Spies warned of Tube Attack & MI5 Ruled London bombers were not a threat

Sunday Times & Independent report of leaked documents uncovering London Underground attacks

Completely coincidentally, I've just finished writing a post about The Underground Conspiracy, a great read about drug running on the Tube, when I heard on the radio, that The Sunday Times have discovered that "Spymasters warned Tony Blair before the July 7 suicide bombings that Al-Qaeda was planning a 'high priority' attack specifically aimed at the London Tube.

"A leaked four-page report by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), which oversees all spying, is the first definitive evidence that the intelligence services expected terrorists to strike at the Underground.

The disclosure will fuel critics' suspicions that Blair decided to rule out a public inquiry into the bombings last week because it could expose intelligence failings at the highest level."

Well, there's a surprise. Only a few days ago we were discussing the lack of a public enquiry into the July 7th attacks and now there maybe yet another reason why Tony Blair doesn't want one!

"Ministers and senior security officials have insisted that there was no warning of an imminent attack ahead of the July 7 bombings, in which 56 people died.

While technically true, the leaked document dated April, 2003, will be seized on by critics to show that ministers failed to disclose that they knew Al-Qaeda was targeting the Tube. A statement in September 2003 by the prime minister and Sir John Stevens, the then Metropolitan police commissioner, that a suicide attack was 'inevitable', did not name the Tube as a specific target."

"The Tories demanded the government publish the whole JIC document and disclose what other intelligence there had been about threats to the Tube. Patrick Mercer, the party's homeland security spokesman, said: 'This leak underlines our demand for an independent inquiry.' "

MI5 ruled London bombers were not a threat

And as if we didn't need more arguments to have a public inquiry, Ian has sent me a link The Independent who revealed: "Two of the four suicide bombers who killed 52 people in the July 7 attacks were scrutinised by MI5 last year but were not considered to be a threat.....

Shahzad Tanweer, 22, who detonated a rucksack bomb on the Tube train at Aldgate, is believed to have been indirectly linked to an alleged plot to build a bomb in 2004. It has already been established that the suspected mastermind, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, had been known to security services.

The disclosure that a second of the four bombers had come to the attention of MI5 is likely to increase pressure for a public inquiry into the London attacks and any failures in intelligence. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is resisting setting up a wide-ranging independent inquiry, instead opting for a more limited "narrative" led by a civil servant. The Independent has also established that there are so many new terrorist suspects coming to the attention of the security agencies and Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch that there are not enough officers to investigate them all."

SIGN THE LONDON 7/7 PUBLIC INQUIRY PETITION

In the meantime Rachel a survivor from the King's Cross carriage that was blown up is demanding a public inquiry and urges that we sign a petition to show our support. If you believe that we should have an inquiry, please sign and also publicise on your own website or blog too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Sunday, December 18, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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