More dots

Eliza Manningham-Buller, ex head of MI5 has just been talking to James Naughtie on the Today programme. “The families want to know,” said James, “could the secret services have done more to prevent 7/7?” 

Well, she said, two of the four lads were on the radar, but MI5 decided that two of them were merely criminals. There were so many potential threats to investigate that some were bound to fall through the net. 

“ We depend on British Muslims to give us information.” 

There’s more of the interview with Gordon Corera on the BBC website. July 7th 2015

  “Don’t demonise the Muslim community!”

I saw this in the Guardian. It is from July 2010: 

Iraq inquiry: Eliza Manningham-Buller's devastating testimony

In straightforward, devastating testimony, Eliza Manningham-Buller told the Chilcot inquiry how she had warned about what sensible – but mostly frightened to speak out – senior Whitehall officials believed in 2003: that the invasion of Iraq would increase the terrorist threat to the UK.

More than once, the former head of MI5 emphasised to the Chilcot inquiry that the invasion exacerbated the terrorist threat to the UK and was a "highly significant" factor in how "home-grown" extremists justified their actions.

Of course, that was then. This is now:  7th July 2015 

Norman Smith asked Tony Blair :

“Do you think that you were culpable in any way, because of Iraq and Afghanistan?”

“There was a training camp in 2001, before 9/11. There will always be excuses, foreign policy and so on.”

More of Tony Blair’s statement here: World must wake up to  threat of  Islamic extremism.

‘Tony Blair has urged nations around the world to "wake up" to the threat of Islamic extremism, as Britain marks a decade since 52 innocent people were killed in a series of bomb attacks on London. ‘

He added that it was "very obvious for a long time" that "we are in a very, very long struggle" against radical groups such as Islamic State.

"It is going to take us a long time to defeat this because it is a global struggle - it is a product of an ideology that has got roots now globally."

Of course we all know that Tony is now considered to be so toxic that nobody will listen to anything he actually says. (That’s a huge problem I fear)

Back to Ms Manningham-Buller c 2010. (Guardian)

......... said she was therefore not surprised that UK citizens were involved in the 7/7 suicide attacks in London or by the increase in the number of Britons "attracted to the ideology of Osama bin Laden" who saw the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as threatening their co-religionists and the Muslim world".

The invasion of Iraq "undoubtedly" increased the terrorist threat in Britain, she said.

Here’s an earlier piece of the BBC’s take on MI5 Gordon Corera again, from 2010: 

Ex-MI5 chief says US 'concealed suspect mistreatment'

"Binyam Mohamed, a British resident formerly held at Guantanamo Bay, had been subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment."

Not only that, but  

"Binyam Mohamed, a British resident formerly held at Guantanamo Bay, had been subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment. "

Does that give a hint about where Ms Manningham Buller is coming from? 

So, there’s:

• "Frightened Whitehall officials.”
• MI5, overwhelmed with incidents and potential incidents.
• Guilt.
• Leftwing moral equivalences.
• Incompetence.

Islam.

NB. This post is my instant reaction.  I could be more reflective later.