More on this story. "Jet plot suspects recorded martyr videos," by David Stringer for the Associated Press:
LONDON - In chilling videos shown to a jury Friday, men accused of plotting to bring down jetliners over the Atlantic called for revenge for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and praised Osama bin Laden.
Six of the eight defendants videotaped messages denouncing the West for what they said was its suppression of Muslims, prosecutor Peter Wright said as he outlined his case to jurors at a London court.
The defendants, all Britons with ties to Pakistan, are accused of plotting to blow up at least seven jetliners bound for the United States and Canada in 2006.
Some of the group were heard on secret police surveillance discussing plans to take their wives and young children on the suicide missions, Wright said.
Wright showed a jury clips of the so-called martyr videos, recorded for distribution after the attacks. Each man wore a black-and-white checkered head scarf and sat alone in front of a black flag inscribed with a message in Arabic.
"I say to the nonbelievers, as you bomb, you will be bombed. As you kill, you will be killed," said Umar Islam, 29, as he angrily wagged a finger at the camera, denouncing the U.S. and Britain for their role in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.
Another defendant, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, predicted waves of new attacks on the United States and Britain.
"We will take our revenge and anger, ripping amongst your people and scattering the people ... decorating the streets," he said.
Islam lambasted the British public, saying they deserved to suffer because they cared more about sports and television soap operas than the plight of Muslims.
"Most of them are too busy watching 'Home And Away' and 'EastEnders,' complaining about the World Cup, drinking your alcohol, to care about anything," he said.
All the defendants "expressed similar chilling sentiment in their respective videos," Wright said. The footage, in which the suspects spoke in English, was not publicly released.
Prosecutors calculated about 1,500 people on board the passenger jets — and potentially many more on the ground if the planes exploded over cities — could have been killed if the planned coordinated attacks had been carried out. [...]
Wright said one defendant, Assad Sarwar, had not planned to join the others in carrying out the suicide bombings. He was plotting to cripple nuclear power stations, a European gas pipeline, Britain's electricity grid, an airport control tower and the main exchange for Britain's Internet Service providers, the prosecutor said.
A suitcase buried by Sarwar, 27, in a wooded area at Kingswood, in High Wycombe, west of London, contained explosives and bomb-making equipment, Wright said.
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where are the Mass Protests against this!! UN? the UMMAH? UNESCO? the EU? Lets all protest this or are we afraid we maybe offend the Muslim sensibilities? Maybe labeled a Islamophobe, a racist. What if these punks were successful, what then? We still might offend Muslim sensibilities!