French report warned of al Qaeda attack on Britain (Reuters, Le Figaro)

[moodforaday]

French report warned of al Qaeda attack on Britain

PARIS, Aug 8 (Reuters) - French intelligence issued a report shortly before the London suicide bombings saying al Qaeda planned to attack Britain and would use Britain's large Pakistani community to strike, Le Figaro reported on Monday.

A report by the Direction centrale des renseignements generaux (DCRG), the equivalent of the Special Branch of the British police, said monitoring France's Pakistani community was vital if the country was to avoid violence, the newspaper said.

Written in late June, the 20-page report on the Pakistani community in France said "the United Kingdom remains threatened by plans decided at the highest level of al Qaeda...

"They will be carried out by agents who will take advantage of the pro-jihad sympathies within the large Pakistani community in the United Kingdom." Three of the four bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks were Britons of Pakistani origin.

British intelligence chiefs had reduced the threat level from al Qaeda to "substantial" from "severe - general" in June after the May general election. The London blasts killed 56 people including the four bombers.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08568385.htm

Original source is today's Le Figaro - for those who read French:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20050808.FIG0062.html?130211

[sniffa]

1. damn the french

even more reason to hate them. x(

[Javaman]

6. Why do they hate us for our American fries????

[tanyev]

2. Was the title "Al-Qaeda determined to attack in Great Britain"?

Because then it would just be historical and there would be absolutely no reason to pay any attention to it.

:sarcasm:

[KittyWampus]

3. Darn, You Got There First... But It's "Determined To Attack INSIDE GB"

IIRC, gotta get our wording straight or the Freepers will claim the evidential documents have been forged.

[tanyev]

4. Oh yes, thank you for the correction.

(note to self) Check twice, post once.

[Igel]

5. And still the question is, what to do about it?

(Since all reports are that the public threat level warning had no effect on police activities, altering the label wouldn't make a difference.)

Round up all Asians and put them in camps, since many (or most) are citizens and can't be deported?

Infiltrate every mosque and youth center, in hopes that the terrorists organize there and not in living rooms?

Ban certain civil and political groups because of suspicions that they may do something wrong--even if it means that you're banning primarily Asian or Muslims groups?

Even the rather mild steps taken now--trying to ban a party or two, close some bookstores, re-instituting some checks at the borders that had been discontinued years ago, aiming for laws that will allow deporting of certain clerics--can be seen as infringing on liberties. And this *after* two attacks in a month. To do these things just because of intelligence warnings would be pretty much impossible.