American officials leaned on England to arrest the would-be plane bombers at least a week before British authorities wanted to move in, according to MSNBC. One British official suggested the attacks were not imminent; the suspects did not yet have plane tickets — some didn’t even have passports.

While we can’t know what allegedly motivated U.S. officials to jump up the arrest date, serious questions are raised:

The most cynical answer to these questions would be that Bush & Co. wanted to change the subject from Ned Lamont’s victory over Joe Lieberman to the omni-present danger of Islamic terrorists.

Unfortunately, given Bush & Co.’s track record of gross misdirection and outright falsehoods in the service of fighting the so-called war on terror, cynicism is warranted.

MSNBC:

NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

British officials knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, one senior British official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

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