With
reports that the July 7th & 21st bombings weren't linked and there was no al-Qaeda "mastermind" behind them, I've been wondering about the claims that Haroon Rashid Aswat (reportedly an MI6 asset) was that mastermind, claims that followed the reports he'd been arrested in Pakistan.
The reports of that arrest seem to be the first mention of him in relation to the bombings, and they came on July 21st. I think the primary source, picked up by other papers that morning, was this
London Times report, which cites only "intelligence sources" and Pakistani "security sources". It doesn't say which country the intelligence sources are from though it reads to me like they're British, but this
Guardian report from the same morning only cites Pakistani security and intelligence sources. A week later, it's reported the story came from
"two Pakistani sources". Dramatic account of the arrest, whoever the sources were:
Security sources there told The Times that he was armed with a number of guns, wearing an explosive belt and carrying around £17,000 in cash. He had a British passport and was about to flee across the border to Afghanistan.
British denials quickly followed, and some reports
later the same day mention some of the Aswat claims in the above Times report, but make no mention of any arrest, denied or otherwise.
London police later played down claims he was the mastermind as just
"media speculation", which still leaves the question of who started them speculating if true. One related source was Pervez Musharraf, who maintained both bombings were masterminded
by the same individual, without mentioning Aswat by name that I've seen. On the same day Aswat's Pakistan arrest hit the news, Musharraf made a speech calling on Pakistani's to wage war
against religious extremists but also talked about how the UK had its own problems with religious extremists and groups they needed to
crack down on. This was at a time when Pakistan was under serious pressure, with persuasive media reports of all the "evidence" pointing there in the July 7th bombings (simultaneous visits, madrassa stays, telephone records), so they had reason to shift or dampen that focus even if those reports weren't true. According to
this, Aswat was "regarded by the ISI as a prime suspect in having masterminded the London bombings". I think it's safe to guess they were among the sources drawing that Aswat mastermind picture for the media.
It also seems to have been pushed in the US, with UK sources
expressing irritation at "repeated suggestions in the US that he was connected to the bombings". UK sources
would say that, maybe, if John Loftus is right and he belongs to MI6, but inaccurate speculation from US intel/political sources in support of global terror network theories and sinister masterminds isn't that surprising either.
But US sources maybe had other reasons of their own for putting a spotlight on Aswat. Although the FBI at least were reported as thinking he was dead, some US authorities knew he was alive weeks before the bombings because they'd located him in South Africa and
wanted to arrest him, but the UK blocked it and Aswat "slipped away". If they thought the UK were protecting him, or at least that they weren't taking US interest in Aswat seriously enough, some highly embarrassing publicity might be seen as one way to get the UK to relent and let them extradite Aswat? Hasn't worked so far if so (he's now in British custody). While UK "counter-terrorism officials" are still describing him as
"of interest", "British officials" dismiss his links to the bombings and are resisting extradition "unless he is to stand trial for specific offences in America". Unusual respect for the rule of law in these times I think, especially relating to extraditions, sounds to me like a balancing act between dismissing any links to the bombings while claiming enough interest to justify keeping hold of him.
The date of his Zambian arrest (an arrest disclosed by US and Zambian sources) at the request of US authorities is rather interesting I think.
This and
this put it at around July 21st/22nd, the same time his arrest in Pakistan was reported, but the
IHT is more precise, saying he was arrested in Zambia on July 20th, the day
before reports of his arrest in Pakistan. The NYT repeated that July 20th date on Aug 7th, in an article titled "Zambia Deports Suspected Al Qaeda Agent to Britain", but I can never log into their shitty site nowadays. Has that timing already been covered and I missed it?
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