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| Britain |
| MI5 had video of Khan talking about building bombs, al-Qaeda camps |
| 2006-05-16 |
| Britain’s domestic spy agency failed to inform a parliamentary watchdog that it bugged the presumed ringleader of last year’s bomb attacks in London and heard him talking about building a bomb, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. The newspaper claimed MI5 had a secret tape of Mohamed Sidique Khan talking about how to build the explosive device and leaving the country to avoid police detection, without citing sources. It claimed transcripts of the tape were never disclosed to the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) before it reported last Thursday on the attacks. The report noted that Khan and two of the other bombers briefly crossed the security radar but they were considered peripheral figures and not pursued. MI5 and other agencies were largely exonerated of security failings for not preventing the worst terrorist attack on British soil, leading to accusations of a “whitewash” by opposition politicians and families of victims. A total of 56 people, including Khan and his three fellow extremist accomplices, were killed in the attacks on London’s public transport network. The newspaper said it had spoken to an ISC member who admitted they had not seen transcripts of MI5’s tapes, which also included Khan talking about his plans to wage jihad - or holy war - and go to Al Qaeda training camps abroad. Instead, he reportedly said they took evidence from senior security officials and accepted their assessment that Khan was not deemed a serious risk. The unnamed committee member said that if the transcripts showed Khan had discussed bomb-making and attacking targets, they had been “seriously misled”. “If that is the case, it amounts to a scandal. I would be outraged,” he was quoted as saying. The Sunday Times said the disclosures would heighten calls for an independent public inquiry into the bombings. Meanwhile, Britain’s largest umbrella group for Islamic organisations has launched a plan to make mosques a focal point of communities to combat views that they are hotbeds of extremism. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said the London bombings last July 7 had fostered a negative image of mosques as places that require “close attention in the ‘war on terrorism’.” Announcing a drive on Saturday night to open the doors of Britain’s 1,000-plus mosques to the wider community, MCB general secretary Iqbal Sacranie said: “The tragedy of 7/7 spawned new and aggressive thinking in some quarters. These quarters contend that mosques and imams require close attention in the ‘war on terrorism’. “The perception outside the community is not very favourable. There is negative stereotyping that mosques are somehow related with criminal activity. This is totally untrue. There is no such activity taking place in the mosque.” |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 MI5 seems to be afflicted with the same mindset as the U.S. intelligence agencies. Q: What is it you would say you do here? Intelligence Agency: Why, we gather intelligence! Q: I see. Is that it? Anything else come to mind? IA: Um, like what? Q: Well, like act on said intelligence to prevent nefarious plots? IA: Oh good Heavens no. That might interfere with our gathering of intelligence! Still, when youÂ’re ordered to treat it like a police investigation and you actually have to wait for the crime to happen and then present evidence of said crime in a way that scores of bastard defense attorneys and inept prosecutors canÂ’t screw up a convictionÂ…well, itÂ’s easy to see how they got to mindset. |
| Posted by: psychohillbilly 2006-05-16 12:59 |