'Thousands' of terrorism suspects monitored in London, mayor says
Former UK military chief says Western boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria could end war against Islamic State in six months.
Britain's counter-terrorism forces are monitoring "thousands" of potential extremists in the capital city, London Mayor Boris Johnson told The Daily Telegraph in an interview published Saturday.
"In London we’re very very vigilant and very very concerned," he told the Telegraph.
In August, Britain raised its international threat level to the second-highest classification of "severe", meaning an attack was considered highly likely, with Prime Minister David Cameron warning that Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk.
About 500 Britons are believed to have joined the fighting in the region and the authorities have long argued that radicalized, battle-hardened veterans would pose a grave threat on their return. However, Johnson suggested the danger was more widespread.
"Every day – as you saw recently, we had to raise the threat level – every day the security services are involved in thousands of operations," he said.
"There are probably in the low thousands of people that we are monitoring in London."
"London has a particular concern, because probably of the five or six hundred that are out there, we think a third, maybe more – maybe half – come from the London area. If and when they come back, we have a real job to deal with them," he added.
The risk posed by homegrown radicals was most vividly illustrated by the deadly London suicide bombings in July 2005 by four young British Islamists.
Last year two British Muslim converts hacked to death a soldier in broad daylight on a London street, and on Tuesday five young men were arrested by police as part of what was described as an operation against Islamist-related terrorism.
Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the men arrested this week include one who recently returned from Syria and police are probing possible ties to the Islamic State group operating there.
Johnson's comments come the day after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley warned police around the country to be alert to possible risks to their safety.
"Measures are being put in place to increase the vigilance of officers and staff," Rowley said.
Keeping UK Muslim in the loop
The UK’s defense ministry briefed UK Muslim community leaders and academics this week about its military operations in Iraq during an exclusive event at the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.
The briefing, described as the first of its kind, came during a so-called Armed Forces Muslim Forum, which was launched in July to "enhance the partnership between the Muslim community, the Ministry of Defense and the armed forces."
The Foreign Office’s statement said Wednesday’s event "provided a unique and privileged opportunity for senior military leaders to engage directly with key members of the community."
Britain is currently engaged in the international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) but its operations are confined only to Iraq.
Chief of Defense Staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton told Muslim leaders that “the UK Armed Forces exist to protect the interests and activities of all British citizens including British Muslims.”
“There is an enormously impressive history of Muslim military service and sacrifice in the UK, the spirit of which I am proud to maintain with the Armed Forces Muslim Forum,” he said.
“The positive relationships that have been nurtured through the Forum allow us to meet today to discuss recent and current operations with much valued leaders from across the Muslim community.
“We meet in the hope that practical issues of mutual concern can be discussed and translated into beneficial action,” Gen. Houghton added.
Julie Siddiqi, Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Britain, said: “It’s been very useful. It’s crucial for us to feel that we can give our concerns and feedback and to feel that they have been taken on board and taken seriously.”
“I can’t see any other country in the world where you could have something like this, so it is something we should be proud of,” she added.
Husna Ahmad of Global One said the Muslim people who attended the forum “represent some very influential organizations.”
“In terms of people being able to articulate and the depth of knowledge that people brought to the forum, that was important, so we could talk about details and express opinions. We don’t want to become just mouth pieces, and I don’t think we will,” Ahmad added.
Ahmad said the event “wasn’t like” any other Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) event she attended before.
“It felt very much like a genuinely here to understand and recognize the need to engage with Muslim communities. They recognize it’s not just one monolithic Muslim community we are a vast diaspora of Muslim communities. I was very pleased by that.”
'We can defeat ISIS in 6 months'
The former head of the British armed forces, General David Richards, who stepped down as Chief of the Defense Staff in 2013, told the the Huffington Post on Thursday that the war against IS could be "over in six months" if the US and UK governments were to put "boots on the ground."
"If western boots were on the ground, if western armies were to be applied to the problem (of Islamic State), it could be over in six months," Richards said.
"The idea that you can make (the Free Syrian Army or the Peshmerga) successful in the time we have available to us... without much more active and fulsome western involvement is, I think, naive."
According to the retired general, without the deployment of US or UK ground forces, "you've got to equip, train, mentor this regional army (of Syrians and Kurds) that’s going to do the same. With the proper amount of support, with our airpower.. then it could be still done within a year."
Richards said it was "unwise" for Obama and Cameron to have spoken about "destroying" IS. "That I think is impossible to do. It’s very hard to destroy an idea. But I think you can defeat it."
Addressing the root causes of Muslim extremism in the long run, Richards said it is "essentially a political, social, economic, religious problem, it's not one (for) soldiers."
The Associated Press, Reuters, AFP and i24News contributed to this report.
