Free Republic

Ed Husain's autobiography The Islamist: why I joined radical Islam in Britain, what I saw inside and why I left (Penguin, 2007) is a remarkably candid account of the life of a British-born Muslim who was initially seduced by radicalism but gradually came to his senses to return to the more spiritual and devotional Islam that had defined his early years. It is also an important work, in that it both carefully grounds the issue of radicalisation that has so dominated recent intellectual and political discussion of Muslim communities in Britain, and points to potential solutions. Ed Husain grew up...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

Three British Muslims yesterday admitted plotting to explode a homemade bomb at the Houses of Parliament in protest at the UK's role in Iraq and Afghanistan. The men and two others also admitted conspiring to cause public nuisance by distributing Al Qaeda- style videos threatening suicide bomb attacks in Britain. But prosecutors claimed they made 'inherently improbable' and 'bogus' confessions to these charges to distract attention from the main allegations - a plot to blow up airliners flying from Heathrow to major U.S. cities. They accused the men of being in a gang wanting to kill thousands of passengers by...

Top row, left to right: Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, Tanvir Hussain and Mohammed Gulzar. Bottom row, left to right: Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zaman and Umar Islam   'Airline terror plot': The bomb-making plan   The plotters planned to hide explosives in bottles of soft drink and hollowed-out AA batteries and detonate them using a disposable camera, the court heard. Jurors were told that the home-made bombs could have been made from everyday items and chemicals that were readily available.   The main explosive agent was hydrogen peroxide, a favorite for terrorists, it was alleged.    In an...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

LONDON - In chilling videos shown to a jury Friday, men accused of plotting to bring down jetliners over the Atlantic called for revenge for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and praised Osama bin Laden. Six of the eight defendants videotaped messages denouncing the West for what they said was its suppression of Muslims, prosecutor Peter Wright said as he outlined his case to jurors at a London court. The defendants, all Britons with ties to Pakistan, are accused of plotting to blow up at least seven jetliners bound for the United States and Canada in 2006. Some of...

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 18 suicide bombers may have planned to take part in an Islamist terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners which could have killed more than 1,500 people, a London court heard on Thursday. Prosecutors said a gang of Britons planned to simultaneously explode passenger aircraft in mid-air between London's Heathrow airport and the United States and Canada. They were close to putting their scheme into action when they were arrested in August 2006, the court was told. "It is the prosecution case that these men and others were engaged in a deadly plan designed to...

A GROUP of Islamist terrorists plotted to blow up several passenger planes with liquid explosives, a court heard today. A gang of eight men accused of planning to blow up transatlantic aircraft whilst in mid-air wanted to inflict “heavy casualties”, it was alleged at Woolwich Crown Court today. Prosecutor Peter Wright said the victims of the terror attacks would have been an “unwitting civilian population” and that the men planned to inflict the casualties all in the name of Islam with a series of coordinated explosions. Woolwich Crown Court heard how homemade devices would have been smuggled on to aircraft...

LONDON - Eight British men planned to set off homemade bombs aboard at least seven airliners flying over the Atlantic to the United States and Canada, hoping to kill hundreds in a mammoth terror attack, a prosecutor said Thursday as their trial opened. Prosecutor Peter Wright said the men had plotted to strike United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada flights at the height of the summer vacation season in 2006. Details of seven specific flights from London's Heathrow airport to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, Toronto and Montreal were stored on a computer memory stick, he said in...

Eight men planned to detonate bombs aboard flights from London across the Atlantic to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard. Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to passenger aircraft and detonated mid-flight, Woolwich Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the men planned to inflict heavy casualties, "all in the name of Islam". The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006. After their arrests in August 2006, airport security was massively tightened in the UK, causing long delays at major airports....

A British terror gang plotted to use liquid explosives to blow up transatlantic passenger jets in mid-flight, a court heard today. Eight men planned to smuggle bombs disguised as soft drinks on to flights from Heathrow to the United States and Canada and detonate them on board, Woolwich crown court was told. It would have caused a civilian death toll on an "almost unprecedented scale" and a "global impact". The gang allegedly targeted seven flights operated by Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines. They were arrested in August 2006 after a surveillance operation — as they were "almost ready"...