With friends (and MPs) like these…

There’s a big furore here over the potential bugging of a conversation between an MP and his friend and constituent. This MP happens to be my MP. This constituent lives within easy walking distance from my house. That is he lives there when he’s not in jail – on terror charges.

Sadiq Khan is at the center of a controversy about whether his jailhouse conversation with Babar Ahmad should have been taped without his knowledge. Doubtless, all of Mr Ahmad’s conversations are bugged (except probably privileged conversations with his lawyer) – given that he is, in fact, a terror suspect awaiting extradition to America. It’s all so very complicated why he’s to stand trial in the US and not in the UK. But what appears to not be in dispute is that the man helped raise money for the Taliban.

He raised money for them, but this wasn’t a crime in the UK at the time he was doing it because the Taliban wasn’t a proscribed organisation at the time. Not that we didn’t know they were nasty pre-9/11, just that they weren’t outlawed.

From the Washington Post:

In late 1996, while a 22-year-o.ld undergraduate at Imperial College in London, Ahmad launched a Web site dedicated to promoting Islamic fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan, according to U.S. federal prosecutors. Dubbed Azzam.com, in honor of Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian who served as bin Laden’s spiritual mentor, the Web site rapidly became a prominent and influential English-language platform for Islamic militants.

…snip…

“It was the very first real al Qaeda Web site,” said Evan Kohlmann, a New York-based terrorism researcher who has tracked Azzam.com since the late 1990s. “It taught an entire generation about jihad. Even in its nascency, it was professional. It wasn’t technically sophisticated, but it was professional looking, definitely more professional than any other jihadi Web sites out there.”

…snip…

According to a U.S. indictment filed in October, Ahmad used Azzam.com to
solicit donations for Chechen rebels and the Taliban, and arranged for the
training and transportation of Islamic fighters. Among the specific charges is
one alleging that Azzam.com posted messages in early 2001 containing specific
instructions for supporters to deliver cash payments of up to $20,000 to
Taliban officials in Pakistan

And I blogged about this two and a half years ago (post has links to US extradition request).

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Now, Sadiq Khan, MP feels aggrieved because there is an established convention that MPs’ conversations won’t be bugged. I guess I can understand that, though it was Mr Ahmad and not Mr Khan who was the explicit subject of surveillance.

But in news story after news story Babar Ahmad is listed as both a constituent and a friend. They did grow up in the same area, so childhood friends they may be – and I’m sure we all had playmates who turned out not as well as might be hoped. But Mr Khan should consider whether he really wants friends like Mr Ahmad. And Tooting constituents should consider whether we want an MP with friends like that.

Unhypothetical

“It won’t be hypothetical if and when it occurs. We are not legislating now on
the basis that we are bringing it in now for something that might happen in the
future; we are bringing it in now for something that might happen in the future;
we are bringing in a position for if it becomes unhypothetical. If,
unfortunately I and many other experts are right and we do need it in the future
it is in place.”

Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary, securing her place in history. Sadly, only in the book of ridiculous political quotes.

I heard this on the radio while still lying in bed unfreakin’-believable. Iain Dale posted the words.

About the quote:

Jacqui Smith wants new legislation which would allow the police to hold “terror” suspects without charge for 42 days. (I use “terror” in quotes not because I don’t believe that there are real and legitimate threats, but because I worry that the Government will use terror charges without real and legitimate threat.)

Fahrenheit 9/11

Last night Fahrenheit 9/11 was aired on British TV’s Channel 4. I saw it in the cinema when it first aired over 3 years ago. It was a special airing for the anniversary of 9/11.

Going to see the film had been a special event. A North London theater was filled almost entirely with Americans and a glass of wine was included with the price of admission. There were a few special guests from the host population – like my husband ( at least I thought he was pretty special) and Richard Dawkins – who I think is an asshole. Dawkins was asked to say a few words to the audience – and basically he lambasted the American population for our collective stupidity with a special mention to the unenlightened Red-Staters. I was fuming.

About the film itself – I remembered relatively little. Except for the powerful twin towers montage that never actually showed the towers. That was still brilliant, stunning and emotional. But a lot of the other elements of the film seemed a bit strange, from a time gone by, even though it came out nearly three years ago.

Clearly the piece was designed to damage Bush’s reelection chances. That didn’t seem to work. There were lots of references to the cosy relationships between the Bush family and Saudi families – including the Bin Ladens with an almost catch phrase like “that’s something the Bushes didn’t want the American people to know.” Well, now we do know and it seems like most people just didn’t care.

I had forgotten, too just how many different angles Michael Moore uses…ok, the Bush clan is in hock to the Saudis – so they didn’t pursue them after 9/11 like they should have – but wait – the Saudis didn’t actually want a US invasion of Iraq this time – so, huh? No wonder people didn’t manage to take a clear message away from this film.

There’s another montage in the film of happy smiling Iraqis during the Saddam Hussein years. I remember thinking “Yeah, right – like life was so rosy under Saddam.” But now, and in comparison to the sectarian slaughter…well, I certainly don’t want to defend that torturous madman, but gosh Iraq ain’t the country it used to be (except maybe in the Kurdish areas – though even that’s starting to get nasty, too).

I kept thinking how much things had moved on since that time. Indeed, how much worse things have become.

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9/11 – 3/11 -7/7 – Never forget.

Light posting: Well, posting has been light. Bab…

Light posting:

Well, posting has been light. Babies, it turns out, are a lot of work. But also, our internet service, as it turns out, is a bit crap. So when I do get a spare moment I’m not able to draft much.

Things I might have written about:

• The anniversary of 7/7. Lest we forget.
• Baby Cletus attends his first party. He started off well (asleep), but left in a torrent of tears. It was the Texan’s farewell party – happily just around the corner from our house.
• Wimbledon ends.
• My tomato plants seem to be coming along nicely despite the cool weather. But we shall see…

But perhaps most importantly:

The new Security Minister Admiral Sir Alan West (quick – what’s the proper salutation for that?) suggests that the UK will face 15 years of the war on terror – which we’re not to call the war on terror. He also refuses – it seems – to use the word Muslim. He worries about the attraction of youth to radical ideas and violent actions. Just what kind of youth does he mean?

But he also suggests, chap – that we might need to be a little less than sporting in fight against the radicalisation of our youth. That we might need to the tattle.

“Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone. I’m afraid, in this situation, anyone who’s got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life.”

Right so.

I guess I have two problems with this.

1. Why can’t we just be honest about the source and ideological underpinning of the terrorism? I can’t see how we can fight it if we can’t even name it.
2. Snitching. First off – I’m not sure snitching isn’t British – folks are forever turning in the benefit cheating ex-partners. And secondly, snitching and the target community… That’s exactly the way to win over the hearts and minds of Muslims. They’re already worried about “betraying” their brothers and sisters by engaging in the broader society. Some might be all for it, but I doubt it. Many of the Muslim communities have countries of origin with very nasty security services indeed. These are places that folks have tried to get away from. Think Syria or lately Iraq or even, to some extent, Pakistan. Where there are networks of informants and fake dissidents who’ll inform on you if you don’t inform on them. These are cultures where snitching is both a deadly threat and a vital necessity.

I know the Sir Admiral Minister has only been in his job a week or so, but he seems to be fundamentally missing the point.

Light posting:

Well, posting has been light. Babies, it turns out, are a lot of work. But also, our internet service, as it turns out, is a bit crap. So when I do get a spare moment I’m not able to draft much.

Things I might have written about:

• The anniversary of 7/7. Lest we forget.
• Baby Cletus attends his first party. He started off well (asleep), but left in a torrent of tears. It was the Texan’s farewell party – happily just around the corner from our house.
• Wimbledon ends.
• My tomato plants seem to be coming along nicely despite the cool weather. But we shall see…

But perhaps most importantly:

The new Security Minister Admiral Sir Alan West (quick – what’s the proper salutation for that?) suggests that the UK will face 15 years of the war on terror – which we’re not to call the war on terror. He also refuses – it seems – to use the word Muslim. He worries about the attraction of youth to radical ideas and violent actions. Just what kind of youth does he mean?

But he also suggests, chap – that we might need to be a little less than sporting in fight against the radicalisation of our youth. That we might need to the tattle.

“Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone. I’m afraid, in this situation, anyone who’s got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life.”

Right so.

I guess I have two problems with this.

1. Why can’t we just be honest about the source and ideological underpinning of the terrorism? I can’t see how we can fight it if we can’t even name it.
2. Snitching. First off – I’m not sure snitching isn’t British – folks are forever turning in the benefit cheating ex-partners. And secondly, snitching and the target community… That’s exactly the way to win over the hearts and minds of Muslims. They’re already worried about “betraying” their brothers and sisters by engaging in the broader society. Some might be all for it, but I doubt it. Many of the Muslim communities have countries of origin with very nasty security services indeed. These are places that folks have tried to get away from. Think Syria or lately Iraq or even, to some extent, Pakistan. Where there are networks of informants and fake dissidents who’ll inform on you if you don’t inform on them. These are cultures where snitching is both a deadly threat and a vital necessity.

I know the Sir Admiral Minister has only been in his job a week or so, but he seems to be fundamentally missing the point.

reflections on the terror attacks

I think the really interesting thing about the latest terrorist attacks in Britain is what it might have been. Most of the alleged participants are doctors, medical students or somehow connected with the National Health Service. Dumbass terrists. They could have really terrified people by slowly and steadily killing patients – or killing a bunch of patients over a two week period and then going out in some kind of blaze of glory. Holy moly. The NHS would collapse. Any vestige of “commuity cohesion” would collapse. Folks would be quite hesitant to entrust their wee kids to the good Dr Mohammed Ibrahim – even though Mo has a beer on a Saturday (when he’s not on call) and despises the whole terror thing and wants to live a quiet life.

Asians are perhaps overrepresented on the General Practitioner rolls and I could quite see the untrusting white, black and Asian populations being accused of racism, Islamaphobia or sectarianism when they refuse to get a jab from the brown doctor.

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Normally my initial reaction to any kind of terror plot is “How is this going to inconvenience me?” I changed my whole vacation plans last year because I didn’t want the hassle of airport security and the whole liquids ban thing. I avoided the plane and took the cross-channel ferry. I’m not afraid of dying – after all the numbers are really still in my favor. I don’t know anyone who’s died in al Qaeda action – but the Vol-in-Law lost two cousins in a ferry disaster. And despite growing up in Belfast, he didn’t know anyone who was killed in terror attack. So ferries 3, terror 0 in our book* – but we still took the boat.

This summer I’m not really planning on flying anywhere – and I’m not really that bothered by the inconvenience of my visiting relatives. But one thing does trouble me; the plot centered on Calor gas – the canisters used for bbq grills and patio heaters and such like. Is there likely to be increased security around propane** and propane accessories? Am I going to have trouble getting a refill on my near empty cannister of gas? Should the sun ever come out, should there be a break in the clouds, a moment of bbq weather will I be left gasless?

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Over at Harry’s Place, they’re hopeful that a new, more sensible, dialogue is emerging:

Something else has changed in the past week and it is certainly not just
the result of a few articles from ex-Islamists and sensible mainstream British
Muslims. After the failed bombings in London and Glasgow there has been much
less of the ‘we had it coming’ apologist claptrap in the media reaction and a
much greater willingness to accept that Islamist terrorists mean what they say
and are what they are.

Maybe. But at the same time British polticians and leftist commentators are discussing these latest terror attempts without mentioning the words Muslim, Islamist or sometimes even terrorist. We all know that not all Muslims are terrorists. We know that already. But let us face up to what Islamism really is.
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*one of the cousin’s fiance was also killed – and he did know someone who was permanently disabled by an IRA bomb

**actually most bbq gas in this country is the inferior, but safer, butane

jeep on fire

I’m not quite sure what to make of the latest terror attacks on Britain the car bombs in London and the incendiary laden jeep driven into Glasgow airport. I barely leave the house these days and when I do, I don’t much manage to venture farther than my doctor’s office. So in some ways it all seems quite distant to me*. But one thing I do know, there are people out there who want to kill don’t much mind if they kill me. In fact, I’m sure they’d be quite pleased to get a random American and a new mom at that…all that pathos and news coverage.

I would say this was a worrying new development, but in a sense I don’t think it is a new development. I think it’s a culmination of the inevitable. Sadly, there’s a disturbingly large minority of people who wish only chaos and harm in the furtherance of their cause.

I’m not sure what we do about this. But one thing we mustn’t do is justify or excuse. This isn’t because of Iraq or the knighting of Salman Rushdie or Israel or poverty or racism or inequality. This is because a cancerous sort of righteous ideology has infected too many.

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UPDATE: * I may not be leaving the house much, but the Vol-in-Law reminds me that he works near Oxford Street which he describes as “pretty much ground zero for terrorist events”.
Really should get that whole life insurance thing sorted.

Good news, bad news

On the upside, a big ol’ car bomb failed to detonate in London.

On the downside – I realize that I was at absolutely no risk of being at a popular London nightclub at 2am on a weekday.

Terror in Tooting

Hey, guess what y’all. New links to terror in my neighbourhood.

But this time, it’s not like before. No. Not at all. This time it’s Tamil separatist Hindus.

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Actually, this is why I never, ever, ever give to non-Western charities – e.g. after the Boxing Day Tsunami and Pakistani Earthquake.

t-24: last day

Today was my last day in the office. My due date is three weeks away and I am really feeling the effects of gravity now. Lumbering in to the office, changing trains, fighting for a seat, eyeing up young men for their potential to commit mass terror on the Underground – these are all things I’m not going to miss.

Things I will miss: my actual work. I like it. I have an interesting job. But I’m not quitting work cold turkey. I’m weaning myself off work. I’m not officially on maternity leave, but instead have started off with a week’s worth of vacation days. So – I’ve arranged to do a little bit of work next week – probably about 2 days over the 5, just to wind down.

25 24 days til baby Cletus