Re paranoia etc.
There are reasons for those feelings, and I have a mixed view on the Guantanamo camp in Cuba. I don't believe what the politicians tell me, they are compulsive liars these days, I have a little more faith in the security forces outlook. Britain is having problems with Algerians for some reason. The IRA has taught us extra ordinary measures are sometimes necessary. Note this news item is in the Guardian, a left wing newspaper, hardly a word of criticism is shown..
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Terror police arrest 11 Algerians in dawn raids
guardian.co.uk
Homes searched after swoops in London and Manchester
Helen Carter
Wednesday October 1, 2003
The Guardian
Eleven Algerian terror suspects were arrested yesterday in coordinated raids in London and Manchester.
They are being held under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, on suspicion of being involved in the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."
Six men, in their 30s, were detained at addresses in north, east and south-east London at around 6am and a seventh man was arrested yesterday afternoon in the capital. Four men were arrested at a house in the Longsight district of Manchester at around 5.30am.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said the operation was part of their extensive inquiries into terrorism. "At 5.30am in Manchester, Greater Manchester police acting on behalf of the anti-terrorist branch arrested a 32-year-old under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000," he said. "Three other men at the premises were also arrested."
The men arrested in London are being held at a central London police station and are being questioned by officers from the Met's anti-terrorist branch.
The 32-year-old man from Manchester has been transferred to London, where he will also be questioned by anti-terrorist branch officers.
The three other men remain in custody in Manchester. Extensive searches were being carried out at all the addresses, but it is understood that no explosives or suspicious substances have yet been discovered. Police were searching two business premises in London.
Security sources said the arrests were based on intelligence and were the result of joint work between the police and MI5. A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police declined to comment on the operation. But Professor Paul Wilkinson, of the centre for the study of terrorism and political violence at St Andrew's University, said: "It does seem rather a large number of people to have been arrested.
"It is misleading to portray a single country as being the dominant country. Our research has found that in over 60 countries there is an al-Qaida presence. It makes it the most dispersed network in the history of international terrorism groups.
"There are a large number of Algerians involved in France and other European countries, partly because al-Qaida has penetrated and made close alliances with other groups such as the GIA." The GIA, the Islamic Armed Group, fought a 12-year-war in Algeria and caused the deaths of hundreds of men, women and children in villages around the capital.
In February, Heathrow was patrolled by 1,500 anti-terrorist police and troops after intelligence warnings identified it as a likely target for an imminent attack by militants linked to al-Qaida armed with anti-aircraft missiles. Police searched cars and stopped vehicles under the flight path.
About 320 people have been arrested on terror-related charges since the September 11 attacks in the US.
In June, the director general of M15, Eliza Manningham-Buller, said renegade scientists have provided al-Qaida with some of the technical knowledge to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and it was "only a matter of time" before an attack against a city in the west. |
