Tag: way
Reason and Force
by admin on Sep.16, 2009, under Operations & Tactics
Investigation to nowhere
by admin on Apr.28, 2009, under General, International Security Correspondent, Paula Newton
LONDON, England – It could be labelled a triumph for the British judicial system: Preventing three innocent men from going to prison for a crime they didn't commit.
That's certainly the way the jury saw it.
The only suspects ever charged in connection with London's 7/7 attacks have been found not guilty of conspiring with the bombers in 2005.
Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, admitted being close friends of the bombers but through two trials they have denied ever knowing about the plot or helping them carry it out. The men were originally tried in 2008, but the first jury deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict.
For the victims' families, both trials have disclosed painful reminders of how and why the four suicide bombers were so intent on killing as many as possible on that day. The three defendants always maintained they did not believe in suicide bombings.
But as Ali put in courtroom testimony: "If I agreed with [the bombings], I would have been there on 7/7 with the brothers, with a rucksack on my back...I would have killed hundreds," Ali told the jury before adding, "They didn't stop them, they wouldn't have stopped me. Not your MI5, not your MI6, not nobody."
Ali and Shakil were found guilty during this second trial of plotting to attend a terrorism training camp in Pakistan at the time of their 2007 arrest. They will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Still, Ali repeatedly accused the prosecution of being on a "witch-hunt" and of pursuing charges against him purely for political reasons.
While Scotland Yard's commanders would deny those accusations they will now face more scrutiny not just about this investigation, but their entire posture towards counter-terrorism investigations.
For years Scotland Yard has been trying to prove that the London bombers did not act alone. They gathered thousands of pieces of evidence that in the words of prosecutors, "fit together like a jigsaw to produce a compelling picture of guilt."
But they have failed to prove that in court.
Add to this failure, the release of 12 suspects last week after a high-profile investigation into a so-called ‘Easter-Plot.' Police here have yet to press a single charge in connection with an incident that the British government continues to describe as a "serious terrorist plot."
That investigation was brought forward after Britain's top counter-terrorism cop, Bob Quick, nearly blew the case by being photographed holding clearly legible briefing notes on the operation. Quick was forced to resign.
And then there is the airline plot now currently being re-tried in Britain. Seven men stand accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners using liquid bombs. But again, the prosecution failed to win convictions last year after the jury deadlocked and authorities were forced to prosecute the case from scratch.
All of this has served to undermine the credibility of Britain's counter-terrorism strategy.
The government has spent billions on fighting and prosecuting terror but Britain remains a significant global frontline. With all the adversity and scepticism it is now receiving in prosecutions and investigations, security authorities are open to new scrutiny about whether they are up to the job or even irresponsibly exaggerating the terror threat.
Why interview the Taliban?
by admin on Mar.15, 2009, under General, International Security Correspondent, Paula Newton
KABUL, Afghanistan - You couldn't miss the irony. As we tried to contact Taliban commanders through an intermediary their mobile phone messages in Urdu made one thing clear: The insurgents were in Pakistan or very close to the Pakistani border.
For years now, many Western journalists have approached the Taliban for interviews and the Taliban has obliged.
The militants would sometimes cover their faces or not give their names, but face-to-face contact was possible, especially when it suited the Taliban and its message.
Not any more.
As the war in Afghanistan has escalated, the Taliban has become off limits for any journalist who wants to come out alive. As Nir Rosen from Rolling Stone magazine found out when doing his investigative piece "How We Lost the War We Won," any old, tribal notions of Taliban insurgents keeping their word is out the window.
When a couple of insurgents promised to keep him safe, he became a pawn as the infighting between rival Taliban commanders wore on.
Rosen was lucky, his fate hung in the balance for little more than 24 hours. But it underscores the dangers of seeking the journalistic authenticity we all crave.
As journalists we talk to the Taliban to get a sense of the message they want to convey. It's then up to us to scrutinize that message as best we can. We don't feel that we're mouthpieces for the group, no more than we feel that we're mouthpieces for NATO every time we cover one of its press conferences.
An interview can give us a new or sometimes a very cliched perspective of the Taliban. Either way, it still represents a valued piece of news that is instructive in terms of where the conflict is going and how the Taliban hopes to shape it.
So we made do with a phone call. There is no way to verify if the man we spoke to, Mohammed Ibrahim Hanafi, is in the ascendancy as a Taliban commander or on his way out. He did make a point of telling us that he would play a pivotal role in the Taliban expanding its reach in the north of Afghanistan.
Above all though, what we took from the interview is an overwhelming sense of confidence and control from the Taliban. Certainly Taliban commanders feel they have coalition troops on the run and perhaps more importantly, that they have the support of more and more Afghans.
Civilians may respect the Taliban or just fear it, but either way the result is the same: The Taliban now has renewed influence and reach in almost three quarters of the country.
