I wonder if this is why Blair was so quick to join forces with Bush after 9/11.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/365/nation/London_scrutinized_as_center_of_extremism+.shtml

London scrutinized as center of extremism

Mosque leaders say warnings unheeded

By Michele Kurtz, Globe Correspondent, 12/31/2001

LONDON - Using red phone booths a block from a brick Victorian house turned mosque, the recruiters dialed up young converts who had come to pray. They piqued the young men's interest with offers to buy them lunch and enroll them in classes about the Koran. And once they had the young men's attention, they preached a fiery rhetoric about a holy war.

Administrators at the moderate Brixton Mosque say they've warned police for years that Islamic extremists were preying on impressionable young men at their mosque, where most worshipers are converts.

Now, two of those young men face charges linked to terrorism. And the head of the mosque, speaking to a row of television cameras after Friday's noon prayers, warned that there are probably many more.

''Beware,'' Abdul Haqq Baker said, as hundreds of male Muslims from the mosque crowded around him. ''It's your sons, your teenagers who are being plucked into these extreme groups.''

London, with its freedoms and diverse population, is being scrutinized as a hotbed of Islamic extremism. The United Kingdom historically has provided asylum for Arab dissidents fleeing repression in their home countries. But Baker says those foreign immigrants have radicalized as many as 1,000 Muslim extremists now wandering the streets of London.

''It doesn't surprise me that there are extremists in this country,'' said Jason Whiteley, 33, a management consultant who was strolling through a London marketplace over the weekend. ''We're a very liberal country with freedom of speech.''

But Baker's warning sends chills through other Londoners, many of whom blame their government for not doing more to fight terrorism.

''I'm concerned about my own safety,'' said Mac Quarcoopome, 42, a Londoner born in Ghana. Quarcoopome, a fashion designer, was peddling women's clothing at a popular market in central London. ''How come they've allowed them to form a network here and the intelligence [officials] couldn't intervene more?''

As many as 11 of the 19 men who hijacked American planes on Sept. 11 had stayed in London sometime during the last year, according to published reports. The British press has reported that roughly 40 Britons had recently trained at Al Qaeda camps and now may be living in Europe.

Both Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the ''20th hijacker'' for his suspected role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who allegedly tried to blow up an American Airlines flight this month, were longtime London residents. Both were recruited from the Brixton Mosque, and both may have trained at the camps in Afghanistan.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Pakistani authorities had detained another British national for suspected links to Al Qaeda. James Alexander McLintock, originally from Scotland, was apprehended in northwestern Pakistan near the suspected site of a terrorist training camp that had hosted several of the Sept. 11 hijackers, according to the London newspaper. A spokesman from Britain's Foreign Office could not confirm the report.

The British press also reported yesterday that British intelligence had found evidence in Kandahar and Jalalabad that up to 40 Britons were recently given terrorist training at Al Qaeda camps.

Reid apparently converted to Islam while he was in prison for petty crimes. In the United Kingdom, as in the United States, many prisoners become attracted to the religion - usually the more mainstream variety that preaches peace and self-control. The number of Muslims in British prisons rose significantly during the 1990s, presumably because of behind-bars conversions.

When these men are released, Baker and other moderate Muslim leaders say, the difficulties of being an ex-con can make them particularly vulnerable to the influence of extremists. Last week, British authorities confirmed that they have suspended three Muslim clerics preaching in prisons since Sept. 11 for allegedly making anti-American statements.

Some British authorities have acknowledged they should have developed better intelligence before Sept. 11 on individuals who might have had ties to terrorist groups. Since then, both countries have stepped up their intelligence gathering and passed laws giving authorities more power to detain foreigners on suspicion of terrorism. Still, authorities and terrorism specialists say it's not easy to identify and arrest suspected extremists who may sympathize with terrorists, in part because of concerns about human rights and freedom of speech.

''If anybody provided evidence of wrongdoing whether it was at mosques or somewhere else, it would be looked into,'' a spokesman for Britain's Home Office said. ''But we can't take action on the basis of hearsay evidence.''

Since Sept. 11, Britain has adopted sweeping new antiterrorism legislation that, among other things, allows authorities to hold without trial foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists. The final version did not include a provision pushed by some lawmakers that would have made it a crime to incite religious hatred.

Two weeks ago, British authorities announced they had detained eight foreign nationals suspected of terrorism under the legislation. They are still in custody, but officials at Scotland Yard will not release information about them or their alleged activities.

Baker and other moderate Muslims here say the British government must do more.

''From [terrorist attacks on] Pan Am 103 to Yemen, those signs were there,'' said an American from Connecticut who frequently travels to London and prays at the Brixton Mosque. He didn't want to give his name.

But Nadine Crichton, 73, who is French but has lived in London for 39 years, said she doesn't know how much more the government can do to prevent terrorism.

''You've got to be stupid not to be concerned,'' she said.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001

Answers

Given the force and shrillness of the far left of the Labor Party, it's not surprising that nobody looked into the mullah's warnings. Britain has some lefties who make Berkelyites look like the Mongol hordes.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001