Another Madrid?

The British are on high alert, and U.S. airports have ramped up their security...just in time for me to fly home tomorrow. I don't know what it is about British terrorists, but they seem to coordinate their attacks with my vacation plans. The July 7, 2005 attacks in London occurred the day before my family flew to Washington D.C., so we had the benefit of all the heightened security.

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has his hands full:

The Government has warned of "imminent" terrorist attacks after a Jeep was rammed into Glasgow airport and burst into flames.

The jeep burst into flamesThe UK is now on "critical" alert - its highest terror threat level.

Police say the attack is linked to the two car bombs that were found in the heart of London.

It has also been revealed that one of the two suspects arrested in Scotland was wearing a "suspicious device". Officers would not say whether it was a suicide belt.

Gordon Brown has warned the British people to be vigilant and told them to remain "united, resolute and strong".

Just prior to the Spanish elections, terrorists set off bombs in Madrid subways, and the effect was a mass surrender by the Spanish people who then elected an anti-war Socialist who promptly pulled Spanish forces out of Iraq. The terrorists couldn't change the Prime Minister in Britain, but they could find out what he's made of. By staging a mass casualty terrorist attack on his second day in the office, I'm sure they were hoping that he'd buckle under the pressure and start promising to withdraw British forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

If that was their plan, so far they've misjudged him.

Sadly, not all English politicians are seeing clearly:

LONDON (AFP) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone called on Britons Saturday not to demonize Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled in the capital, amid fears of a Islamist terror threat.

At the same time he criticized Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam, creating a "major problem."

"In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than non-Muslims," he told BBC Radio.

Good old "Red" Ken - defends the bad guys right on cue.