Looming London Terrorist Attack: Not "If" But "How Big"

The money quotes from the story are these:

British intelligence and law enforcement officials have passed on a grim assessment to their U.S. counterparts, "It will be a miracle if there isn't a terror attack over the holidays in London," a senior American law enforcement official tells ABCNews.com.

British police have been quietly carrying out a series of key arrests as they continue to track at least six active "plots" tied to what they call "al Qaeda of England."

Officials said they could not cite any specific date or target but said al Qaeda had planned previous operations during the Christmas holidays that had been disrupted.

"It is not a matter of if there will be an attack, but how bad the attack will be," an intelligence official told ABCNews.com.

The story is not yet on CNN, FoxNews or even BBC. But it has shown up here on ABC.

The sources for this story are all from unspecified American "law enforcement" sources. Nothing here can be confirmed and it appears as though the British counterparts are not having press conferences over this subject.

Is there a chance that the information shared with ABC was confidential?

Is it possible that the release of this information could compromise the British investigation and (hopeful) disruption of these planned attacks?

I should think that if Scotland Yard wanted the British people to know about these pending attacks they would have held a press conference and tell them. I do not think that they would "leak" it to the American press through our own "law enforcement" sources.

This is a terribly worrisome and sensitive matter. It should scare the bejeebers out of everyone in London. If I lived there and heard this report I might be tempted to stay at home and roast chestnuts on an open fire for the next ten days.

Something seems "out of joint" with the release of this story.

I suspect that there are some very upset British investigators.

I also suspect that there are some terrorists who are very happy to have been tipped off.

ht: Hugh Hewitt