http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=762878 Other UK cities could be next terror targets, think tank MIL-UK-TERROR-CITIES
LONDON, Aug 23 (KUNA) -- The terrorists behind the London bombings could be preparing attacks on other British cities in an attempt to inflame relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, a UK security think tank warned Tuesday. A briefing paper by the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, London, said the British Government should now consider a major public inquiry, along the lines of the 9/11 Commission in the United States, into the terrorist threat. It called for a ''fundamental reassessment'' of existing security arrangements in the light of the London attacks, including basic training in intelligence-gathering by the domestic security service known as ''MI5'' for all police officers. There needed to be greater co-operation and intelligence pooling among the various agencies involved in counter-terrorism, both within the UK and abroad, and a more visible security presence on the transport infrastructure, it said. Professor Michael Clarke, who edited the paper, warned that the terrorists could now switch their target from London in an attempt to catch the authorities off guard. ''If there is a controlling hand behind the July attacks, the next phase is likely to be marked by a determined attempt to mount attacks in cities other than London, probably against targets other than the transport infrastructure, and using methods which feature some new novelty,'' he said. The paper said there was a ''very real fear that an attack may occur in an area with a large Muslim population, such as Bradford or Leeds, in northern England, if only to drive a wedge within that community'' Professor Clarke said the terrorists could try new methods, such as chemical contamination, although bombs were likely to remain their favoured form of attack in order to create the ''maximum psychological impact''. ''Planting a bomb, especially a dirty bomb contaminated with chemical or radiological elements, still represents the main aim of most jihadi terrorists, '' he continued. He added that in introducing new counter-terrorism powers the British Government needed to be careful as one of the aims of the terrorists was to provoke an ''over-reaction'' which would ''polarise'' the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. ''Nothing acts as a better recruiting sergeant for terrorism than a sense of injustice among the potential supporters of the terrorists' cause,'' he said. ''For jihadis in Britain, the tactical objective is to provoke police injustice and legal clampdowns that affect the Muslim communities disproportionately.'' The paper also questioned the British Government's policy of cultivating so-called ''mainstream'' Muslim groups, like the Muslim Council of Britain, which had little influence over the more radical elements and at the same time had their own political agenda to pursue. ''Inflating the powers of the so-called moderates may appease a select but highly vocal group of Muslims, but is not likely to gain much leverage among extreme elements. Indeed it may even make the divisions within the Muslim communities worse,'' it said. Professor Clarke also warned that events surrounding the wrongful shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man mistaken by police for a suicide bomber, were likely to affect public confidence in the police. He said the shooting appeared to be the result of human error, rather than a breakdown in the Metropolitan Police's communication and command systems. (end) he. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hm12kui/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124839424/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. 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