Yonivore
07-05-2007, 01:46 PM
David Rising of the Associated Press (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070703/D8Q5BFQ00.html) does some digging into the backgrounds of the men allegedly behind last weekend's foiled terror plots in the United Kingdom:
They had diverse backgrounds, coming from countries around the globe, but all shared youth and worked in medicine. They also had a common goal, authorities suspect: to bring havoc and death to the heart of Britain.
The eight people held Tuesday in the failed car bombing plot include one doctor from Iraq and two from India. There is a physician from Lebanon and a Jordanian doctor and his medical assistant wife. Another doctor and a medical student are thought to be from the Middle East. . . .
"To think that these guys were a sleeper cell and somehow were able to plan this operation from the different places they were, and then orchestrate being hired by the NHS so they could get to the UK, then get jobs in the same area--I think that's a planning impossibility," said Bob Ayres, a former U.S. intelligence officer now at London's Chatham House think tank.
"A much more likely scenario is they were here together, they discovered that they shared some common ideology, and then they decided to act on this while here in the UK," he said.
Although, fortunately the project failed in its ultimate goal, no doubt there are lessons here for the corporate world in how to bring diverse people together in a common purpose.
From the standpoint of counterterrorism, however, it may be more productive to focus on what they have in common rather than their differences. Bob Ayers suggests that the suspects may share "some common ideology," but what could it be? We noticed a few clues that may warrant further investigation.
Here is a list of the suspects' names and nationalities from Rising's piece:
Muhammad Haneef, from India.
"Another Indian doctor."
Mohammed Jamil Asha, "from Jordan of Palestinian heritage," and his wife, Marwa, nationality not specified.
Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, from Iraq.
Khalid Ahmed, from Lebanon.
Two unnamed suspects "thought to be from the Middle East. . . . British media said they were from Saudi Arabia, but police refused to comment."
So the countries from which the suspects hail or may hail are India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. Well, that is diverse. Certainly there's no pattern here.
Or is there? Rising's report includes this intriguing bit of information:
Dr. Shiv Panbe, former chairman of the British International Doctors Association, said the two Indian nationals in custody were Muslims.
That got me to wondering what the religious background of the other suspects was. Rising doesn't say; he was probably embarrassed to ask. After all, religion and politics are two things you just don't discuss in polite company.
But looking at that list of countries again, I had a hunch. We checked the CIA World Factbook and found these statistics:
Iraq (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iz.html) is 97% Muslim.
Jordan (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/jo.html) is 92% Sunni Muslim.
Lebanon (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html) is 59.7% Muslim.
The West Bank (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html) is 75% Muslim, and the Gaza (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html) strip is 98.7% Muslim.
Saudi Arabia (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html) is 100% (!) Muslim.
Now, maybe the Lebanese guy is a Christian. Maybe those from "the Middle East" are Israelis, not Saudis. Maybe the fellow who is of "Palestinian heritage" is part of the violent settlers' movement. But there is also the possibility, however remote, that all eight of these terror suspects are Muslim.
Why would that matter? Well, last month, Reuters quoted Jessica Stern (http://www.ewi.info/tempPDF/2007%200613%20Reuters%20story%20by%20Claudia%20Par sons.pdf), a Harvard expert on violent extremism, as saying, "The problems arising from Christian or Jewish extremism are not threatening to the world in the same way as Muslim extremism is."
Now, I strenuously caution you against jumping to any conclusions. Maybe the suspects are animal-rights zealots or antiabortion fanatics. Even if they are all Muslims, who's to say that isn't a crazy coincidence? We're just putting this out here as a lead for David Rising or some other enterprising reporter to follow up on.
But, wait a minute, The BBC elaborates (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6265500.stm) on another common thread tying together the alleged conspirators in the British terror plot:
Eight people arrested in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London all have links with the National Health Service, the BBC has learned.
Seven are believed to be doctors or medical students, while one formerly worked as a laboratory technician.
Yesterday the Times of London offered this chilling report:
An al-Qaeda leader in Iraq boasted before last week's failed bombings in London and Glasgow that his group was planning to attack British targets and that "those who cure you will kill you," The Times has learnt.
The warning was delivered to Canon Andrew White, a senior British cleric working in Baghdad, and could be highly significant as the eight Muslims (Aha!!! My hunch was accurate!) arrested in the wake of the failed plot are all members of the medical profession.
Canon White told The Times that he had passed the general warning, but not the specific words, to a senior official at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in mid-April.
Of course, the warning would probably have been taken more seriously if "those who cure you will kill you" were not also a description of business as usual at the NHS...regardless of the doctors' religious, ideological, or psychological bents.
They had diverse backgrounds, coming from countries around the globe, but all shared youth and worked in medicine. They also had a common goal, authorities suspect: to bring havoc and death to the heart of Britain.
The eight people held Tuesday in the failed car bombing plot include one doctor from Iraq and two from India. There is a physician from Lebanon and a Jordanian doctor and his medical assistant wife. Another doctor and a medical student are thought to be from the Middle East. . . .
"To think that these guys were a sleeper cell and somehow were able to plan this operation from the different places they were, and then orchestrate being hired by the NHS so they could get to the UK, then get jobs in the same area--I think that's a planning impossibility," said Bob Ayres, a former U.S. intelligence officer now at London's Chatham House think tank.
"A much more likely scenario is they were here together, they discovered that they shared some common ideology, and then they decided to act on this while here in the UK," he said.
Although, fortunately the project failed in its ultimate goal, no doubt there are lessons here for the corporate world in how to bring diverse people together in a common purpose.
From the standpoint of counterterrorism, however, it may be more productive to focus on what they have in common rather than their differences. Bob Ayers suggests that the suspects may share "some common ideology," but what could it be? We noticed a few clues that may warrant further investigation.
Here is a list of the suspects' names and nationalities from Rising's piece:
Muhammad Haneef, from India.
"Another Indian doctor."
Mohammed Jamil Asha, "from Jordan of Palestinian heritage," and his wife, Marwa, nationality not specified.
Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, from Iraq.
Khalid Ahmed, from Lebanon.
Two unnamed suspects "thought to be from the Middle East. . . . British media said they were from Saudi Arabia, but police refused to comment."
So the countries from which the suspects hail or may hail are India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. Well, that is diverse. Certainly there's no pattern here.
Or is there? Rising's report includes this intriguing bit of information:
Dr. Shiv Panbe, former chairman of the British International Doctors Association, said the two Indian nationals in custody were Muslims.
That got me to wondering what the religious background of the other suspects was. Rising doesn't say; he was probably embarrassed to ask. After all, religion and politics are two things you just don't discuss in polite company.
But looking at that list of countries again, I had a hunch. We checked the CIA World Factbook and found these statistics:
Iraq (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iz.html) is 97% Muslim.
Jordan (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/jo.html) is 92% Sunni Muslim.
Lebanon (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html) is 59.7% Muslim.
The West Bank (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html) is 75% Muslim, and the Gaza (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html) strip is 98.7% Muslim.
Saudi Arabia (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html) is 100% (!) Muslim.
Now, maybe the Lebanese guy is a Christian. Maybe those from "the Middle East" are Israelis, not Saudis. Maybe the fellow who is of "Palestinian heritage" is part of the violent settlers' movement. But there is also the possibility, however remote, that all eight of these terror suspects are Muslim.
Why would that matter? Well, last month, Reuters quoted Jessica Stern (http://www.ewi.info/tempPDF/2007%200613%20Reuters%20story%20by%20Claudia%20Par sons.pdf), a Harvard expert on violent extremism, as saying, "The problems arising from Christian or Jewish extremism are not threatening to the world in the same way as Muslim extremism is."
Now, I strenuously caution you against jumping to any conclusions. Maybe the suspects are animal-rights zealots or antiabortion fanatics. Even if they are all Muslims, who's to say that isn't a crazy coincidence? We're just putting this out here as a lead for David Rising or some other enterprising reporter to follow up on.
But, wait a minute, The BBC elaborates (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6265500.stm) on another common thread tying together the alleged conspirators in the British terror plot:
Eight people arrested in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London all have links with the National Health Service, the BBC has learned.
Seven are believed to be doctors or medical students, while one formerly worked as a laboratory technician.
Yesterday the Times of London offered this chilling report:
An al-Qaeda leader in Iraq boasted before last week's failed bombings in London and Glasgow that his group was planning to attack British targets and that "those who cure you will kill you," The Times has learnt.
The warning was delivered to Canon Andrew White, a senior British cleric working in Baghdad, and could be highly significant as the eight Muslims (Aha!!! My hunch was accurate!) arrested in the wake of the failed plot are all members of the medical profession.
Canon White told The Times that he had passed the general warning, but not the specific words, to a senior official at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in mid-April.
Of course, the warning would probably have been taken more seriously if "those who cure you will kill you" were not also a description of business as usual at the NHS...regardless of the doctors' religious, ideological, or psychological bents.