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| Britain |
| 'Al-Qaeda Had UK Parliament in Their Sights' |
| 2004-09-18 |
| Britain said yesterday that Al-Qaeda had targeted Parliament and called for an urgent security shake-up after two embarrassing breaches in 24 hours. "The security services briefed me some time ago about intelligence they had about Al-Qaeda operatives in Britain focusing on Parliament," said the government's leader in the House of Commons, Peter Hain. Hain declined to give details of the intelligence information but added: "I was very determined to act upon it." Intelligence-driven fears that extremists could wreak havoc in the "mother of parliaments" have underlined the urgency of setting up a 21st-century security operation. Many believe it is time to turn to professionals after centuries of Parliament being policed by "men in tights" — the Sergeant-at-Arms and his ceremonial ushers in traditional dress, with swords at their side. Fox hunting supporters who stormed the debating chamber revealed that they breezed into Parliament on Wednesday without challenge, and the next day an undercover reporter managed to smuggle fake bomb-making equipment into Parliament. "This is the age of the suicide terrorist," said Hain. "What I want is a new professional director of security who has responsibility and authority right across Parliament." Hain even congratulated The Sun tabloid for the stunt by a reporter who got a job as a waiter with bogus references and showed what a farce security had become at a time when Britain is a prime terror target due to its pro-US foreign policy. "What if — as The Sun has exposed — that had been a suicide terrorist? That is the horrifying reality we now face," Hain told BBC Radio. Eight hunting protesters made a laughing stock of security with their stunt on Wednesday. One revealed the plan had been "put together, literally on the back of an envelope, 24 hours before." "We all gave ourselves a one-in-a-thousand chance of getting there and we got there like odds-on certainties. It was risible," David Redvers said. Denying they had been helped by an insider, he added: "It was frighteningly simple." |
| Posted by:Fred |