British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for questions Friday about a possible link between the Iraq War and the London bombings, after a videotaped message from al-Qaeda linked the attacks to Britain's involvement in the US-led offensive.
Blair has steadfastly rejected any connection between the presence of British troops in Iraq and the July 7 and July 21 attacks, but the issue is likely to be raised again at his monthly news conference.
In a message broadcast Thursday on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri embraced the London suicide bombings.
"Blair has brought to you destruction in central London, and he will bring more of that, God willing," al-Zawahri said in the message. He did not directly claim responsibility for the attacks.
One of the men arrested on suspicion of trying to bomb a subway train near London's Shepherd's Bush station on July 21 has reportedly told investigators he was motivated by anger over the Iraq war. Hamdi Issac, held in Rome on international terrorism charges, faces an extradition hearing for removal to Britain on Aug. 17.
Blair committed British troops to the US-led offensive despite widespread public opposition and any suggestion the war has made Britain more of a terrorist target is politically very sensitive for the government. His news conference last month was dominated by the issue, and Blair repeatedly dismissed a connection, saying terrorists would seize on any excuse to sow destruction.
Two sisters were scheduled to appear at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court late yesterday to face terrorism-related charges in the wake of the July 21 bombings. Weshshiembet Girma, 29, and Muluemebet Girma, 21, of separate addresses in south London, were charged with failing to disclose information that could have helped police investigating the attacks.
London police have not established firm links between the London bombings and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. In both attacks, bombers targeted three subway trains and a bus in central London. The July 7 attacks killed 52 people and four suicide bombers, but two weeks later the devices failed to fully explode and no one was killed.
At yesterday's meeting, Blair's office said the prime minister would brief reporters on new anti-terrorism measures planned by the government in the wake of the attacks.
By the year's end, Blair wants to pass legislation that would outlaw "indirect incitement" of terrorism -- targeting extremist Islamic clerics who glorify acts of terrorism and seduce impressionable Muslim youth. The law would ban receiving training in terrorist techniques in Britain or abroad. A new offense of "acts preparatory to terrorism" would outlaw planning an attack and activities such as acquiring bomb-making instructions on the Internet.
Blair's government is also reviewing its powers to exclude or deport radical clerics, and says people banned from the US and other EU states will automatically be red flagged for possible exclusion from Britain.
The police presence on London's streets and sprawling subway system was more low key yesterday. Some 6,000 officers, many heavily armed with submachine guns and pistols, patrolled the capital on Thursday to reassure Londoners exactly four weeks on from the deadly July 7 attacks.
Britain is holding 14 suspects in connection with the investigation, and Italy has three.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and
RSS