UK pays price for MI5 courting terror
The brutal murder of an off-duty British soldier in broad daylight in the southeast London district of Woolwich raises new questions about the British government's national security strategy, at home and abroad.
Officials have highlighted the danger of "self-radicalizing" cells inspired by Internet extremism, but this ignores overwhelming evidence that major UK terror plots have been incubated by the banned al-Qaeda-linked group formerly known as Al Muhajiroun.
Equally, it is no surprise that the attackers had been seen earlier on the radar of MI5, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency. While Al Muhajiroun's emir, Syrian cleric Omar
Bakri Mohammed - currently self-exiled to Tripoli in northern Lebanon - has previously claimed "public immunity" due to murky connections with British intelligence, compelling evidence suggests such connections might still be operational in the context of foreign policy imperatives linked to oil and gas interests. Read More
Courtesy: www.atimes.com
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