Britain is accumulating a long list of high-profile police raids, targeting suspected "Muslim terrorists". But each time, the only explosive ingredient found seems to be hot air... specifically used by the government to inflate the terror threat.

On January 31, 2007, 700 police officers were apparently required to arrest nine men and search eight homes and four commercial premises (two bookshops, a general store and a cybercafé) in the English city of Birmingham. Headlines screamed of a "terror plot", in which the "terror suspects" were believed to have narrowed their choice to a shortlist of three British Muslim soldiers to be captured while on home leave from Iraq. After the kidnapping, the alleged plan called for the plotters to behead the soldier during an internet broadcast. Newspapers headlined it as "How al-Qaeda tried to bring Baghdad to Birmingham".
700 Police officers seems excessive, specifically as eight of the nine arrests occurred at 4am, with the men sleeping at home. Most suspects were born in Britain, all were Pakistani origin and under 35, underlining the British government's line that the enemy is hiding within. But why these men were arrested on terrorism charges and not charges such as conspiracy to kidnap and murder is equally unclear. Could it be because the terrorism charge comes with the added benefit that the police can hold anyone for 28 days without charge?

The timing of the raid was "interesting". The UK Labour government is continuously headlining with a "cash for honours"-scandal. The allegations are that major donations and loans to the Labour Party have frequently resulted in the "sponsors" receiving a title, some of which come with a seat in the House of Lords. In short, the allegation is that people can buy their way into political power, which is rather undemocratic.
The Birmingham arrests occurred on the day after Lord Levy, the Labour Party's fundraiser and coincidentally Blair's envoy for the Middle East, was arrested, for conspiring to pervert the course of justice... and the day before it was revealed that police had questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair for the second time five days earlier about the same scandal. The Birmingham raids thus managed to push the crisis off the first pages, at least for a while.

On February 2, police investigators actually expressed "growing anger" at a series of leaks and briefings which they claimed were hampering their enquiry - though perhaps the public was as such being prepared for the possibility that the entire investigation could collapse and no charges were filed once again?
It was revealed that the government actually briefed the media before all of the terror suspects had been located and arrested. At least one newspaper had been tipped off the night before the raids and its reporters were on standby to race to Birmingham. The police themselves said that they suspected the anonymous briefings might have been intended to deflect attention from the cash-for-honours inquiry. Furthermore, Home Secretary John Reid, is constantly being charged for being incapable of running his department, with scandals ranging from overcrowded prisons, criminals that go missing or fail to be entered on appropriate databases, etc.
Since Reid's ascension to the position of Home Secretary in May 2006, the profile of the raids against Muslims in Britain has increased. The so-called "shampoo bombs" that would result in airlines hijacked over the Atlantic Ocean in a terror plot that would be "bigger than 9/11" is the most auspicious. See the Sample issue of Conspiracy Times as to the current status of that "investigation"... and how it was largely nothing but hot air. 
Such "leaks" and briefings have resulted in the media once again being abused by politicians for the arrest of the "Birmingham nine". The police stated that some of the more lurid details of the alleged kidnapping were simply not true. Reports that two young British Muslim soldiers had agreed to act as "live bait" in an attempt to trap the suspects were dismissed as untrue, as were claims that the police had uncovered a list of 25 intended victims. Tayab Ali, a solicitor representing one of the nine suspects, said that if the Home Office was behind the briefings, it would be guilty of "the clearest hypocrisy and double standards. People in government are quick to complain that those involved in the cash-for-honours inquiry may not receive a fair trial, but there appears to be no such regard for ordinary criminal suspects or suspected terrorists." It is called double standards...

No wonder therefore that young British Muslims believe the government is trying to create a climate of fear. Some commentators have even argued that Muslims in today's Britain find themselves in the same situation as the Jewish community a century ago. Several Muslims agree they feel persecuted and that the recent arrests are part of a plan to "maintain pressure" on the Muslims. It seems that governments need to have an enemy, and like communism before, there is not only a communist threat "out there", but - even better than communism - a clear enemy within. As a former communist himself, John Reid must be perfectly aware of such parallels.
Muslims are right that they are specifically targeted: the Birmingham raid was known as Operation Gamble. It was the first large action by a group of counter-terrorist detectives, set up by the government following the 7/7 London bombings. It will eventually be funded by £2 billion of government money and will have about 3,000 staff. They work alongside MI5 and a terrorist intelligence cell and they specifically target areas that have produced what they have labelled as "extremist Muslim groups".

Moazzam Begg is a British Muslim who had been detained in Guantanamo Bay; upon his release, British police was nevertheless unable to press any charges against him. A native in Birmingham himself, he commented: "A lot of [Muslims feeling persecuted] has to do with the track record of at least some of the high-profile cases: the ricin plot, in which there was no ricin; the Forest Gate raids, where an innocent man was shot; and, most disturbing, the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes".
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot on July 22, 2005 at Stockwell tube station on the London Underground by unnamed Metropolitan Police officers. The shooting occurred two weeks after 7/7 and a day after another terrorism campaign in London, in which no bombs went off. Initially, the police claimed that de Menezes was wearing bulky clothing, had vaulted the ticket barriers and run from police. The government also issued information that he was staying in the UK illegally. But it soon became clear that de Menezes did not jump over any barrier and run from the police, nor was he an illegal immigrant. Police only corrected the disinformation until the correct information was leaked to the press. They later issued an apology, saying that they had mistaken him for a suspect in the previous day's failed bombings and acknowledging that Menezes in fact had no explosives and was unconnected with the attempted bombings. Remarkably, in July 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not carry forward any charges against any individual involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a decision which the de Menezes family are challenging. The shooting of de Menezes remains a bizarre incident, whereby no logical reason for his shooting seems available.

Just like de Menezes was allegedly followed from his home to the tube station, just like the Birmingham arrests were the result of six months of investigation, so Forest Gate was promoted with the story that there were suicide bombs and belts that were supposed to have been found during that dawn raid on June 2, 2006 - shortly after Reid's ascension to Home Secretary. In the end, it all turned out to be totally wrong and the police was forced to apologise to the two men arrested. Indeed, none of the two men were charged and released on June 9. Still, the house raid in Forest Gate had involved no less than 250 officers, this to arrest two men, one of whom was shot in the shoulder.
The Metropolitan Police revealed under freedom of information legislation that what was known as Operation Volga had cost £2,211,600, including £864,300 on overtime payments for the police officers involved, £90,000 on hotel bills and £120,000 for repairs to the damage caused to the houses by the police. At best, it was thus a very expensive mistake.

The ricin plot is probably less known. There were seven arrests on January 5, 2003, with more than a dozen arrests during the following week, around Wood Green, London. The men were allegedly involved in a plot to manufacture the poison ricin to use for a terrorist attack on the London Underground - which was of course a plot that occurred on July 7, 2005. But two days after the arrests, police stated that none of the articles confiscated had any trace of ricin. Perhaps not surprisingly, this fact was initially misreported to other government departments as well as to the public. Also, reporting restrictions were in place before the public's perceptions could be corrected.
All suspects except one were either released without charge, acquitted, or had their trials abandoned. The only conviction was of Kamel Bourgass, sentenced to 17 years for conspiring "together with other persons unknown to commit public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury" on the basis of five pages of his hand-written notes on how to make ricin. Note that he got 17 years for trying to cause fear in people... not for making ricin or use ricin in a terrorist suicide plot, as the original headlines argued.
Bourgass' flat in Manchester was raided on January 14, 2003. During the raid, Detective Constable Stephen Oake was stabbed to death by Bourgass. Bourgass was sentenced to life imprisonment, but this verdict on June 30, 2004 remained secret due to reporting restrictions designed to give him a fair trial on the ricin charges, a trial which only began in September 2004. Again, reporting restrictions remained in place. But on April 8, 2005, the men were acquitted of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in relation to the ricin plot. Bourgass was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment. On April 13, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to go ahead with a second ricin conspiracy trial or a retrial of Bourgass on the conspiracy to commit murder charge.

With the creation of a special police force targeting "extremist Muslim groups", such raids will likely continue to occur. The question is: will the claims continue to be hot air? Will they soon come to be seen as a campaign to condition the British citizens, creating social division and aversion towards Muslims? Or will the raids soon have to stop, as the government is unable to "sell" the raids as legitimate? With even the police briefing against the government, it is clear that the campaign will soon have to transform itself. Hot air, after all, can only expand itself that far.