Posted on 04/24/2007 9:08:12 PM PDT by blam
Anti-terror chief asks Muslims to help more
By John Steele, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:30am BST 25/04/2007
Few anti-terrorist operations are sparked by intelligence from Britain's Muslim communities and the flow of information to police and MI5 has to be increased, the UK's most senior counter-terrorist officer said last night.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, warned there was also a dangerous distrust of the intelligence on which police worked. This was typified by the controversy over the abortive "chemical bomb" raid on a house in east London last summer.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke has called for information
He criticised those who fuelled this distrust by claiming police operations were politically motivated to justify British foreign policy. The public was not being informed of the true nature of the terror threat, said Mr Clarke.
In a speech to the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, he said: "We must increase the flow of intelligence coming from communities.
"Almost all of our prosecutions have their origins in intelligence that came from overseas, the intelligence agencies or from technical means. Few have yet originated from what is sometimes called "community intelligence." This is something we are working hard to change."
Mr Clarke, also national co-ordinator for anti-terrorist operations, warned starkly that al-Qa'eda was targeting the UK in a sustained campaign which, unlike IRA terror, aimed at mass civilian casualties with no warnings and suicide attacks.
"We have seen how al-Qa'eda has been able to survive a prolonged multi-national assault on its structures, personnel and logistics. But police have been "accused of exaggerating the threat posed by terrorists in order, it was alleged, to help the Government justify its foreign policy.
"One of the difficulties, of course, is that when we do intervene and charges are not brought, the prevailing scepticism, indeed suspicion of anything that is described as intelligence, is such that it has been rare to receive the benefit of the doubt.
"I think it is no exaggeration to say that the lack of public trust in intelligence is in danger of infecting the relationship between the police and the communities we serve.
"The communities must believe, and it must be reality, that the police stand aside from politics in the exercise of their powers. That is why the allegations of political partiality that seem to have been made so lightly in recent times are so damaging. They undoubtedly inhibit the flow of intelligence, and in doing so actually increase the risk to the public."
He added: "The difficulty is that when an event like the operation in Forest Gate (the "chemical bomb" case) last year occurs, distrust of the intelligence has led to demands for it to be scrutinised by community representatives, not only after an operation, but even before it." This was difficult in terror cases where the intelligence was not the police's to give, he said.
If the public were sceptical he asked, what other sources of information did they have? "There are more than 100 people awaiting trial in terrorism cases in the UK. That should, one would think, be the source of a wealth of information.
" Well, so far terrorist trials have not been as informative as we might wish, for a number of reasons. First, it is taking anything up to two years, and in some cases more, for cases to reach the courts. During that time little can be said about what the investigation has uncovered. Then there is the issue of evidence that emerges in one case potentially prejudicing jurors in another.
"Because of the fact that terrorist cells and networks are inevitably linked, this has meant that over the past five years I can hardly remember a time when there were not court orders in place restricting what could be published about terrorist cases."
Uhm, yeah....... that’ll happen.
“Anti-Terror Chief Asks Muslims To Help More (UK)”
Does one ask the fish to bring others to the hook?
“Few anti-terrorist operations are sparked by intelligence from Britain’s Muslim communities”
I’m shocked.
Did they watch the recent show which secretly taped what was being preached in the so-called moderate mosques of the UK.
Where saudi-trained clerics were calling christians and jews the enemy, dogs, pigs, kuffar, and for muslims to setup their own governments and reject UK society.
Regards
Farmer asks foxes to help guard henhouse
Anti-Terror Chief: That they have helped so little to date should alert you to something.
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