Islamic Radicals Find A Haven In London :: War on Terror

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July 10, 2005

Islamic Radicals Find A Haven In London

A leaked British government document claims that al-Qaeda is heavily recruiting British-born and naturalised Britons to its campaign of global terror. The document revealed that Al-Qaida's focus is on affluent, middle-class Muslims attending British universities and colleges. The recruiters target those studying "technical and professional" courses, especially engineering and information technology(more on this is available in the extended post).

It's noteworthy that security experts have contended for many years that the UK is a safe haven for radical Islamic terror networks, which exploit British freedoms to further their goals.

Among the (numerous factors) contributing to the ease with which these groups operate is the UK's liberal immigration policy, the many flaws in the border control system, and freedom from the obligation to carry identity cards. (Radical Islamists) have long taken advantage of the fact that Britain has in the past meticulously upheld the rights of the individual, including the right of radical individuals to orchestrate the eradication of the rights of their opponents, (i.e. a free democratic society, non-Muslims and moderate Muslims). (These radical) individuals are protected from prosecution in their countries of origin by British legislation that inhibits the extradition of suspects.

At the same time, prosecution in the UK, with its large and influential Muslim community, is fraught with risks of internal strife, or accusation of racism. (So Islamists are using 'the system' to defeat their enemy - a free and open democratic society with the freedom for all people to practice their faith, regardless of their faith or non-faith.)

So, is it a wonder that Britain has an problem with Islamic fundamentalists that has now reached the level of a crisis?

- WAPO via MSNBC(hat tip - inTheBullPen)
Diverse mosaic of al Qaeda sympathizers make British capital their base.

On the morning after bombs ripped through the London Underground and crumpled a double-decker bus, four security guards escorted a one-eyed, Egyptian-born cleric, his arms amputated below the elbows from Afghan war injuries, onto the elevated dock of Courtroom No. 1 in Old Bailey, the capital's principal criminal court.
Abu Hamza Masri, for years a blood-curdling preacher at a North London mosque allegedly visited by shoe bomber Richard Reid and hijacker trainee Zacarias Moussaoui, listened silently Friday as his lawyer argued about his indictment last January on nine counts of incitement to murder for speeches that allegedly promoted mass violence against non-Muslims. In one speech cited in a British documentary film, Masri urged followers to get an infidel "and crush his head in your arms, so you can wring his throat. Forget wasting a bullet, cut them in half!"

Masri's case is just one of several dozen that describe the venom, sprawling shape and deep history of al Qaeda and related extremist groups in London. Osama bin Laden opened a political and media office here as far back as 1994; it closed four years later when his local lieutenant, Khalid Fawwaz, was arrested for aiding al Qaeda's attack on two U.S. embassies in Africa.

As bin Laden's ideology of making war on the West spread in the years before Sept. 11, 2001, London became "the Star Wars bar scene" for Islamic radicals, as former White House counterterrorism official Steven Simon called it, attracting a polyglot group of intellectuals, preachers, financiers, arms traders, technology specialists, forgers, travel organizers and foot soldiers.,

Britain has often served as a base for recruitment of would-be Jihadis, who are then sent to other counties to operate terror cells as part of a network of hard-core radical Islamic activists.

A refuge and hub for Middle Eastern dissidents since the 19th century imperial era, the city has more recently attracted Islamic radicals with connections to Morocco, Egypt, Syria, the Persian Gulf and Pakistan. London's radical fringe draws in part from the alienated edges of Britain's large and overwhelmingly peaceful Muslim immigrant population. But it has been influenced, too, by Britain's ambiguous policies toward exiled radicals, a sometimes awkward blend of asylum offers, intelligence collection and criminal prosecution.

The United Kingdom's generous asylum laws (have been) often exploited by radicals who fled their homelands to settle in London. These radicals and their supporters raise funds and preach their causes from Islamic centers, mosques, and nondescript offices across the country. The literature of all brands of Islamic political thought is printed, distributed, and read throughout London. Much of it is given out on Fridays at the 100 or more mosques in the city. In some areas of London, videotaped sermons are on sale calling for the killing of all infidels and Jews; leaflets are distributed on street corners urging Muslims to travel to various hotspots around the world to wage Jihad; while radical preachers incite the faithful to take up arms against the "Crusaders and the Jews."

So just think about what's going on in America's cities, while you're reading this, think about our immigration policies, think about our politicians and their political correctness toward treatment of Muslims that are more Islamist than Muslim(for example in the weakening of the Patriot Act), and think about the special treatment that is demanded by Islamists and their groups - such as CAIR. Just think about it!

Related:
If you think that the problem is new, think again ...

On The Matter Of Al Qaida Recruitment and Involvement in Britain

Isaac Kfir
ICT

The London bombing, according to police, had the trappings of a highly sophisticated attack: all the devices on the Underground exploded within 50 seconds of each other, while the explosives themselves were not hand-made, but were small 10-pound (4.5 kg.) high explosives. Police believe that home-grown British terrorists, with no criminal records but technologically proficient, carried out the attack.

The joint Home and Foreign Office document "Young Muslims and Extremism," prepared for the Prime Minister last year, found that Britain might be harbouring thousands of Al-Qaida sympathisers. Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, revealed that around 3000 British-born or British-based people have passed through Osama Bin Laden's training camps.

The Whitehall document, based on hundreds of letters, papers and other intelligence, forms the basis of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, code-named Operation Contest. The aim of the operation is to win the "hearts and minds" of young Muslims through policies that include anti-religious-discrimination laws and greater participation by Muslims in British society. The document, which paints a chilling picture of the task faced by security forces, concludes: "Intelligence indicates that the number of British Muslims actively engaged in terrorist activity, whether at home or abroad or supporting such activity, is extremely small and estimated at less than 1%."

There are approximately 1.6 million Muslims in the United Kingdom, which suggests that Britain may currently have as many as 16,000 potential terrorists or supporters of terrorism.

The document reveals that around 10,000 British residents have attended extremist conferences, and the number of those prepared to commit atrocities runs into the hundreds. Potential recruits tend to be loners attracted to university clubs based on ethnicity or religion. The recruits are usually disillusioned with their current lives, and therefore receptive to radical ideas. Their background ranges from second- or third-generation British Muslims whose forebears came from Pakistan or Kashmir, to newly-arrived immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East. The dossier further states that a "significant number" come from liberal, non-religious backgrounds, and some are white British nationals or of West Indian extraction.

The document identifies the Iraq War as a major factor behind young Muslims' willingness to join extremist groups. Muslims, especially the younger generation, view the "war on terror" and the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan as examples of Western - and especially British and American - acts against Islam. They view the lack of action on Kashmir and Chechnya as examples of Western double standards.

The Prime Minister, in a separate interview, rejected the claim that British involvement in Iraq had led to the attacks in London, pointing to the Beslan atrocity which came despite Russian opposition to the war in Iraq.

According to European security commentators, the London attack was a result of the lax British attitude towards extremists residing in London - which led some to describe it as "Londonistan." A year ago, a London-based radical Syrian cleric, Omar Bakri Mohammed, claimed that an Al-Qaida cell was planning a "big operation" in the capital. In an interview with Portugal's Publica news magazine, Bakri said that an attack in London was "inevitable." The cleric further claimed that British troops in Iraq were "terrorists" and that "Terrorism is the law of the 21st Century." He also maintained that engaging in terrorism is "legitimate," asserting that the lives of "non-believers" have "no value." Saad al-Fagih, a Saudi exile living in London and implicated in the 1998 American embassies bombing in East Africa, claimed: "Thanks to the American invasion of Iraq, Al-Qaeda has no shortage of manpower... My sources tell me that 3,000 Saudis have joined the jihad in Iraq and are prepared to become suicide bombers anywhere in the world."

European intelligence sources suggest that there is evidence that the mastermind of the Madrid train bombings of March 2004 was also responsible for the London bombings. Spanish security forces are said to have warned several months ago that Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian, had identified Britain as a likely target. Nasar, from Aleppo, Syria, also known as Abu Musab al-Asuri, has a $5m (£2.9m) American bounty on his head; he is believed to be either in Iraq or the Afghan-Pakistani border. He allegedly set up a "sleeper" unit in Britain with the aim of carrying out a bomb attack. Investigators of the London bomb attacks note the similarities between them and the Madrid attacks - both were coordinated bombings targeting the public transport system.

Sources: The Times, The Guardian

Home Office Document 'Young Muslim & Extremism" (available in four parts on line at:
http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/cabinet1.pdf

http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/cabinet2.pdf

http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/cabinet3.pdf

http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/cabinet4.pdf.

The source for all of the information in the extended post is The International Policy Institute For Counterterrorism.

Other Related Posts:
Newswire has "A Muslim problem? A Muslim solution"

Rosenblog.com has The Cancer Of Islamic Hate and - Thomas Friedman says that it is the Muslim political culture within Western Islamic communities, including the elders and the religious leaders, that can best end the hate. Failing that, western governments will have to programatically boost surveillance and detention of suspected Islamic radicals, increasing polariziation just as bin Laden wants, posits Friedman.

Posted by Hyscience at July 10, 2005 9:21 PM

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