Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > UK in mortal danger as terror cells proliferate in under the guise of Boy Scouts and Boys Brigades
UK in mortal danger as terror cells proliferate in under the guise of Boy Scouts and Boys Brigades
October 20, 2006
UK In Mortal Danger As Al-Qaeda Sleeper Cells Proliferate
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=uk102006%2Ehtm
October 20, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The British press is reporting that the UK is in mortal danger, targeted by a newly discovered system of terrorist cells organized much like the Boy Scouts.
British security officials counsel that this is not merely idle speculation as some of these underground groups have already been compromised by the UK's counter intelligence services and will soon be facing prosecution.
The cells are typically small and operate autonomously, featuring a leader, a quartermaster - adept at assembling supplies and handling logistics - and a number of volunteers who are pressed into duty as need be.
This type of effort is not unkown within Britain as it closely resembles the successful model once employed by the IRA.
Says BBC correspondent Margaret Gilmore:
"They set up groups a bit like Boy Scouts or Boys' Brigade... totally legitimate. Those who are particularly interested they start giving religious indoctrination. Then those who are very interested they start introducing to political teachings, anti-Western rhetoric. And those who are still interested they then start giving technical training."They also start sending them on bonding sessions to things like white-water rafting. You end up with a small team of people - the cell is prepared."
The Guardian UK is reporting:
"Al-Qaida sees the U.K. as a massive opportunity to cause loss of life and embarrassment to the authorities."
In a speech last month to the Labour Party's annual conference, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid called the challenge posed by al-Qaeda terror to be "the now seamless threat," adding "to counter radicalization as a nation, we need not only to tackle the immediate dangers but put in place the concept, doctrine, laws and capabilities for a challenge we expect will last a generation."
Though al-Qaeda's overall effectiveness has been hampered by the Bush administration's vigorous, proactive war against it, Pakistan's recent policy of conceding the tribal areas of the country - namely Waziristan - to al-Qaeda has resulted in bolstering the terror organization in that part of the country who apparently have now turned their attention away from the harder to target United States focusing instead upon developing sympathizers within the UK's huge and increasingly radicalized Pakistani Muslim population, especially that in and around London.
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