Bleak terror warning for Londoners

The Evening Standard ^ | December 18, 2002 | David Taylor and Hugh Docherty

[MadIvan]

Britain is facing a real threat of terrorist attacks against soft targets which could cause mass civilian casualties, senior sources admitted today.

In the bleakest assessment yet of the threat to Britain, a source said the Government was facing up to the view that a determined terror group will "sooner or later" get through Britain's defences.

Well-placed figures say that while the Government has no specific alerts or warnings, the activities of al Qaeda in the past six months make clear the sort of threat we face.

They speak frankly in private about "mass casualty attacks against soft targets, assassinations, attacks on shipping".

A senior Whitehall figure said: "They are fairly conventional but nonetheless pretty deadly. That is what we fear will be directed against us and we are building our efforts to prevent."

Sources are adamant that a terrorist atrocity in Britain is not inevitable, but as ministers have said, the threat to Britain remains high.

The senior figure said: "The intelligence service, security services and police are working hard. They have leads, they are following them up, arrests get made.

"It [an attack] is not inevitable, but the probability is that sooner or later one of these groups, who are extremely determined, will get through." In a bleak warning to Londoners, the source added: "As we saw with the Soho bomb, it's not hard to plant a bomb to kill quite a lot of people who are just out having fun."

British intelligence is sifting up to 150 reports per day linked to international terrorism. The data is said to be "very fragmentary".

In Whitehall, it is accepted that so-called "postcard targets", such as Big Ben, are high on Al Qaeda's list. But Whitehall sources stress that the notion of a terrorist detonating a "nuclear backpack" is remote.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

The scenario you paint, although highly unlikely, causes me to shake my head as I think of all the guns taken away from honest British citizens. Law abiding people are sitting ducks to something like this. The good news is, if this did occur, the Bradey express in this country would stop in its tracks!

[Ditter]

My daughter had been in London 2 weeks when the WTC was attacked. She had planned on being in school there for 2 years. She came home after a year. She said the city was overrun with middle easterners. She felt very unsafe. I pray for Londons safety.

[wonders]

Thanks for the reply, Fusion.

We're obviously in agreement about Tet. Anyway, Tet's been studied so much, and our conclusions are hardly original, so what more to say there? What we both said about it being a military defeat, yet a war-winning psychological and political victory is the accepted version these days. Only goes to prove that in modern warfare, the "hearts and minds" battle is paramount, hence the increased emphasis on psyops. And yes, applicable to the present situation, as you say.

I do like that you call it the "Second Vietnam War." Indeed it was. Got some respect from me there, as the Tet stuff can be got easily from a number of sources. That's not so easy to come by and requires a few grey cells.

You exhort me to "study the dynamics of Tet a bit" and perhaps I will again. I became fascinated with General Giap after my stint in Cambodia and read rather extensively about all his campaigns. I consider him one of the most brilliant of all military commanders in the history of the world. Apparently I am not alone in my admiration of his military genius.

I have carefully considered the balance of your post and you have set forth your case well. I note and understand your concerns, share them to some extent.

You are quite the patriot, despite all your tongue-in-cheek deviltry, aren't you, dear Fusion?

I hope you don't mind my plain-spokeness, as I'm just a simple Tennesee gal.