UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Holy fuckaroo!
(Reuters) - Britain raised its terrorism alert on Friday to the second-highest level with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the Islamic State (IS) group operating in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk.
The government said there was no evidence an attack was imminent but the assessment of the latest intelligence by security chiefs justified elevating the international threat level to "severe", meaning a strike was "highly likely".
"What we're facing in Iraq now with ISIL (IS) is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before," said Cameron, adding he was "absolutely satisfied that ISIL ... would make specific threats to the UK".
It is the first time since mid-2011 that Britain has been placed on this grade of alert by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), the independent body responsible for setting the national threat level.
The national threat level was first published in 2006, just over a year after four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London's transport network killing 52 people.
Police chiefs said raising the level to severe would mean a rise in the level of visible patrols, along with other security and protection measures.
White House spokesman John Earnest said: "This is a threat that the United States has been focused on. We've been coordinating closely with our allies, both the Brits, but others in Europe, about countering this threat and mitigating it."
The British move comes less than two weeks after a video released by IS showed the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley, by a masked knifeman apparently speaking English with a London accent. An investigation to identify the suspected attacker is in train.
Foley's murder prompted demands for extra security measures to tackle Britons travelling to the Middle East to join militant groups. Officials have warned that some who had gone to Syria or Iraq might return to Britain to carry out attacks.
British and European authorities have been warning for many months the Syrian conflict posed a serious terrorism threat, but no specific reason was given why JTAC had raised its alert.
"The increase in the threat level is related to developments in Syria and Iraq where terrorist groups are planning attacks against the West," Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said in a statement.
"Some of those plots are likely to involve foreign fighters who have travelled there from the UK and Europe to take part in those conflicts."
BRITONS IN IRAQ, SYRIA
Officials estimate at least 500 Britons have travelled to Syria or Iraq, where IS has seized large swathes of territory, and London's police chief Bernard Hogan-Howe said on Wednesday it was believed some 250 had since returned.
Counter-terrorism police say there have been 69 arrests linked to fighting in Syria this year, a fivefold rise in the arrest rate compared to last year.
Cameron said he would unveil new laws on Monday to make it harder for Britons to travel to Syria and Iraq to fight, and to tackle radicalisation among Britain's 2.7 million Muslims.
"This will include further steps to stop people travelling, with new legislation that will make it easier to take people's passports away," he told a news conference, adding the cause of the threat was a "poisonous ideology of Islamic extremism".
The alert has twice been raised to the highest level of critical - meaning an attack is imminent - after a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners was thwarted in 2006 and the next year after attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow.
Security chiefs say they have managed to stop at least one major terrorism plot every year since the 2005 bombings, known as the 7/7 attacks, but last year an off-duty soldier was murdered on a London street by two British Muslim converts in what the government described as a terrorist killing.
However, Muslims and some experts have cautioned against Britain rushing through new laws. Muslim groups have criticised a "knee-jerk" reaction from politicians which they said could simply backfire.
Source
Thoughts? Its not been SEVERE since 2010, and was last CRITICAL in 2007
Source
DJ OD
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
when I read this yesterday and they stated "no evidence an attack was imminent" I was a little
mystified, the conspiracy theorist in me screamed out "feckin liar"..
its hard to justify increasing the level and then saying they have no evidence, it would have been
better to offer up some kind of reason, but saying that, if people are on alert it could make things
safer for all.
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Hmmmm sounds like they must have some 'info' to suggest something.. but what?
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
They'll probably rush some law through under the veil of "threat to security" giving them the powers to pluck people off the street and torture them without recourse.
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Quote:
Originally Posted by
B.I.G.
They'll probably rush some law through under the veil of "threat to security" giving them the powers to pluck people off the street and torture them without recourse.
If it protects the greater whole, would that not be a good thing?
Minus the torture of course.
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ilscuro
If it protects the greater whole, would that not be a good thing?
Minus the torture of course.
And what if it's your mother, brother, father, sister daughter or son etc, have a look at countries that do this, the fear, the mistakes and how people just disappear then consider the neighbour you piss off who rings up the 'terrorist contact number' to report you or the corrupt official who wants people who have rumbled or questioned his actions to go away or someone who speaks out against Government actions who suddenly becomes a risk to peoples safety.
We don't live in an idea world and corruption, abuse of position and misguided actions result in millions dying every year so the last thing we need is more control of people supposed to live in the free world.
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
I totally understand what you're saying BB and i do agree, i just wonder if a bomb explodes in a city centre killing thousands of innocent people, and the authorities knew the perpetrator was a threat, but were stopped because of lack of legislation, red tape etc, how would that make us feel?
I'm probably just being naive, but i've always found that by not breaking the law, the police have left me alone, maybe i've just been lucky?
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
So... ISIS is this country's greatest ever threat? How much violence have they caused here? Compare that to the IRA in the 80s! Or... To the Western forces in Iraq!
More propaganda and spin to advance self serving interests.
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Just trying to drum up some plus points so people will back him when he announces he wants to send the troops back in
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Flight MH370 straight in to the shard
Re: UK Terrorist threat level raised: SEVERE
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mule
Flight MH370 straight in to the shard
Hopefully while Dynamo is levitating above it