| Author | Message | | Alpha | |  | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:35 pm Post subject: ‘To end terror, we must end occupation in Islamic world’ |
| ‘To end terror, we must end occupation in Islamic world’
BY Tariq ali
Tony Blair's response to the attacks on London was characteristic. Flanked by Bush and Chirac he became civilisational: the barbarians were attacking “our civilisation”. No other explanation was deemed necessary. Why were these “barbarians” not targeting Paris or Berlin? Why Madrid and London? Could it be that these appalling acts had something to do with the continuing war in Iraq where the “civilised” conquerors do not even bother to count Iraqi civilian casualties?
Nor is it the case that this is the first time London and other British cities were targeted by organisations opposing the British government. Remember Ireland? During the last phase of the troubles, the IRA targeted mainland Britain: they came close to blowing up Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet when they bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton during a Tory party conference. Several months later, a missile was fired at 10 Downing Street. London's financial quarter was also targeted, causing immense damage to property. There was no secret as to the identity of the organisation that carried out the hits, or its demands. And all this happened despite the “internment without trial” and the various prevention of terrorism acts passed by the House of Commons.
The bombers who targeted London on July 7 are anonymous. Although several claims have been made by groups purporting to have links to al-Qaeda, we simply do not know who did it. But as Tony Blair has already expressed his belief that an Islamist group is responsible, it is safe to assume that the cause of these bombs is the unstinting support – political and military – given by the PM and his New Labour government to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
One of the many arguments deployed by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, when he appealed to Blair not to support the war in Iraq was prescient: “An assault on Iraq will inflame world opinion and jeopardise security and peace everywhere. London, as one of the major world cities, has a great deal to lose from war and a lot to gain from peace, international co-operation and global stability.”
The aim of the bombers may have been to disrupt London while Bush and Blair hosted the G8 summit, but the majority of Londoners (and the rest of the country) were opposed to the war in Iraq. Tragically, it is they who have suffered the blow and paid the price for the re-election of Blair and a continuation of the war.
Ever since 9/11, I have been arguing that the “war against terror” is immoral and counter- productive. It sanctions the use of state terror – bombing raids, tortures countless civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq – against Islamo- anarchists whose numbers are small, but whose reach is deadly. The solution then, as now, was political, not military.
The British ruling elite understood this perfectly well in the case of Ireland. Security measures, anti-terrorism laws rushed through Parliament, identity cards and a general curtailment of civil liberties of British citizens will not solve the problem. If anything, they will push young Muslims in the direction of mindless violence. The real solution lies in immediately ending the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
Just because these three wars are reported sporadically and mean little to the everyday life of most of Europe's citizens, this does not mean that the anger and bitterness they arouse in the Muslim world and its diaspora is insignificant. Establishment politicians have little purchase with the young and this applies especially strongly in the Arab world. As long as Western politicians wage their wars and their colleagues in the Muslim world watch in silence, young people will be attracted to the groups who carry out random acts of revenge. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:34 am Post subject: London Bombers Were Angered by War in Iraq |
| London Bombers Were Angered by War in Iraq
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 15, 5:32 AM ET
Shahzad Tanweer, the 22-year-old son of a Pakistani-born affluent businessman, turned to Islam, the religion of his birth, a few years ago. The transformation was gradual, but then his relentless reading of the Quran and daily prayers became almost an obsession, his friends told The Associated Press. He became withdrawn and increasingly angry over the war in Iraq, according to those who knew him best.
The U.S.-led war was what likely drove him to blow himself up on a subway train last week, said his friends.
"He was a Muslim and he had to fight for Islam. This is called jihad," or holy war, said Asif Iqbal, 20, who said he was Tanweer's childhood friend.
Another friend, Adnan Samir, 21, nodded in agreement.
"They're crying over 50 people while 100 people are dying every day in Iraq and Palestine," said Iqbal. "If they are indeed the ones who did it, it's because they believed it was right. They're in Heaven.
"Have you ever been inspired in life?" he asked.
Tanweer and three other bombers detonated their backpacks on a bus and three subway trains in London on July 7, killing at least 53 people, themselves included, and injuring more than 700.
Tanweer turned to religion before the war in Iraq began in 2003. His friends don't know the reason, but said they didn't see anything wrong or unusual about it.
"He always told me to read the Quran and said Islam is the way (of life)," recalls Iqbal.
Everyone interviewed in his neighborhood — those who knew him well like Iqbal and Samir, who were schoolmates, or those who saw him in passing — described Tanweer as pleasant and kind.
"He was a nice lad. I don't know how many times he served me fish and chips," said Peter Douchworth, 58, a Beeston resident for over 30 years. "He went out of his way to help."
Tanweer sometimes worked at his father's fish and chips shop, but an employee there said he hadn't worked there for a while.
The family's white house — which has been cordoned off by police since Monday — stands in stark contrast to the surrounding gritty red-brick Victorian row houses. Two fancy cars are parked in the parking lot at the back.
A devoted athlete, Tanweer studied sports science at Leeds Metropolitan University and planned to get involved in sports professionally. He showed up twice a week for pickup soccer games, said a teammate who gave his name only as Saj.
He had a younger brother and two sisters and always lived in the working-class multiethnic Beeston area of the city of Leeds in northern England.
Media reports said he was arrested once for shoplifting.
His uncle, Bashir Ahmed, said Tanweer traveled to Lahore, Pakistan, this year to study Islamic religion. He said his family believed he was attending "some religious function" on the day of the bombings.
Forensic evidence has linked Tanweer to the blast on the Underground train near Aldgate.
Friends Iqbal and Samir claimed ignorance as to how their friend became involved in Islamic militancy and how he became a prey to terrorist recruiters.
"All Muslims are connected," Iqbal said.
The friends said they had never been approached by anyone trying to indoctrinate them into militant Islam.
Where would Tanweer and his co-activists meet or plan their attacks?
"How do football fans get together and talk about football? It's the same thing," said Iqbal.
Tanweer's friend, Hasib Hussain, is another of the bombers identified by police. At 18, the handsome, 6-foot-tall soccer player was the youngest of the bombers. He was also the youngest of four children, two sisters and a brother. Like Tanweer, his family came from Pakistan.
Hussain, suspected of carrying out the suicide attack that claimed 13 lives on a double-decker bus, was known for his sense of humor and style. He sometimes wore blue contact lenses and long hair parted in the middle, according to a friend.
Some people said Hussain became more religious two years ago but never abandoned his boyhood friends for radicals. Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, born in Pakistan and another of the suicide bombers, is known in his neighborhood as an exemplary community worker.
A father of an 8-month-old baby girl, Khan was a popular former teacher of children with learning disabilities.
Documents belonging to Khan were found in the debris of the Edgware Road subway blast.
Former students at the Hillside Primary School said Khan left for Pakistan last December to look after his ailing father. It was not clear when he returned to Britain.
"I liked him. He was nice," said Billy Sandersen, 13. He and other former pupils said they were shocked when they saw his picture in the papers as one of the suspects.
However, they said they still liked him.
"Just a little bit, but not for what he's done — killing innocent people," Sandersen said.
"I still like him," said Sean Woodham, 13, another former pupil, "because he always helped me with my homework."
Maroof Latif, an unemployed Beeston resident, said he knew Khan since he was a child and believes if he took part in the terrorist bombings of the subways it was because of his anger over the war in Iraq and the U.S.-British occupation. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:39 pm Post subject: EXCLUSIVE: WAS IT SUICIDE? |
| http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15742951%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=was%2dit%2dsuicide%2d%2d-name_page.html
16 July 2005
EXCLUSIVE: WAS IT SUICIDE?
Why did they buy return train tickets to Luton? Why did they buy pay & display tickets for cars? Why were there no usual shouts of 'Allah Akhbar'? Why were bombs in bags and not on their bodies?
By Jeff Edwards
THE London bombers may have been duped into killing themselves so their secrets stayed hidden.
Police and MI5 are probing if the four men were told by their al-Qaeda controller they had time to escape after setting off timers. Instead, the devices exploded immediately.
A security source said: "If the bombers lived and were caught they'd probably have cracked. Would their masters have allowed that to happen? We think not."
The evidence is compelling: The terrorists bought return rail tickets, and pay and display car park tickets, before boarding _ a train at Luton for London. None of the men was heard to cry "Allah Akhbar!" - "God is great" - usually screamed by suicide bombers as they detonate their bomb.
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Their devices were in large rucksacks which could be easily dumped instead of being strapped to their bodies. They carried wallets containing their driving licences, bank cards and other personal items. Suicide bombers normally strip themselves of identifying material.
Similar terror attacks against public transport in Madrid last year were carried out by recruits who had time to escape and planned to strike again.
Bomber Hasib Hussain detonated his device at the rear of the top deck of a No 30 bus, not in the middle of the bottom deck where most damage would be caused.
Additionally, two of the bombers had strong personal reasons for staying alive.
Jermaine Lindsay's partner Samantha Lewthwaite, 22, mother of his one-year-old son, is expecting her second baby within days. Mohammed Sidique Khan's wife Hasina, mum of a 14-month-old daughter, is also pregnant.
Our source disclosed: "The theory that they were not a suicide squad is gathering pace. They were the weakest link.
"We think it's possible they were told that when they pressed buttons to set off timers they'd have a short time to abandon the bombs and get away before the blast. Instead, the bombs exploded immediately."
Another intelligence source added: "Whoever is behind this didn't want to waste their best operatives on a suicide mission. Instead they used easily recruited low-grade men who may have believed they'd walk away."
At least 54 people were killed in the 7/7 blasts. Khan, 30, of Dewsbury, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, of Leeds, and Jamaican-born Lindsay, 19, of Aylesbury, Bucks, detonated devices on the Tube at Edgware Road, Aldgate and King's Cross.
Hussain, 18, of Leeds, blasted the bus at Tavistock Square. The Tube explosions went off almost simultaneously. But the bus went up an hour later.
Yesterday, Hussain's family told of their horror at the teenager's involvement in the massacre. They said in a statement: "We are devastated over the events of the past few days. Hasib was a loving and normal young man who gave us no concern and we are having difficulty taking this in.
"Our thoughts are with all the bereaved families. We have to live with the loss of our son in these difficult circumstances.
"We had no knowledge of his activities and, had we done, we would have done everything in our power to stop him. We urge anyone with information to cooperate fully with the authorities."
Police are urgently investigating the missing 81 minutes between Hussain arriving from Luton in London and the time his bomb went off.
His device may have malfunctioned. He may have lost his nerve. Or he may have panicked when he discovered the Northern Line, on which he is thought to have been due to travel, was suspended.
Officers want to discover if Hussain met anyone else who either strengthened his faltering resolve or reset his flawed bomb. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:24 pm Post subject: Labour MPs Blame Bombings on Iraq War |
| http://www.independent.co.uk
Labour MPs Blame Bombings on Iraq War
By Colin Brown and Andrew Grice
The Independent UK
Sunday 17 July 2005
The uneasy truce inside the Labour Party over the London bombings ended last night as an ex-cabinet minister and left-wing Labour MPs linked the attacks with the war in Iraq.
Left-wing Labour MPs said they would use a conference in London today to pile the pressure on Tony Blair to hasten the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. And Clare Short, the former cabinet minister, said in a television interview to be broadcast tomorrow that she "had no doubt" that the bombings were connected to the Iraqi conflict.
Ms Short said the anti-terror legislation being planned by Mr Blair would act as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. She said it was wrong that Muslims should grow up in Britain willing to contemplate killing innocent civilians, but coupled her condemnation of the bombing with criticism of British foreign policy.
"Some of the voices that have been coming from the Government that talk as though this is all evil, and that everything we do is fine, when in fact we are implicated in the slaughter of large numbers of civilians in Iraq and supporting a Middle East policy that for the Palestinians creates this sense of double standards - that feeds anger," she said in a recorded interview for GMTV.
John McDonnell, chairman of the 500-strong Labour Representation Committee, which is staging the one-day conference, will lead calls for Britain to pull troops out of Iraq. He will tell the Prime Minister: "Please do not try to tell us that the war in Iraq played no part. This assertion is simply intellectually unsustainable. Now is the time to prevent further violence by renouncing violent solutions ourselves.
"For as long as Britain remains in occupation of Iraq, the terrorist recruiters will have the argument they seek to attract more susceptible young recruits to bomb teams. Britain must withdraw now."
Downing Street has published a list of al-Qa'ida attacks on the West from the first World Trade Centre bombing in 1993, to show that they started before the Iraq war. But a member of the left-wing Campaign Group said: "We are going to set the cat among the pigeons. No Labour MP has uttered a word about Iraq since the bombings, but they have to be seen in context.
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Someone needs to get a copy of James Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book to these politicians in Britain as it conveys (on pages 97-101 and on pages 137-144) that the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and on September 11th, 2001 (9/11) were motivated by US support of Israel's brutal oppression of the Palestinian people, and NO AMERICAN SHOULD HAVE TO LOSE THEIR BILL OF RIGHTS (CIVIL LIBERTIES) BECAUSE OF ONGOING SUPPORT OF THE ROGUE STATE OF ISRAEL:
Los Angeles Times: US Support of Israel motivation for World Trade Center attacks:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/02/19/la-times-u-s-policy-on-israel-key-motive-for-911-attack.php | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 8:22 pm Post subject: Brit troop presence in Iraq cause of London Bombings |
| Brit troop presence in Iraq cause of London Bombings
Angry Outsiders Boosting al-Qaida's Ranks By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 49 minutes ago
LONDON - They had roots in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Jamaica: the suspected al-Qaida foot soldiers in Britain were immigrants or were children of immigrants — a new breed of recruits that underscores the changes in the organization since the Sept. 11 attacks, say experts studying the London bombings.
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These experts, who include a pioneer in personality profiling, say al-Qaida, always loosely knit, is mutating into satellites that attract local operatives bound by disenchantment with the Western societies in which they grew up. It is no longer a hierarchy with Osama bin Laden calling the shots, they say.
"Al-Qaida version 1.0 is functionally dead," said Jerrold Post, a founding director of the CIA's Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior. "Al-Qaida version 2.0 is almost more an ideology. ... It's an adaptive organization responding to a crisis."
With its founding fathers in hiding, and dozens of key operatives under watch, al-Qaida has changed. No longer considered capable of large transnational attacks, it is taking advantage of people who don't have to cross borders, receive cash from abroad or engage in other international transactions that might alert authorities, said Brian Jenkins, a senior adviser to the president of the Rand Corp.
"We are now dealing with many little al-Qaidas with the potential of neighborhood al-Qaidas," Jenkins said. "They may not be able to carry out specialized operations ... but they can still operate at a lethal level."
The diffuse nature of the shape-shifting al-Qaida is one reason it's hard to fight. Security services may crack one cell but find little connecting it to others. Police in Britain have failed so far to charge anyone in the July 7 attacks on three subway trains and a bus that killed 52 and four suicide bombers — an attack authorities said bore al-Qaida hallmarks.
"This is not the Prussian general staff," Jenkins said, arguing that the group defies being placed in a traditional military model. "They don't think about operations the way we think about operations."
Part of the goal is simply to keep going and keep launching attacks — thereby winning more recruits and money to the cause of creating Islam-led countries.
The new al-Qaida is finding fertile ground for recruits, particularly among the children of Europe's immigrants, Post said.
"Diaspora communities are the main resources for this global jihad," Post told The Associated Press. "(Their families) left for a better life, but they really have not been able to fully integrate with the recipient societies that they have immigrated to."
Unlike the United States, where immigrants usually come to stay, many of Europe's Muslims came to make money, then return home, said Olivier Roy, the French author of "Globalized Islam." Because of this and other factors, it has taken them longer to assimilate — adding to their sense of alienation.
"The second generation in America has been taken into the American mainstream, while in Europe there is a tendency to lag behind in social mobility," Roy said.
Post said many of the new recruits aren't "making it" in the way they wish they were, so they direct their anger and frustration at the "corrupt and modernizing West."
At the same time, fiery Muslim preachers offer a radical ideology — with few moderate voices strong enough to drown out their voices. Some 4,000 fundamentalist Web sites further spread the hate, he said.
Videotaped messages from the group's founders further spread the word. Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a new videotape that aired Thursday on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, warned London of more bloodshed. He linked the London attacks to the British troop presence in Iraq.
Amrit Walia, 26, a commodities trader who was a good friend of a man killed in the July 7 attacks, Anthony Fatayi-Williams, said that when he was a student he saw fundamentalist preachers hanging out at Bradford University, trying to win converts to their cause.
"We used to see how they'd all get recruited," he said. "We would walk out of the (student) union, there would be one of them — gangsters, radical clergy, whatever we're calling them today — standing around preaching, calling on them to be true Muslims, to stop denying their religion, to stop letting Britain degrade them and their sisters. And there'd be a line of young Pakistanis signing their names up."
Jenkins said al-Qaida recruiters are very good at spotting the vulnerable — often young men undergoing personal crises — whether drugs, crime, joblessness, poverty or a spiritual hunger. They are offered an ideology that explains the difficulties and provides a new mind-set.
"This is the way cults recruit," Jenkins said. "To a certain extent ... this is the way armies recruit."
Hoping to promote understanding, Walia, a Sikh, said friends of Fatayi-Williams, a Roman Catholic born in Nigeria, want to start a foundation to promote cultural understanding. They said that was part of the reason the victim's mother gave a heart-rending speech shortly after the attacks — a poignant moment that defined a national tragedy.
The willingness of men raised in Britain to turn against it has prompted soul-searching in this nation that has championed diversity and tolerance. Britain has some 1.8 million Muslims, many with roots in South Asia, and the overwhelming majority have moderate views.
Three Britons of Pakistani descent and one of Jamaican descent are believed to have carried out the July 7 attack. The suspects in the failed July 21 attacks on three subways and a bus include three people from East Africa. It is unclear whether the cells were linked.
Many Muslims worry they will be targeted by police, who shot an innocent Brazilian man to death on the London's subway thinking he was a suicide bomber. They fear officers are using racial profiling in their search for terror suspects.
Jenkins is leery of profiling, insisting too little is known about the suspects. He noted that millions of Muslims, including immigrants, have not come under al-Qaida's sway.
"The thing that holds it together is the ideology itself," he said of al-Qaida's decentralized structure. "How do you attack an ideology? It's very rough to do."
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Associated Press Writer Mara Bellaby contributed to this story from London. | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
