Remember 8/04 Bushco outing of Kahn allowed London alQaeda cell to escape?

[flpoljunkie]

Something to think about...although no one knows at this point who was responsible for the rather unsophisticated 7/7 London terrorist bombings

http://www.juancole.com/2004/08/bush-administration-outing-of-khan.html

Monday, August 09, 2004

Bush Administration outing of Khan Enabled 5 al-Qaeda Cell Members to Escape Capture

Neville Dean of PA News reports that a magistrate has given British police only until Tuesday to finish questioning 9 of 13 men arrested August 3 on suspicion of being part of an al-Qaeda cell. The men had been in email correspondence with Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who since mid-July has been functioning as a double agent for the Pakistani government. He was arrested in Lahore on July 13 and "flipped."

The Bush administration revealed Khan's name to US journalists on Sunday August 1 on background, and it appeared in the US press on Monday. The Bush administration thus effectively outed Khan as a double agent (he sent emails to his London contacts as late as Monday).

The British MI5 was forced to have the London cell of 13 arrested immediately on Tuesday, fearing that they would flee now that they knew Khan had been arrested two weeks earlier. The British do not, however, appear to have finished gathering enough evidence to prosecute the 13 in the courts successfully.

It now turns out, according to Neville, that "Reports last week also claimed that five al Qaida militants were on the run in the UK after escaping capture in last Tuesday’s raids." If this is true, it is likely that the 5 went underground on hearing that Khan was in custody. That is, the loose lips of the Bush administration enabled them to flee arrest.

more...

[flpoljunkie]

1. Something to be aware of... altho has received no mention in M$M

[flpoljunkie]

2. Wonder if any of these cells are ones being cordoned off in UK today...

By the way, the unnamed Bush administration official, in the link above, was Tom Ridge, former head of Homeland Security.

[flpoljunkie]

3. Americablog reports ABC News tonite links London attack to this Luton cell

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/07/bush-admin-may-be-responsible-for.html

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Bush admin may be responsible for botching effort to thwart London bombing

by John in DC - 7/14/2005 08:09:00 PM


ABC News just reported that the British authorities say they have evidence that the London attacks last week were an operation planned by Al Qaeda for the last two years. This was an operation the Brits thought they caught and stopped in time, but they were wrong. The piece of the puzzle ABC missed is that this is an operation the Bush administration helped botch last year.

1. TheLondon bombers, per ABC, are connected to an Al Qaeda plot planned two years ago in Lahore, Pakistan.

2. Pakistani authorities recovered the laptop of a captured Al Qaeda leader, Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, on July 13, 2004. On that laptop, they found plans for a coordinated series of attacks on the London subway. According to an expert interviewed by ABC, "there is absolutely no doubt that Khan was part of a worldwide Al Qaeda operation, not just in the United States but also in Great Britain and throughout the west."

3. ABC reports that names in the computer matched a suspected cell of Britain's of Pakistani decent, many of who lived near the town of Luton, England. According to ABC, authorities thought they had stopped the subway plot with the arrest of more than a dozen people last year. Obviously, they hadn't.

4. Those arrests were the arrests that the Bush administration botched by announcing a heightened security alert the week of the Democratic Convention. Because the US let the cat out of the bag, the media got a hold of Khan's name, his Al Qaeda contacts found out he was co-opted, and they fled. The Brits had to have a high speed chase to catch some of them as they fled, and, according to press reports, the Brits and Pakistanis both fear that some slipped away.

more...

[flpoljunkie]

6. ABC news report spells it out...but fails to note Tom Ridge outed Khan

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/LondonBlasts/story?id=940198&page=1

Officials tell ABC News the London bombers have been connected to an al Qaeda plot planned two years ago in the Pakistani city of Lahore. The laptop computer of Naeem Noor Khan, a captured al Qaeda leader, contained plans for a coordinated series of attacks on the London subway system, as well as on financial buildings in both New York and Washington.

"There's absolutely no doubt he was part of an al Qaeda operation aimed at not only the United States but Great Britain," explained Alexis Debat, a former official in the French Defense Ministry who is now a senior terrorism consultant for ABC News. At the time, authorities thought they had foiled the London subway plot by arresting more than a dozen young Britons of Pakistani descent last August in Luton, a city known for its ties to terrorism.

"For some time, the locus of terrorism in Britain has been around the Luton area and in some of the northern cities," said Michael Clark, professor of defense at King's College in London.

Security officials tell ABC News they have discovered links between the eldest of the London bombers, Mohammed Sadique Khan, 30, and the original group in Luton. Officials also believe it was not a coincidence the subway bombers all met at the Luton train station last week. "It is very likely this group was activated last year after the other group was arrested," Debat said

[lateo]

4. khaaaaaaaan!

Sorry I couldn't help myself.

[abburdlen]

5. And Blair doesn't want an investigation

Gee, why is that?

[Goblyn]

7. Gannon /Wilson

Check this out..

Gannon lobbing softballs..
http://mediamatters.org/items/200502020014

[flpoljunkie]

8. Wow, to say that Gannon was Scotty's "go to guy" is a vast understatement!

From the White House website's transcript of the August 9, 2004, briefing:


MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Jeff.

<>Q: Let me follow up with a second question. How damaging was the revelation of the deepest mole that we've ever had in al Qaeda? The publication of that man's name by The New York Times -- how damaging is that to our war on terror?


MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry -- which specific instance are you referring to?


Q: The New York Times published the name of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was described by intelligence officials as the only deep mole we've ever had within al Qaeda.

____________________________________

Of course, it was Tom Ridge who let the cat out of the bag, as it were, and alerted the New York Times of Kahn's existence.

[Roland99]

10. Interesting. That hits on BOTH major items in the news today!

[newyawker99]

11. Hi Goblyn!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Roland99]

9. Good catch, flpoljunkie!!

You were on this a week ago!