7 Iraqi Terror Suspects Nabbed in Britain

Police in Britain have arrested 7 men with connections to terrorist activities in Iraq. The stories coming out of Britain seem to suggest that the men arrested are probably terrorist supporters, rather than those actually involved in acts of violence.

Britain is home to dozens of websites run by Muslim immigrants that support terrorist activities in Iraq (example). Of course, they deny supporting terrorism, but only do so on definitional grounds: i.e., that Islamists in Iraq who routinely take hostages, bomb civilians, and behead people with ties to the elected government of Iraq are really "freedom fighters" and not terrorists at all.

I have personally tracked, literally, hundreds of jihadi supporters and located their countries of origin. The vast majority of Islamists living in Western countries, that I have located, come from Britain.

Reuters:

Police said they arrested seven people in Manchester, one in the area around Liverpool and one in London in early morning raids on 18 addresses. Around 500 officers took part in the operation, which also focused on the West Midlands and the northeastern city of Middlesbrough.

Two of the nine arrested were later released without charge in what police described as a fluid situation.

"This is a major anti-terrorist operation," chief constable Michael Todd of Greater Manchester police told reporters.

"Searching addresses under the terrorism act can often take two, three or more days ... it will take some time to resolve."

Sources told Reuters the operation was designed primarily to crack down on terrorist activities in Iraq, although police officers said they could not confirm this.

Non-sequitor and squishy logic alert:

One local man, an ethnic Pakistani Muslim, ridiculed the idea that terrorists might be living in the area. "What terrorists?" he said. "This is just a drama they have done to annoy the Muslims. They can't be Muslims and be terrorists."

Right, no such thing as a Muslim terrorist. Why the very thought is absurd!

The Guardian adds that the suspects were all from Libya:

All the people arrested are believed to be of Libyan nationality....

Greater Manchester Police's anti-terrorism unit, which led this morning's raids, said the operation was targeted at individuals suspected of "facilitating terrorism abroad".

There was no suggestion that any were suspected of planning an attack in the UK.

Chief constable Michael Todd said the long-running investigation, led by his force and MI5, was into alleged terrorist activity overseas, including the funding of terrorism.

Mr Todd said there was no threat of an attack on this country. Instead, the operation is believed to be focused on terrorist activity in Iraq.

Last week as I sat in an internet cafe in a London neighborhood dominated by signs in Arabic and notices that the food was halal, I noticed two North Africans watching a video. It was Ayaan Hirsi Ali giving an interview. I couldn't tell by the expressions on their faces whether they were supportive of the Dutch human rights activists stance against Islam as the root cause of the repression of women in Muslim countries or not.

My gut feeling? Ms. Ali would do well to stay out of that particular neighborhood.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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