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: Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh engaged in various acts of terrorism in Pakistan, including the murder of Daniel Pearl.
- India: Again, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was active in India, notably in a 1994 kidnapping of Western tourists in India.
- 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 12 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)
- Iraq: an article in the Times (London) on "70 British Muslims join Iraq fighters" gives an overview of this problem. (June 26, 2005)
- Bangladesh: A British citizen known only as Faisal established an orphanage that local security forces raided on the grounds that it was used as a training camp and arms factory for Islamist terrorists. (March 25, 2009)
In other developments:
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?"
Aug. 29, 2006 update: Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation says that the United Kingdom poses "a direct security threat to the US." For what it's worth, Lyndon LaRouche demanded in 2000 to "Put Britain on the List of States Sponsoring Terrorism."
Sep. 4, 2006 update: Peter Bergen & Paul Cruickshank argue in the New Republic that last month's thwarted London airline mega-plot me