-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 17, 2007 7:10:23 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: French Anti-Terrorism Expert Blames "Blowback" for London
Bombings
Iraq inspired failed London attacks
16 Jul 2007 11:34:44 GMT
By Jon Boyle
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16730862.htm
PARIS, July 16 (Reuters) - Attempted car bombings in England and
Scotland show militant Islamists are trying to punish Britain for
its role in Iraq, one of Europe's top anti-terrorism investigators
said in an interview.
French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere said Britain's role as the main
U.S. ally in Iraq made it a special target -- something the British
government rejects -- and its focus for decades on Northern Irish
militants had caused it to neglect the threat from Islamists until
the last few years.
Last month's failed London car bombs, and an attempt to ram a jeep
laden with gas and petrol canisters into Glasgow airport in
Scotland, showed radicals were increasingly self-reliant, and
therefore harder to detect before they strike, he said.
"Subject to further information, it would appear that the two
operations planned for London were not the work of amateurs," said
Bruguiere, who has strong ties with law enforcement agencies in
Britain and the United States.
"The desire to inflict the maximum number of victims is obvious.
The reference to the murderous methods used in Iraq must be noted,"
he said in an interview with Reuters.
"Glasgow was technically different, but the same desire existed to
kill and demonstrate the ability of these groups to act
simultaneously in several places in the United Kingdom."
Bruguiere said the increased radicalisation of loose-knit Islamic
networks had led to a reduction in the time between an individual
being recruited and launching operations.
"Several factors are involved. But without question, the main one
is Iraq. Iraq is today the motor of jihad (Holy War).
"Britain is the ally of the Americans. It is present in Iraq and
for this reason is being targeted in particular. Above all it is
considered by the radical lslamist movement as Washington's main
support," he added.
ISLAMIC THREAT OVERLOOKED
Unlike the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which Britain fought for
years in Northern Ireland, the new Islamist groups were
unstructured, with no centralised command centre, he said.
"Their ability to form and dissolve themselves, as well as melt
into the environment in which they live, makes it very difficult to
detect them," said Bruguiere.
"The same is true of anticipating the threat, unless these networks
are deeply penetrated."
A focus on Northern Ireland meant Britain failed to anticipate the
threat posed by Islamist radicals, he said.
British officials say decades of fighting the IRA enabled it to put
in place highly effective counter-terrorism structures, but
acknowledge that Islamist militants pose a very different threat --
for example their willingness to die for their cause.
Bruguiere said: "Concentrating their efforts on IRA activity, the
British authorities neglected over the last decade the potential
dangers of the Islamist structures <they> settled on their soil.
"The latter have, however, played a major role in developing the
terrorist activities of the GIA (Algerian Armed Islamic Group) in
France and, ABOVE ALL, sending European mujahideen to Afghanistan
via Pakistan up to 2001."
Chronic instability in both countries has allowed the Afghan-
Pakistan border to become a training ground for militants,
including those recruited in the West, he said.
French intelligence service chiefs have expressed concern about the
prospect of their battle-hardened nationals returning with orders
to set up cells on home soil. Nationals from other EU states have
undergone training there and their EU passports means they can
travel around Europe relatively unnoticed.
"I am not an out and out optimist, I'm not an absolute pessimist,"
Bruguiere said. "But we are in rather a complicated period. The
difficulties are ahead of us, not behind us."
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