Newsstand - Times of London: Heathrow almost closed this week

The terrorist threat to London is on the scale of the September 11 attacks, John Reid, the Labour Party chairman, said today.

His statement reveals more about the scale of the recent terror alert which nearly forced the Government to close Heathrow Airport this week and saw the deployment of troops at the airport for the first time in nine years.

Asked if the deployment was an over-the-top reaction, Dr Reid angrily replied: “This is not a game. This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-575164,00.html

Related story:

HEATHROW looked more like a military camp than the busiest international airport in the world yesterday after 1,000 police officers and 450 soldiers in light tanks combined in the biggest security operation the airport has seen.
Armed police and troops were visible along the 13-mile perimeter of the 2,950-acre site. In relentless drizzle, police stopped and searched vehicles and were seen searching the Terminal Five building site.

Passengers reacted with alarm as Scimitar tanks trundled past taxi ranks.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-574894,00.html

"Asked about the nature of the intelligence which led to yesterday's action, the Home Secretary said: "The immediate threats are not verifiable therefore we are working on finding out more information."

Good Lord!!

That's like if they had SHUT DOWN (even temporarily) all the major bridges in the US when that threat was initially fielded.

Some patrols on likely areas and roads, alerting the public to be on the look-out, maybe some restrictions in parking or somesuch right up at the airport would be cautious and maybe judicious...

But such an extreme reaction, and the even more extreme one they contemplated, is very overreactive indeed!

S

Simply leaves me speechless...take a look at these pictures!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2749659.stm

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450 soldiers guard Heathrow against threat of missile attack on US plane (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12630895&method=full&siteid=50143)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">...Scotland Yard said the "precautionary" move was linked to fears that al-Qaeda could use the end of the Muslim festival of Eid, which runs from today to Saturday, as a trigger for an attack. A suspected member of the terror group believed to be planning an outrage in Britain was seized at Waterloo Station in London, at the weekend, it emerged yesterday.

Revealing that the tighter security was for all London, not only Heathrow, Met Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said: "It's not just reassurance. It's necessary for the safety of the public." Yesterday's alert came after the FBI told British security that lightweight one-man missiles capable of downing a jumbo may have been smuggled into the UK by supporters of Osama bin Laden.

A senior anti-terrorist squad source said: "The plot is believed to involve trying to shoot down a big jet as it takes off. The prospect of a fully-loaded Boeing 747 or 777 being brought down on Windsor, Slough or the London suburbs is too horrific to contemplate. There would be huge loss of life...</font>