Posted on 01/24/2007 1:55:26 PM PST by Alouette
LONDON (Reuters) - A group of British Muslims suspected of plotting to blow up U.S.-bound airliners flying from Britain had been radicalised in just weeks or months, London's police chief said on Wednesday.
British detectives announced last August they had foiled a suicide bomb plot to blow up planes using liquid explosives.
Officers have charged 15 people over the suspected plot with offences including conspiracy to murder and planning acts of terrorism. The suspects are due to go on trial next year.
"One of the really shocking things ... is the apparent speed with which young, reasonably affluent, some reasonably well-educated, British-born people were converted," police chief Ian Blair told a conference on Islamophobia.
He said the suspects had been converted "from what would appear to be ordinary lives in a matter of some weeks and months, not years, to a position where they were allegedly prepared to commit suicide and murder thousands of people".
Authorities are trying to understand what has caused a growth in extremism among the Britain's 1.8 million Muslims, dramatically exemplified by the July 2005 suicide bomb attacks on London's transport system by four British Islamists who killed themselves and 52 other people.
Last November, domestic spy chief Eliza Manningham-Buller said agents were tracking some 1,600 suspects.
Blair said the "extreme view of one austere strand" of Islam was proving powerful.
"It seems to be very potent," he said, repeating his warning that the threat to Britain was "growing, and extremely grave" and the conspiracies were growing in "number and gravity".
He said he was concerned about recent opinion polls taken amongst British Muslims which found support in "principle at least" for terrorist action.
A poll of Islamic students and Muslims generally found that 4 and 6 percent of those questioned thought the July 7 London bombings were justified -- the equivalent of about 80,000 and 120,000 people, Blair said.
"I'm not suggesting that means there are that many terrorists. It does however indicate the power of the ideology involved."
Blair said it was vital to get over the message of "Britishness" based on values of tolerance, fairness and respect for faiths and traditions of others.
"We have to get over the message this is not a clash of civilisations."
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
reading the part about liquid explosives reminded me about "binary" explosives. It's only a matter of time before they are used in an act of terrorism.
I can't believe how far the media goes to try to justify attempted murder. That's what it is. They are not 'radicals' they are failed murderers. Kill them or lock them up and be done with this BS.
If I dropped my usual mild-mannered demeanor and killed a dozen people in a fit of anger, is anyone going to say "there, there, don't act out?" Somehow I think not, I live in Texas and we don't coddle criminals.
It's amazing how young people learn to think along the lines of the propanganda they are innundated with.
All TRUE muslims can be radicalized in a few weeks. Technically, they are ALL sleepers.
All of them easily found - check any mosque on a Friday.
Brainwash young males that's it's terrific to kill isn't all that hard to understand.
I like the way the investigators are named. They should also report their addresses as well as where their kids go to school.
Blair said it was vital to get over the message of "Britishness" based on values of tolerance, fairness and respect for faiths and traditions of others.
"We have to get over the message this is not a clash of civilisations."
Police chief Blair made these comments at a conference...on islamophobia, of course he would be named. A conference on islamophobia? You know what that means? It means stop complaining about islamofascists blowing up trains! Go to work, shut up and pay your taxes!
Anybody can be radicalized to do just about anything in a few weeks.
For once, it isn't a Muslim trait but a human one. We are all vulnerable to this sort of radicalization given the correct circumstances. In combating the spread of radical Islam it would be useful to be able to contain its spread and eventually reverse it so it became an ever lessening phenomenom. We need to understand how the mechanism of this particular radicalization is working in order to do that.
It's called "Getting religion". - Tom
global jihad bump
In another news story, it seems that dozens of amateur college football players who are drafted into the NFL are radicalized into professional football players in a matter of weeks or months after signing contracts with recruiters for professional teams.
Perhaps they are related phenomena.
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