Muslim
Leaders Begin
To Doubt The Plot
By Sanjay Suri
18 August, 2006
Inter Press
Service
LONDON, Aug 17 (IPS)
- Many Muslims in Britain are beginning to doubt the alleged plot to
blow up aircraft flying to the United States from Britain.
The arrest of 24 people last
week was followed by the cancellation and diversion of hundreds of flights
at British airports. The plot story became leading global news. But
most of the information on arrested suspects has come by way of allegations
and police leaks. These have not yet added up to any indication of evidence.
The suspects are now in their
second week in detention after the police won a court order Wednesday
to hold them another week. Many Muslim leaders say this is only indication
that the police have no evidence so far, and that they are only now
looking for it.
"My fear is that the
whole operation which took place on Thursday may have no substance,
because so far the police have not found any liquid explosive material,"
Ghiyasuddin Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute in Britain told
IPS. "And also we know that none of these people who were supposedly
to carry out the operation in a few days had bought air tickets."
The critical information
leading to the arrests and the flight cancellations came from Pakistani
intelligence after the arrest of Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim from
Birmingham, in Pakistan. But doubts are being raised over the authenticity
of this information.
"My fear is that it
all probably started in Pakistan," Siddiqui said. "General
Musharraf's position is very, very bad, and he wanted to do something
to win favour of George Bush and Tony Blair."
The government is up against
a crisis of credibility that began with the publication of its dossier
in early 2003 detailing the presence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of
mass destruction, satellite pictures and all. That has turned out to
be the most embarrassing document that Her Majesty's Government ever
produced.
Soon after the July 7 bombings
last year the police shot Brazilian Charles de Menezes on a train --
again on 'intelligence' from the police. And in June of this year 250
armed police swooped upon a house in Forest Gate in East London to raid
what they thought was a home factory to produce chemical weapons. One
of the two Muslims at home was shot in the shoulder. The police found
nothing, and had to let the suspects off.
In this case, some of the
accounts put out by the government do not seem to add up. British transport
secretary Douglas Alexander was said to have been recalled from vacation
in Scotland to take charge of the imminent travel crisis at airports.
But the next day, Prime Minister Tony Blair left for Barbados on vacation.
The Sunday before, he had found the case strong enough to have called
U.S. President George Bush ? on vacation in Texas -- to brief him on
surveillance operations over the targeting of flights to the U.S.
As government accounts go,
Blair did not think it necessary to stay on to supervise the biggest
police action in what the government has called the biggest threat to
Britain since World War II, when Britain was as good as cut off from
the rest of the world.
"I think there is some
problem at the level of decision-making, and the way intelligence is
gathered and presented," said Siddiqui. "We have a very big
problem of credibility now."
Deputy Prime Minister John
Prescott indicated to a group of Muslims who met him Wednesday that
all of the arrested persons may not face serious charges. One of those
arrested has been let off already, though another was picked up. The
family members of several of the arrested suspects have said that the
police have got it all wrong.
Further doubts were raised
over the government's handling of the case. There were particular legal
objections raised over remarks by home secretary John Reid, who claimed
that the biggest players were in the net. Lack of evidence to substantiate
such claims could jeopardise the case against the suspects in court,
some officials have said.
At the moment it is not clear
what the case will be. Hundreds of police officers are searching the
woods around High Wycombe, just north of London, for clues about preparations
to make liquid bombs. All that has emerged after a week of investigation
is talk of police carrying some empty bottles away from near the home
of a suspect there.
Some of the suspects are
motor mechanics, and the police have seized 30 cars to search those
for clues. All computers at suspects' homes have been taken away, and
also those at Internet cafes around their homes that they may have visited.
The police have launched
their widest ever fishing expedition to look for evidence. They are
hoping to dig out something in the second week of investigation, amidst
growing doubts they will.
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