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Mush, Bush and Blair exaggerated Heathrow plot for ’political reasons’: US report

Washington, Sept 6 (UNI):

A US-based journal has claimed that American, British and Pakistani officials had ‘‘grossly exaggerated’’ the alleged threat perception posed by the London ‘‘Heathrow bombers’’ last month.

According to it, Pakistan supposedly exaggerated the threat perception at US’ request, because Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf never misses a chance to be in the good books of his US counterpart George Bush.

‘‘A possibility is that George W Bush, Tony Blair, and Pervez Musharraf accelerated the crisis for political reasons -- Bush and Blair to buttress their flagging popularity and Musharraf to endear himself to his chief protector, the US,’’ said a report published in ’New Republic’.

The journal also questioned the idea that the plot was an al Qaeda operation. ‘‘According to Pakistan, Rashid Rauf had admitted to having made contact with Matiur Rehman, an alleged Al Qaeda operative. But, that’s hardly proof of Al Qaeda direction. A British official told the LA Times that Rauf was not the plot’s ’mastermind’, as Pakistan claimed, and his connection to Al Qaeda is also suspect,’’ said the report.

‘‘Whether the 25 persons arrested were about to blow up the US airliners headed westward from London’s Heathrow airport is not entirely clear. If the initial story offered by US, British and Pakistani officials represents a house, then that house is now tottering on its foundations and ready to collapse in ruins,’’ the Daily Times quoted the report as saying.

It also quoted a source familiar with Pakistani intelligence as saying that doubts about the official story existed within Pakistani ranks. ‘‘Did the plotters have a detailed plan that was to be put into effect imminently? British officials have state that there was no evidence that the plotters had agreed on specific planes or set a date. They describe the estimate of 10 planes as ’speculative and exaggerated’. The plotters were not even ready to make a dry run ... Two of the suspects did not even have passports,’’ added the report.