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Al-Qaida thriving despite war on terror: Top UK policeman

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Apr 25, IRNA
UK-War on Terror
Scotland Yard's head of counter-terrorism command has warned that al-Qaida has retained the ability to order devastating attacks on Britain after surviving the six-year long "war on terror" launched by the US and UK governments.

Deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke said that terrorists were on an "inexorable trend to more ambitious and more destructive attack planning".

"We have seen how al-Qaida has been able to survive a prolonged multinational assault on its structures, personnel and logistics. It has certainly retained its ability to deliver centrally directed attacks here in the UK," Clarke warned.

In a major speech at the right-wing Policy Exchange on Tuesday, he presented Osama bin Laden's terrorist network as a formidable organization saying, "Global in origin, reach and ambition" as well as being "large, fluid, mobile and incredibly resilient."

"In case after case, the hand of core al-Qaida can be clearly seen. Arrested leaders or key players are quickly replaced, and disrupted networks will be formed again quickly," the National Coordinator of Terrorist Investigations in Britain said.

According to extracts of his speech, Clarke also dismissed critics who claimed that terrorist threat to the UK was overblown and instead demanded greater community help, warning that "the extremists have a momentum that must be stopped."

He said few anti-terrorist operations are sparked by intelligence from Britain's Muslim communities.

"Almost all of our prosecutions have their origins in intelligence that came from overseas, the intelligence agencies or from technical means," he said.

"The communities must believe, and it must be reality, that the police stand aside from politics in the exercise of their powers," the head of counter-terrorism command argued.

His warning was that there was a dangerous distrust based on allegations that police operations were politically motivated to justify British foreign policy.

"I think it is no exaggeration to say that lack of public trust in intelligence is in danger of infecting the relationship between the police and the communities we serve," he said.

"Communities," Clarke insisted, "must believe, and it must be reality, that the police stand aside from politics in the exercise of their powers."

He also condemned unauthorized leaks about counter-terrorism investigations and suggested that they may be politically motivated to "curry favor with certain journalists, or to squeeze out some short-term presentational advantage."
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