[A-List] US imperialism: strategy of tension

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Grounded flights saved parliament from al Qaeda strike
IAN BRUCE
The Herald, 12 June 2002

AN al Qaeda team's plan to hijack two passenger jets at Heathrow on
September 11 last year and crash them into the Houses of Parliament and
Tower Bridge was thwarted only by quick action by the Civilian Aviation
Authority in grounding all flights in the UK, a new book claims.

The book, hailed as the most comprehensive study to date on the al Qaeda
network, backs claims that a five-man team planned to hijack two
Manchester-bound jets at Heathrow on September 11 last year.

The plot was designed as a symbolic second wave attack on America's
closest ally and was thwarted only when the aviation authority grounded
all civilian flights in the aftermath of the strikes on New York's World
Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

Inside al Qaeda, to be published in the United States this week, is
based on interviews with former and current members of Osama bin Laden's
terrorist organisation and access to US and Indian intelligence files.

According to Rohan Gunaratna, the author, who is a research fellow at St
Andrews University, the terrorist team at Heathrow dispersed when it
became clear that there were no airliners to use as flying bombs and
that security would be stepped up at all British airports.

Afroz Mohammed, one of the UK hijack squad, was later arrested by
India's RAI intelligence service and confessed the plan under
interrogation. He has now retracted, claiming his confession was made
under duress.

An RAI source said: "We have every reason to believe the man in our
custody was part of a major al Qaeda suicide plot targeting Britain's
parliament.

"The information gained from his interrogation and from our own sources
in Afghanistan and elsewhere leaves little room for doubt. He was
trained in bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. He also attended flying
schools in Britain and Australia. His funding can be traced back
directly to al Qaeda sources."

Afroz was arrested in his home city on October 2 last year and charged
with sedition and terrorist offences. He was also interviewed by British
intelligence officers. British security sources say they doubted his
story, believing that it had been extracted under torture.

However, they cannot explain how the 27-year-old son of a poor Indian
tailor managed to pay for flying lessons at an airfield in Australia,
throughout 1997-98. Nor can they account for how he funded two months'
instruction, paid in advance, for further training at the
£50,000-a-year Cranfield Airfield flying school in Bedfordshire last
year.

Mr Gunaratna's book also charts al Qaeda's continuing efforts to obtain
nuclear material.

He said yesterday: "An organisation which has tried for such a long time
will ultimately be successful. If not in the immediate future, then in
the medium or long term, al Qaeda will acquire and seek to use
radioactive material.

"What the CIA and others have failed to appreciate is that this network
is prepared to learn by its mistakes before trying again. It is still
planning, is still operational, and will not give up."