-Caveat Lector-
From
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/WTC_london011022.html
}}}>Begin
Police stand guard outside the Finsbury Park mosque in north London.
(Max Nash/AP Photo)
Terror Training Ground?
London Probe Reveals Unsettling Secret
By Andrew Morse
L O N D O N, Oct. 22 — Scotland Yard's hunt for suspects in the Sept.
11 attacks on the United States has uncovered a dirty secret.
The agency's anti-terrorism task force's efforts have revealed to
the public what many in the intelligence community had long
suspected: London has become a breeding ground for terrorist
sympathizers, if not terrorists themselves.
Dissidents have long taken advantage of the United Kingdom's generous
asylum laws to flee their homelands and settle in London.
Alex Standish, editor of Jane's Intelligence Digest, explains that
while Britain has tended to offer asylum to "dissidents from
countries that can best be described as 'not democratic,' it is fair
to say that some perhaps have abused this hospitality and promoted
militant activity from London."
Such British hospitality explains how Omar Mahmoud Abu Omar, aka Abu
Qatada —
dubbed "bin Laden's ambassador to Europe" by British
intelligence sources — arrived in the United Kingdom.
Qatada says he fled persecution in his native Jordan, but upon being
granted asylum in Britain was charged in absentia with murder and
sentenced to death for his involvement in a series of explosions in
1998.
Qatada insists he is merely a cleric, spreading the word of Islam,
and that he has been unfairly labeled by the Jordanian, British, and
American governments. He lives with his wife and four children in a
small home on the outskirts of London. Last week, the government
froze his bank account after it was alleged he had some $270,000 in
the bank despite collecting welfare benefits. Qatada denied the
existence of the funds.
"It's only lie upon lie," he said.
More lies, he says, are allegations he is tied to bin Laden. Despite
claims he met with bin Laden in Pakistan in 1989, and that he serves
as one of al Qaeda's stooges in Europe, the cleric denies ever
meeting America's most-wanted man. But that's not to say he doesn't
support him.
"Bin Laden, as far as I know, is a Muslim, and he is seeking to
liberate his lands from the invaders, and I see nothing wrong with
that. It is the duty of every Muslim to support him."
British intelligence suspect Qatada has helped recruit and train
young Muslims to fight holy wars in places like Chechnya and
Afghanistan. Qatada, however, says he's just a teacher — one who
hopes his students will fight for Islam.
Sources tell ABCNEWS one of those former students was Zacharias
Moussaoui, who has been held in the United States since the Sept. 11
attacks. Law enforcement officials suspect Moussaoui was intimately
involved with the terror plots.
Moussaoui's brother told ABCNEWS that Zacharias was not a believer in
fundamentalism until he arrived in the United Kingdom from France.
Moussaoui shared a South London flat with a man named Jerome
Courtellier, who was arrested in Rotterdam, Netherlands in connection
with plans to attack U.S. installations throughout Europe. Bin Laden
is also believed tied to those plans.
Another allegedly schooled by Qatada was Djamel Beghal, who was
arrested in the United Arab Emirates last June, when he confessed to
being a member of al Qaeda. Beghal has since been extradited to
France after telling authorities about the alleged European plots.
Sources close to the investigation say Beghal told authorities of his
involvement with a bin Laden associate in London named Abu Katada,
who is believed to be Abu Qatada. The cleric denies knowing Beghal.
Though they have tried, the British government has been unable to
firmly link Qatada to any terrorists.
Last February, he was arrested as authorities tried to prove a
connection between him and a group of 13 arrested in Jordan on
charges of plotting terrorist attacks in the United States on
millennium eve.
"The British government imprisoned me for four days, because they
suspected I was a terrorist," he said. "I was very surprised by the
stupid nature of the questions I was asked."
Tangled Web
London's web of fundamentalism does not begin or end with Abu Qatada.
His fellow cleric, the one-eyed, hook-handed Sheikh Abu Hamza,
preaches jihad from the Finsbury Park mosque.
Abu Hamza has long been believed to have connections to the Islamic
Army of Aden, a Yemen-based fundamentalist organization credited with
taking 16 tourists hostage in 1998. Shortly after the tourists were
seized, Abu Hamza issued a statement on behalf of the Islamic Army,
and few have questioned his ties to the organization.
Two weeks ago, a former prime minister of Yemen said the group was
tied to al Qaeda, which played an active role in the kidnappings.
Yemen has renewed its request for Abu Hamza to be extradited, but the
British governmen
t has turned down similar requests in the past.
Law enforcement sources say they believe Abu Hamza has used the Finsbury Park mosque
as a recruitment center, and that — like Abu Qatada — he has been instructing young
Muslims in the ways of jihad and encouraging them to
travel overseas to fight. Islamic sources also say the Finsbury Park mosque has long
been the site of weekly meetings among tightly knit groups of extremists, organized by
Abu Hamza.
Further Links
While Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada have been on the radar of international law enforcement
agencies for some time (Qatada's name is on the FBI watch list), the investigation
that followed the Sept. 11 attacks has identified s
everal others as linked to bin Laden or other terrorist organizations.
Perhaps the most significant catch British authorities have made in recent weeks has
been Lofti Raissi. Acting on a tip from U.S. law enforcement officials, British
authorities arrested Raissi, his wife, and his brother-
in-law in the days following the attack.
He subsequently appeared in a London court and was charged with having provided flight
training to four of the men suspected of hijacking the planes in the United States.
The British prosecutor said U.S. law enforcement
officials possess evidence linking Raissi directly to the hijackers. The United States
has begun extradition proceedings, but many speculate an unwieldy extradition process
could take years.
In response to the growing concern about terrorist sympathizers using London as a
haven, the government is mulling over new legislation that limit fundamentalists'
ability to spread radical views. It's unlikely, though,
that these laws will discourage the likes of Abu Qatada.
The cleric told ABCNEWS "the Muslim nation has woken" and that the United States
should expect more bloodshed.
"You were the ones who began the war," he said. "As for how it will end, you are the
ones who started it, so don't ask how it will end."
When asked if this meant there will be more attacks, Qatada said, "The American people
will suffer much."
PRINT THIS PAGE |
SEND THIS TO A FRIEND |
VIEW MOST EMAILED
INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
• U.S. Targets Taliban Front Lines
• Saddam E-mails Condolences to U.S. Citizen
• U.S. Under Pressure as Ramadan Approaches
• Will U.S. Meet Harsh Fate in Afghanistan?
• IRA Says It Has Started Disarming
Search
Now:
Copyright © 2001 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures.
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
