Posted on 07/08/2005 9:36:05 AM PDT by JarheadFromFlorida
London a Longtime Haven for Radical Muslim Figures By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor July 08, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Terrorism experts have long warned that Islamists espousing violence enjoy a haven in London, an assertion that has come into sharp focus again with Thursday's bombings in the British capital.
For years, Britain tolerated the presence of high-profile and outspoken Islamic clerics whose fiery sermons frequently extolled jihad against the West. Since 9/11, however, anti-terror legislation has been tightened, some groups have been outlawed, terror rings have been broken and some controversial figures have been arrested.
One of them, Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, went on trial this week at London's Old Bailey courthouse, where he faces more than a dozen charges include inciting terrorism and racial hatred.
Al-Masri was formerly the imam at a North London mosque linked to confessed al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a U.S.-bound flight from Europe with explosives hidden in his shoe.
He also is wanted in the United States and Yemen on terror-related charges.
For years before his May 2004 arrest al-Masri used the Finsbury Park mosque as a base to speak for what he insisted were political causes.
Despite his radical rhetoric and close links to a group that claimed responsibility for attacks including the Oct. 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, it was only in 2003 that the authorities acted against him, stripping him of his British citizenship and barring him from preaching at the mosque.
Al-Masri then took to addressing his followers -- mostly young British- and foreign-born Muslims -- on the street outside the building.
Britain also detained another London-based extremist cleric, Abu Qatada, whose sermons were found in the 9/11 hijackers' apartment in Germany.
But other radical leaders remained free, among them Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born cleric who has promoted and praised violence against Israel, America and Britain for years.
Yael Shahar of the Israel-based International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) said that although London had been a center for Islamic extremism for years, the British security services only started taking the threat seriously after 9/11.
Before that, Shahar said, "the firebrand clerics who preached jihad and hatred of the West were dismissed as 'armchair warriors' by British intelligence."
Even since 9/11, however, critics have questioned Britain's apparent tolerance for highly-controversial Muslim figures.
As recently as last year, the government allowed a visit by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Egyptian cleric who has publicly voiced support for suicide bombers. London's leftwing Mayor Ken Livingstone, who has called al-Qaradawi a "man of peace," welcomed him as an honored guest. (see related story).
Exploiting democracy
In 2000, Bakri told Cybercast News Service in an interview: "We will use your democracy to destroy your democracy."
Instead we hear more ROP speeches.
Yes, the article just confirms the blatantly obvious. Just kill them and do it now. It is the ONLY solution. Harry Truman had to face the exact same decision during WW2, facing a FANATICAL enemy that was going to fight to the death, without surrender or end....is Washington just waiting for ANOTHER 9/11 as justification?
God only knows what the "leadership" in Washington is thinking?
BTTT
When one's home becomes infested with rats the first thing he does is kill them.
Placing them in cages like guinea pigs doesn't work and isn't a sensible solution.
They may escape.
You may be stupid enough to parole them so they can move back into their destined activities.
As the American general said recently, "Isn't this a great war or what? They want to die and we want to kill them!"
I'm beginning to think that if we experienced another 9/11 that Washington STILL wouldn't do anything.
[[As the American general said recently, "Isn't this a great war or what? They want to die and we want to kill them!"]]
I am positive that if there is another 911 in our country, that I know precisely what the citizens of this great country will do. Realizng that the governemt is too politically correct to do the job, armed militias will do the job for them. We are the most tolerante country in the world. Want proof? After 911, we did not string up every damn muzzie in sight. This is a game of "kill or be killed" so each one of us needs to decide which side we are on.
They should all be made to have fatal 'accidents'.
As Lawrence of Arabia once said, "No prisoners!"
Always wondered if the leftists could use the Constitution to destroy it...
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