While England Slept
MI5 must bear the brunt of the blame for it. Constitutionally, the Director General (DG) of MI5 has the power to determine who counts as a threat to British interests: the DG cannot be ordered by the Prime Minister to consider a particular group or individual a threat. During the 1990s, the then DG decided that Islamic fundamentalists plotting terrorism in London and other British cities were not a real threat to Britain. MI5 wound down its “international terrorism” desk, on the grounds that Islamic terrorists in Britain were considered a threat only to other countries - and it was no concern of ours if they exploded bombs in foreign cities.The resulting lack of intelligence on the activities of Islamic radicals meant that there was insufficient evidence to bring prosecutions. When the police, acting independently, began to realise the alarming nature of what some of the fanatics, Abu Hamza included, were doing, the Crown Prosecution Service insisted that there was “no realistic chance of conviction”.
the telegraph
The only rule which a civilized country can have is that terrorism and terrorists will be rooted out and either arrested or deported as soon as they are found. England, apparently, could not figure that out and it is reaping the whirlwind.
Written by jay on February 12th, 2006 with
1 comment.
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#1. February 16th, 2006, at 1:05 AM.
How unlike Canada.