Terror Tracks?

Police in London have uncovered a nefarious plot to blow up planes. 20 planes, to be exact. The BBC has more:

Home Secretary John Reid confirmed that there had been a plot "to bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions causing a considerable loss of life".


Security at all airports in the UK has been tightened and delays are expected. MI5 has raised the UK threat level to critical - the highest possible.

So yet another terrorist plot foiled - and all this while there is still violence in the Middle East. Israel had decided to press all the way to the Latani River - before halting that operation.

Israel has put its massive new ground offensive into southern Lebanon on hold to give the U.N. Security Council more time to come to an agreement on a cease-fire, an Israeli Cabinet minister and senior officials said Thursday.

Asked by Israel Radio about the plans for such a delay, Cabinet minister Rafi Eitan said: "There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in he area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."

This is a bad idea for the Israelis. Olmert has shown himself time and time again in this situation to be weak and ineffective. Hezbollah has been pounding Israeli cities with Kaytusha rockets day in and day out, and the response has not halted that barrage in the slightest. The initial decision to conduct the ground operation and push Hezbollah to the Latani River was the best strategic move I'd seen all month, and to finally see it halted in it's tracks before it even gets off the ground is the most dispiriting thing to see. If this is how I feel, I can only imagine how Israelis actually living in that country and having to endure it everyday must be holding up.