queensland Police operation, saying the man was attempting to leave the country and did not have a return ticket.
The man is now assisting police with their inquiries.
It’s been confirmed he was working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
A series of search warrants have been executed, following the arrest, including one on the man’s workplace.
Australian authorities acted on the advice of their British counterparts and are liaising with authorities in the United Kingdom as the investigation continues.
Update 10:30 PM
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has revealed that a second Doctor is being questioned, in relation to the British terror attacks.
Mr Beattie refused to name the person, but said the Doctor is not an Australian citizen.
The second Doctor is being questioned as a precaution and there is no suggestion this person has done anything wrong at this stage.
Mr Beattie has also defended the recruitment process for foreign doctors, saying that appropriate checks were made and that the Commonwealth government is now reviewing the process that both individuals went through.
Eighth Terror Suspect Held In Australia updated
Australian police have arrested a doctor wanted in connection with the terror attacks in Glasgow and London. A second doctor is being questioned.
The suspect, described as a 27-year-old man, was arrested in the eastern city of Brisbane at the request of British authorities.
He was held at the city’s airport while trying to leave the country, Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said. He said the man was a resident of Brisbane but did not disclose his nationality.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the man had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
The man, described as a “model citizen” was recruited by the hospital in Liverpool but completed his studies in India.
At least five of the eight people now being questioned over the terror attacks are trained doctors.
Gold Coast doctor arrested over UK bomb plot
The man was arrested at Brisbane International Airport last night and a number of search warrants, including one at the hospital, have been executed across south-east Queensland.
The arrest came as reports from the UK said as many as six doctors with links to UK hospitals had been arrested in connection with the attempted attacks in London and Glasgow over the weekend.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the man is an Australian resident, not a citizen, but he would not say how long he has been working in Australia.
Mr Ruddock did reveal that the man had been carrying a one-way ticket out of Australia when he was arrested.
Reports earlier said the man had been arrested as he tried to board a flight to Singapore.
Stay tuned for breaking news
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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CIA Leak Case Watch: No Prison for Scooter Libby
Lewis “Scooter” Libby arrives for a sentence hearing at a federal courthouse in Washington, June 5, 2007. President Bush on Monday spared former vice presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby from going to prison for 2 1/2 years for obstructing a CIA leak investigation.
President George W. Bush on Monday spared former vice presidential aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby from going to prison for 2 1/2 years for obstructing a CIA leak investigation.
“I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive,” Bush said in a statement. “Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.”
Bush’s move came after intense pressure from conservatives who demanded he pardon Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, and saw him as the victim of overly zealous special prosecutor.
His decision to commute his sentence, instead of an outright pardon, was a nod to the fact that the court process for Libby had not yet run its course, but it was unlikely to quell criticism from the left.
The announcement came at the start of the Fourth of July holiday week with Congress in recess and at the end of a day in which the news was dominated by Bush’s high-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A federal judge ruled last month that Libby would have to report to prison in six to eight weeks. An appeals court on Monday rejected Libby’s request to remain free while he appealed his conviction.
About time.
But, President Bush wanted to await the outcome of the legal proceedings and not allow Libby to go to jail.
Libby was sentenced to prison for lying and obstructing an investigation into who blew the cover of a CIA officer whose husband criticized the Iraq war. He also received at $250,000 fine and two years probation.
“He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect,” Bush said. “The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.”
The pardon will come next.
Wonder what Patrick Fitzgerald is thinking? Maybe he will resign – We can only hope.
Update:
“After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct.”
Previous:CIA Leak Case Watch: No Delay for Libby Prison Term
Cia Leak Case Watch: Libby Sentenced to 2 1/2 Years in Prison for PerjuryMichael Ramirez on Valerie Plame’s Congressional Appearance
CIA Leak Case Watch: Valerie Plame Wilson Sheds Little Light in Congressional Appearance
CIA Leak Case Watch: Is it About Something Bigger?
Michael Ramirez on Scooter Libby and Patrick Fitzgerald
CIA Leak Case Watch: Libby Found Guilty in 4 of 5 Counts
Technorati Tags: CIA, CIALeakCase, ValeriePlame, JoeWilson, PatrickFitzgeraldScooter Libby
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UK Terror Watch: My Son is Not a Terrorist
Asha’s father says son innocent
Asha Not Linked To Terror, Says Dad
The father of one of the men arrested over the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow has protested his son’s innocence.
Abdul Qader Asha said Dr Mohammed Asha did not have “any links” to terrorism.
Dr Asha, who is Jordanian, was one of two people arrested on the M6 at the weekend.
Speaking from that country, his father insisted that “he has not undertaken any kind of activity of this nature.”He has appealed to Jordan’s King Abdullah to intervene in the case.
Mr Asha, a retired English teacher, said his son’s only goal was to “return from Britain after getting the certificate which he went to specialise in.”
Dr Mohammed Asha: Arrested on the M6
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Dr Asha began practising in the UK in 2005 after qualifying in Jordan, according to the General Medical Council (GMC).
A spokeswoman said he held a type of provisional limited registration which enabled him to work in the NHS under supervision.
The professional body would wait for the outcome of the police investigation before reviewing his registration, she added.
Asha comes from a family of eight and is described by his father as an exceptionally able student.
He graduated from Jordan university after getting a scholarship.
A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.
Sky News is reporting that an eighth suspect has been detained and is being interviewed.
Hot Air has Mark Steyn on video commenting on the UK terrorist plots: Steyn seemed to agree that the attacks in London and Glasgow were motivated in part as a welcome to UK PM Gordon Brown.
Stay tuned for breaking news.Previous:
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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John McCain Watch: McCain Campaign Lags in Fundraising
Republican Senator John McCain, seen here in May 2007, raised only 11.2 million dollars in campaign funds for his 2008 White House bid in the last three months, forcing top staff to take pay cuts and shake up his campaign.
Patrick agrees with what Flap has been saying for weeks: It’s Over.
Michelle asks to place your bets when the exact date of withdrawal will bee:
Labor Day Weekend
Links (for what they are worth):
SLUMP: MCCAIN TO REDUCE CAMPAIGN STAFF…
REPORTS $11.2 MILLION IN 2ND QUARTER FUNDRAISING…
Only $2 million cash on hand…
Every Staff Member’s Take-Home Pay Will be Reduced…
Ponders Matching Funds…Others Blogging:
Previous:John McCain Watch: McCain to Pull Out of Presidential Race – What You Smoking?
John McCain Watch: McCain to Pull Out of Presidential Race By Labor Day?
John McCain Watch: McCain Loses South Carolina County Chairman Over Senate Immigration Bill
John McCain Watch: McCain to Skip Ames Straw Poll
John McCain Watch: Flack or Flak?
John McCain Watch: BONG for Barack
Technorati Tags: John McCain
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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy 34% Thompson 22% McCain 21% Romney 6% in Latest CBS National GOP Poll
The GOP NUTS:
Rudy – 34%
Thompson – 22%
McCain – 21%
Romney – 6%
None/Someone else – 7%
Flap is going out on a limb again and state that it will be Rudy vs. Hillary in the general election in November 2008.
Wow, what a surprise prediction!
Previous:
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Links Terrorism and Border Security
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy on Today’s Senate Bill 1639 Vote
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Slams Clinton on Terrorism
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Continues to Lead in National GOP Polls
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Florida – Its Rudy vs. Fred Thompson
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Quits Iraq Study Group to Make Money?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy 28% Thompson 19% McCain 18% Romney 7% in Latest USA Today/Gallup Poll
Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Left’s Inability to Rebut Rudy Giuliani on Terrorism
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Nation Lacks Strong Leadership
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy – “My 12 Commitments to Americaâ€
Technorati Tags: Rudy Giuliani
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UK Terror Watch: Two More Arrests in Car Bomb Plot
A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.
OVER 36 HOURS… THE TIMETABLE OF TERROR
1.25AM Green Mercedes packed with 13 gallons of petrol, gas cylinders and nails left outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in central London’s Haymarket.
Paramedics treating a drunken reveller spot smoke in the car and call police who defuse the bomb with minutes to spare.
2.30AM Blue Mercedes found illegally parked on nearby Cockspur Street and is ticketed.
3.30AM Second Mercedes is towed to a car pound in Park Lane where employees notice a gas-like smell.
1.15PM Police evacuate the pound as bomb disposal team is called to defuse a device made from two telephones linked to canisters on the back seat. ‘It was pure luck neither device went off,’ said a security source.
1.40PM Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says Britain is ‘currently facing a most serious and sustained’ threat.
3.05PM Scottish police contact a letting agency responsible for a home in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, and ask about the tenants staying there.
3.15PM A blazing Jeep Cherokee crashes into the arrivals hall of Glasgow Airport. An Asian man clutching a Molotov cocktail-type device is held by police and passers-by.
A second Asian man sets himself alight with petrol before fighting with police and security staff.
8PM National terror threat level raised to ‘Critical’ by Jacqui Smith on the advice of MI5. This means further attacks are expected ‘imminently’.
8.40PM Prime Minister Gordon Brown gives televised address to the nation in which he urges ‘vigilance’. His message to the terrorists is: ‘We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life.’
9.30PM Police raid a house rented by a 26-year-old Jordanian born doctor in Newcastleunder-Lyme, Staffordshire.
11.15PM-2AM Stand off involving at least eight armed officers who try to enter a property in Hatherley Street, Liverpool. Three men and one woman are taken away by police, but are released the next day.
11.30PM The Jordanian doctor and a 27-year-old woman wearing a Muslim veil are arrested on the M6 in Cheshire. Seven unmarked police cars containing more than 20 officers box his car on to the hard-shoulder.
The couple are taken to a central London police station for questioning.
12.10PM Police raid an address in Ramilies Road, near Penny Lane, Liverpool.
1AM A 26-year-old man linked to the Ramilies Road house is arrested near Liverpool’s Lime Street station.
4.30AM Police search a house in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, thought to be used by the airport attackers.
Neighbour tells how Asian men moved into the house about three months ago. In the past week one was seen washing a Jeep Cherokee.
2.15PM Controlled explosion is carried out on a car at the Scottish hospital where one of the airport terror attack suspects is being treated.
Saved: One of the would-be Glasgow suicide bombers is bravely hosed down with a fire extinguisher by a security guard as the Jeep Cherokee bursts into flames
New York Times: Britain Arrests Two More in Car Bomb Plot
British police today arrested two more suspects in connection with the attempted car bombings last week in London and Glasgow, the authorities said, bringing the total number of arrests to seven in what the government has described as a plot linked to Al Qaeda.
The Strathclyde police in Scotland said the arrests of the two men, aged 25 and 28, occurred in the Paisley area west of Glasgow, near Glasgow Airport, and followed a night of “intensive police operations.â€
“It’s obviously in connection with the incidents at the airport on Saturday,†a police spokeswoman said.
On Saturday, two men rammed a Jeep Cherokee into the entrance of Glasgow Airport. That followed the incidents in the West End of London on Friday when two car bombs failed to explode.
The police spokeswoman said that neither of the men arrested today are believed to be of “Scottish originâ€. None of the five suspects arrested in operations over the weekend are British citizens, a senior Western official said.
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Nicked: Doc and wife in a burka
THE suspected ringleader of a plot to unleash a blitz of car bombs on Britain is an Iranian doctor arrested with his burka-clad wife.
Neurologist Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, and his wife, 27, were dramatically held as they drove on the M6 in Cheshire with their two-year-old son.
Five people were being quizzed — at least two of them medics — as it became clear the attacks in London and Glasgow were by the same gang.
Sources said one of two men held while trying to smash a blazing vehicle into a Glasgow Airport terminal on Saturday afternoon is also a doctor, from Iraq.
Security bosses believe the two men in Glasgow also drove two Mercedes cars laden with petrol and gas canisters used in a failed bid to devastate London’s West End early on Friday.
Sky News is reporting that the Iraqi doctor involved in the Glasgow car bomb was trained in Baghdad.
There are now seven suspects in custody.
More updates throughout the day.
Others Blogging:
Previous:
UK Terror Watch: Video – Glasgow Bomb Suspects Shouted “ALLAHâ€
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Links Terrorism and Border Security
Michael Ramirez on John Edwards and the UK Terrorist BombingsTerror in London Watch: Police Have Crystal Clear Image of Car Bomber
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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Day By Day by Chris Muir July 2, 2007