The Deer Hunters... or Fox Force Five

Apparently 5 of the 8 suspects arrested for storming the British House of Commons over the Hunting Bill in September 2004 were former or current (Territorial Army... no, apparently not one of Gareth Keenan's charges) members of the Special Air Service. According to the Times Online:

Eight men were arrested following the incident — in which five of them were shown live on television confronting Alun Michael, the rural affairs minister, and berating MPs.

The stunt was initially thought to be the work of amateur protesters who made a mockery of lax security. It led to a major safety review and the appointment of a new parliamentary security chief from MI5. The police, who are understood to have spent more than £1m investigating the incident, have now uncovered the special forces backgrounds of the protesters.

One friend of the men said: “It just shows how passionately people feel about this issue that men who were prepared to sacrifice everything for their country, and have put themselves in very difficult situations, are prepared to go to these lengths.”

Now I don't want to make young Anthony go apoplectic, but here is yet another example of what dedicated and sufficiently trained individuals can do. These guys had no weapons and embarrassed supposedly "recently upgraded-security" in order to get on the floor. If they can do it, then chances are al Qaeda or a similar group can do the same; particularly if they are granted safe havens (as was the case in Afghanistan prior to October 2001 and in Fallujah from April 2004 to November 2004) to dedicate significant spcial training to individual and collective tasks.

....Even if this SAS angle is just a planted story to make MPs and Britain feel better about the breach, it still speaks poorly to security conditions.