The process is frighteningly simple, the result deadly.

You take a small bottle of acetone, available at any hardware or home-improvement store, pick up some hydrogen peroxide, available just about anywhere. Then, as one chemical bomb expert explains it, you mix the two together in the restroom on an airliner. The explosive reaction has been set in motion and, in all likelihood, the lives of everyone on board will soon be snuffed out.

That appeared to be the plan last week, as British authorities swooped down on dozens of suspected terrorists. The plot apparently had been in the works for years, and counter-terrorism agents had been investigating for months. British agents decided to spring the trap after intelligence reports indicated a coordinated terror attack was coming, and soon.

Government officials in Great Britain and the United States are downplaying the potential timing, but with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon so near, and with the penchant that terrorists have demonstrated for choosing historically important dates to launch their attacks, it seems fairly clear this effort was stopped just in time.

As usual, the work of terrorists will become a burden for travelers. The plot apparently intended to involve 10 or more jetliners flying from London to the United States, with terrorists using the acetone-peroxide mix or other liquid concoctions as bombs. The result of last week/s foiled plot is that no liquid items of any kind will be allowed on flights.

You have to wonder about the imposition of such a rule. Last week/s plot apparently was a copycat version of a plan hatched by extremists in the Philippines more than a decade ago, in which liquid explosives were to be installed aboard a dozen flights headed for the U.S. If this liquid-bomb strategy was valid 11 years ago, why ban liquids now?

Airports here in Santa Barbara County were not experiencing the same delays as larger airports around the country. But airport officials in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara remained on high alert, a nervousness mirrored in air travelers/ faces.

The interrupted terror plot is another reminder of how hatred and extremism have changed our lives, perhaps forever.

Aug. 13, 2006