Eight in Birmingham Arrested under Terrorism Act

In the pre-dawn hours, 55 police officers got out of their white vans and arrested 8 people in Birmingham under Britain’s Terrorism Act. The media report MI5 believes those arrested were planning to kidnap a member of the UK military, torture and behead him, and put the whole thing on the internet. A defense source quoted by Reuters said the target was a Muslim who would be on home leave at the time of the abduction. The West Midlands police issued a statement that read in part, “It is unhelpful of the media and potentially damaging to the investigation or any future court cases to speculate on the details of this investigation.” The police in Britain always say that when they have the goods on someone.

Local reaction varied between incredulous and highly responsible. On the incredulous front, “Mohamed Barber told BBC News his cousin was one of the men arrested in Alum Rock. ‘We can vouch for him he is innocent. He doesn’t even have time to go to Friday prayers – that’s how busy he is,’ he added.” The Beeb added, “Saqib Hussain, of Sparkhill, told BBC News he had visited the raided book shop many times and ‘had never seen any suspicions of terrorist activity’.” Also, “Abdul Ghaffoor, a regular shopper at the general store, said he had never heard politics being discussed in the shop.”

On the highly responsible side, Ayub Pervaz, the president of the largest mosque in the area called the Alum Rock Islamic Centre, said, “Our view is very clear. If people have broken the law they should be brought to justice. But we also appeal for no trial by media. If any of those arrested turn out to be innocent, this should be made clear.” One would be quite happy if Mr. Pervaz’s standard of justice prevailed worldwide. Home Secretary John Reid echoed his tone, “I hope everyone involved will act with the maximum restraint. There is a major operation and investigation under way . . . there may be court proceedings.”

Some terrorism “experts” yammering on CNN this morning were up in arms about this development, suggesting that this is a new tactic. Rather than the grand and dramatic attack of September 11, 2001, or the Tube bombings on 7/7, the bad guys are thinking about mimicking the beheading fad in Iraq-Nam. This is piffle. Terrorist history shows that the IRA was kidnapping and killing British troops before Usama bin Laden had ever been to a mosque. If the internet had been available to the Provos in 1970, they’d have used it the same way al-Qaeda does. The only difference is the cause, an Ireland united against the wishes of a large minority versus a fundamentalist Islam that few Muslims can stomach.

The great lesson in fighting terrorism, though, has been repeated, and the “experts” have said nothing about it yet. Intelligence gathering and solid police work carry the day where a brigade of high tech warriors can’t. It was MI5 and the West Midlands Police that carried this operation to a successful outcome, not the SAS and the Royal Marines. And no one is dead, so justice may even be on the menu.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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