Danes and Germans Make Terror Busts

Earlier this week, Danish authorities arrested 8 people in connection with a terrorist conspiracy. Almost immediately after that, German police took 3 men into custody for the same reason. No connection between the two groups appears to exist. What does unite these cases is good solid police work, reinforcing what this journal has said for years; terrorism is crime for political ends, not a military act. It must be fought accordingly.

For its part, the Danish security service, Politiets Efterretningstjeneste [PET] stated, “The arrests are the result of prolonged surveillance of the persons concerned who are suspected of preparing a terrorist act with use of explosives.” Names and nationalities have been kept out of the media, but those arrested profess to be followers of Mohammed, peace be unto him. This comes just as the trial of four would-be Islamic bombers opens in Copenhagen.

In Germany, the media have reported that the trio arrested included two Germans who converted to Islam and one Turk, who almost certainly was born and raised in Germany speaking German and who lacks German nationality because of that country’s rules on immigration. They have been identified only as Fritz G., age 28, and Daniel S., age 22; and Adem Y., age 29. Those with a sense of history will recall Andreas Bernd Baader, of the Baader-Meinhoff bunch, was 25 when he was sentenced to prison for political arson. Radicalism in one’s third decade of life is not rare in rich countries.

The three in Germany were busted while in possession of 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide, a fundamental ingredient in al-Qaeda’s favored bomb mixture. It’s also unstable, and rather hard to acquire in quantity without drawing the attention of authorities. These guys had been watched for 6 months before their handcuffing.

The arrests merely underscore that terrorism is more effectively halted by good police work (intelligence gathering if one likes) than by military action. Spending time, effort and money to build up a nation’s military resources will do little to protect the population from bombs in discos and parking lots. Putting police (broadly defined) out on the streets to get on with catching the crooks (always within constitutional limits) works.

© 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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