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The Terrorists' Next Move By Chris Brown
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 3, 2005

Here is something you may not know about the recent terrorist attacks in London: Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist mastermind currently plying his lethal craft in Iraq, may have had a hand in their execution. As we speak, counterterrorism investigators are actively pursuing any connection between the 7/7 bombings and the al-Qaeda commander. Whether this turns out to be the case remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that European intelligence services remain dangerously ignorant of al-Qaeda’s internal hierarchy as well as the extent of its reach in Europe.

Before we address this intelligence failure, we must first understand the London attacks. And to do this we must begin by placing them in their correct context. Many will seek to lay the blame for these attacks on British involvement in Operation Iraqi Freedom. That assertion is false. The London attacks have their origin in attacks that were planned by al-Qaeda and foiled in the fall of 2002. These planned attacks were to use ricin, cyanide, or both, and were aimed at London and Paris. (Al-Qaeda had planned a similar type of operation in Rome around the same time.) In addition, in 2002, the London cell was also reportedly planning to target the city’s subway, the Underground, with this unconventional attack. Significantly, that plot was hatched—and the target chosen—long before coalition forces had set foot inside Iraq.

But can the London blasts credibly be ascribed to al-Qaeda?

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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18980