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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/7/13/111133.shtml?s=lh
Former British Spy Chief: More Terror Attacks Likely
NewsMax.com Wires Friday, July 13, 2007
LONDON -- A former British intelligence chief has warned that terrorists
will mount another successful attack on Britain, despite their failure to
carry out recent car bombings in London and Glasgow, Scotland.
Stella Rimmington, who led the domestic intelligence agency MI5 from 1992 to
1996, also said in an interview published Friday that, unlike Prime Minister
Gordon Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair, she believed that Britain's
military role in Iraq has inspired young men to join terrorist plots against
the United Kingdom.
Five suspects are being questioned over the three attempted attacks late
last month in London's entertainment district and at Glasgow airport. All
three makeshift car bombs failed to detonate.
"I don't think we should take a great deal of comfort from the fact that
these latest bombs were botched," Rimmington told the Daily Mail newspaper.
"Creating homemade explosives is difficult and they will get it wrong, but
they will get it right as well."
The only man charged is Bilal Abdullah, a 27-year-old British-born doctor
raised in Iraq who is accused of conspiring to cause explosions.
Brown said Wednesday he believed military action in Iraq and Afghanistan had
no impact on the threat to Britain from terrorism, saying the country would
be at risk in any case.
No nation could be secure when al-Qaida linked terrorists are "determined to
practice carnage across the world," Brown said.
Rimmington acknowledged that al-Qaida attacks predated the Iraq and
Afghanistan conflicts, but said the significance of the wars should not be
played down.
"Terrorism was around from this source before we went into Iraq or
Afghanistan," she told the newspaper. "But there is no doubt it has acted as
a recruiting sergeant for a lot of these young men because of this sense of
grievance about foreign policy."
"If we had not gone to war I sense we would have had some of this, but not
at the same level," she added.
MI5 head Jonathan Evans has said agents are tracking at least 30 plots
within Britain and around 1,600 suspected terrorists.
Al-Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the
United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike
there as well, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment that
government officials described to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because the report has not been finalized.
The government's top analysts concluded, however, that the U.S. has become a
harder target for the extremist network, thanks to worldwide counterterror
efforts since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Former British Spy Chief: More Terror Attacks Likely
NewsMax.com Wires Friday, July 13, 2007
LONDON -- A former British intelligence chief has warned that terrorists
will mount another successful attack on Britain, despite their failure to
carry out recent car bombings in London and Glasgow, Scotland.
Stella Rimmington, who led the domestic intelligence agency MI5 from 1992 to
1996, also said in an interview published Friday that, unlike Prime Minister
Gordon Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair, she believed that Britain's
military role in Iraq has inspired young men to join terrorist plots against
the United Kingdom.
Five suspects are being questioned over the three attempted attacks late
last month in London's entertainment district and at Glasgow airport. All
three makeshift car bombs failed to detonate.
"I don't think we should take a great deal of comfort from the fact that
these latest bombs were botched," Rimmington told the Daily Mail newspaper.
"Creating homemade explosives is difficult and they will get it wrong, but
they will get it right as well."
The only man charged is Bilal Abdullah, a 27-year-old British-born doctor
raised in Iraq who is accused of conspiring to cause explosions.
Brown said Wednesday he believed military action in Iraq and Afghanistan had
no impact on the threat to Britain from terrorism, saying the country would
be at risk in any case.
No nation could be secure when al-Qaida linked terrorists are "determined to
practice carnage across the world," Brown said.
Rimmington acknowledged that al-Qaida attacks predated the Iraq and
Afghanistan conflicts, but said the significance of the wars should not be
played down.
"Terrorism was around from this source before we went into Iraq or
Afghanistan," she told the newspaper. "But there is no doubt it has acted as
a recruiting sergeant for a lot of these young men because of this sense of
grievance about foreign policy."
"If we had not gone to war I sense we would have had some of this, but not
at the same level," she added.
MI5 head Jonathan Evans has said agents are tracking at least 30 plots
within Britain and around 1,600 suspected terrorists.
Al-Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the
United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike
there as well, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment that
government officials described to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because the report has not been finalized.
The government's top analysts concluded, however, that the U.S. has become a
harder target for the extremist network, thanks to worldwide counterterror
efforts since the Sept. 11 attacks.
