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Bleak terror warning for Londoners
The Evening Standard ^ | December 18, 2002 | David Taylor and Hugh Docherty

Posted on 12/18/2002 8:15:56 AM PST by MadIvan

Britain is facing a real threat of terrorist attacks against soft targets which could cause mass civilian casualties, senior sources admitted today.

In the bleakest assessment yet of the threat to Britain, a source said the Government was facing up to the view that a determined terror group will "sooner or later" get through Britain's defences.

Well-placed figures say that while the Government has no specific alerts or warnings, the activities of al Qaeda in the past six months make clear the sort of threat we face.

They speak frankly in private about "mass casualty attacks against soft targets, assassinations, attacks on shipping".

A senior Whitehall figure said: "They are fairly conventional but nonetheless pretty deadly. That is what we fear will be directed against us and we are building our efforts to prevent."

Sources are adamant that a terrorist atrocity in Britain is not inevitable, but as ministers have said, the threat to Britain remains high.

The senior figure said: "The intelligence service, security services and police are working hard. They have leads, they are following them up, arrests get made.

"It [an attack] is not inevitable, but the probability is that sooner or later one of these groups, who are extremely determined, will get through." In a bleak warning to Londoners, the source added: "As we saw with the Soho bomb, it's not hard to plant a bomb to kill quite a lot of people who are just out having fun."

British intelligence is sifting up to 150 reports per day linked to international terrorism. The data is said to be "very fragmentary".

In Whitehall, it is accepted that so-called "postcard targets", such as Big Ben, are high on Al Qaeda's list. But Whitehall sources stress that the notion of a terrorist detonating a "nuclear backpack" is remote.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; balkans; london; terrorists; warning
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Once again, Al Qaeda shows its unique tendency to try and make the wrong nations angry at them.

I'm a Londoner. To tell the truth, I am more angry than scared by this. I am sick to death of Al Qaeda, radical Islam, and all that they stand for. If this is the price we have to pay to fight it, then pay we must.

Regards, Ivan


1 posted on 12/18/2002 8:15:56 AM PST by MadIvan
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To: Delmarksman; Sparta; Toirdhealbheach Beucail; TopQuark; TexKat; Iowa Granny; vbmoneyspender; ...
Bump!
2 posted on 12/18/2002 8:16:14 AM PST by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
A few more Christmas season plots revealed, Britain might initiate a state of "imminent" threat (see link). It apparently is already at "red alert" status.

http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=12251139&page_no=1
3 posted on 12/18/2002 8:20:46 AM PST by Heartlander2
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To: MadIvan
What are the chances all the participants in the mass protest of a few months ago will be collected en masse for a series of quiet chats? Is that too obvious?
4 posted on 12/18/2002 8:22:08 AM PST by katana
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To: MadIvan
That would be quite foolish of Al Qaeda, to attack Europe, but most of these cowardly terrorists aren't exactly rocket scientists. Thank God. I don't wish harm on any innocent people, but an attack such as this would undoubtedly change more Europeans' minds about what we (the world, not the USA) are up against. Stay safe!
5 posted on 12/18/2002 8:23:48 AM PST by Coop
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To: katana
What are the chances all the participants in the mass protest of a few months ago will be collected en masse for a series of quiet chats? Is that too obvious?

I can't tell you how I know, but I do know that names were taken down at the time. The fools merely exposed themselves for what they are by protesting.

Regards, Ivan

6 posted on 12/18/2002 8:26:06 AM PST by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
Islam has a few sitting ducks of it's own. Mecca-Medina-Qom.

#11 pentaxian  12/12/2002 08:00AM PST

This article speaks the plain truth about the nature of modern democratic society in war. In effect we are so sure of our own social values and hell-bent on upholding them that we forget about the human need to protect our own life. Therefore we question our motives and "self-loathe" ourselves, we are afraid to resist those who murder us. In essence we are willing to abdicate our need to defend a morally superior society in order to appease those that have no such standards. And this shows that modern democracies have no faith in their own system. And with that we get a nice circular argument and inherent contradictions of the free society. The dictatorships and totalitarian forms of government have no such problems.

 


7 posted on 12/18/2002 8:36:04 AM PST by dennisw
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To: MadIvan
Good to hear they're on a list. Your fifth column is a lot bigger than ours, so good luck and please accept our prayers.
8 posted on 12/18/2002 8:38:10 AM PST by katana
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To: Heartlander2
Al Qaeda operatives intended to strike at Christmas

London, Dec 18

Four alleged terrorists with al-Qaeda links, arrested from a flat in the Paris suburb of Courneuve, are suspected of plotting to launch chemical attacks in Europe and possibly in Britain, around Christmas time.

The French police have informed their British counterparts here that the four, three of whom had been to Chechenya, have links with terrorist suspects rounded up in Britain. Chemicals and a special nuclear, biological and chemical warfare protection suit, as well as 5000 dollars in cash, were recovered from their flat.

Detectives in Paris said the three of the four arrested by them had links with Abu Doha, a London-based Algerian, who allegedly has close links with the al-Qaeda network, according to German police.

Further evidence has reportedly emerged that al-Qaeda terrorists entered Britain using false identities which have made it difficult for the police to keep track of their movements. Some have reportedly already left for other destinations in Europe.

British police sources admitted that one suspected al-Qaeda terrorist wanted by the US for the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania had been treated for cancer at an NHS hospital in Home Counties.

The police suspicion of possible terror attacks during Christmas Britain has been validated. The country has already been placed on high alert but if more plots are unearthed, the government could initiate a state of ''imminent'' threat.

9 posted on 12/18/2002 8:47:05 AM PST by blam
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To: MadIvan
"I'm a Londoner. To tell the truth, I am more angry than scared by this.......... If this is the price we have to pay to fight it, then pay we must."

Ivan, I have been reading your posts for a year and have enjoyed them. Are there many British like you? I was in Yorkshire a couple of years ago, and it seemed to be full of middle-easterners.

I think much of Europe has turned communist, one world government. Do you think Britain will hold out?

Stay safe, wish you had the right to stay armed.

10 posted on 12/18/2002 9:33:11 AM PST by bulldogs
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To: bulldogs
Ivan, I have been reading your posts for a year and have enjoyed them. Are there many British like you?

There are some. I am unusual in being as young as I am and thinking this way.

I was in Yorkshire a couple of years ago, and it seemed to be full of middle-easterners.

Bradford, I take it.

I think much of Europe has turned communist, one world government. Do you think Britain will hold out?

One great thing gives me hope - it looks certain that the UK will reject joining the single European currency. This, combined with those who want to build a European superstate actually wanting Britain thrown out of the EU, means we have a chance at avoiding a terrible fate.

Regards, Ivan

11 posted on 12/18/2002 9:41:06 AM PST by MadIvan
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To: Coop
That would be quite foolish of Al Qaeda, to attack Europe, but most of these cowardly terrorists aren't exactly rocket scientists. Thank God. I don't wish harm on any innocent people, but an attack such as this would undoubtedly change more Europeans' minds about what we (the world, not the USA) are up against.

Islamists want nothing better than a violent reaction from the west whether or not it comes from Europe or the USA. They figure it would galvanize the Islamic world to bind itself closer to a single political entity. Then, Al Qaeda figures it would be in the best position to usurp the Arab/Muslim world into a new caliphate.

Don't be fooled into thinking they are going to wait until their numbers increase in western societies. They are going to act before Bush and team catches and either imprison or kill the b@st@rds.

Keep a close eye on your Muslim neighbors because the truly vicious ones are moving among them.

12 posted on 12/18/2002 9:41:24 AM PST by LoneRangerMassachusetts
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To: dennisw
"Islam has a few sitting ducks of it's own. Mecca-Medina-Qom."

Someone here advocated the excellent idea of dropping the carcasses of pigs and dogs on the Al-Aqsa mosque.

I like the idea; I think we should fly a super-scooper loaded with pigs' blood and drench the KaaBa in Mecca.

I've also advocated nuking Mecca and Medina (~1 megaton) if the Islamists perpetrate another outrage (think, e.g., of demolishing the Sears Tower or releasing smallpox).

"But that will make them mad!"

No, it will cause all the ones who are already mad to die of brain aneurysms and convert the rest to madmen. We know how to deal with them.

13 posted on 12/18/2002 9:57:51 AM PST by boris
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To: MadIvan
Hang in there, pal. An attack on Britain will be an attack on America as well.
14 posted on 12/18/2002 10:00:31 AM PST by cardinal4
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To: MadIvan
Once again, Al Qaeda shows its unique tendency to try and make the wrong nations angry at them.

WE think of the as the "wrong nations" to make angry.

They WANT to provoke a global Jihad, They KNOW God is on their side, they KNOW they will win the final battle, they KNOW they are all going straight to paradise as a direct result of their doing "God's will"...

15 posted on 12/18/2002 10:05:12 AM PST by null and void
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To: MadIvan; Wraith; Kate22; MarMema; Archie Bunker on steroids; Jacob Kell
There can be little doubt that the UK will be the primary recipient of the Islamic entente's next high profile attack of mass destruction. Attacks in Bosnia and the Philippines in response to the US invasion of Iraq represent tactical counter-thrusts to Western oil assimilation, however a WMD strike in a UK major city represents the opposition's best opportunity to cripple the Western alliance.

Britain now is considered a "soft" target across the length and breadth of the country. Thousands of Islamic fifth columnists draw the attention of the security services while major al-Qaeda cells remain unexposed and free to operate. It is estimated the Islamic entente can put in excess of two hundred automatic-weapon firing, grenade throwing fighters into the streets of London on 24 hours notice.

Such a follow-up assault to a series of huge conventional explosions and tube chemical attack is the proper move from a games-theory perspective despite the probability of losing 100-150 fighters. By turning London into a modern day version of Hue in 1968, the Islamic entente would deliver a crushing defeat to the West.

Unfortunately for the Brits they will be unable to stop this attack. Too much time and planning has gone into this 9/11 follow-up fait accompli. The increased "chatter" reported of late by American intelligence continues to focus on the UK. Recent reports from Pakistan indicate an outflow of veteran Kashmir fighters to Paris -- the traditional jumping off point to assault across the Channel.

Should the Islamic entente roll the big dice and lead with a tactical nuclear device -- "Allah's suitcase" -- then a thousand or so fifth columnists are expected to hurl themselves at British institutions the length of the island. Then once again the battle imitates Tet -- where more than a hundred attacks were launched simultaneously across Vietnam under cover of the national holiday.

Such an attack would be the death knell for Britain. The West should continue American based contingency planning for the total economic and physical collapse of the UK...

The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.

16 posted on 12/18/2002 10:08:23 AM PST by Fusion
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To: Fusion
Such an attack would be the death knell for Britain. The West should continue American based contingency planning for the total economic and physical collapse of the UK...

Our hands can still reach across the water. The death knell will ring for Islam...

17 posted on 12/18/2002 10:17:21 AM PST by null and void
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To: Fusion
That's impressive. I've never before come across crap on the 'Net that I could actually [sniff, sniff] smell!
18 posted on 12/18/2002 10:18:20 AM PST by Coop
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To: Coop
Are you saying he's

?

19 posted on 12/18/2002 10:32:10 AM PST by null and void
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To: Fusion
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.

You view Islamic terrorists as representatives of the 'Forces of Freedom'?

An interesting perspective, Fusion, and one that tell us all we need to know about you.

20 posted on 12/18/2002 11:03:12 AM PST by Da_Shrimp
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