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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Al-Qaeda recruiting is up |
| 2004-10-20 |
| Al Qaeda is present in more than 60 countries around the world and radical Islam is increasing in Western Europe, where Muslims often feel marginalised, a well-respected military and defence think tank in London said yesterday. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) also said that Westerners and Western interests in the Arab world appeared to face greater peril now than before the US-led war in Iraq. The US, through its military invasion and occupation of Iraq, had shown a desire to change the political status quo in the Arab world to advance its own strategic and political interests, it noted. "Al Qaeda seeks, among other things, to purge the Arab and larger Muslim world of US influence," IISS said. "Accordingly, the Iraq intervention was always likely in the short term to enhance jihadist recruitment and intensify Al Qaeda's motivation to encourage and assist terrorist operations," it said. As examples of this increased threat, the IISS cited May 2003 attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the gathering of foreign fighters against the US-led coalition in Iraq, November 2003 attacks in Saudi Arabia and Turkey and the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid. The assessment was contained in the institute's annual report for 2004 on the military capabilities and defence economics of 169 countries around the world. IISS said that although half of Al Qaeda's 30 senior leaders and perhaps 2,000 rank-and-file members had been killed or captured, a "rump" leadership, including Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, was still intact with 18,000 terrorists potentially still at large. "Radical Islam appears to be on the rise in Western Europe," it warned, adding that Islamic terrorism was now the "principal threat to Europe. Furthermore, the sources of European Muslims' grievances... are increasingly social, economic and political marginalisation in host countries," it said. According to IISS, terrorism, illicit trafficking and organised crime facilitated by globalisation, trade liberalisation, and weak borders were the important threats considered in 2004 defence planning. Britain and France were singled out amongst European nations for their swift response to the terrorist threat since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, while IISS noted that co-ordination throughout the European Union had been "harder to forge". Meanwhile, an eighth suspected Islamic extremist was arrested in Spain yesterday as part of a police sweep in which seven others were arrested overnight, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso announced. The latest arrest took place in northern Pamplona, Alonso told reporters on the sidelines of a parliamentary session. He said the suspects were plotting attacks against the National Court, Spain's highest criminal court, or other judicial bodies. The interior ministry previously released a statement announcing the arrests of seven "radical and violent" Moroccans and Algerians living in Spain, most of whom have served jail terms. Four of them were arrested in the southern city of Almeria and the other three in the southern town of Malaga, the eastern city of Valencia and the capital, Madrid. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 I am hoping they are all being attracted to the magnet of I where we can kill them. Can it be a real time plot? Please? |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-20 5:58:55 PM |
| #2 It would be interesting to see a plot of recruitment vs deaths. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2004-10-20 5:46:49 PM |
| #1 Pamplona+bulls+jihadies=??? The possabilities are interesting. |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-10-20 8:36:22 AM |