Details Continue Emerging On British Bombing Plot

The fact that all eight of the people arrested in the plot have medical connections is actually secondary to the fact that they were directly recruited by al Qaeda in Iraq:

British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.

Intelligence sources tell CBS News that the people behind the attempts were directly recruited by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the present leader of the terror group’s Iraq franchise.

Police investigating the plot had arrested eight people Tuesday, including at least six suspects trained as doctors, including a man of Indian nationality arrested in Australia. Sources close to the investigation told CBS News on Tuesday that another two or three arrests were likely to be seen in Britain, but that two of the people already in custody were likely to be released without charge.

As for the background on those in custody, the NYT reports:

Dr. Asha, 26, whose specialty is neurosurgery, recently started work at the North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. According to the General Medical Council in Britain, Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha completed his medical studies in Jordan in 2004. His limited registration allowed him to work for the National Health Service under supervision. Until last July, he worked as a doctor at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital, both in Telford.

Neighbors said the family was insular, but in the last few weeks two men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent had started staying with the Ashas at the house.

Chris Shaw, a postal worker who delivered mail to the Asha family, said he was struck that over the last three months or so, Dr. Asha started receiving more packages and certified mail than usual.

“He would just sign for it and go back inside the house without saying much,” Mr. Shaw recalled. He added that Dr. Asha seemed bright, educated, courteous and European in his style of dress.

Receiving packages could be nothing more than Asha being addicted to eBay or Amazon.com, but then again, he could have been in contact with other individuals with links to terrorism. I'd be more interested in knowing who these other men who stayed with the Ashas and whether they're the same people who were later arrested. That is not mentioned in the article.

Asha's family predictably is incredulous over the possibility that Asha could be a terrorist.

All eight people arrested in connection with the plot have connections to the National Health Service. They were either doctors or medical students. Also more details have emerged in the arrest of the individual in Australia as he was leaving the country. He was apparently headed to India, not Kuala Lampus and Malaysia as I had suggested yesterday.

Australian media have identified a man held in Brisbane as Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, who formerly worked in Cheshire.

He was detained while trying to board a plane to India. A second doctor is also being interviewed in Australia.

Seven doctors or medical students have been arrested in England, Scotland and Australia in connection with the attacks. All worked in NHS hospitals.

Marwah Dana Asha, 27, who was arrested on the M6, is thought to have worked as a lab technician at an NHS hospital in Shrewsbury.

She was arrested with her husband, Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, who worked at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust.

Two men arrested in Scotland on Monday over the attack at Glasgow airport and one held at the scene of the airport attack have been handed over to the Metropolitan Police.

Six of the eight people arrested are now being held at London's Paddington Green police station.

It would appear that al Qaeda decided to focus on medical doctors and students because they could easily slip into the UK because it has a fast-track visa program that makes it easier for them to enter the country. You can only hope that the British will reexamine its visa program and evaluate those who have already entered the country under that program.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin thinks its a good time to revisit where Aafia Siddiqui and her estranged husband Mohammed Amjad Khan are. Both are doctors; Siddiqui is a microbiologist. Both may have played a role in the 9/11 attacks, but officals do not know where they are. It's suspected that Siddiqui returned to Pakistan.

UPDATE:
So, if you decide to ban the use of the terms Muslim and war on terror in relation to this plot, does it still exist? New British PM Gordon Brown seems to think that the problem is one of marketing. If you eliminate the usage of those terms, will it improve the situation? Not in the slightest. You simply ignore the rationale for those committing the acts of terrorism with the intent to commit mass murder. These are individuals who are dedicated to jihad, and ignoring the religious aspects is ignoring the true nature of the conflict at hand and forced upon us by individuals hellbent on imposing their worldview on the rest of us.

UPDATE:
It now appears that the Glasgow bombers were tipped off about the police being on to their plot. Who tipped them? Also, why were police waiting until after prayers were completed at a mosque in Glasgow before proceeding with a controlled demolition of suspected vehicles? Given that all the plotters were Muslim, and someone apparently tipped off other members of the plot as to the police investigation closing on them, why give potential plotters time to either detonate a suspected vehicle, or slip away?

UPDATE:
British transport is all bulloxed. Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 was closed as a result of a suspicious package and all flights grounded from that terminal were being held. That was just one of a series of incidents:

All planes at Terminal 4 of Heathrow, London's largest airport, were grounded after police investigated a potential terror threat. An ABC News reporter at the scene said all passengers and airline staff were asked to disembark from their planes and completely evacuate the terminal. Passengers were told that due to the presence of "suspicious passengers," everyone in the terminal had to go through an additional security clearance. Police brought in sniffer dogs to investigate.

In London, explosives experts performed a controlled explosion on three fire extinguishers left on a pavement outside Hammersmith Tube station. A United Colors of Benetton store was shut down because of the alert. The store manager, who identified herself as Pilar, said: "I wasn't scared. I did not even have time to think. Obviously it's inconvenient. We had to close the store for an hour, and it will affect business, but these threats are something we have to take seriously." She said she was satisfied with the conduct of the police.

Yet another incident was reported near a busy market and transport hub in Sheperd's Bush, London. Police and emergency services quickly arrived at the scene to investigate the situation. Police declared the area safe within an hour.

In Glasgow, three controlled explosions were carried out on a suspicious car parked outside the Forth Street Mosque. The mosque is located in a part of Glasgow with a large Asian population.

UPDATE:
Enter the misogyny angle; the British bombers were looking to cause mass casualties among women at the club on Ladies' Night, with the first bomb being used to lure people into the open so as to be hit by the second.

UPDATE:
This isn't a surprise either. Brothers were involved in the plot.

British investigators' leading theory is that the same two persons attempted the downtown London bombings early Friday morning and then traveled to Glasgow where they attempted what now appears to be a failed suicide attack on Glasgow Airport, ABC News has learned. According to British authorities, the two men under the spotlight are both doctors and part of a group of eight doctors, residents and other medical personnel believed to have planned, executed and supported the two sets of thwarted attacks, including two men who are brothers -- Dr. Khalid Ahmed and Dr. Sabeel Ahmed -- sources in Britain tell ABC News.

The attacks were less than 14 hours apart.

UPDATE:
It would appear that as many as four of the individuals in custody were in the MI5 database. Hot Air has more.