WASHINGTON, July 8: British ambassador to the US, David Manning, has said that it would be a mistake to associate Islam with the terrorist attacks that killed at least 50 people in London on Thursday.
Mr Manning made this clarification when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked him if the attacks were the work of “Islamist jihadists” such as Al Qaeda.
“I think obviously Al Qaeda is one strong possibility. But there are other possibilities. And if I may add, I’d like to separate the word “Islamist” from “Jihadist” in this because I think it’s very important that we don’t fall for the suggestion that Islam is somehow an extremist religion,” said Mr Manning.
The ambassador said that Muslims in Britain, the US and around the world had strongly condemned the attacks and expressed solidarity with the people of London.
“So I don’t want to connect Islam with extremism here. That it’s an extremist attack, yes, I’m absolutely clear about that. We are working now to try and establish who it is.”
The ambassador said the investigators were being very cautious in determining who might have orchestrated those attacks because “if we convince ourselves that it must be one particular organization, then we may delude ourselves and not get onto the right track.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the British Embassy in Washington on Thursday, to sign a condolence book and denounce the deadly attacks in London.
“We have no better friend and ally in the struggle against terrorism than Great Britain,” she said, adding that the attacks “demonstrate the barbarity of the terrorists with whom we are dealing.”
Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies that are helping the British find those responsible for the attacks see Al Qaeda as a strong suspect but are not absolutely sure if Osama bin Laden’s network was directly involved.
Talking to various US media outlets, American intelligence experts noted that over the last 18 months, Al Qaeda or its sympathizers have attacked European subways three times: In Moscow last year, Madrid in March 2004 and now London. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Madrid and London attacks may involve the same Moroccan suspect.
A former CIA official Bill Harlow told NBC that Thursday’s attacks, while coordinated, did not have other Al Qaeda trademarks. “As terrible as they were, the attacks were not as spectacular as the 9/11 attacks. There weren’t as many of them (trademarks) as there were in some other attacks,” he said.
Others disagreed. US officials told NBC News on Thursday they had shared a number of intelligence reports in recent months that Al Qaeda wanted to copy the Madrid attacks. They noted that British official believe the attack was timed to disrupt the start of the G-8 summit in Scotland.
Former CIA officials appearing on various US television networks said London had been a hotbed of Al Qaeda sympathizers.
Many, like “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, were recruited in a local mosque. Its former leader went on trial July 5 for inciting attacks on non-Muslims.
