¡¡ With officials describing the plot as the greatest terrorist threat to the U.S. since Sept. 11, President George W. Bush called the arrests a "stark reminder" that the country was "at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

    Speaking in Wisconsin, Bush said: "It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America."

    Also, Chertoff said the plan would have involved coordinated multiple suicide bombings.¡¡

    "If these plotters had succeeded in taking down multiple jets carrying hundreds of people, we would have seen a disaster on a scale comparable to 9/11 with hundreds and maybe thousands of people being killed," Chertoff said in an interview on PBS's "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer."

    "It was in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot," Chertoff noted, adding the final conclusion has yet been made. Enditem

    (Agencies)

Major UK air terror plot thwarted

An armed policeman patrols at Heathrow Airport in London following the introduction of heightened security measures August 10, 2006.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) More Photos

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police in London said on Thursday they had thwarted a major terrorist plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight while Home Secretary John Reid called the plot a "major threat to the UK and international partners."  >>>     

    Main players in foiled plane bombing plot in custody: British Home Secretary

A picture taken on BBC World channel shows British Home Secretary John Reid speaking in London. Britain said that police have foiled a plot to cause "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by blowing up planes to the United States, putting the nation on maximum terror alert and snarling air traffic around the world. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary John Reid said on Thursday that he believed the main players in the foiled plot to blow up airplanes in mid-flight from Britain to the United States "are in custody."