West is to blame for bombers, say mullahs

[varun]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/15/ncleric315.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/15/ixnewstop.html

...Another madrassa owner, Mullah Riaz Durrani, who is also leading spokesman for the Jamiah Ulema Islam (JUI), one of Pakistan's traditional Islamic political parties, said: "It is not speeches in madrassas that make these young men into suicide bombers.

"That job is done by the Americans and the British themselves, by Fox television and CNN, who broadcast the outrages of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

"Britain should ask itself why a young man from Leeds, educated in a British school, not a Pakistani madrassa, should decide to become a suicide bomber."

Such arguments, which find a receptive audience across Pakistan, are the more acceptable face of an extreme anti-westernism that permeates the traditional Islamic sections of Pakistani society....

[wake.up.america]

1. Sounds like an explanation, but there is no justification

Still no excuse to blow up innocent people

[0007]

2. How many innocent people have the U.S. and the U.K. destroyed in

comparison while trying to install a democracy in order to steal natural resources?

[Roland99]

3. Tom Ridge, the DNC, and the London attacks

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1615407

I think blaming the attacks in London on Bush would be a stretch, but ABC has linked the London attacks to Naeem Noor Khan and plans he had on his laptop. This links the terror alerts during the DNC to the London attacks. What I didn't know is that apparently Khan was working for the Pakistani military intelligence after he was arrested and during the DNC alerts when the information was shared with the US media. This blew the cover of Khan and forced British intelligence to act on tips early. Here's some stuff gathered by some blogs. I'll just quote the relevant sections without adding blog commentary.
ABC:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/LondonBlasts/story?id=940198&page=1

Officials tell ABC News the London bombers have been connected to an al Qaeda plot planned two years ago in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

The laptop computer of Naeem Noor Khan, a captured al Qaeda leader, contained plans for a coordinated series of attacks on the London subway system, as well as on financial buildings in both New York and Washington.

"There's absolutely no doubt he was part of an al Qaeda operation aimed at not only the United States but Great Britain," explained Alexis Debat, a former official in the French Defense Ministry who is now a senior terrorism consultant for ABC News.

At the time, authorities thought they had foiled the London subway plot by arresting more than a dozen young Britons of Pakistani descent last August in Luton, a city known for its ties to terrorism.

Juan Cole:
http://www.juancole.com/2004/08/outing-of-muhammad-naeem-noor-khan.html

Here is what we now know. The Pakistani government arrested a 25-year-old computer expert in Lahore on July 13. The arrest was never given to the Pakistani press by the Pakistani government, and no notice appeared in any Pakistani or other newspaper. This absence can only be deliberate, since the Pakistanis could easily have held a press conference to trumpet their new captive. This decision to keep the arrest quiet appears to have been made because Khan had been "flipped," i.e., had become a double agent and continued to have email contact with al-Qaeda members in London, e.g., but now with the Pakistani military intelligence listening in.

There was no reason for any reporter anywhere to inquire about Khan, since nothing had come out in Pakistan about his case. Pakistani intelligence was passing on to British intelligence what it was finding out about the London cell. Khan was still communicating with it on Monday August 2.

In addition, Khan's computer had on it surveillance information about financial institutions in New York and Washington that dated back three years, before the September 11 attacks. The Pakistanis shared this information with both British and American intelligence.

<...>

The British, especially MI5 and Home Secretary David Blunkett, had not wanted his name made public, and were furious at all of the detailed information being given out to the public by the Bush administration or in consequence of its revelations. For some reason, the British seem to have feared that the naming of Abu Eisa al-Hindi would complicate the case against him. The Times of India reports that Abu Musa (or Abu Eisa) al-Hindi's real name is Dhiron Barot. He is one of the 8 charged in London on Tuesday. He is from a Hindu family, but converted to Islam at age 20 and got pulled into jihadi activities in Kashmir (about which he published a book). He was the one who cased the financial institutions in the US for al-Qaeda. The story of Barot, like that of Richard Reid, shows that al-Qaeda isn't mainly about Islam per se, it is a political-religious ideology that can attract non-Muslims.

This fills in some missing details:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/219869p-188947c.html

A captured Al Qaeda computer whiz was E-mailing his comrades as part of a sting operation to nab other top terrorists when U.S. officials blew his cover, sources said yesterday.

Within hours of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan's name being publicized Monday, British police launched lightning raids that netted a dozen suspected Al Qaeda terrorists, including one who was nabbed after a high-speed car chase....

Now British and Pakistani intelligence officials are furious with the Americans for unmasking their super spy - apparently to justify the orange alert - and for naming the other captured terrorist suspects.

Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat expressed dismay the trap they had hoped would lead to the capture of other top Al Qaeda leaders, possibly even Osama Bin Laden, was sprung too soon.

There's a whole bunch more stuff cited here: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/07/bush-admin-may-be-responsible-for.html

HOLY CRAP!!


So...that July 2004 push by the Propagandist and his administration to push Pakistan to come up with some high-quality arrests timed to coincide with the Democratic National Convention have possibly resulted in someone linked to those arrested having "turned" to a double-agent and involved in the London attacks?!?!?!

[Monkie]

5. "they" count on us not remembering this stuff

and remembering facts makes YOU a conspiracy theorist!

[Roland99]

6. U.S. leak 'harms al Qaeda sting' (CNN - Aug. 2004)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/terror.wrap/

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The effort by U.S. officials to justify raising the terror alert level last week may have shut down an important source of information that has already led to a series of al Qaeda arrests, Pakistani intelligence sources have said.

Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him in a sting operation to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, the sources said.

In background briefings with journalists last week, unnamed U.S. government officials said it was the capture of Khan that provided the information that led Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to announce a higher terror alert level.

<...>

But some observers have said that Islamabad should not have been compromised by political considerations in Washington.

And this story is being covered by the MSM already!

[Roland99]

7. Here's more info on the timing of the July '04 terror alerts

The Yahoo page isn't there anymore but I saved it ;)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&u=/ap/20040729/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_warning_1&printer=1

WASHINGTON - The FBI (news - web sites) warned police in California and New Mexico that it received information about possible terrorist activity in their states. However, the warning wasn't specific about particular targets or a method of attack, a federal law enforcement official said Thursday.

The FBI decided to pass along the threat information but warned that it was considered unsubstantiated and uncorroborated, said the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.

The vague warning was distributed to authorities in California, New Mexico and some other Western states the official did not identify.

U.S. officials earlier this month warned that a regular stream of intelligence indicates al-Qaida wants to attack the United States to disrupt the upcoming elections.

PAKISTAN FOR BUSH.
July Surprise?
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904

A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before election is absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

[sweetheart]

4. the west IS to blame, but nobody's listening

Britain could become a very wise nation if it dealt with this matter
maturely, but as the precedent is colonial wars and stupidity Inc. with
the bush monster, this is unlikely.

Probably, getting the americans to nuke west yorkshire is on the top
20 solutions tony bliar is considering.

[0007]

8. Highly unlikely..what did they learn from the 1920 invasion of Iraq?

Nothing