Docuseries Review - Netflix's "Terrorism Close Calls"

Docuseries Review - Netflix's "Terrorism Close Calls" by Marlow Stern - The Daily Beast

Airline travel is a nightmare these days—especially over the holidays—thanks in no small part to the TSA’s exhaustive security measures. And, while most American travelers know why they’re forced to remove their shoes prior to boarding (f*ck you, Richard Reid), far fewer are aware of the reason they’re allowed only 3.4 ounces of liquid per passenger, and must thereby purchase extortionate six-dollar bottles of water.

It’s all due to a complex terrorist mission known as the 2006 Transatlantic Liquid Bomb Plot.   

The new docuseries Terrorism Close Calls, now streaming on Netflix, chronicles some of the biggest attempted terrorist attacks that were foiled just under the wire. Its fifth episode is dedicated to the Transatlantic Liquid Bomb Plot, wherein two dozen terrorists planned to smuggle plastic bottles filled with liquid explosives (and other devices) onto seven commercial airliners departing from London’s Heathrow Airport and traveling to North America, assemble the bombs onboard, and detonate them over the Atlantic Ocean.

“The British cell was planning to smuggle those liquid bombs onto planes and blow up seven airliners heading to North America, with at least 1,500 people onboard. That would have made it the biggest loss of life since 9/11,” Mark Kelton, former CIA chief of European operations, tells The Daily Beast. “And if the bombs had gone off over a populated area, the casualties would have gone up exponentially.”…

Read on.