Ezra has a great post up (with great links, read them all) on the shift he and others have made from moderate to Angry Liberal in the last six years. I can’t really weigh in on this – age and experience have made less liberal compared to the foaming-mouthed little communist sympathizer I was ten years ago.
But why I really bring this is up is because of the Washington Post article to which he brought to my attention:
A district judge ruled Wednesday that British investigators have until next week to investigate the suspects arrested in an alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 trans-Atlantic jetliners, saying they could be kept in custody without charge.
It was the first major test of a new terrorism law that lets suspects be held for as long as 28 days without charge so investigators can solidify their cases.
…
Home Secretary John Reid, Britain’s chief law-and-order official, acknowledged that some of the suspects would likely not be charged with major criminal offenses, but said there was mounting evidence of a “substantial nature” to back the allegations.
…
Two top Pakistani intelligence agents said Wednesday that the would-be bombers wanted to carry out an al-Qaida-style attack to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 strikes, but were too “inexperienced” to carry out the plot.
The two senior agents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if the terror cell members arrested in Pakistan and Britain had appropriate weapons and explosives training, they could have emulated massive attacks like those five years ago in New York and Washington as well as the July 7, 2005, London bombings.
The detainees in Britain and Pakistan had not attended terror-training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan and had relied on information gleaned from text books on how to make bombs, the officials said.
This is exactly why I didn’t care about the plane crisis when it was happening. I knew it, I felt it deep down in my gut that this was a nothing story – just like the Chicago “plot” a couple months back. Poll numbers going down, Mr. President? Let’s play up a terrorist scare!
I hate being this cynical. I hate that I live in a country at a time when I refuse to believe anything that the government says. I hate that I can’t trust the elected leaders of this country.
And I hate most of all that I always believe that the very worst and most ignoble and shameful things are true, and that I always turn out to be right.
Update: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Sully’s running commentary about all of this is absolutely spot-on.