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Why does everyone from The New York Times to Salon keep referring to "The airline terror plot foiled in London," to quote the opening of this article?
In this case, as in all others where there's been no trial and conviction, it's only right to put the word "alleged" first.
I'm not saying that the plot isn't real, but after the apparently exaggerated stories about Jose Padilla, those guys in Florida who were supposedly going to take down the Sears Tower, and the others who were said to be planning to knock down the Brooklyn Bridge with blowtorches, surely some caution is called for.
The Bushies are always eager to take us into that Lewis Carroll world of "verdict first, trial afterwards." But we don't have to follow them there. To Salon's editors, and ALL editors, please: alleged.
