In the wake of the London bombings, the always-worth-reading ICT has some excellent commentary on how London became the center of al-Qaeda in Europe and the implications of that on British internal security.
These paragraphs in particular are worth reading:
In January of 2002, British military intelligence searching Osama bin Laden’s cave complex in the mountains of Tora Bora eastern Afghanistan found the names of 1,200 British citizens, all Muslims, who trained with the Al-Qaida network in Afghanistan.
The discovery was made public in January of 2003. Many of those who survived the defeat of the Taliban are now believed to be back in Britain and some may have formed terrorist cells. Many have gone underground to avoid detection.
Now would seem to be the best time to enlist the British public in finding these individuals before they can do further harm. As the Counterterrorism Blog notes here and here, Mohammed Guerbouzi, a senior member of the al-Qaeda affiliate Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, has been freely operating out of London for some time now. If Britain wants to prevent further terrorist attacks on its soil, rounding of the likes of Guerbouzi, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, and the al-Muhajiroun crowd would seem to be common sense.
Unfortunately, we can't just shoot the bastards. We need to prove in a court of law that they are al-Qaeda.
I repeat that, to a significant extent, the British brought the July 7 bombings on themselves through their silly and suicidally dangerous domestic policies. They can continue those policies and die, or they can change them and live. No one can help them here. It's up to the British and whether they value their lives more than being politically correct by lefty standards.
Colt:
Whether they're going to be shot or tried, they still have to be located. No one has heard from Guerbouzi since the bombing and it seems he may well have gone to ground despite being under surveillance. Jamal Zougam, if you'll recall, was under surveillance as well, as was Abu Qatada if you want a UK example.
Tom:
I'm far from being a fan of British asylum policies and my own suspicion is that they are likely to change if it comes out that the perpetrators of the attacks (who have thus far, lest we forget, apparently evaded the authorities) got into the country in such a manner.
Rolling up the north African cells would seem to be of greater importance that the Afghans, no?
BTW, did you hear anything more about Huarte and the funny stuff surrounding 3/11?
Dan,
I read a report that British security forces said @50 people they were tailing vanished just before July 7. If this is true, I betcha at least some of those 50 were in the UK solely due to politically correct silliness.
Speaking of 50, the police are putting the number of confirmed dead at 49. However, the emergency services haven't been able to reach the carriage that was blown up near Kings Cross, due to the damage done to the tunnel, etc. However, they estimate there are at least 20 bodies in that carriage.
It depends. Remember, the UK found a roster of 1,200 British citizens who trained in Afghanistan, I suspect the majority of them aren't Afghans themselves.
As for Huarte, didn't you get my e-mail awhile back on that one? If not, see if Joe or Bill will forward it to you since I don't have it anymore. It's the one entitled "Just so we all keep our conspiracies straight ..." or something to that effect.
Not that there's a clear-cut line between the two can be drawn, but hopefully you see what I'm getting at.
Nope, I didn't get that. I'll ask Bill and Joe.
I know they're not Afghans. Slip of the brain.
The French eventually got ruthless with the OAS. They were tired of terror so had De Gaulle do whatever was needed to make the OAS go away and give them peace.
A lot of OAS guys just disappeared and were never heard from again.
The UK will eventually have to get to that stage, or suffer a repeat of 7/7. Politically they wanted to pander to Muslim voters, be politically correct for Labor Party dynamics, and allow the Police to be evasive in their full responsibilities (which would require active and extensive monitoring and detention of mosques, imams, and conspirators like the FBI did with the Lodi bunch).
Thank God for the Patriot Act, which allows conspiracy charges and providing material support for terrorism instead of waiting for a slam dunk case and risking a terrorist bombing.
Better to get a McVeigh or Atta before he kills and put him in the slam for twenty years than move after the fact.
Dan,
Comment didn't take at RegCru. Do you have anymore background on Zeeshan Siddique than is in this article? I couldn't find anything else.
Man being quizzed for lead to London blasts
"PESHAWAR, July 8: Investigators are questioning here a British national with known links to Al Qaeda and militants in the UK who they suspect may provide lead to Thursday’s London blasts, sources said. Zeeshan Siddique, who was picked up by a security agency from near Peshawar in May, had initially identified himself as Shehzad from Madina Colony, Hyderabad. The identity turned out to be fake.
In subsequent interrogation, he said he was a British national and that he was suspected of involvement in a failed plot to bomb pubs, restaurants and rail stations in London."
That's a pretty apt summary, I'm afraid, and all of it from the Pakistanis. They had better be hoping and praying that none of the London bombers were LeT alumni.