Posted on 07/03/2007 7:13:48 PM PDT by blam
Cleric: 'Al-Qa'eda leader told me of bomb plot'
By Nicole Martin and Sophie Borland
Last Updated: 2:52am BST 04/07/2007
A British cleric in Baghdad last night claimed that an al-Qa'eda leader warned him that "the people who cure you would kill you" months before the terrorist bomb plots in Glasgow and London.
Canon Andrew White, who runs the Iraqi capital's only Anglican parish, claimed that he met an unnamed al-Qa'eda leader on the sidelines of a religious reconciliation meeting in Amman, Jordan.
"He told me that the plans were already made and they would soon be destroying the British," Canon White said. "He said the people who cure you would kill you."
Canon White claimed that he had passed on a general warning, but not the specific words, to an official at the Foreign Office in mid-April.
The Foreign Office said last night that "the official in question does not recall the conversation".
Canon White said he did not learn the identity of the man until after the meeting, and would not disclose it now.
However, he added: "I met the Devil that day."
Following the arrests of NHS workers, hospitals have been given new guidance for carrying out police checks on overseas doctors.
The NHS Employers' Organisation said that due to the constant movement of junior doctors around the country, regular police checks were essential.
The organisation urged hospitals to carry out checks in doctors' home countries and repeat this as "good practice" every three years.
Thousands of doctors from overseas will take up the new junior posts this August.
However, the organisation also warned trusts not to target doctors because of their religion or belief.
Sian Thomas, its deputy director, said: "It is good practice for an employer to carry out a Criminal Records Bureau check - even if an applicant claims never to have lived in the UK - and a police check in that person's country of origin."
Earlier, the Department of Health had vigorously defended its procedure for vetting doctors amid concerns that one of the suspects was a locum.
Ms Thomas said she wanted to reassure the public that there were "thorough and robust checks".
But she said that the checks were designed to test "their merits to do the job they do", rather than their political or extremist affiliations. She said she did not believe that it was the health service's duty to check for such connections.
Agencies supplying locums to the health service are expected to carry out pre-employment checks on recruits before they take them on their books.
They should verify their identify, check their medical qualifications and carry out annual criminal record checks to ensure that they are suitable for temporary positions.
NHS hospital trusts should make sure that agencies have conducted all the necessary checks before the locum is permitted to work.
And you thought that gas station owner was diabolical.
However, the organisation also warned trusts not to target doctors because of their religion or belief.
Heavens, no! That would make too much sense.
one more ping.
No, really, I want that dipstick to answer me.
Many doctor appointments expected to be cancelled, and unemployment claims for doctors in Britain are expected to increase next week.
Just out of curiosity, how on earth would the NHS run background checks on these foreign doctors? They are totally unqualified to do a check that could possibly catch someone like the doctors recently arrested.
The only possible way to prevent something like this happening again would be—not to hire Muslim doctors. Or for the intelligence agencies to pick up on them by monitoring all their phone calls and meetings, etc.
But the more Muslims you have running around, the harder that will be to do. There’s just not enough manpower to watch them all, especially since they are instructed not to profile or to be seen watching them.
Drain the swamp.
Foreign docs is a pet peeve of mine. Why do we import people for these high paying positions. Let’s op;en more med schools and train our own.
I’m guessing this is a fake “see, we *do* police our own” testimonial.
Not sure I believe this,...but if true,...so much for the operation being a little locally conceived one...
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Bilal Abdulla : Mystery man 'who hated the West's crusade'
To his hospital colleagues, Bilal Abdulla was a mystery man who seemed to lack interest in being a doctor.
His devotion to Islam always came first and he would disappear for long periods during the working day to pray or to log on to Arabic websites.
He told fellow staff nothing of his previous life in Iraq, claiming instead that he was Jordanian.
But yesterday suspicions were growing that he had direct links to Al Qaeda and had formed a terror cell inside the NHS.
Shiraz Maher, who knows the doctor well, told Sky News: "He was very angry about the West, particularly Britain and America and the invasion of Iraq.
"He saw it as the classic idea of a crusader war engineered by the West to impose Western views on an Islamic country.'
It was claimed yesterday that Abdulla was recruited by Al Qaeda in Iraq and ordered to travel to Britain.
Abdulla, who studied medicine in Baghdad, came from a family of Wahabist Muslims, an ultraconservative form of Islam that promotes Sharia law.
“The overseas-trained doctors who work in our system are very good and every day they save the lives of Queenslanders, and without them we wouldn’t have a health system,” Mr Beattie said.
AMA statement
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has itself stepped in to urge people not be afraid of overseas-trained doctors.
AMA president Dr Rosanna Capolingua today defended the recruitment of internationally trained doctors to Australia, saying they were an invaluable part of the health system.
She said she understood there might be some anxiety about seeing foreign doctors following the questioning of two overseas-trained doctors in Australia over the thwarted terror attacks in London and Glasgow.
“It is a natural feeling for people to feel disturbed about what has happened and I am sure Australians, particularly ones who are just encountering an overseas-trained doctor and don’t have a relationship with them, that they will feel a little anxious,” Dr Capolingua told reporters in Adelaide.
“Overseas-trained doctors have been an essential part of our workforce for many years.
“I don’t want patients to be frightened to see their doctor.”
http://www.worldnewsaustralia.com.au/region.php?id=138180®ion=7
Well ya’ll just go ahead, I’ll just stick with my American doctors.
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