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Interesting story from NBC News:

NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

The source did say, however, that police believe one U.K.-based suspect was ready to conduct a "dry run." British authorities had wanted to let him go forward with part of the plan, but the Americans balked[...]

The British official said the Americans also argued over the timing of the arrest of suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan, warning that if he was not taken into custody immediately, the U.S. would "render" him or pressure the Pakistani government to arrest him.

British security was concerned that Rauf be taken into custody "in circumstances where there was due process," according to the official, so that he could be tried in British courts. Ultimately, this official says, Rauf was arrested over the objections of the British.

Notice that bit about "rendering" him? The Brits wanted to hold off another week to gather more information. We didn't. And to force their hand, we threatened to "render" the ringleader and take him into custody secretly. But the Brits - much to their credit - wanted this all done within the rule of law, and went ahead with the operation before they would have otherwise liked.

Now I wonder... why would US officials have been in more of a hurry to make the arrests than the Brits? Maybe it that, nearly a half decade after 9/11, they knew our airports still weren't safe against this sort of threat? Or worse, that they had been working over the past few weeks to cut funding for programs designed to detect precisely this sort of explosive device? No no, I'm sure security was their only concern here. Because, of course, they would never play politics with terrorism... would they?

UPDATE: Turns out the Brits were forced to move early because the ringleader, the man we threatened to "render," was "accidentally arrested" by the Pakistanis. Interesting.