Police 'thwarted Blair murder plot'

This is London ^ | 11 September 2005 | Various

[lowbuck]

Al Qaida fanatics plotted to gun down Tony and Cherie Blair during the Golden Jubilee celebrations, former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Stevens has claimed.

The ex-head of Scotland Yard ordered a covert operation to protect the premier and his wife from the sniper attack during the June 2002 parade to commemorate the Queen's 50 years on the throne.

The News of the World, which is serialising Lord Stevens' memoirs, said the police chief warned the Blairs of the plot, after receiving the intelligence which surfaced only weeks before the meticulously planned event.

But Mr Blair, he said, was "absolutely unfazed" at the potential threat to his life, and both he and his wife vowed to continue to take part, even spurning bulletproof vests.

The couple were surrounded by "covertly armed" officers for the celebrations, but Lord Stevens reveals he was particularly worried as the dignitaries gathered near Buckingham Palace: "I felt acutely nervous as the procession approached.

"I was constantly scanning faces in the crowd for signs of trouble and thinking, I hope to God nothing comes from somewhere. The fact that nothing untoward did happen was again a tribute to our intelligence gathering and the precautions we took."

Lord Stevens, who was in his elite post as the country's most senior police officer from 2000 to 2005, has previously said eight attacks were thwarted in the last five years.

But he was quoted in the newspaper as saying the threat from terrorists was continuous "like a storm rumbling on the horizon, with occasional outbreaks of thunder and lightning". And he stated that the Iraq war has "undoubtedly lent terrorism enormous impetus".

He added: "I make no comment on the rights and wrongs of the conflict, but Iraq during and after the war certainly provided an attractive venue for people who wanted to gain combat terrorist experience - as, to some extent, did Afghanistan from the late 1990s until 2001."

Both Downing Street and Scotland Yard said they did not discuss security matters.

[lowbuck]

If true, which I can believe it is, then this is another aspect of the dangers our allies have shouldered in the WOT.

Lord Stevens refers to a total of eight attacks that were thwarted. I wonder what the other seven targets were? Any guesses?

[weegee]

Don't know what the targets were or how close they got.

We won't hear much of the details in some events for years or even decades, if at all.

There are close calls from the Cold War that are only now coming to light.

Makes you think when the national alert system is "raised" and then lowered.

There may not be much we "can" do (but at least it gives people an opportunity to have some provisions on hand should things go badly).

We hear how the government didn't do enough to warn/evacuate New Orleans with the impending hurricane.

You can only imagine the response if or when the terrorists (lone nut or connected) get a successful strike on America.

They only have to be successful one time to cause death and havoc. The good guys have to be right "every time".

I can accept that we won't hear about the close calls or plots. If it puts them in danger (more danger than Plame ever faced) then don't compromise national security to have 2 columns of text boasting in the daily paper.

[OldPossum]

I certain sympathize with the U.K. Now that they have unwittingly allowed these monsters in their country, they have to find a way to get them out.

We're not immune from this kind of situation, either.