Europe Terror Threat 'Very High'

"Top Judge Warns of High Terror Threat
BY MAR ROMAN, Associated Press Writer
5 hours ago

MADRID, Spain - The threat of terrorism in Europe remains very high due to anger over the Iraqi war and the growing influence of North African groups linked to al-Qaida, a leading anti-terrorism judge warned Thursday.

“The actual threat for Europe is high, very high indeed,” Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a top investigator of Islamic terrorism in France, told a press conference in Madrid.

“The Iraqi conflict has nurtured the Islamic groups living in Europe,” he said, adding that Iraq also remains a magnet for the recruitment of Islamic extremists.

Bruguiere said militants heading to Iraq are increasingly going with the goal to train, and then return to their home countries in Europe to plot attacks."

Even though most European countries did NOT go into Iraq, the Extremists don’t care. In fact, they probably take that as a sign of weakness.

Europeans, better get into the fight soon, or you’ll be taking orders from Mullah Omar or equivalent.

Oh no, my chances of dying next year might have increased 0,00000285%…

Is that Code Orange or Code Magenta? Have they come out with the summer terror colors yet?

Say, whatever happened to those color coded terror warnings? Oh yeah, it’s not an election year this year.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Even though most European countries did NOT go into Iraq, the Extremists don’t care. In fact, they probably take that as a sign of weakness.[/quote]

This is hogwash.

The countries that HAVE been attacked, up until now, have been precisely those which participated actively in the Iraq War.

This is the established trend, and it is NOT going to change in the future. And in any case, even if it does, the neocons will have to wait until that happens before they have any right to claim that “every Western nation has to start bombing the middle east before it (the nation) gets wiped out”.

Let’s wait until Sweden or Switzerland gets attacked, okay? You’ll be waiting a hell of a long time, because it’s NEVER going to happen. Not even with a “new Islamic Caliphate” in place. It simply isn’t going to happen.

The extremists are NOT LYING when they claim to be launching attacks as retribution. Whether you agree or not, THEY believe it.

The most powerful and war-mongering states will continue to receive all of the attacks, as they have up until now.

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Even though most European countries did NOT go into Iraq, the Extremists don’t care. In fact, they probably take that as a sign of weakness.

This is hogwash.

The countries that HAVE been attacked, up until now, have been precisely those which participated actively in the Iraq War.

This is the established trend, and it is NOT going to change in the future. And in any case, even if it does, the neocons will have to wait until that happens before they have any right to claim that “every Western nation has to start bombing the middle east before it (the nation) gets wiped out”.

Let’s wait until Sweden or Switzerland gets attacked, okay? You’ll be waiting a hell of a long time, because it’s NEVER going to happen. Not even with a “new Islamic Caliphate” in place. It simply isn’t going to happen.

The extremists are NOT LYING when they claim to be launching attacks as retribution. Whether you agree or not, THEY believe it.

The most powerful and war-mongering states will continue to receive all of the attacks, as they have up until now.[/quote]

As they have elsewhere in Europe, Islamic radicals are making inroads in Switzerland. Last month, Swiss officials announced the arrests of a dozen suspects who allegedly conspired to shoot down an Israeli airliner flying from Geneva to Tel Aviv. In a related case, a North African man has been charged with organizing a plot from Swiss soil to blow up the Spanish supreme court in Madrid.

They attacked Spain, and Spain capitulated to the terrorist demands due to the socialist government headed by Zapaterro which was voted into power largely on issues around the war.

The US was surprise attacked. I don’t think George Bush Jnr. is a good president, especially with regard to economic policies etc., however, I do recall part of his election campaign, he outlined the mounting threat in the middle East when nobody else was saying a thing.
The UK has a huge muslim population, they were easy targets and it was natives who did the 7/7 bombings.

As far as I know, the only major coalation partner which hasn’t yet suffered at the hands of the terrorists is Poland. But then Poland is roughly 99% white, any muslim would stand out a mile away, although there is now an influx of turks, largely offset by Ukranian influx (especially if they join the Union soon).

None of the other European countries have been attacked to my knowledge, even Ireland which allows refuelling of military planes at Shannon Airport.

In summary, I disagree that there is a mounting threat against Europe. For the moment at least, the fighting will be contained within the middle east.
I think there is a small but growing chance that there could be war against Iran.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:

As they have elsewhere in Europe, Islamic radicals are making inroads in Switzerland. Last month, Swiss officials announced the arrests of a dozen suspects who allegedly conspired to shoot down an Israeli airliner flying from Geneva to Tel Aviv. In a related case, a North African man has been charged with organizing a plot from Swiss soil to blow up the Spanish supreme court in Madrid.[/quote]

Sorry, that “evidence” really doesn’t do anything to contradict my claim. They have been trying to blow up Israeli airliners for decades; it is merely coincidental that this one was flying from Geneva.

Why don’t they bomb the financial district of Geneva? I’m sure there are plenty of Jews there. It would send a message. But it would work against them in the long run, because Switzerland doesn’t have any troops occupying their Holy Land. They know this, and that’s why it isn’t going to happen.

The Western Powers are, in fact, the only entities capable of EMPOWERING the radical Islamic elements. That is because only they can create the type of social conditions under which terrorism and crime flourishes. Study the military strategy of terrorism and you will see that conventional warfare does not work against it. Read up about 4th generation warfare. I refer to William Lind’s writing.

Looks like this Judge was right

Welp, HH you got this one! Wow, England dogged a huge bullet today.

[quote]pat36 wrote:
Welp, HH you got this one! Wow, England dogged a huge bullet today.[/quote]

Using common sense and old fashioned professionel police work…

There is a finer point that is being missed.

The “actual threat” is high for those nations which have intervened in the Middle East.

This is continually being proved, sure.

I trust Osama Bin Laden’s own stated motivation for engaging in terrorist acts. So far, there has been no reason not to (they haven’t hit Sweden). The neocon argument absolutely hinges on the assumption that the terrorists are lying and that they intend to attack every Western nation.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html

The neocons are quick to pick up on any rhetoric or propaganda used by the other side which props up their own claims. Not so quick to pick up on things which contradict them.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
“The actual threat for Europe is high, very high indeed,” Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a top investigator of Islamic terrorism in France, told a press conference in Madrid. [/quote]

In other news, water is still wet.

Is it any wonder that a public figure who supports Sarkozy, paves the way to the creation of a police state?

Statistically speaking, a person has a lot more chances to be blown out by the US military than by an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack.

Look up the figures.

[quote]lixy wrote:
Statistically speaking, a person has a lot more chances to be blown out by the US military than by an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack.

Look up the figures.[/quote]

The problem is that this is only true if your name is Ali or Muhammad, if that was also true for Sven or Björn the US would be scared shitless of blond and blue eyed people that talk funny…

[quote]lixy wrote:
Statistically speaking, a person has a lot more chances to be blown out by the US military than by an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack.

Look up the figures.[/quote]

Since you are quoting statistics why don’t you provide a link so we can see the statistics that you are basing your statements on. I haven’t seen any news on American bombs exploding amongst civilian populations in Europe.

If you are talking about Iraq. Alqaeda sets bombs off that kill civilians just about every day.

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
There is a finer point that is being missed.

The “actual threat” is high for those nations which have intervened in the Middle East.

This is continually being proved, sure.

I trust Osama Bin Laden’s own stated motivation for engaging in terrorist acts. So far, there has been no reason not to (they haven’t hit Sweden). The neocon argument absolutely hinges on the assumption that the terrorists are lying and that they intend to attack every Western nation.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html

The neocons are quick to pick up on any rhetoric or propaganda used by the other side which props up their own claims. Not so quick to pick up on things which contradict them.[/quote]

The countries in Europe that are under the highest threat are the ones with large muslim populations. Out of those countries the ones under the highest threat are the ones who took a stand against Hitler in world war two.

That’s why Sweden hasn’t been hit. They don’t have a lot of muslims and they sided with Hitler in world war two.

France didn’t help with Iraq yet they have a lot of attacks. So you are wrong.

Well, you know what? I spent most of my early years worrying about being blown up by a (mostly) US-funded IRA. Now I have to worry about being blown up by muslim fundamentalists. There’s always gonna be someone who wants to blow me up.

I have no problem with Islam, aside from the problems I have with ALL faith-based religion. Just like I had no problem with the Irish before that. Still, maybe I have that sort of ‘blow up-able’ kinda face. Everyone seems to wanna try it for some reason.

I was caught up in the shit on Friday with the bombs in London, just like I was caught up in the July 7th attacks. Just like I missed the attack on the BBC building by the IRA by 1hr and just like I had walked past the gay pub in Soho that got nailbombed a few years ago about 10mins before it went off.

A fella can get a complex. I’m either quite unlucky or really frickin’ lucky.

Either way, and despite people’s best efforts, you can’t win a war on an intangible concept, and Northern Ireland should serve as an example that these things are only solved by diplomacy - However hard it is to get that process started and whatever tribulations and setbacks you might face along the way.

Have a nice weekend. Hopefully no-one else will try to blow me up before Monday.

1-Pack,

Glad you and no one else got hurt.

Will there come a day when Muslims, peaceful or not, will be rounded up and put into concentration camps, or deported? It seems to me that the extremists are simply pushing the Western Europeans to adopting continually harsher methods. For ex, the number of street cameras in London is up about 5 fold. The average Londoner gets photographed about 300 times per day (according to ABC news).

If a major terrorist act occurs, I can see such a thing happening.

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
1-Pack,

Glad you and no one else got hurt.

Will there come a day when Muslims, peaceful or not, will be rounded up and put into concentration camps, or deported? It seems to me that the extremists are simply pushing the Western Europeans to adopting continually harsher methods. For ex, the number of street cameras in London is up about 5 fold. The average Londoner gets photographed about 300 times per day (according to ABC news).

If a major terrorist act occurs, I can see such a thing happening.[/quote]

Hi mate,

Thanks - like I said though Londoners are very very well used to dealing with terrorist threats after all these years. First question is always not ‘how many were killed?’ but ‘which stations are still open so I can get to work?’ ;). The Blitz spirit I believe it’s called.

With regards your question - In short, no. I can’t talk about the US but that day will NEVER happen in the UK. One of the greatest things about our country is that it is so cosmopolitan and that for the greater degree, we have overcome the majority (though sadly not all) of our racial and religious prejudices etc.

We are fully aware that Osama Bin Laden doesn’t(didn’t?) speak for all of Islam, not even the majority of it, in the same way that we don’t lock up every single teenager because of all the violent youth crime committed by the small minority.

One of the strange things here is that our government went to war against the wishes of majority of the public, who foresaw and predicted exactly the situation that has come to pass. So bizarre that the so-called ‘experts’ didn’t…

But now we have a new Prime Minister, who I am sure will want to gain popularity by distancing himself somewhat from that decision, regardless of the fact he was Chancellor at the time. Will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months - Just like it will be fascinating to see what changes transpire once Bush’s term finishes and the next administration tries to distance themselves from such a controversial issue.

By the way, the number of security cameras in the UK is firmly linked to the amount of money the Government makes from automated parking/driving/speeding violations which is a massive bone of contention here. A few years ago the figure that was bandied about was that we were photographed 500 times a day.

If anything that is a perfect example of governments using/manipulating current affairs to suit their agenda and to further chip away at people’s liberties - cheekily introducing a stealth tax at the same time.

On that subject of civil liberties - I’m all prepared to go to jail rather than have an I.D. card with bio info on it.

Dear UK Government,

‘FUCK YOU I’M NOT A CRIMINAL - YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE I AM, WHAT I BOUGHT OR WHERE I AM GOING.’.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest :slight_smile:

Oh my god, I’ve only been back a little while and have already responded to a few politics posts. Wondering how long I will last before my first argument. Or has everyone become ultra-polite since I was last around? Yeah… right… haha

1packlondoner, before the Nazi’s came to power in Germany very few people would have thought the excesses that came to pass could have happened in such an educated advanced country. Certainly the Germans didn’t think it could happen.

If the attitude of people in Britain is “it couldn’t happen here” don’t be surprised if it does. The British people are human beings just like everyone else and therefore not immune.

There is no diplomatic solution to the war on islamic terror. The terrorists have set out extreme positions that are unnegotiable. They want all other religions eliminated and they want any muslim who does not follow their interpretation of the koran eliminated. They have made it a religious duty to do this.

Northern Ireland was nowhere as extreme as this. Although there was a religious divide, you didn’t see the Pope telling the faithful that the elimination of Britain and the extermination of the British people was their religious duty. Like you see with Hamas and Israel.

Once a religious fanatic makes it their religious duty to accomplish a goal or die trying there is only one solution. You have to kill them.