Author: Kirsty Wark
Publication:
Date: August 4, 2005
Four weeks, and two weeks, on from
the terrorist bombs in London, there's reckoned to be 6,000 police officers
on the streets and heavy surveillance.
So far all is calm, but in a broadcast
either perfectly timed or coincidental,
Al Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman
al -Zawahri, has threatened more destruction in London.
Speaking on the pan-Arab satellite
station Al-Jazeera, Osama Bin Laden's second in command blamed Tony Blair
for the July 7th bombings, and threaten ed the US with tens of thousands
of military dead, if it does not withdraw it's troops from Iraq.
Al-Zawahri was speaking with a Kalashnikov
propped up by his side and appealed to the nations of what he called "the
crusader alliance," saying, "we have offered you a truce if you leave the
land of Islam." With that repeat of Bin Laden's talk of a truce - would
it be possible, or ever acceptable to negotiate with Al Qaeda - and how
much is Al Qaeda really in control of the extremists anyway?
An al-Qaeda warning
Ayman al-Zawahri, one of the most
senior figures in the al-Qaeda 'movement' and described as Osama bin Laden's
lieutenant, has warned Britain and US to expect more attacks unless they
get their troops out of Iraq and all other Moslem countries. We have heard
such warnings before, and one curious note is the reminder it serves that
on this point, British intelligence services do draw such a link between
US/British foreign policy and the violent attacks carried out by extreme
Islamists both on military targets but also the mass murder of civilians.
So do senior Tories, Ken Livingstone (who today called for British troops
to be pulled out of Iraq) and the Foreign Secretary who has said that the
UK is part of the security problem in Iraq. It's just the defiant Tony
Blair is one of the few who doesn't.
The police however, have difficulties
nearer home with yet another leak of major information about the London
bombings from the USA. This comes from a briefing in New York to security
and business figures - and casts light on the nature of the bombs and their
manner of detonation. However, the police here say it's not helpful for
US officers to say that the July 7 explosive was home-made. So tonight:
what more do we now know? And how come the Americans keep telling their
public more than our own police tell us?