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| Britain |
| Terror threat from 'very many' Muslim men, says Met chief |
| 2005-03-04 |
| Britain faces a potential terrorist threat from "very many" Muslim men who returned to Britain after spending time in training camps in Afghanistan, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said yesterday. Sir Ian Blair, whose force, with MI5, leads anti-terrorism work in Britain, was asked if he supported the assertion of the Prime Minister earlier this week that there were "several hundred people in the UK plotting terror attacks". The commissioner told LBC radio in London: "Yes, I am aware of the fact that there are very many people who came back from the camps in Afghanistan and who are therefore potentially a threat to the United Kingdom. "And I agree with the Prime Minister's assessment, on that basis, that there are hundreds of people who came back from the camps and are now in the United Kingdom, and that is a very dangerous issue for us all." Scotland Yard sources made clear Sir Ian was referring to training camps run by al-Qa'eda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which were destroyed in the military campaign by American and British forces after the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. Security chiefs have said privately for some time that the radicalising influence of the "jihadists" who attended the camps and went to Muslim-related conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya and Kashmir is at the heart of the threat to Britain. Saajit Badat, from Gloucester, who admitted plotting to blow up an airliner with a shoe bomb, spent time in the camps. In the radio interview, Sir Ian also supported the comments made earlier this week by Hazel Blears, Home Office minister, that Muslims would be disproportionately affected by anti-terrorist stops and searches by police. "I think that Hazel is right to say it and I have said something similar in the past," Sir Ian said. "The fact is the terrorism regulations around stop and search do not require individual suspicion, they're much more akin to searches around an airport. "In this case, while I am very concerned about the Muslim community's sense of belonging, we do have to accept that the events around the Gloucester shoe bomber do show us that there are people within that community who misguidedly, and entirely in conflict with the values of Islam, are prepared to use violence against the United Kingdom. "Therefore we have to do something with this and I think there would be a much greater outcry if we did absolutely nothing and part of London disappeared in smoke." At the home affairs select committee on Tuesday, Miss Blears told MPs: "The threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of Islam, or who are falsely hiding behind Islam. It means that some of our counter-terrorism powers will be disproportionately experienced by the Muslim community. I think that is the reality and I think we should recognise that." The "disproportionality" argument on anti-terrorism stops and searches, which do not require police suspicion and are aimed in part at disruption, is based on calculations that Asians are stopped in higher numbers than their proportion of the population would merit. However, Met figures show that the proportion of London stops involving Asian people fell between 2002/3 and 2003/4. • A court hearing an attempt by the US government to extradite a British man accused of terrorist offences involving American websites inciting the murder of American forces in Afghanistan and urging Muslims to fight a holy war, was adjourned yesterday. The hearing wants to establish whether there is a "real risk" that Babar Ahmad, 30, from Tooting, south London, could be transferred from US civilian courts to the American military justice system. His lawyers argued at Bow Street magistrates' court in London that, if he were to be designated an "enemy combatant", he could be held indefinitely without trial in a military prison or put before a military tribunal, in breach of the human rights which underpin extradition law. Senior District Judge Timothy Workman said the issue was "clearly a matter of considerable concern and must be resolved". |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #16 I'ma thinking Grom has a legitimate gripe against the legacy of half-assed, sloppy-seconds, British colonial shenanigans that went on in the ME. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2005-03-04 8:31:21 PM |
| #15 Never cheer for Turks, ever. Tennyson would have shat himself. |
| Posted by: Rightwing 2005-03-04 5:56:16 PM |
| #14 What say, the next time "Lawrence of Arabia" is on TV... we cheer like hell for the Turks!!!! |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2005-03-04 5:07:12 PM |
| #13 This is unacceptable. |
| Posted by: Cafiringus Perplexus 2005-03-04 3:51:49 PM |
| #12 Ima think our grom carries a grudge. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-04 12:25:52 PM |
| #11 gromgorru - you are in a bit of a sour mood today. Are the houseplants talking back? |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-03-04 12:02:25 PM |
| #10 If I recall correctly, gromgorru is Israeli, so he may well be taking the whole thing personally. But it does still sound like the people who claim the 9/11 victims deserved their fate. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-04 12:00:38 PM |
| #9 stop taking it personally. It's not directed at normal people like you two. It's not like we don't make fun of our own loons here at home too. But your PC crowd does seem to get more respect. Maybe it's the BBC's fault. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-03-04 11:39:42 AM |
| #8 of course its not the UKs fault. Thats silliness. But what the hells the matter with LONDON? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-03-04 11:36:44 AM |
| #7 I'm still eating safety pins over what we did to Joan of Arc. You know, the French have been quite the same since since 1431. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-03-04 10:56:21 AM |
| #6 I blame King Richard, the Bogeyman of the middle east. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-03-04 10:53:23 AM |
| #5 Hey - I wondered when it would get round to being our fault.. that bloody Lawrence of Arabia... Quick pass me that stick so I can beat myself. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2005-03-04 10:46:39 AM |
| #4 How considerate. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-03-04 10:40:06 AM |
| #3 I could answer you---but I'd rather wait until it booms in London. |
| Posted by: gromgorru 2005-03-04 10:37:14 AM |
| #2 Whatever, gromgorru. I suppose Mohammed was working for MI6, too. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-03-04 10:33:55 AM |
| #1 The British: who have invented, and are still assisting, the world's largest terrorist organization = "Palestinian Nation"; can be considered the midwife of Moslem terrorirsm. If you sow wind... |
| Posted by: gromgorru 2005-03-04 10:21:18 AM |