Thursday, July 3, 2008
Extremists and Radicals but not Terrorists
Go to the UK Google site and type "Islamic extremist" into the search line and this is what the top entry will look like.
 Click on the link and you'll be taken to the Metropolitan Police's main Anti-Terrorism webpage. The same thing happens if you type "Islamist extremist" or "Muslim radical" ... or variations on any of the above. Twelve weeks after buying these words the Met said it had recorded 139,000 click-thrus, though it won't say how many decent leads it's generated. The Met's choice of words to buy is interesting, to say the least. If you type "terrorist" instead of "extremist" or "radical" ... you'll most likely be heading for Wikipedia. (Hat tip: Harry's Place) By Andrew Carey
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 Add a commentMonday, June 16, 2008
One of those tricky questions...
It’s a mistake to put forward poverty as the root cause of extremism. In fact there’s too much emphasis given to economic factors in the whole debate about radicalization. What’s missing from the discourse is the role played by religion.
That’s what Kamal El-Helbawy, a leader of the Islamist organization the Muslim Brotherhood, told me earlier this week. His remarks struck me because they run counter to the complaints one still tends to hear that there is too much emphasis on Islam in the media; that when investigating terrorist acts it’s too often implied that it’s faith leading young men to do terrible things. But for Helbawy it is faith, albeit faith wrongly understood, that’s to blame. He told me he boils the motivation behind acts of terrorism down to two main impulses. The first is a desire to please Allah, over and above any desire to displease the United States, or Britain, or whomsoever. The second is a desire to go quickly to paradise. It follows then that the challenge is to convince would-be terrorists that the acts they are contemplating would lead to Allah’s displeasure and would send them not to paradise but to hell. Helbawy is surely right when he says it’s not Government leaders or the police who can do that, but religious figures. And this, in turn, leads us to the big dilemma facing policy-makers involved in the hearts and minds bit of counter-terrorism. Which religious figures do they choose to help them? Which religious figures are most likely to succeed in turning around an aspiring suicide bomber in Birmingham? Those fully signed on to the idea of western liberal democracy? Or those who would wish to see Islamic law and ideas dominate all areas of life? Both are going to argue that Al Qaeda-style attacks on civilians are wrong. But which one is going to make headway? By Andrew Carey
Friday, June 13, 2008
One Big Yawn
 That’s how one former Guantanamo Bay detainee reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Thursday that terror suspects held at the U.S. military base have the right to challenge the legality of their detention in American civilian courts.Moazzam Begg was released from Guantanamo in January 2005. He was never charged with a crime. But Begg said that for most the 270 detainees still being held at Guantanamo, this ruling will mean absolutely nothing. “This might be some kind of landmark victory but nobody has ever been released from Guantanamo because of a legal decision,” notes Begg. Begg’s view is that American justice is an oxymoron and the detainees know even a U.S. Supreme court decision will mean very little to their future. But the human rights organization Reprieve, which has been working for years for the release of detainees, says the ruling is a sweeping victory. “It means the detainees will have their day in court,” says Cori Crider, a lawyer with Reprieve. “The detainees will be able to demand the U.S. government either charge them with a crime, or set them free,” she adds. But even as Reprieve admits, a judicial ruling, even of this stature, will not necessarily lead to due process for all the detainees. As Begg will tell you, the detainees, the lawyers who try to defend them, even some high ranking U.S. officials, have abandoned the idea that any judicial ruling will change the immediate fate of those still being held at Guantanamo without charge. As Begg soberly added, “As Malcolm X once said, you can wedge a knife 6 inches into someone’s back, pull it back 5 inches and call it progress, it’s not progress,” says Begg. By Paula Newton, International Security Correspondent Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Nearly three years on... 21/7 recalled
Fifteen people have now either pleaded guilty or been convicted in connection with the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21st, 2005. Among the most recent was Yeshi Girma, below, who was sentenced to 15 years after a jury decided she did know her husband was planning to blow up a London underground train.
Blair House, below, was raided on the Wednesday, six days after the would-be bombers had struck. One of the suspects, Yassin Omar, had been captured earlier that day up in Birmingham, and there was a definite sense that police might be into the end game.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Charges in Barcelona - Ebbs and Flows of a Terror Case
 When it broke in the third week of January it looked a big story. A dozen or so men, almost all of them from Pakistan, arrested in Spain just days ahead of allegedly launching suicide bomb attacks in Barcelona. Then it transpired that very little in the way of explosive material had been found, casting doubt on whether the men really were in a position to carry out their attacks there and then. First question mark.The story picked up again with reports there was an international dimension. El Pais reported attacks were being planned in five other European countries. And then a short while later the United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates told a conference in Munich that the cell appeared linked to Baitullah Mehsud. He’s the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan and the man blamed for the death of Benazir Bhutto. It looked once again like an important story. Then a few weeks ago I received strong steer that took the air right out of it. The alleged attacks were not as imminent as it had appeared at the time, I heard; indeed, the threat had been exaggerated. I downgraded my interest accordingly. And so today and the news that indictments have been brought against the men by Judge Ismael Moreno. The eleven charged, writes the Judge, were intending “to commit various terrorist suicide attacks between January 18th and January 20th on public transport in the city of Barcelona.” The group were also “very close to achieving technical capacity with explosives.” Enough material was recovered to make “one or more” bombs, according to the indictment, adding “although they lacked sufficient destructive potency for the commission of an attack that would guarantee large-scale damage, they could have been used for training in the handling of explosives.” The Judge said that four of the men were to carry out the suicide attacks; three of them, he noted, having arrived in Spain just weeks before their arrest. Moreno also named two men as the group’s alleged ideological leaders, including a 64-year old man, Mohamad Ayud Elahi Bibi, described as having lived in Spain for many years. The indictment makes little mention of any international dimension and all these charges are yet to be tried in court. But as a story of interest, it goes back up the flagpole. By Andrew Carey
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Extremists Targeting Mentally Ill?
 As the expression goes here, ’those things’ like bomb threats and terror happen ‘up country’, in London, not here. Think again. Residents of Southwest England are learning more and more about 22 year-old Nicky Reilly, the man who shattered their illusions of innocence and tranquillity as he emerged bloodied and burned from a restaurant in Exeter, England. “You have lots of false alarms and tests and evacuations all the time and you just assume that it’s going to be another false alarm,” says Anna Lloyd a shop worker caught up in the terror scare on Thursday. “You never think that it will actually happen in this area for real,” she adds. Cornwall and Devon police describe Reilly as a mentally ill and vulnerable young man. He was a convert to Islam and a person who in their words was radicalised and preyed upon by extremists. They allege he was planning to set off at least two bombs made of drain cleaner, kerosene and nails and the devices could have potentially been lethal. “He was a normal guy you can’t imagine this guy would come and do these things,” says Nishant Patel who manages a neighbouring restaurant. Patel says he watched the whole incident unfold and it was clear Reilly was stunned and unable to speak after the incident. Nicky Reilly remains in police custody in an Exeter hospital as he is being treated for severe burns. Police say they still have not been able to question him but they remain convinced he could not have acted alone. And so in Reilly’s hometown of Plymouth, a calm cafe was transformed instantly over coffee. Several armed officers with assault rifles at the ready nabbed two more suspects for questioning. The chilling scene brought the terror threat to every store front and doorstep in town. Authorities have also been scouring Reilly’s apartment in Plymouth, looking for clues into how a young man who they say is rather simple and dependent could have put together a lethal bomb and a chilling plot. One place they are looking for leads is an internet café just a few blocks from Reilly’s home. Adam Targett, an employee at the internet café, says Reilly started coming to the internet café more than a year ago knowing very little about computers. Targett says he used to ask questions about very basic computing tools like email. But Targett says within months all that changed and so did the company he was keeping. “He was actually accompanied to the café by two guys in Islamic dress,” says Targett. While Reilly had a computer at home, Targett says it is now beginning to dawn on him why Reilly still came to the internet café. After each customer’s internet session, Targett says the computer history of that computer must be erased. “It did bother us to begin with, yeah, but we can’t because of the way that data protection works we can’t check what people are looking at” he says. Internet cafés have been well worn territory for extremists in the past. Police now fear that the picture emerging of Reilly follows a common pattern of radicalization and one that could now be affecting the most vulnerable of people in the most unlikely of places. By Paula Newton, International Security Correspondent.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Best Tent
 Three men are currently on trial in London accused of assisting the 7/7 bombers. One of them, Waheed Ali, above left, was in the witness box today. Among the things he told the jury was that in 2001 he had made a trip to a training camp in Pakistan with 7/7 ringleader Mohammed Siddique Khan. Ali said the camp was in the mountains in NWFP and was run by Harakat ul-Mujahideen. He said both men learned how to fire Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, among other activities. Even though there were more than 100 others at the camp, according to Ali, it was the British who were given the best tent, as well as special food and their own trainer. “It was because they relied on the British for money,” he said. Waheed Ali is charged, along with Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil, of conspiring with Khan, Shezhad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay, Hasib Hussain and others unknown to cause explosions. They all deny the charges and the trial continues. By Andrew Carey
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News and observations on the threats to international security and the challenges posed by terrorism to societies around the world. From breaking news to background stories, from serious analysis to casual asides, if we think it's interesting we'll post it here.
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The jury also found her guilty of helping her husband, Hussain Osman, escape. Osman fled first to Brighton - the CCTV image below captures him at Brighton station - and then to Rome, where he was eventually caught.
