25. juli 2004

Britain forms special unit to tackle al-Qaeda The covert war against terrorism has been a mixed success, as we have seen from a number of reports the last month, but now the British secret services and special forces are preparing a potent counter attack, at least if we are to believe this story in The Telegraph. The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Regiment will work closely with the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service. Its mission will be to penetrate groups, either directly or by "turning" terrorists into double agents. It will be given the authority to operate around the world, working closely with friendly intelligence agencies such as the CIA and Mossad. Security chiefs hope that the regiment, comprising up to 600 troops, will run a network of agents providing the West with accurate intelligence on potential terrorist operations, allowing attacks to be foiled. It will at first be formed from members of a highly secret surveillance agency - the Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland - which has worked in Ulster for more than 20 years. The unit, which worked with the SAS, MI5 and the Special Branch, perfected the art of covert surveillance in urban and rural areas and created a network of double agents who supplied the British security forces with intelligence on terrorist attacks. We should always be skeptical to newspaper exclusives about secret future operations. Obviously, if this new special regiment is able to keep its secrets, and if it is worth anything it is, then we have to question the motive of revealing such details to the public. Naturally, reassuring the public that the armed forces is doing its job is important, but not so important that it would be willing to reveal details that would warn the enemy about coming infiltations. Recruitment has begun and volunteers must pass an intensive six-month training course, learning covert surveillance, communications, driving skills and first aid as well as close-quarter battle skills, using a variety of weapons. Priority will be given to those able to infiltrate or blend in with Islamic terror groups, rather than, as with the SAS, their fitness or fighting capabilities. One officer said: "The SAS's role is essentially to kill people. This new regiment's role is to provide the intelligence for the SAS to do that." Those who pass - a 90 per cent failure rate is expected - will be sent on an Arabic course at the Armed Forces language school at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. See? They even provide a home address. Until quite recently, the British government didn't even acknowledge that MI5 and MI6 existed. Obviously, there is quite a bit of misinformation in this article, but I have heard from other sources about this specific training programme. Steven Den Beste writes about the growing demand for infiltation of the al-Qaeda leadership, which reminds him about requests engineers often hear from those ignorant about the nuts and bolts of real-life problems. A lot of people know what they want. This certainly happens in politics: "Win without war." "Get cooperation and support from traditional allies." But they're quite often woefully short on plans. The more idealistic they are, the more likely it is they'll deny that they should even be required to contribute such a plan. Someone else should figure out how to make it happen; the idealist's job is to show us all the real destination. There are obviously major problems involved, to use an understatement, in actually infiltrating al-Qaeda to the top. No doubt it is feasible (it has probebly already been done) to penetrate single cells and eventually stop their operations. Getting a deep cover agent into the actual al-Qaeda leadership to eventually handle us Bin Laden and his top leaders on a platter, on the other hand, is not feasible. The only hope is that huge rewards can prompt one of them to betray their peers, but that would be, as Den Beste says, a stroke of luck. It's great if it happens, but we can't rely on such luck. A theoretical deep cover agent, working from the start for the British or US government, would have to be able to portray himself as a totally loyal Islamists, sharing al-Qaeda's extremist religious views and nihilistic contempt for human life (while deep inside himself remembering what side he is on). He would also have to demonstrate both personally. He would have to be willing to kill innocent people indescriminately, and his case officers (indeed, the government he represents) would have to be willing to allow him to blow up and kill innocent people. Is this realistic? I don't think so. Even if such an special agent al-Bond could be found anywhere. 9:56:23 PM    comment []  trackback []

Poles call Moore's F9/11 'propaganda' The people of Poland know extremist propaganda when they see it, and a number of reviewers are not impressed with Michael Moore's Bush-bashing. Gazeta Wyborcza reviewer Jacek Szczerba called the film a "foul pamphlet". He said it was too biased to be called a documentary and was similar to work by Nazi propaganda director Leni Riefenstahl. But politicians opposed to Poland's involvement in the US-led occupation of Iraq have urged people to see the film. "In criticising Moore, I have to admit that he has certain abilities - Leni Riefenstahl had them too," Mr Szczerba said in his review. "Michael Moore will not convince Poles with his film," the Rzeczpospolita newspaper said in its review.[...] "People are very sensitive to aggressive propaganda, especially when it pretends to be an objective documentary or a work of art." Perhaps most impressive, the BBC printed this! 9:31:17 PM    comment []  trackback []

Britain's government wants a smoking ban According to The Observer's Jamie Doward and Martin Bright, UK Health Secretary John Reid has issued an ultimatum to the country's pub and restaurant owners: Draw up plans now for instituting smoking restrictions on all premises. This marks a reversal from Reid, who earlier ridiculed anti-smoking activism as an obsession of the middle class. The goal is now a full smoking ban. The initiative is modelled on Norway's recent ban, which followed two decades of increasing restrictions, instead of Ireland's rather sudden clampdown. Instead Reid has suggested a 'phased' strategy which has found support from both the hospitality industry and health campaigners. It draws its inspiration from Norway, where the government started phasing in smoking restrictions in the late 1980s, stipulating that 25 per cent of all tables in bars and restaurants must be non-smoking. Over the next 15 years it increased the percentage; first to 50 per cent, then 75, and finally, this June, to an outright ban. Anti-smoking activists are positive to the move, but are not willing to wait for decades. They want the transition towards a full ban in Britain to be much faster. Bjørn Stærk has recently written a review of Erik Nord's Kruttrøyk & fredspipe (Gunsmoke and Peace Pipe). Check it out for a more critical look at Norway's war on smoking. 3:52:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

Yummy! I don't do recipes here normally, but how can I resist the temptation to link to one for Guinness Ice Cream? 3:26:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

Quote of the day "No, no, there is no crisis!" (Yasser Arafat shortly after armed militants took over a government building and torched a police station) 1:19:20 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.08.2004; 12:45:22.