Ah, RAF Fairford. 

The British base hosting American bombers, where, nearby, a suspicious white van was prowling the quiet back lanes of tiny Whelford...

...filled with questionable stuff and five young fellows of foreign background who hightailed it into the woods at 3 in the morning, caused all sorts of a ruckus.

This all started early in the morning on 27 September and was framed as a foiled terrorist attack.

Recommended
An Australian MP Has Had Both Legs Amputated After Being Intentionally Rammed Outside Her Office Beege Welborn Huge If True: Dems Throwing in the Towel in ... Minnesota? Ed Morrissey

It sure seemed possible at the time.

The picture of the miscreants they'd snagged out of the woods, who were now sitting zip-tied, certainly lent credence to the idea that 'foreign actors' were involved.

And the fact that the scene was soon swarming with various terror-related police agencies and British Army units like SAS bomb squads helped reinforce the idea that something very dire had been planned and only avoided thanks to the sharp eyes of a local farmer coming home from a night out.

The young men, all from London suburbs and in their early twenties, were charged with 'Explosives Acts' violations, which then had more charges added to those, like 'suspicion of preparing to commit an act of terrorism.'

SOUNDED SERIOUS

President Trump was like, 'Yeah, we've had our eyes on these guys for quite a while.'

And then, inexplicably, the Brits turn the whole lot of these 'terrorists' loose on bail.

WHUT

This sets off a five-day-long global chain reaction of 'YOU GOT TO BE SCHLITZIN' ME!'

Who lets terror suspects waltz out of custody?

Oh, by the way, said the counter-terrorism cops on the first of October - we got another one.

Americans are apoplectic with rage, even as Prime Minister Burnham sputters through various excuses and explanations until he finally says, 'Yeah. Looks like it might have an Iranian IRGC-backed plot.'

The U.S. wasn't waiting while baffled British bozos twisted themselves into knots over the issue as they agonized whether or not they had a terrorism problem. Or worse - dare they blame the 'I-word' (as in IRAN) in public?

Consequently, the folks in the Cotswolds woke up on a beautiful early October morning to an airfield that no longer had any U.S. bombers  - aka terrorist targets - gracing its flight lines.

 U.S. Rushes to Withdraw Bombers From U.K. Air Base After New Threats

The United States rushed over the weekend to withdraw all 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from an air base in southern England after commanders received new threats about an Iran-backed plot against the installation, two U.S. officials said on Sunday.

The withdrawal was highly unusual: Such moves are rarely made so quickly from an allied air base in a peacetime country thousands of miles from a combat zone.

The need to move the bombers out of the base, R.A.F. Fairford, was deemed so urgent that some of the planes and their flight crews left while aerial refueling aircraft were still being scrambled to support their flights to the United States. At least three of the planes had landed at their home base in South Dakota by Sunday, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The Pentagon’s European Command confirmed on Sunday that the bombers had left England but declined to comment on any new warnings.

The move in normal times would have been an utter mortification to a hosting government with its bald inference that their security could not be counted on to protect American assets. But in the Great Britain of today, it was a prudent move, and all the Labour government could do was squirm in the face of their own miserable, inept performance.

 ...In September, U.S. military commanders received a chilling warning from American and other Western intelligence agencies, according to U.S. officials briefed on the information. R.A.F. Fairford was the target of a potential Iran-backed attack.

The murky outlines of a plot had been pieced together through a combination of intercepted communications, informants and other intelligence. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his intelligence officials also warned their British counterparts of a probable Iranian-sponsored attack, though they did not provide a specific target. Follow-up attacks were likely to include drones, the confidential assessments warned.

After that initial warning last month, concern among officials across Europe surged. According to a senior U.S. official, Israel warned Germany that American bases there were at heightened risk, noting Spangdahlem and Ramstein in particular.

An Iran-backed plot to commit an attack in Britain would be a major escalation by Tehran against a Western country in apparent retaliation for the American-and Israeli-led war against Iran.

In the intervening weeks, the Fairford Five were, according to the British government, still very much under its watchful eye, so no worries.

Mid-month, Burnham was talking tough in Parliament, finally accusing Iran directly of orchestrating an attack on Fairford, and promising a crackdown on Iranian funding streams and their agents in England.

TALK TALK TALKY TALK

I don't believe them. When Israel took action against Khamenei and the Islamic Republic, Britain chose to stand on the sidelines and refused to allow US Air Force use its bases. Britain's leadership chose appeasement over doing the right thing. 

With the regime in Iran, an iron fist is the only option.

Naturally, no one paid a lick of attention to Burnham's bluster. Here's his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Matters at the UN just two weeks before the plot at Fairford was interrupted.

That British tough talk is tough. Would have been cool if Milliband had a buzzer in his hand or something, right?

If only.

Knowing that wretched lunatic turncoat, he probably was handing the Iranian a whoppsed-up wad of cash.

So everyone is now on board with the IRGC being behind a plot to attack American assets at Fairford.

This is the use of local proxies. This is the use of guns for hire. This is looking at the M.O. previously that Iranian intelligence has used, and the first instance really does reflect this established Iranian tactics." 

I'm shocked that the 'Death to America' regime is violent and attempting terrorism

And there it sat and steeped and stewed again...until today.

Counter-terrorism police went out and rearrested two of the previously released suspects.

As the British are wont to say, 'BRILLIANT!'

Two men have been re-arrested over their alleged involvement in a suspected plot around RAF Fairford.

Counter terror police swooped on the 24-year-old Brit and a 25-year-old dual UK/ Iranian national, both from London, on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

The force revealed country to which the investigation relates to is Iran.

...The 24-year-old man was initially arrested on Sunday 27 September near RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, and the 25-year-old was subsequently arrested on Thursday 1 October in the Borough of Westminster, London. 

Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said:  ‘Since the events at RAF Fairford on Sunday 27 September, our specialist teams have been working tirelessly to interrogate the many lines of enquiry involved in this hugely complex investigation.

 ‘So far seven men have been arrested in connection with our investigation. 

‘As a result of the ongoing efforts of our officers, earlier today two of those men were re-arrested for offences relating to Section 3 of the National Security Act – assisting a foreign intelligence service.

This part is always the hoot with British authorities. I know they can recite it by heart.

...‘We know the public have unanswered questions. I want to be as transparent as possible and when we are in the position to share more, we will.’

Sure you will.

And just to be clear, the other five are still out on bail. No word on when these two will get turned loose again, because bets are they will.

Everyone wants to know 'why?'

WE LIVE IN A VERY BACKWARDS AND SOFT-A** COUNTRY WHERE WE JUST LET ANYONE DO ANYTHING

So dangerous and working for a foreign country to do harm, but back onto the streets they go.

...it's a nuclear-capable strategic asset.

American planes have not come back to Fairford, and there are some who speculate that's what Iran's threats were all about to begin with. They've gotten what they wanted painlessly. Using local hired doofuses and exploiting excruciating British fecklessness, the Iranians have managed to redeploy American assets out of range with what amounts to an intimidation smokescreen.

It didn't cost Iran a thing.

This entire episode is a pathetic reflection on our once-stalwart, staunch, and astute ally.

Can't wait to see who the counter-terror dragnet snatches up and releases next.

What a cluster.