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| Britain |
| Intelligence chiefs warn Blair of home-grown 'insurgency' |
| 2005-08-08 |
| The Independent. EFL Intelligence chiefs are warning Tony Blair that Britain faces a full-blown Islamist insurgency, sustained by thousands of young Muslim men with military training now resident in this country. The grim possibility that the two London attacks were not simply a sporadic terror campaign is being discussed at the highest levels in Whitehall. Fears of a third strike remain high this weekend, based on concrete evidence supplied by an intercepted text message and the interrogation of a terror suspect being held outside Britain, say US reports. As police and the security services work to prevent another cell murdering civilians, attention is focusing on the pool of migrants to this country from the Horn of Africa and central Asia. MI5 is working to an estimate that more than 10,000 young men from these regions have had at least basic training in light weapons and military explosives. A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from "completely militarised" regions, including Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa, and Afghanistan and territories bordering the country. "Every one of them knows how to use an AK-47," said the source. "About 10 per cent can strip and reassemble such a weapon blindfolded, and probably a similar proportion have some knowledge of how to use military explosives. That adds up to tens of thousands of men." Even though the vast majority had come to Britain to escape the lawlessness of their homelands, the source added, there remained an alarmingly large pool of trained men who could be lured into violent action here. This threat had been largely neglected while attention focused on British-born militants who had been through training camps run by al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #13 I do remember that day TV was carrying live, a take down of some of the 7/21 guys, before they cut the live broadcast off.... a van pulled up and guys got out, and began to prepare to go inside. One of the commentators Fox had on (from Scotland Yard)... remarked, these guys aren't police.... he watched them, remarked on their professionalism... and you just knew, from him, they were military. He hinted then, that the British military had been extremely involved in much that had been happening. Kinda comforted me... and I'm deep in the heart of Texas! |
| Posted by: Sherry 2005-08-08 23:25 |
| #12 3dc, The Mooselimbs shouldn't have ever stirred up the hornets nest. Now they are going to be sorry. After the SF is through with these animals, the words "civil rights" won't even be in the UK dictionary. "any counter-terror operations will remain under the authority of the police" This is so ludicrous that I am going to LMAO and then I am going to ROFL. SF under the authority of Barney Fife. Riiiight!! |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-08 23:11 |
| #11 A Brit sent me this (I don't know which publication he got it from) : Special forces turn sights from Iraq to hunt terrorists in Britain Michael Smith BRITAINâS special forces commanders have temporarily switched the main thrust of their attention from Iraq and Afghanistan to hunting down suspected terrorists at home. A number of special forces teams are on an hourâs notice to move anywhere in the UK to support police operations against the terrorist threat. The teams have a number of aircraft, including civilian helicopters and two small executive jets, assigned to them to ensure they can get anywhere in Britain as swiftly as possible. âThe UK is now at the top of our agenda and the two (terrorist) incidents will result in significant changes to our workload for the near future,â a senior defence source said. Each of the rapid reaction teams includes a mix of SAS and Special Boat Service counter-terrorist experts, specialist human surveillance operatives and special forces bomb disposal officers. They also include technical surveillance experts from a fifth special forces unit, 18th (UKSF) Signal Regiment, which was secretly created this year. The regiment is the third new special forces unit set up to support 22 SAS Regiment and the navyâs SBS in an expansion of Britainâs special forces to cope with the war on terror. The new regiment includes soldiers who can monitor mobile and satellite phones and has a number of high-tech methods of listening in to conversations from up to half a mile away. The Sunday Times revealed last week that special forces intelligence personnel were part of the surveillance operation that resulted in the shooting of an innocent Brazilian. SAS troops also played a role in the capture nine days ago of three men suspected of taking part in the failed July 21 bomb attacks. The soldiers provided expertise in explosive entry techniques to back up raids by police firearms officers. The extent of the involvement by special forces and the scope of their capabilities have remained secret until now. âOur people are carrying out what I can only describe as a vital role within the current operation,â one source said. âIt is complex and spread across a large part of the UK. The team includes aspects of the new units assigned to UKSF (UK special forces) within the past year.â Part of this role is understood to involve special forces merging into the background in London and other British cities. Plainclothes SAS teams have also monitored airports and main railway stations to identify any security weaknesses. Members of the SBS have worked alongside Home Office officials on exercises at key ports to try to spot security problems. One exercise scenario involved suicide bombers hijacking an oil tanker which they aimed to blow up in a port. However, defence sources said that although the elite military teams are under the overall control of the director of special forces, any counter-terror operations will remain under the authority of the police. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-08-08 22:45 |
| #10 Is Britain not ready for a fight? Yes, the terrorists have bombing capabilities. But how do these bombing capabilities compare to the bombings of the Hitler regime? Are they more powerful? Cause... those bombings, like the terrorists of today, killed people. Destroyed parts of London And the Germany of that time, had a far superior army than the Islam terrorists of today. Planes, tanks an boots on the ground. Help me here... I'm still having some problems... that the Muslim community can overthrown the British government. Is there not some consolation in the fact that Britain has a far superior army than the Muslim front? Realizing there are military coups throughout the third-world counties all the time, I'm such a novice to believe that this 10% of militant Muslims can defeat the British armed forces. Am I missing something here? What is the strategy and the tactics the Muslim community can invoke to overpower the British and flag the Muslim flag over 10 Downing Street? Sure, there are the Galloway's of the community of the British.... but I just have to believe, there are far more British against his beliefs, and more than willing to stand for those beliefs. They have done it before, and I do believe, they will do it again. We, here in the States, have often voiced how this generation of our children and grandchildren would stand in the face of danger. Since 9-11, I think they can stand tall... it is their generation and they are doing quiet well, thank you.. and I want to believe that the British would never stand for a different flag over 10 Downing Street. And I know, we, their "country cousins" would stand with them in that fight. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2005-08-08 22:22 |
| #9 Well what the hell did they think would happen when they invited all the radical nutjobs the Islamic world had to live in their country? Did they think they would hold hands and sing kumbia? |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-08-08 22:18 |
| #8 One other point that I think Americans don't necessarily think about often: It was Britain, more than any other colonial power, that established the national boundaries and ruling families in much of the middle east. Geraldine Bell and all that .... The muslim world may not have much education, industry or democracy -- but it DOES have a long memory for that sort of thing. Another reason to target Britain in the minds of some. |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-08-08 21:51 |
| #7 I believe France already excercised the "national security option" and declared those null and void. At least, in so far as France is concerned.7 That's my understanding as well. But if there were no signs of *imminent* violence elsewhere and an apparently stable Islamacist government emerged in Britain, I'm not at all sure that things wouldn't revert to the EU norm pretty quickly. All of which is wildly speculative, of course. But it does suggest one reason that an insuregency and attempted Islamacist state might emerge in Britain -- or at least be attempted there -- before countries like France. There are leaders, there are sympathizers and there are those who would dress up nicely and present a "civilized" face on such a "resistance / independence / human rights" movement. |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-08-08 21:46 |
| #6 Darn. That was so clever. I wanted to teach AK and .com. I think the chances of every Muslim in Britain failing to see the next sunrise are much, much higher than that the UK would ever turn into an Islamist state. I should not be surprised to see gun restirctions loosened, with or without Parliamentary action. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-08 19:48 |
| #5 And, it's part of the EU. If the UK were, under some wild scenario, to go Islamicist quickly, all of the EU protocols for trans-border travel etc. would be in effect, no? I believe France already excercised the "national security option" and declared those null and void. At least, in so far as France is concerned. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-08 19:47 |
| #4 No. I've been mulling on this story since yesterday. We know that some of the Islamacists have made it clear they'd like to turn the UK into an Islamic state. While we tend to snicker at such ravings, it gives me pause ... Britain isn't like France or the Scandanavian countries, where moslem immigrants are mostly ghettoed (by whosever choice). You've already got Galloway and other ethnically-British converts, plus a fair number of university trained Islamacists in the country. And, it's part of the EU. If the UK were, under some wild scenario, to go Islamicist quickly, all of the EU protocols for trans-border travel etc. would be in effect, no? And it's a country where the populace by and large has chosen not to allow gun ownership or violence in self-defense. A bit of a worrisome mix ... |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-08-08 19:35 |
| #3 rkb, can you teach us how to make our comments disappear? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-08 19:15 |
| #2 "A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from "completely militarised" Well if the source is that well connected, setup him with an interrogation meeting with the DeWalt Quality Assurance Division. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-08 19:12 |
| #1 ya think? I guess all those clerics were just joshin' ya. It's just a little adolescent fun - like cherry bombs in mailboxes. Boys will be boys. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-08-08 18:42 |