Al-Qaeda's ‘best assets’ prime UK timebomb

Sunday Telegraph ^ | 19/11/2006 | Sean Rayment

[george76]

British Muslims volunteering to fight against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent back to Britain to become al-Qaeda "sleeper" agents, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

MI5 agents believe that young Asian men, who have been trained to take part in the so-called "global jihad" in al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, are now regarded as too valuable an asset to be used fighting British and American troops.

MI5 and MI6 are working on the assumption that they are being ordered to return to their communities in Britain with instructions to establish secret, autonomous cells and to conduct independent terrorists operations without any direct input from al-Qaeda's high command.

Security sources claim that al-Qaeda is unlikely to send a British passport holder to his death as a suicide bomber in Iraq when he would be far more valuable as a "sleeper" in Britain.

MI5 fears that it is impossible to estimate how many British Muslims have attended training camps over the past decade or how many are back in the UK planning attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of people travel from Britain to Pakistan every year, mostly to visit relatives or do business.

The challenge facing the intelligence services, say security sources, is to discover which among them are travelling for "nefarious" reasons.

The warning was made as the Prime Minister is visiting Pakistan, where British terrorists are known to have undergone training.

Security sources have also warned of the danger facing Britain from radicalised Muslims who are currently fighting as part of the insurgency in Iraq.

impossible for MI5, given its current level of resources — it has 2,800 staff — to disrupt every terrorist plot being hatched against Britain.

[supremedoctrine]

See my post #40

[x_plus_one]

I doubt you could run Air Force One for a year on what the civil list costs the UK taxpayer and the upside is we never end up with grubby democratic politicians like Carter or Clinton as our head of state going abroad and embarrassing us. . .

You are so right -

[george76]

The good news is that she does not vote.

[girlangler]

"The good news is that she does not vote."

There's more good news in addition to that -- after our debate, I still have hair!!!!!

Grrrr.

[george76]

LOL

"There's more good news in addition to that -- after our debate, I still have hair!!!!!

Grrrr. "

[Mrs Ivan]

In the states, we think of Chinese, Japanese...

It's another division of our common language - that's who we would refer to as oriental.