REPORTS: BIG TERROR PLOT BREWING

Frankly, with the economy going the way it is, I'm surprised there has not already been a huge terrorist act. Think about it, If you were a terrorist, can you think of a better time to act then now? From the U.K.:

"Another great plot" is being investigated by the authorities, counter-terrorism minister Lord West warned today.

"There is another great (terrorist) plot building up again and we are monitoring this," he told peers during a debate on new security laws.

Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, revealed the existence of the plot as the House of Lords continued debating the Counter Terrorism Bill.

He gave no more details of the threat.

His warning came less than 24 hours after peers forced the Government to abandon plans to extend maximum pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 42 days.

ISNA TELLS McCAIN TO STOP USING "ISLAMIC" TERROR LABEL

This is one from the "who the fuck are you?" files...

A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective "Islamic" to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.

Muneer Fareed, who heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The Washington Times that his group is beginning a campaign to persuade Mr. McCain to rephrase his descriptions of the enemy.

"We've tried to contact his office, contact his spokesperson to have them rethink word usage that is more acceptable to the Muslim community," Mr. Fareed said. "If it's not our intent to paint everyone with the same brush, then certainly we should think seriously about just characterizing them as criminals, because that is what they are."

An aide to Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who is counting on his pro-Iraq war stance to attract conservative voters, said the senator from Arizona will not drop the word.

I might be inclined, if I were McCain, to ask these fellas to reword the Quaran to not refer to non-musims as infidels. This all sounds like a job for Jimmy Carter.

AL QAEDA BACKERS QUESTIONING TERROR TACTICS

From Reuters:

Questions put to Osama bin Laden's deputy in an online forum this week indicated Al Qaeda's violent tactics may be seriously questioned by some of the movement's sympathizers, a U.S. counterintelligence official said on Thursday.

The U.S. official, interpreting the questions and the answers given by Ayman al-Zawahri, said: "They've been taken to the online woodshed on a number of things."

"Some of the questioners are raising tough issues, such as the legitimacy of murdering innocent civilians and the effectiveness of al-Qaeda's overall strategy," the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

"Since al-Qaeda chose what questions to address, it suggests al-Qaeda's tactics have raised serious concerns -- even among potential sympathizers -- and that the group's leadership recognizes that it has some serious explaining to do," he said.

Terror Tactics Questioned

Seriously though. Did anyone ask these guys where butterflies go when it rains?