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Muslim Leaders Seek London Bombing Inquiry
AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 7/20/05 | Ed Johnson - AP

Posted on 07/20/2005 9:16:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

LONDON - Britain's Muslim leaders demanded a judicial inquiry Wednesday into what motivated the four "homegrown" suicide bombers who targeted London, as Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism.

The government said all 56 people known to have died in the bombings of three subway trains and a bus have now been identified, but Home Secretary Charles Clarke warned the number could rise.

Twenty-seven people remained hospitalized, several in critical condition. Police also have not ruled out the possibility of finding more bodies in the mangled wreckage of a train that is still in a deep tunnel near King's Cross station.

In Pakistan, an intelligence official said investigators there arrested a man who had direct links to the July 7 bombings, and investigators used telephone numbers provided by Britain to determine who may have had contact with the bombers.

Three of the bombers, all Britons of Pakistani descent, traveled last year to Karachi in southern Pakistan, where officials are trying to determine whether they received training from extremists.

Blair has also sought the help of Britain's Muslim community. He met Tuesday with 25 community leaders, who have agreed to form a task force to take on the radical voice of Islam.

Sadiq Khan, a Muslim lawmaker in Blair's Labour Party, said the group was still in an embryonic stage and would address issues such as the standard of religious education, the role of the media, political participation by British Muslims and social deprivation.

Leaders warned, however, that the Muslim community alone could not eliminate extremism and called for an independent judicial probe into what may have motivated the bombers.

"The scale of disenchantment amongst Muslim youth is very clear to see," said Inayat Bungalwala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "Various factors are at play: underachievement in education; a high rate of unemployment; discrimination in the workplace; social exclusion, and also the government's own policies, especially in Iraq.

"The process of how we get four homegrown suicide bombers must be understood and that is why we are calling for an inquiry."

The demand for an inquiry appeared to reflect Muslim concerns about the impact of social problems in their communities even as they seek to distance themselves from the attacks and any form of extremism.

The New York Times, citing unnamed intelligence and law enforcement officials, reported on its Web site late Wednesday that police have begun a worldwide hunt for Haroon Rashid Aswat, a former aide to Abu Hamza al-Masri, one of Britain's most militant Islamic clerics.

The paper said officials believe Aswat may have provided support for the London attacks. He is also believed to have attempted to set up an al-Qaida training camp in Bly, Ore., six years ago. Aswat has also been named as a suspect in the London attack in other news reports.

London's left-wing mayor, Ken Livingstone, said Wednesday that the bombers' radicalism was fueled by Western foreign policy and decades of British and American intervention in the Islamic world.

"A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in Guantanamo Bay, and they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy," Livingstone told the BBC, noting however that he had no sympathy for the bombers and opposed all violence.

The U.S. Defense Department has sought to dispute allegations of mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo, where about 520 prisoners remain, mostly Afghans, Pakistanis and others captured after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Terrorism experts have said since the London bombings that examining the suspects' mobile phone records from the months before the attacks would be a crucial part of the investigation.

The Guardian newspaper reported that a mobile phone number linked one of the July 7 suspects to a foiled terror plot last year — an alleged conspiracy to detonate a fertilizer bomb in London. And Pakistani intelligence officials said authorities were working through some 100 telephone numbers provided by their British counterparts, checking for possible links with the suicide bombers.

Twenty of those numbers, which included both land-lines and cell phones, were still under investigation, said the officials, who did not want to be named because of the secret nature of their work.

They said Britain also provided names of several people in Pakistan who allegedly received calls from the suicide bombers over the past year. Scotland Yard declined to comment.

A point of focus in the investigation has been a religious school linked to militant groups in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Security officials believe 22-year-old suspected bomber Shahzad Tanweer visited the school.

Blair said he had talked recently with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf about tackling extremist teaching at religious schools known as madrassas — and proposed an international conference to explore the issue.

"We all know the roots of this go very, very deep," he told the House of Commons, adding the conference would focus on taking "concerted action right across the world to try to root out this type extremist teaching."

Blair's official spokesman said there was no date, venue or list of who would attend, but suggested it would include leading Muslim figures and governments from across the world.

There are about 2 million Muslims in Britain, and the overwhelming majority are moderate in their views. But extremist groups have been active in recent years, distributing inflammatory leaflets outside mosques.

Blair's government is trying to build consensus among political parties, Muslim leaders and security chiefs on how to respond to the attacks.

His top law enforcement official, Clarke, outlined anti-terrorism measures he hopes will become law by the year's end. The legislation will outlaw "indirect incitement" of terrorism, targeting extremist clerics who glorify violence and radicalize impressionable Muslim youth.

Attending terrorist training camps in Britain or abroad will be illegal, as will "acts preparatory to terrorism." Buying chemicals, or researching bomb-making on the Internet, for example, would be covered under the law.

Clarke said intelligence officials would also compile a database of suspected extremists who should be barred from entering Britain for "unacceptable behavior" such as radical preaching, running extremist Web sites and writing articles that could foment terrorism. Blair is to meet with intelligence and security chiefs Thursday to see if they require further powers.

___

Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Lahore, Pakistan.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bombing; inquiry; leaders; london; muslim; seek
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1 posted on 07/20/2005 9:16:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

I agree. The Muslims should get a fair trial and a fair execution. The trial should last two days and the execution should last two seconds.


2 posted on 07/20/2005 9:21:31 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Mark Levin and Ann Coulter for SCOTUS!)
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To: NormsRevenge
Somebody needs to tell Khan "It's Islam, stupid!"

Which Muslim was it who said, "We will use your democracy to destroy your democracy?"

3 posted on 07/20/2005 9:22:14 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Muslims are demanding to know why Muslims kill innocent people? I don't think they're going to like the result of that investigation.


4 posted on 07/20/2005 9:22:15 PM PDT by happyathome
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To: NormsRevenge

ON THE NET and updated daily...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1438409/posts
"Terror Strike- London!"
various FR links & stories | 07-07-05 | t

Posted on 07/07/2005 10:21:18 AM PDT by backhoe


5 posted on 07/20/2005 9:24:36 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: NormsRevenge

"Leaders warned, however, that the Muslim community alone could not eliminate extremism" -- until the cult of death goes through a reformation, nothing will eliminate the extremism. It has to be eliminated internally. These moonbats are passing the buck and laying the blame on Western civilization.


6 posted on 07/20/2005 9:24:59 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: NormsRevenge
I could re-arrange the headline to say London Leader (Mayor Livingstone) Seeks No Islam Inquiry.

Amazing. British Muslims are to the right of their capitol Mayor.

7 posted on 07/20/2005 9:25:14 PM PDT by txhurl
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Motivation? Islam.


8 posted on 07/20/2005 9:26:43 PM PDT by oolatec
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To: txflake
"Amazing. British Muslims are to the right of their capitol Mayor."

That was a joke, right?

9 posted on 07/20/2005 9:28:46 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Muslims kill people because their Clerics promise them 72 virgins and an eternal supply of Viagra.


10 posted on 07/20/2005 9:34:26 PM PDT by F.J. Mitchell (Democrats-the "GITMO treats terrorists little better than recruits in basic training ", party.)
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To: NormsRevenge
"The scale of disenchantment amongst Muslim youth is very clear to see," said Inayat Bungalwala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "Various factors are at play: underachievement in education; a high rate of unemployment; discrimination in the workplace; social exclusion, and also the government's own policies, especially in Iraq."

Allow me, Ms. Bunghole-wala, to translate:

underachievement in education...
Our class major is wanton hatred; not enough schools of you stupid infidels are being converted to madrassas fast enough.

a high rate of unemployment...
not enough businesses are accomodating our 5-times-an-hour prayer "rights" and other exponentially-increasing lists of religious privileges.

discrimination in the workplace...
those businesses that DO let us do whatever we demand for in loud voices won't fire those infidel pigs & monkeys fast enough. Therefore, we're discriminated against.

social exclusion...
We hate dancing, music, mingling with the opposite sex, talking, laughing, pretty much everything that makes life worth living. If everyone would start studying the Koran, we would feel more appreciated.

the government's own policies, especially in Iraq...
Despite the fact that Iraq's Muslims are now being slaughtered constantly by Muslims from other sects, we only bitch and whine when a Gitmo prisoner is forced to wear bras & panties.

Nuff said...

11 posted on 07/20/2005 9:35:08 PM PDT by kromike
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To: NormsRevenge

What MOTIVATED them???

Who the hell cares what motivated them.

These mooslimb infiltrators killed 56 innocent people. I for one couldn't care less about their "motivations": I just want to send every last one of them to meet Allah as soon as possible.


12 posted on 07/20/2005 9:39:00 PM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Wow, and OJ is looking for the killer too.


13 posted on 07/20/2005 9:39:07 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: NormsRevenge

They're spinning this to portray the monsters as victims.


14 posted on 07/20/2005 9:47:19 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: happyathome

It's all very clever actually. Ask for an inquiry to show concern for your community and the root causes for the attack while still retaining the ability to claim victim status for your community and the root causes of the attack.


15 posted on 07/20/2005 9:56:39 PM PDT by headstamp
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To: NormsRevenge
called for an independent judicial probe into what may have motivated the bombers.

Gee, what could it be?

http://www.prophetofdoom.net/quotes1.html#terrorism

Quran 8:12 "I shall terrorize the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them because they oppose Allah and His Apostle."
Quran 8:57 "If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned."
Quran 8:67 "It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughtered in the land."
Quran 7:3 "Little do you remember My warning. How many towns have We destroyed as a raid by night? Our punishment took them suddenly while they slept for their afternoon rest. Our terror came to them; Our punishment overtook them."
Quran 33:26 "Allah made the Jews leave their homes by terrorizing them so that you killed some and made many captive. And He made you inherit their lands, their homes, and their wealth. He gave you a country you had not traversed before."
Quran 59:2 "It was Allah who drove the [Jewish] People of the Book from their homes and into exile. They refused to believe and imagined that their strongholds would protect them against Allah. But Allah came at them from where they did not suspect, and filled their hearts with terror. Their homes were destroyed. So learn a lesson, O men who have eyes. This is My warning - they shall taste the torment of Fire."
Quran 33:60 "Truly, if the Hypocrites stir up sedition, if the agitators in the City do not desist, We shall urge you to go against them and set you over them. Then they will not be able to stay as your neighbors for any length of time. They shall have a curse on them. Whenever they are found, they shall be seized and slain without mercy - fierce slaughter - murdered, a horrible murdering."

16 posted on 07/20/2005 10:04:26 PM PDT by angkor
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To: NormsRevenge

***The Guardian newspaper reported that a mobile phone number linked one of the July 7 suspects to a foiled terror plot last year — an alleged conspiracy to detonate a fertilizer bomb in London. ***

Does this mean that Britain will have a new Guy Fawks day to celebrate now?


17 posted on 07/20/2005 10:05:01 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Islam, the religion of the criminally insane.)
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

"The trial should last two days and the execution should last two seconds."

That execution is way too fast. It needs to be slow, torturous and filmed live by Al Jazeera so they can show all of their fellow terrorist that we won't put up with islam.


18 posted on 07/20/2005 10:08:01 PM PDT by ArmedNReady (Demand That Your Congressmen Declare Islam a Terrorist Organization)
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To: kromike

***social exclusion...
We hate dancing, music, mingling with the opposite sex, talking, laughing, pretty much everything that makes life worth living. ***

Sounds like the religion I grew up in. Luckly, I escaped it but the effects of social exclusion still linger.

Seriously, we need to use the Ferdinand and Isabella method of dealing with them...
Muslims OUT! Unless you convert to our religion.
Spain had to do it again in the early 1600's.


19 posted on 07/20/2005 10:12:41 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Islam, the religion of the criminally insane.)
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To: NormsRevenge
"The process of how we get four homegrown suicide bombers must be understood and that is why we are calling for an inquiry."

Ah, the old "root causes" argument.

Why is it that no one ever wanted to examine the "root causes" of why, say, Timothy McVeigh wanted to murder people?

I'll answer my own question: Because what McVeigh did was inexcusable, and no decent human being would dare try to diminish his guilt...the way that Muslim apologists invariably do whenever Muslims commit atrocities. These people are disgusting.

When I hear the phrase "Root Causes" I know it means that the victims are going to be blamed for the murderer's crimes. Always. Every time.

20 posted on 07/20/2005 10:32:04 PM PDT by denydenydeny ("Liberty is not a suicide pact."--Fouad Ajami)
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