Mumbai-style terror plot’ against UK uncovered
dandelion salad | 29.09.2010 20:58 | Anti-militarism | Other Press | Repression | South Coast | World
Speaking after recent reports that security services had foiled plans to launch “Mumbai-style” terror attacks in UK cities, Massoud Shadjareh, the Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), has called on the media to treat such claims with scepticism.
He called the claims “politically motivated” and warned that they served to “further demonise” a Muslim community that is already suffering hate crimes and feeling marginalised and under siege.
He called the claims “politically motivated” and warned that they served to “further demonise” a Muslim community that is already suffering hate crimes and feeling marginalised and under siege.
Mumbai-style terror plot’ against UK uncovered
[propaganda alert]
1) ‘Mumbai-style terror plot’ against UK uncovered (29 September 2010)
2) IHRC Chairman: Baseless terror claims “further demonise a community under siege” (29 September 2010)
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excerpt from: ‘Mumbai-style terror plot’ against UK uncovered
by Matt Dickinson, Independent, 29 September 2010
Intelligence officials have intercepted a credible Islamist-linked terror plot against Britain, it emerged today.
The threat is one of “a succession” of terror operations the country has been dealing with over the past weeks, a government official said, although the UK’s terror alert status has not been raised from “severe”.
The planned attack would have reportedly been similar to the deadly commando-style raids in Mumbai, India, two years ago, with other European cities, in France and Germany, also targeted.
Last night the Eiffel Tower in Paris was evacuated following a bomb threat called in from a telephone booth. It was the second such alert at the monument in two weeks.
One UK government official told the Associated Press (AP) news agency: “There have been a succession of terror operations we’ve been dealing with over recent weeks but one to two that have preoccupied us.
“Still, it hasn’t been to the degree that we have raised the threat level.”
Another British official would not confirm the plot was “al-Qa’ida inspired” but told AP there was an “Islamist connection” and that the plots were in an early stage. No other details were given.
A Home Office spokesman said it was unable to comment on security matters, but confirmed the country’s terror threat was unchanged.
Yesterday French police closed off surroundings to the Eiffel Tower, France’s most visited monument. Officers pulled red-and-white police tape across a bridge leading over the Seine River, and stood guard.
Bomb experts combed through the 324m (1,063ft) tower and found nothing unusual, Paris police headquarters said. Tourists were let back inside about two hours after the structure was emptied.
German officials denied yesterday they had intercepted threats, saying there had been no change to the country’s threat level.
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IHRC Chairman: Baseless terror claims “further demonise a community under siege”
Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) press release, 29 September 2010
Speaking after recent reports that security services had foiled plans to launch “Mumbai-style” terror attacks in UK cities, Massoud Shadjareh, the Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), has called on the media to treat such claims with scepticism.
He called the claims “politically motivated” and warned that they served to “further demonise” a Muslim community that is already suffering hate crimes and feeling marginalised and under siege.
Shadjareh said:
“The latest claims of ‘Mumbai-style’ attacks having been foiled by US drone strikes in Pakistan need to be treated with a great deal of scepticism. The recent front page stories of an Islamic plot to assassinate the Pope in London, which turned out to be completely baseless, show how easily stories can be created out of nothing. We also have a long series of incidents in which stories apparently originating with the police or security services have turned out to be completely false or grossly exaggerated, from the supposed plot to blow up Old Trafford to the ‘Ricin’ chemical attack plot.
“It is widely recognised that people and organizations of all kinds often have ulterior and self-interested motives for placing and exaggerating certain stories. Sadly, the police, politicians and security services are no exception. The problem with stories like the ones this morning is that there is no-one offering sceptical, balancing counter-arguments, with the result that any claims, however outlandish, are treated as facts.
“But the people who make such claims, and the media sources who uncritically parrot them, have a responsibility for their consequences. We now have a community of nearly 2 million Muslims, including some of the most deprived and needy people in Britain, who feel marginalised and demonised; who are regularly discriminated against and treated with suspicion and contempt because of stories like this.
“The Islamophobia which is being fed by stories such as this is reflected as much in the statements of some MPs, and the columns of some newspapers, as in the thuggery of groups like the English Defence League. The increasing number of hate-crimes against Muslims is a result of this criminalization of the community as a whole.
“Muslims are now suffering a level of persecution comparable to that once suffered by Jews in Europe. We all look back to those days with abhorrence and disbelief at the levels of hatefulness that apparently reasonable people were capable of.
“It would be good if people could recognise the reality of the situation Muslims now face, and act to prevent it getting worse, instead of looking back in regret in a few decades time, when the lives of tens of thousands of people will already have been ruined.”
* For more information please contact the Press Office on (+44) 20 8904 4222 or (+44) 7958 522196, email: //
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from the archives:
Police need more powerful weapons to combat ‘Mumbai-style terror attacks’ says police chief
Daily Mail, 15 April 2010
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UK “Terror Plot”: Gordon Brown points finger at Pakistan
Dandelion Salad, 11 April 2009
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British hotels put on alert over Mumbai-style terror attack
Dandelion Salad, 23 March 2009
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Creating an “Arc of Crisis”: The Destabilization of the Middle East and Central Asia
The Mumbai Attacks and the “Strategy of Tension”
by Andrew Gavin Marshall, Global Research, 7 December 2008
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India’s 9/11. Who is behind the Mumbai attacks?
Washington is Fostering Political Divisions between India and Pakistan
by Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 30 November 2008
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dandelion salad
Homepage:
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/mumbai-style-terror-plot-against-uk-uncovered/
Comments
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Personally, I think his statement is "politically motivated"
29.09.2010 21:28
Well, he would say that wouldn't he.
And exactly what facts is he basing this statement on?
I doubt he is privy to the details of the investigation so is probably likely just spouting off an opinion. Listening to such opinions is like listening to a man stood at a bar talking about politics. Its just spouting personal shit "I think this, I think that".
Max
America's Holy Crusade against the Muslim World
29.09.2010 22:33
rally against the planned construction of a mosque near Ground Zero, 6 June 2010
America's Holy Crusade against the Muslim World
by Michel Chossudovsky, 30 August 2010
We have reached a decisive transition in the evolution of US military doctrine. The "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT) directed against Al Qaeda launched in the wake of 9/11 is evolving towards a full-fledged "war of religion", a "holy crusade" directed against the Muslim World.
US military dogma and war propaganda under the Bush administration, was predicated on combating Islamic fundamentalism rather than targeting Muslims. "This is not a war between the West and Islam, but .. a war against terrorism." So-called "Good Muslims" are to be distinguished from "Bad Muslims":
"The dust from the collapse of the twin towers had hardly settled on 11 September 2001 when the febrile search began for "moderate Muslims", people who would provide answers, who would distance themselves from this outrage and condemn the violent acts of "Muslim extremists", "Islamic fundamentalists" and "Islamists". Two distinct categories of Muslims rapidly emerged: the "good" and the "bad"; the "moderates", "liberals" and "secularists" versus the "fundamentalists", the "extremists" and the "Islamists"." (Tariq Ramadan, Good Muslim, bad Muslim, New Statesman, February 12, 2010)
In the wake of 9/11, the Muslim community in most Western countries was markedly on the defensive. The "Good Muslim" "Bad Muslim" divide was broadly accepted. The 9/11 terrorist attacks allegedly perpetrated by Muslims were not only condemned, Muslim communities also supported the US-NATO invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, as part of a campaign directed against Islamic fundamentalism.
The fact that the 9/11 attacks were not instigated by Muslims has rarely been acknowledged by the Muslim community. Al Qaeda's ongoing relationship to the CIA, its role as a US sponsored "intelligence asset" going back to to the Soviet-Afghan war is not mentioned. (Michel Chossudovsky, America's "War on Terrorism" Global Research, Montreal, 2005)
Since the early 1980s, Washington has covertly supported the most conservative and fundamentalist factions of Islam, largely with a view to weakening secular, nationalist and progressive movements in the Middle East and Central Asia. Known and documented, the fundamentalist Wahhabi and Salafi missions from Saudi Arabia, dispatched not only to Afghanistan but also to the Balkans and to the Muslim republics of the former Soviet republics were covertly supported by US intelligence. (Ibid) What is often referred to as "Political Islam" is in large part a creation of the US intelligence apparatus (with the support of Britain's MI6 and Israel's Mossad).
The Ground Zero Mosque
Recent developments suggest a breaking point, a transition from "the war on terrorism" to the outright demonization of Muslims. While underscoring the freedom of religion, the Obama administration is "beating the drums" of a broader war against Islam:
“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country... This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable." (quoted in Obama Backs Ground Zero Mosque; Iranian Link Questioned, Israel National News, August 15, 2010)
Beneath the political smokescreen, the distinction between "Good Muslims" and "Bad Muslims" is being scrapped. The proposed Ground Zero mosque is allegedly being funding by "the radical rogue Islamic state of Iran ... as the United States is stepping up sanctions on the regime in retaliation for its support of terrorism and what is feared to be an illegal nuclear-weapons development program." ( Ground Zero mosque developers refuse to outright reject funding from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - NYPOST.com, August 19, 2010)
The rising tide of xenophobia, sparked by the proposed Ground Zero mosque and community center, has all the appearances of a PSYOP (Psychological Operation) which contributes to fomenting hatred against Muslims throughout the Western World.
The objective is to instil fear, rouse and harness citizens' unbending support for the next stage of America's "long war", which consists in waging "humanitarian" aerial attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran, portrayed by the media as endorsing the terrorists.
While "all Muslim are not terrorists", all terrorist attacks (planned or realized) are reported by the media as being perpetrated by Muslims.
In America, the Muslim community as a whole is being targeted. Islam is described as a "religion of war". The proposed mosque and community center are being heralded as "violating the sanctity of Ground Zero".
"..opening a mosque at Ground Zero is offensive and disrespectful to the city and the people who died in the attacks. The project is “spitting in the face of everyone murdered on 9/11.” (Plan to build mosque at Ground Zero angers New Yorkers ,National Post, May 17, 2010)
"Homegrown Terrorists"
The arrests on trumped up charges, as well as the show trials of alleged "homegrown" Islamic terrorists, perform an important function. They sustain the illusion, in the inner consciousness of Americans, that "Islamic terrorists" not only constitute a real threat but that the Muslim community to which they belong is broadly supportive of their actions:
"[T]he threat increasingly comes not from strangers with rough English and dubious passports. Instead, it resides much closer to home: in urban townhouses, darkened basements -- anywhere with an Internet connection. Homegrown terrorism is the latest incarnation of the al-Qaeda threat." How terror came home to roost, Ottawa Citizen, August 27, 2010, report on an alleged homegrown terrorist attack in Canada)
From a process of selective targeting of Muslims with radical tendencies (or allegedly associated with "terrorist organizations"), what is now unfolding is a generalized process of demonization of an entire population group.
Muslims are increasingly the object of routine discrimination and ethnic profiling. They are considered a potential threat to national security. The threat is said to be "much closer to home", "within your neighborhood", in other words what is unfolding is an all out witch-hunt reminiscent of the Spanish inquisition.
In turn, Al Qaeda is described as a powerful multinational terrorist organization (possessing WMDs) with subsidiaries in a number of Muslim countries: Al Qaeda is present (with corresponding acronyms) in various geopolitical hotspots and war theaters:
-Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (comprised of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Jihad of Yemen), Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia (Jamaah Islamiyah), Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen in Somalia, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, etc.
At no moment is the issue of atrocities committed against several million Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan considered a terrorist act by the occupation forces.
The American Inquisition
A "war of religion" is unfolding, with a view to justifying a global military crusade. In the inner consciousness of many Americans, the "holy crusade" against Muslims is justified. While President Obama may uphold freedom of religion, the US inquisitorial social order has institutionalized patterns of discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia directed against Muslims. Ethnic profiling applies to travel, the job market, access to social services and more generally to socila mobility.
The American Inquisition as an ideological construct, which is, in many regards, is similar to the inquisitorial social order prevailing in France and Spain during the Middle Ages. The inquisition, which started in France in the 12th century, was used as a justification for conquest and military intervention. (See Michel Chossudovsky, 9/11 and the "American Inquisition", Global Research, September 11, 2008).
The arrests, trials and sentences of so-called "homegrown" terrorists" (from within America's Muslim community) on trumped up charges sustain the legitimacy of the Homeland Security State and its inquisitorial legal and law enforcement apparatus.
An inquisitorial doctrine turns realities upside down. It is a social order based on lies and fabrications. But because these lies emanate from the highest political authority and are part of a widely held "consensus", they invariably remain unchallenged. And those who challenge the inquisitorial order or in any way oppose America's military or national security agenda are themselves branded as "conspiracy theorists" or outright terrorists.
Beyond the process of inquisitorial arrests and prosecution, which outdwarfs the Spanish inquisition, an expedient extrajudicial assassination program sanctioned by the White House has been launched. This program allows US special forces to kill American citizens and suspected homegrown terrorists:: "A shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing"? (See Chuck Norris, Obama's US Assassination Program? "A Shortlist of U.S. Citizens specifically Targeted for Killing"?,. Global Research, August 26, 2010)
The objective is to sustain the illusion that "America is under attack" and that Muslims across the land are complicit and supportive of "Islamic terrorism".
The demonization of Muslims sustains a global military agenda. Under the American inquisition, Washington has a self-proclaimed holy mandate to extirpate Islam and "spread democracy" throughout the world.
What we are dealing with is an outright and blind acceptance of the structures of power and political authority. America's holy crusade against the Muslim World is an outright criminal act directed against millions of people.
Michel Chossudovsky
Homepage:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20818
Ordinarily, I would think this is just hype and spin...
29.09.2010 23:37
anon
Hey Max
30.09.2010 12:52
But....
"Intelligence officials" said blah blah blah....
"One UK Government official said" blah blah blah....
So unnamed, unnaccountable state apparatchiks come out with this guff and the press report it without bothering to question the substance of the 'report'', with no substance or evidence of anything other than the Secret Police wanting to protect themselves from the forthcoming cuts.
"A Home Office spokesman said it was unable to comment on security matters..."
Well why not? Does this unnamed 'source' work for us or not? If the Home Office are unable to comment on security matters, then who the fuck can?
They are the ones who are politically motivated.
observer
Trust House Forte
01.10.2010 07:30
Paris Hilton
[addition] Cameron took part in an anti-terror drill in London
01.10.2010 19:50
UPDATE:
excerpts from: PM and cops’ Mumbai terror dummy-run
by Simon Hughes and John Kay, The Sun, 30 September 2010
DAVID Cameron responded to the threat of a Mumbai-style terror attack by secretly taking part in a full-scale dummy-run, it emerged last night.
The Prime Minister ordered the operation to ensure elite cops and Special Forces are as prepared as possible.
He moved after US intelligence warned of an al-Qaeda plot to unleash marauding gunmen in a British city before Christmas. France or Germany were other possible targets. [...]
It is understood that, in the wake of the unprecedented operation in London, there will be extra training for both firearms cops and SAS.
Mr Cameron called in senior police officers, including Met counter terror commander John Yates, and senior military and security figures. [...]
A number of lethal scenarios were examined at locations thought to include railway stations and hotels - targets in Mumbai two years ago.
dandelion salad
Homepage:
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/mumbai-style-terror-plot-against-uk-uncovered/
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