Reid says terrorist threat "very great" (John Reid, UK Home Secretary)

Reuters (UK) ^ | 11/15/2006 | Staff

[Dark Skies]

Britain is facing a "very great threat" from a wave of plots among Muslim extremists and a terrorist attack on the UK is highly likely, Home Secretary John Reid said on Wednesday.

Echoing a warning last week by the head of domestic spy agency MI5, Reid said authorities were aware of 30 active terrorist plots.

"There are a lot of conspiracies out there," Reid told BBC radio. "These 30 are the ones we think are the most serious of them. They are ongoing, they are working, and they have the potential... some will be nearer preparation than others."

Asked how serious the situation was, Reid said: "It is a very great threat".

MI5 head Eliza Manningham-Buller said last week that her agency was tracking around 1,600 suspects, many of them Muslim extremists, most of whom were British-born and linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan.

She also said young British Muslims were being groomed to become suicide bombers.

Britain suffered its worst peacetime terrorist attack in July 2005 when four British Islamists blew themselves up on London's transport network, killing 52 commuters and wounding hundreds.

Asked why suspects were not simply arrested and stopped, Reid said it was difficult to gather sufficient information to constitute evidence strong enough for a prosecution.

"Information is not evidence, this is one of the great problems we have," he said.

"You can have information, you can have suspicion, you can put a case together, but it doesn't naturally constitute evidence, and in this country we have a rule of law which says that in order to try someone you have to have evidence."

[B.O. Plenty]

If the Brits can't find the will to track down and kill these people, they deserve what they get.....also applies to us BTW.

Political correctness is now getting tens of thousands and has gotten millions of people around the world killed......and will most likely be the cause of the end of civilization.

If I posted what I want to do.......

[mutley]

While you're (the brits) talking with Iran and Syria about Iraq, see if they can help with this too.

[Edgerunner]

"You can have information, you can have suspicion, you can put a case together, but it doesn't naturally constitute evidence, and in this country we have a rule of law which says that in order to try someone you have to have evidence."

It's still a law enforcement problem to them (no prevention, just punishment AFTER the fact). Just let them commit the acts, and you'll have all the evidence you need...

[MrRights]

Harry,

They are not terrorists, they are just poor misguided youths born from poverty.

They are a situation to be handled.

Your Overlordess,
Nan