The apparent interception of a planned terrorist attack on US bound airliners has dominated British media in the last few days. On Thursday Sky News adhered to the story all day, only moving off it for the briefest mention of the announcement of a new captain for the English soccer team.

And rightly so. If the planned attacks were going to be as huge as the police allege then this is a massive coup. Of course, I am trying to maintain my usual scepticism.

While I don’t doubt that this is a big bust I will be interested to see the proof in the pudding that is court. Two who were arrested have already been released without charge. According to Home Office statistics of the almost 900 people arrested between September 2001 and September 2005 under the Terrorism Act of 2000, 23 people were convicted of crimes under this Act. That is a hell of a lot of people to be rounding up with little cause. If my maths is correct (and it’s highly likely that it’s not), then if the Metropolitan police can keep up this average, 0.6 people of the 24 arrested this week will be convicted under the Terrorism Act.

But this kind of scepticism is not encouraged here. And nor is looking for any kind of motive. A number of British Muslim organisations wrote an open letter to government this week, urging them to see that British intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its de facto support for Israel’s bombing of Lebanon back to the Stone Age, are not in anyway helping to curb the anger felt by people who feel strong links to these countries. The government hit back with a violent press release, venomous and scornful, which all but labelled those behind the letter as “Terrorists” themselves.

In every crime / murder TV show or movie I have ever watched the detective looks for a motive. Why would someone want to kill Mr Blogs? The fact that Mr Blogs had screwed over several people in business dealings would be taken into account. Such a motive is not considered a mitigating factor: murder can never be justified. But it is something we can learn from. New Zealand is investing considerable amounts into reducing the proliferation of Pure Methamphetamine use in an effort to cut the number of nutters who go rampaging with machetes on the stuff. When Mrs Blogs attempts to murder Mr Blogs because he’s been unfaithful (a traditional motive in crime flicks I used to watch), then maybe Mr Blogs would reconsider his future actions.

Describing those who talk about underlying causes of discontent as having a “distorted view of life”, as British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has, is not helpful. Looking at the root of discontent is in no way justifying terrorism. Understanding that people have legitimate cause to be pissed off does not excuse terrorist actions they may take as a result. But denying that people are upset for a reason – perhaps that their parent’s birthplace has been completely destroyed by the British military – is repressive, stifles debate and freedom of speech, and goes nowhere toward including those who feel alienated.

Other posts by Katie Llanos-Small