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Ed Husain's autobiography The Islamist: why I joined radical Islam in Britain, what I saw inside and why I left (Penguin, 2007) is a remarkably candid account of the life of a British-born Muslim who was initially seduced by radicalism but gradually came to his senses to return to the more spiritual and devotional Islam that had defined his early years. It is also an important work, in that it both carefully grounds the issue of radicalisation that has so dominated recent intellectual and political discussion of Muslim communities in Britain, and points to potential solutions. Ed Husain grew up...

SNIPPET: "The Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) name has come up before in connection with terrorism plots, including the October 2002 Portland Seven and the September 2002 Lackawanna Six cases in the United States, as well as the August 2006 plot to bomb airliners en route from London to the United States, the July 7, 2005, London Underground bombings and the July 2007 attempted bombings in London and Glasgow, Scotland. Over the past several years we also have received several queries about TJ from U.S. law enforcement officials who are concerned about the group’s presence and activities in the United States. U.S....

terrorist mastermind behind the July 7 London bombings is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail by President Bashar Assad's regime. Abu Musab al-Suri had been held in Syria for six years after being captured by the CIA in 2005 and transported to the country of his birth under its controversial extraordinary rendition programme. But he is now said to have been released as a warning to the US and Britain about the consequences of turning their backs on President al-Assad’s regime as it tries to contain the uprising in the country. Al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmariam...

A Turkish court on Thursday charged a Syrian national suspected of plotting to slam speedboats packed with explosives into cruise ships loaded with Israeli tourists, lawyers and police said. According to The AP, defense lawyer Ilhami Sayan said the suspect, identified in the Turkish media as Lu'ai Sakra, was charged with membership in an "illegal organization." He was arrested earlier this month. Police said Sakra was linked to al-Qaeda. "I have no regrets," Sakra shouted to journalists as he was led into the courthouse. "I was going to attack Israeli ships. If they come, my friends will attack them." "I...

ADAM GADAHN grew up on a farm in Riverside County, California; as a teenage slob he was obsessed with heavy metal music. Today he is known as “Azzam the American” — al-Qaeda’s own Lord Haw-Haw — who stars in a video telling fellow Westerners that they must convert to Islam or be sent “straight to Hell without passing Go”. Dressed in flowing white robes and turban, Gadahn, 28, delivers a long lecture on the errors of Christianity and Judaism before setting out a critique of US foreign policy ranging from the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to the...

Exclusive: Release prompts claim Islamist was US informant while assisting London terroris An American jihadist who set up the terrorist training camp where the leader of the 2005 London suicide bombers learned how to manufacture explosives, has been quietly released after serving only four and a half years of a possible 70-year sentence, a Guardian investigation has learned. The unreported sentencing of Mohammed Junaid Babar to "time served" because of what a New York judge described as "exceptional co-operation" that began even before his arrest has raised questions over whether Babar was a US informer at the time he was...

Residents carried their own signs Wednesday evening calling for "peace not hate" in response to a northwest Gainesville church that recently posted a sign with an anti-Islamic message. At least 80 people gathered on both sides of Northwest 37th Street in front of the Dove World Outreach Center for a prayer vigil organized after the church recently erected a sign proclaiming "Islam is of the devil." Participants held up their signs and listened to words from Eve MacMaster, pastor of the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, and Saeed R. Kahn, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida. The group maintained...

According to pandering presidential candidate, John Edwards, the global war on terror is just a bumper sticker slogan. In a pathetic attempt to ingratiate himself to the Looney Left that now runs the Democrats, Edwards needs to downplay the fact that terrorism is even much of a threat. We saw that same attitude recently on the Daily KOs in this KOmmie THREAD posted by Larry Johnson titled, "London Bomb--What a Crock of Crap!!" Larry's contention is that this whole terror threat is nothing but a "Crock of Crap!!" Here is what he said about the first bomb threat car...

Police check Bluewater gang’s links to attempt to bomb clubs (July 1, 2007) David Leppard and Dipesh Gadher Detectives hunting the West End car bombers believe the suspects are most likely to be home-grown extremists linked to an overlapping network of terrorist cells implicated in previous plots against British targets. Some may be known to police and be on the run after escaping Home Office control orders. Those in the frame may be associates of the so-called Crevice gang, which planned to attack the Ministry of Sound nightclub in central London and the Bluewater shopping mall in Kent. Members of...

London - Almost two years after the suicide bomb attacks in London, British police Wednesday arrested the widow of the alleged ringleader, along with three men, on suspicion of supporting terrorism. The 29-year-old woman, named as Hasina Patel, was the wife of Sidique Khan, the suspected ringleader of the four-men suicide cell which blew itself up in the attacks on July 7, 2005. A total of 52 passengers died and more than 700 were injured in the bombings of three Underground trains and a London bus. Patel was arrested with two men in the West Yorkshire region, in northern Britain,...

The al-Qaeda leader who is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain has been captured by the Americans. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the “high-value detainee programme” at Guantanamo Bay. Abd al-Hadi was taken into CIA custody last year, it emerged from US intelligence sources yesterday, in a move which suggests that he was interrogated for months in a “ghost prison” before being transferred...

Three men have been arrested in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on July 7, 2005. Two men, aged 23 and 30, were arrested at Manchester Airport as they were about to catch a flight to Pakistan. A third man, aged 26, was arrested at a house in Leeds shortly afterwards. More follows...

Supermosque for 70,000 'will be blocked' By Ben Leapman and Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:25am GMT 18/02/2007 Controversial plans to build a "supermosque" on the doorstep of the London Olympics will be blocked by the Government. Alan Craig is concerned about the security impact Ruth Kelly's Whitehall department is expected to refuse planning permission for the London Markaz, which would be the biggest religious building in Britain with room for 70,000 worshippers. Backers want the £300 million mosque, in east London, to serve as a reception centre for athletes and fans from Islamic countries during the 2012 games....

LONDON -- U.K. intelligence officials have just provided a chilling assessment of the terrorist threat Britain faces. The country has become "al Qaeda target No. 1," security sources told me, confirming last week's press reports. Intelligence services now judge Britain's "home grown" terrorists to be organized, trained and controlled either directly from Pakistan or via Pakistani networks in Britain. Until now, intelligence services thought British Islamist terrorists had no hard links to al Qaeda despite sharing its ideology. "Clean skins" in the security jargon, they were believed to have acted alone or in self-constructed cells. This theory was the product...

In the past day or so an interesting confluence of events happened that occasionally occurs and makes one want to keep trying. First we honor the life of Oriana Fallaci, that famous and courageous Italian writer, who devoted most of her last years to warning Europeans against the threat to European culture and freedom from the Islamic invasion that is taking place there. Many of her pleas were directed at Pope John Paul II, who was so instrumental in bringing down the Soviet empire, but who gave few outward signs that Islamic fascism greatly concerned him. Oriana died today of...

Atlantic Records is eyeing a November release for Yusuf Islam's first album of pop music in 28 years in tandem with his own Ya imprint. As previously reported, "An Other Cup" will be issued internationally by Polydor in time to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the former Cat Stevens' first release, "I Love My Dog." Produced by Rick Nowells (Dido, Madonna), the set features contributions from former Cat Stevens guitarist Alun Davies and keyboardist Jean Roussel, plus African vocalist Youssou N'Dour. Islam played guitar, piano and keyboard. Although the track list has yet to be announced, "An Other Cup" is...

TERRORISM AS MOTIVE German Investigators Pursue Suspect in Foiled Train Attack Last month, two bombs rigged from gas canisters and hidden in suitcases were found on regional trains in the western German cities of Koblenz and Dortmund. Police are now convinced the devices were part of a foiled terrorist plot and they have identified a prime suspect. The German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Friday that police investigators have now identified a suspect in the foiled terrorist plot that was uncovered late last month. The makeshift bombs, consisting of gas cylinders and detonators, were found in suitcases placed on...

On 14 July 2005 the Times published a photograph of a thoughtful young man at work in a Yorkshire classroom. Mohammad Sidique Khan was pictured, purse-lipped and neatly bearded, in the school where he was employed as a teaching mentor. Khan’s CV was one of which any parent might be proud. The son of a foundry worker who had emigrated from Pakistan, Khan was born in Leeds, where he succeeded at school and went on to univer-sity. Happily married, and a regular worshipper at his local mosque, Khan’s work seemed designed to allow others to enjoy the British dream. His...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The good guy in the Wachowski brothers' latest cinematic adventure is a "terrorist" at war with the British government. The masked crusader makes homemade bombs, which he plants on London's subway system, and condones violence in pursuit of justice. The Orwellian authorities rule chiefly by fear. With "V for Vendetta", the scriptwriters who brought us "The Matrix" may be asking for trouble. Starring a shaven-headed Natalie Portman as the foil to the mystery man known only as V, the film is based on a 1980s graphic novel warning readers about the danger of lurching to the political...

LONDON (AFP) - British security services have admitted they know almost nothing about why the London bomings happened or if Al-Qaeda was involved, according to a leaked intelligence report in The Sunday Times. The MI5 internal security service has owned up to "significant gaps" in its knowledge about the July 7, 2005 attacks, the secret report for Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior ministers revealed, the British weekly newspaper said. According to the report, MI5 said: "We know little about what three of the bombers did in Pakistan, when attack planning began, how and when the attackers were recruited, the...