British Muslims – A Global Threat

by Daniel Pipes
Thu, 22 May 2003
updated Sat, 29 Dec 2007

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In an unposted article today in London's Daily Mail, David Williams reports on a dossier presented on behalf of Home Secretary David Blunkett to a Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The dossier "admits that Britain was a safe haven for supporters of worldwide terrorism and … says Britain remains a ‘significant base' for supporting terrorism." Most chilling to Williams is the list of attacks that Islamists living in Britain are accused of supporting:

1995/96, Algerian terror attacks on French cities;
1997, attacks in Algeria;
1998, suicide bombings on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania;
1998, planned attack on U.S. embassy in Albanian capital Tirana;
1998, attacks in Jordan;
1999, attempted attack on Los Angeles International Airport;
2000, planned bombing in Strasbourg;
2001 planned attack in Paris;
2001, assassination of Afghan Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Masood;
2001, the Al Qaeda September 11 suicide hijackings in New York and Washington;
2002/2003, planned attack by North African terrorists in Britain. .

Williams omitted other instances of British-based terrorism.

Yemen: Several young British Muslims (including Mohammed Mustafa Kamel, son of Abu Hamza al-Masri), took part in a 1999 hostage seizure that led to four deaths.
Israel: An attack by Asif Muhammad Hanif on Mike's Place in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2003, killing 3 and wounding 50.
Pakistan: Omar Sheikh engaged in various acts of terrorism in Pakistan, including the murder of Daniel Pearl.
United States: Richard Reid's attempt to blow up an American Airlines jet in December 2001.
Kenya: The anti-terrorism police arrested and deported Graham Andrew Adams, a British national who converted to Islam at the age of 18 and is also known as Ahmad Halid Adams, on suspicion of possessing illegal arms, including hand grenades. (December 19, 2007)

Comment: That makes at least 11 countries that have suffered actual or planned depredations coming out of the United Kingdom: Afghanistan, Albania (attempted), Algeria, France, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Pakistan, Tanzania, United States, Yemen. I will continue to add to this list as British-based Islamists target other countries. (May 22, 2003)

Aug. 9, 2004 update: I analyse the flip side of this problem – whereby the United Kingdom is not targeted by its own resident Muslims – in "Does a "Covenant of Security" Protect the United Kingdom?"

Iraq: an article in the Times (London) on "70 British Muslims join Iraq fighters" gives an overview of this problem. (June 26, 2005)

Aug. 29, 2006 update: Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation says that the United Kingdom poses "a direct security threat to the US."

Sep. 4, 2006 update: Peter Bergen & Paul Cruickshank argue in the New Republic that last month's thwarted London airline mega-plot means that from an American point of view, "it can now be argued that the biggest threat to U.S. security emanates not from Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan—but rather from Great Britain, our closest ally."

Apr. 4, 2007 update: Michael Chertoff, secretary of homeland security, SAYS another 9/11-style attack could be launched by Muslims from Britain or Europe who feel "second-class citizens" and alienated by a "colonial legacy." The U.S. government is determined to build extra defences against such "clean skin" terrorists from Europe. "We need to build layers of protection, and I don't think we totally want to rely upon the fact that a foreign government is going to know that one of their citizens is suspicious and is going to be coming here."

Related Topics: Muslims in the United Kingdom, Radical Islam, Terrorism

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Reader comments on this weblog entry

Title	By	Date
APATHY IN BRITAIN [155 words]	ichfap	Sep 23, 2006 04:53
↔ I fail to see [486 words]	Terry	Mar 1, 2007 18:02
↔ Not worth it [123 words]	joeyindc	Jun 7, 2007 20:44
↔ "The British and the Freemasons had a hand in creating Wahabism" [44 words]	Kevin M	Dec 29, 2007 13:30
Apathy in Britain [98 words]	michael c	Sep 3, 2006 13:25
Tip of the jihadist iceberg [32 words]	Vijay	Sep 2, 2006 03:38
↔ BRITISH MUSLIMS - HOW LONG WILL THE WEST GO OM PANDERING TO THE WHIMS OF THESE MINIONS [112 words]	ichfap	Dec 31, 2007 03:13

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