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Britain
MI5 knew of 7/7 bomber's plan to fight for al-Qaeda
2006-01-23
Top MI5 and other security agency sleuths knew a year before the July 7 London bomb attacks that the ringleader of the suicide bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, was planning to fight for Al Qaeda.

The disclosure, highly embarrassing for MI5, has once again triggered the demand for a full public inquiry into the July 7 attacks.

It is said that MI5 bugged Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, another of the bombers, for two months in 2004 as they talked about Khan's desire to fight an "Islamic war". He also talked about retuning to Pakistan, where he had attended a camp for British Muslim terrorists. The two also talked about engaging in crimes to raise funds.

But after all this, MI5 and police decided that the two men were not an "imminent risk". As a result their surveillance was discontinued.

The error in judgement has been discovered following a trawl by agencies of MI5 and police files on all the intelligence about the four suicide bombers.

It has also been calculated that the entire plot and execution of the July 7 attack cost around £10,000.

Officials have traced the origins of the July 7 plot back to 2003 when Khan visited a terrorist camp in northern Pakistan. The camp was set up by Al Qaeda soon after British troops went into Iraq.

Victims of the July 7 attacks have also now demanded a full inquiry to establish where and why intelligence failed, costing the lives of 52 people.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#9  NS, I hope I did not come across as wanting a witch hunt. Just a good AAR, 2B says it a bit better. Thanks
Posted by: 49 Pan   2006-01-23 11:39  

#8  I don't think they need to be or should be witch hunts. But I think they do need to go back and do an honest review. It is a standard pattern in these attacks that the security services are monitoring the very individuals that will attack and then stop monitoring them before the attack occurs. They need to find out why that happens, because it may very well be that terrorists have gotten their number. They need to know why they stopped monitoring so they don't do it or fall for it again.
Posted by: 2b   2006-01-23 11:19  

#7  What they need is to go back and research how they missed it and how they could do better

But you're never going to stop all of them, so there's no point holding a witch hunt unless there's been real incompetence. We even survived Tenet staying on board.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-01-23 08:37  

#6  Considering the comabt ability of these "fighters" even a few second tier special forces should be able to wipe out the camps with "lethal predjudice".

Leave NO jihadi alive.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2006-01-23 08:18  

#5  People who armchair quarterback attacks are fools. If you go back and look at the intel before any attack you will find the indicators of the attack. What they need is to go back and research how they missed it and how they could do better. A public inquiry will do nothing.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2006-01-23 08:17  

#4  I fail to see why we havent started wiping out these training camp . Bullets , snatch and grab missions , not missiles though , because of the diplomatic fallout from missiles

The spin on using bullets would be , musta been a rival group of fruitcakes .. Hell , use AK's and russian/china equipment on the job .

In my experience , face to face action has more of the desired effect than anything else .

We know where the camps are , Mi5 / CIA aint dumb , birds in the air aswell as some camps are already infiltrated .


And yes Howard , UK gitmo would be nice ... although most call it Rampton :p
Posted by: MacNails   2006-01-23 08:14  

#3  demanding an inquiry into government failure to deal with these people throughout the 90's.

That would be pointless and unfair. Just like in the States, the public and the politicians were in denial about the riskiness of the situation, and so would not accept any strong measures. Just as now, when we know what must be done about Iran's nuclear development program, but not only the noisy half of the American people, politicians and media refuse to accept any movement at all, but the leaders of the countries within missile range (except Israel, of course) insist on working to further Iran's goals. The intelligence agencies can only inform -- hard action must await permission from the political class, who won't move until the peepul are pursuaded.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-01-23 07:12  

#2  I wouldn't be too hard on Mi5 in this case, there are proably, quite literally, thousands of British Muslim Jihadis who have fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere; or attended training camps in those places.

What the victims and their families should be doing is demanding an inquiry into government failure to deal with these people throughout the 90's.
Posted by: Paul Moloney   2006-01-23 06:23  

#1  Thanks, lads. </sarcasm> Now get out of the pub and start rounding them up. Time for a British Gitmo.
Posted by: Howard UK   2006-01-23 03:48  

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