The extremist Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun, which openly operates in Pakistan, is holding a conference on the second anniversary of September 11 to honour the 19 who hijacked commercial jets for attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
A poster celebrating the event to be held at four locations in England includes photographs of the Al Qaeda hijackers and refers to them as âThe Magnificent 19,â according to a report in the Washington Times on Saturday. Omar Bakri Muhammad, the groupâs leader, is shown on the conferenceâs poster with the 19 suicide hijackers who are broken down into four groups based on the four planes they commandeered. Mr Muhammad told the London Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat that participants will discuss the motives of the hijackers, whom he referred to as âheroesâ. The conference, being held in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester, will examine the root causes of the September 11 attacks, and if they still exist, Mr Muhammad warned âthe results might be similar to what happened in September but in different methodsâ. The announcement said that a message from Osama Bin Laden will also be read, drawn from earlier television messages by the Al Qaeda leader.
| Golly. I wonder if they still exist? |
Mr Muhammad, a Syrian-born British citizen, is seen as a key British contact of Mr Bin Laden, for whose capture, Washington has offered a reward of $25 million. Al-Muhajiroun held a similar celebration last year. A British embassy spokesman here told the Washington Times, âEveryone is allowed to express an opinion so long as it stops short of incitement and stops short of acts of terrorism.â
| How about that part about âthe results might be similar to what happened in September but in different methodsâ? That's not incitement? |
He said the police and security services were full aware of Mr Muhammad and his organisation. Their activities are closely monitored, adding, âAnyone breaking the law, whether provisions of the Terrorism Act, the Race Relations Act or the Public Order Act, will be prosecuted.â
| I'm assuming they've got the organization wired, which is why they haven't tossed Mr Muhammad into the calaboose and thrown away the key. What're they using the Tower of London for nowadays, by the way? |
Mr Muhammad told the London Arabic newspaper that the US was a legitimate target because âit represents the right-hand tool of the world Crusades led by America and its allies against Islam and Muslimsâ. He also said the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed at least 23 people, will not be the last terrorist attack.
| We never thought it would be. |
The Al-Muhajiroun group, according to the Washington Times, was the subject of an FBI memorandum sent by Agent Kenneth Williams in July 2001 to FBI headquarters that stated that he had identified a link between one Middle Eastern man taking flight lessons at a Phoenix-area flight school and Al-Muhajiroun. The memorandum requested that the FBI launch an investigation of Islamist radicals who were taking flight lessons. Ignored by FBI headquarters, the memorandum has been identified by a special congressional inquiry as a key intelligence failure prior to the September 11 attacks. |