Military Expert Wonders If Released Terror Suspects Involved in London Attacks
by Chad Groening and Ed Thomas
July 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - A military analyst and Pentagon advisor says he is not surprised about Thursday's terrorist attack in London because the British capital has been in the crosshairs of the terrorists for quite some time. But the former Army officer is concerned about a report that the British government had release three terrorist suspects who had been held at Guantanamo Bay.More than 50 people are now reported dead as the city of London sorts through the rubble and ashes of four explosions that rocked the British capital yesterday. British Muslim groups are condemning the London bomb blasts, and appealing for calm amid fears of an anti-Muslim backlash. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the terrorists "act in the name of Islam," but said he knew most Muslims worldwide "deplore this act of terrorism." He welcomed a statement by the Muslim Council of Britain which said it "utterly condemns the perpetrators of what appears to be a series of coordinated attacks."
At the same time, a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today in the U.S. is condemning the bomb attacks in London as "barbaric crimes." In its statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said: "We join Americans of all faiths, and all people of conscience worldwide, in condemning these barbaric crimes that can never be justified or excused."
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Bob Maginnis says he was in London last year and talked to British officials who said they were cognizant of the terrorist threat -- and knew they were a possible target along with the U.S. and other countries.
"The fact is that Al Qaeda has had London in its crosshairs for some time -- and I'm surprised it hasn't happened up to this particular point," Maginnis states, adding he will be "surprised if a significant figure in Al Qaeda doesn't eventually emerge as the responsible person behind this."
Maginnis says he is concerned about something he was told about during his recent visit to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. "I was told three of the alleged war criminals were released to the British government, and they were subsequently released on their own reconnaissance," he recalls. "Those were confirmed Al Qaeda killers, [and] I really questioned their release."
According to Maginnis, anyone with an Al Qaeda link could have been involved in the attacks, including the three suspects in question. "[I]f you, in fact, ask for and then release within your own population known Al Qaeda killers, such as Tony Blair did, then you are going, to a certain degree, to ask for the type of thing that happened," he says.
As Maginnis puts it: "You just don't put mass murderers out on the streets of a democracy and expect these mass murderers to act like common citizens, not going after and killing people indiscriminately."
Foundation of Faith
Meanwhile, a London pastor who arrived in North Carolina the night before the attacks says he used the news about the bombings in his hometown to exercise his faith about God being in control -- and he encourages Christians in England and elsewhere to do the same.
Bishop John Francis, pastor of thousands at Ruach Ministries in London, says he believes that fear is a tool being used by the terrorists -- and by Satan -- as part of the strategy of the Thursday bombings. In an interview on the Inspiration Network, Francis said he had to use faith to combat fear over his family's safety when he heard the news. The incidents in London, he stated, are an opportunity for believers in England and America to do the same, as a witness to the world.
"Fear is of the devil -- and what the devil does, he cannot attack us directly sometimes, but he uses things around us to traumatize us," Francis said. "I believe that we should get to a place where we know that the enemy has done this. Terrorism is an act of the enemy; it is not God."
Francis says Christians should tell the world that the violence wrapped in religious zealotry is not God.
"It wraps itself in a religious cloak like it's God and [like] they're fighting for God -- but that's not how God is," he said. "God is love and God is peace -- and I think the world needs to understand what's happening here is that the enemy has taken control; but God yet says 'I'm still here and I'm the God of peace -- don't be troubled.'"
Francis shared with viewers that it was his faith that allowed him to stay calm upon hearing the reports, despite natural concerns for his family.
Chad Groening and Ed Thomas, regular contributors to AgapePress, are reporters for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.Associated Press contributed to this story.
