UK intelligence official: Don't exaggerate terror threat

"What we shouldn't do is play into al Qaeda's hands by exaggerating the extent and nature of the threat they present globally." Fine. There are many other jihad groups. Shouldn't the jihad and Islamic supremacism, rather than a narrow focus on Al-Qaeda, take its place beside global warming and the flu pandemic? If we turn away from the jihadists, will they stop fighting us, while we tend to flu vaccines?

"U.K. Official: Don’t Exaggerate Terror," from CBS News (thanks to all who sent this in):

(CBS/AP) Britain is in danger of exaggerating the threat from al Qaeda, the former top adviser on terrorism to Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted Sunday as saying.
Richard Mottram, who retired last month from his post as an adviser on intelligence and security, said focusing too tightly on the terrorist movement risked underplaying other important threats such as climate change or a possible flu pandemic, a British newspaper reported.

"What we shouldn't do is play into al Qaeda's hands by exaggerating the extent and nature of the threat they present globally," Mottram was quoted by The Observer newspaper as saying.

"This focus is not smart when it comes to dealing with people who are trying to make us think that they are the greatest threat," he told the paper.

Among the significant problems Mottram identified deserving of equally serious attention: global warming; flu pandemics; the emergence of rogue states; globalization and its impact on power balances; global poverty and its impact on population movement; energy security; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and organized crime.

« Previous Entry | Home Page | Next Entry »

11 Comments

ISLAMSFORLOSERS | December 18, 2007 7:47 AM

Global warming seems to be the one thing everyone should worry about according to "experts". What happens if/when this threat is proven much ado about nothing? It probably won't matter because by then we may all be under the green flag-which is a real, proven and far more deadly threat.

exsgtbrown | December 18, 2007 8:09 AM

""This focus is not smart when it comes to dealing with people who are trying to make us think that they are the greatest threat," he told the paper."

...hmmm..global warming is not intentionally trying to to take my land, my heritage, my freedom nor my beliefs.

.....Flu Pandemics can be contained, treated and neutralized....

...the emergence of rogue states has occurred throughout history and some rogue states have become great countries, others have fallen by the wayside, and others have destined themselves for destruction...

...globalization can be many things , some good, like the globalization of the polio vaccine, globalization of agricultural technology, globalization of rapid communications systems, globalization of new technologies that make life easier or healthier...and some bad like the globalization of weapons of mass destruction, globalization of chemical and biological weapons, globalization on the spread of evil and corrupt concepts that make life harshier and more violent i.e. Islam....

...energy security....could be important...Muslims are trying very hard to get the byproducts of the nuclear powerplants across the globe...of course the Muslims do not intend to make useful power plants to make Muslim lives easier...the Muslims prefer to use any nuclear product they can get their hands on to develope weapons....(the Muslims have openly acknowledged their desire to use nuclear weapons to rid the world of the Jews and of non Muslims)....

...Population movement?.....Muslim Immigration en masse?...yep, to establish large voting blocs, take over neighborhood by neighborhood. inch by inch...

...Organized crime?.....aka Shar'ia law....enforced by the religious police....

I would tell MOttram, Islam is a problem..one that deserves top priority...failure to give it top priority status is giving yourself a death sentence....I would tell him the Muslims are not making idle threats...perhaps he should start reading of violent activities in :

"India and the Sudan and Algeria and Afghanistan and New York and Pakistan and Israel and Russia and Chechnya and the Philippines and Indonesia and Nigeria and England and Thailand and Spain and Egypt and Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia and Ingushetia and Dagestan and Turkey and Kabardino-Balkaria and Morocco and Yemen and Lebanon and France and Uzbekistan and Gaza and Tunisia and Kosovo and Bosnia and Mauritania and Kenya and Eritrea and Syria and Somalia and California and Argentina and Kuwait and Virginia and Ethiopia and Iran and Jordan and United Arab Emirates and Louisiana and Texas and Tanzania and Germany and Australia and Pennsylvania and Belgium and Denmark and East Timor and Qatar and Maryland and Tajikistan and the Netherlands and Scotland and Chad and Canada and China and Nepal
and the Maldives and...

...and pretty much wherever Muslims believe their religion tells them to:

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, ... nor follow
the religion of truth... until they pay the tax in acknowledg-ment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection."
Qur'an, Sura 9:29"

...he should heed the words: Ban Muslim Immigration

j_not_a | December 18, 2007 9:57 AM

Good thing this Mottram dude is retired, he should just shutup and go golfing. May be a little dementia setting in. Benjamin Netenyahu said "when someone says he wants to kill you, believe him"

Kevin | December 18, 2007 10:17 AM

Mr. Mottram, NO. The fight against the muslim desire for international jihad is not a negotiable point. In no way is this resistance to islamic domination to be watered down in pursuit of the other issues you stated. Our "esteemed and learned" leaders may be overstating Al Qaeda's role and in the process ignored the larger picture of islamic domination, it does not mean we relegate the fight to secondary status. You will find that several issues that you state and the fight to remain free of islamic domination go hand in hand. So wake up and remove the shackles of dhimmitude that is being imposed on us by islam and our clueless leaders.

leonthepigfarmer | December 18, 2007 11:51 AM

LOL, poor gordon doesn't want to have any more problems with "british" muslims so he thinks that by placating them, paying them off with jizya he will be left alone.

poor thing.

will someone please wake me up once "our boys" get in power and throw this trash into the thames.

poetcomic1 | December 18, 2007 12:38 PM

I wonder if he's a member of the European Union's new SS elite in training "Common Purpose". Read:

http://eutruth.org.uk/cp.pdf

Pelayo | December 18, 2007 1:39 PM

Flu pandemic? I've had the flu; I imagine having the flu is better than having Islam.

RalphInfidel | December 18, 2007 1:41 PM

This nitwit must hang around with George Galloway. These two need to team up with that gelatinous windbag Al Gore and take a human powered flight across the pacific... a more practical endevor than big Al's weather modification plans.

dumbledoresarmy | December 18, 2007 3:51 PM

exsgtbrown - good analysis.

Islam is HAMPERING the world's ability to combat pandemics - after all, inshallah...Islamic governments can't organise their way out of a wet paper bag, all they know how to do is rip people off and wreck the resource base. Muslim clerics have already preached AGAINST polio vaccination in Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan. Want to bet they'd stop ALL mass immunisation campaigns, against ANYTHING, if they got control of the planet? Let the babies die of diphtheria, tetanus, measles, it's all allah's will, who are we to defy the will of allah. Stupid, stupid people.

Organised crime - good god, Islam IS an organised crime gang, just like the Mafia, the Thuggees or the Triads only bigger, slicker, and more violent. They use fraud, robbery, drug trade, sex trade, to finance jihad, all over the world. We've seen the news stories, over and over, at this very web-site. Muslims in Western countries are up to their necks in fraud. For them, it's either cash for Jihad, or just another species of Jihad - raiding, to bleed and weaken the target society. Enforce RICO on the big boys; apply the 'broken window' principle a la Police Chief Bratton in New York, by coming down hard on 'minor' crime like fare-dodging and traffic violations, and you kill two birds with one stone: you reduce crime AND you stamp out a major branch of Jihad activity.

Poverty? - Quranic fatalism, plus slavery and despotism, produce and sustain poverty. The amoral rapacity of capricious Muslim despots and their tax collectors, and the internecine warfare that lays waste to Muslim regions, ultimately break the will of anyone who tries to grow or make anything, and run agriculture into the ground. The Balkans, North Africa, the Levant, Mesopotami, Persia, Afghanistan, DECLINED drastically in productivity and prosperity after being taken over by Muslims. Fight Islam - remove Islam from people's minds, remove Islam from non-Muslim regions - and you've just done the best thing possible to reduce world poverty.

The environment? - Muslim princes don't give a damn about endangered species - they'll shoot anything that moves (find out what happened to the Arabian oryx, once the Saudi princes got hold of machine guns). When India was conquered, the Muslims cut down forests wholesale in order to get at the people who were hiding there, so they could butcher them.

And like you said, WMD - way too many Muslims are slavering at the prospect of Total Global Annihilation, the ultimate Suicide-Murder (blow up the world and all the Muslims go to Paradise as martyrs, all the Kaffir go to hell).

OregonJake | December 18, 2007 7:05 PM

Among the significant problems Mottram identified deserving of equally serious attention: global warming; flu pandemics; the emergence of rogue states; globalization and its impact on power balances; global poverty and its impact on population movement; energy security; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and organized crime.

Lets review.....

Flu pandemics...bioweapon used by Islam
Emergence of rogue states...More Islam countries
Globalization/Power balance...More Sharia
Global poverty/Population....Islamic breeders
Energy security.....more oil jizya
WMDs....well, duh!!
Organized crime....all Islamic countries

There, simple and clear as mothers milk.

"Kuffirs of the world, Unite!"
"Islam, abusing women and children since 622AD"

Dumbo | December 19, 2007 6:48 PM

I blame all those other problems on Muslims anyways. They increase global warming by turning all their countries into deserts.

FrontPageMag.com

Books by Robert Spencer

The Muslim Brotherhood in America, by Robert Spencer

Islamophobia: Thoughtcrime of the Totalitarian Future

Muslim Persecution of Christians, by Robert Spencer

The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks

“My comrade-in-arms, my pal, my buddy.”
— Oriana Fallaci

“Robert Spencer incarnates intellectual courage when, all over the world, governments, intellectuals, churches, universities and media crawl under a hegemonic Universal Caliphate’s New Order. His achievement in the battle for the survival of free speech and dignity of man will remain as a fundamental monument to the love of, and the self-sacrifice for, liberty.”
— Bat Ye’or

“Robert Spencer is indefatigable. He is keeping up the good fight long after many have already given up. I do not know what we would do without him. I appreciate all the intelligence and courage it takes to keep going despite the appeasement of the West.”
— Ibn Warraq

“America's most informed, fearless, and compelling voice on modern jihadism.”
— Andrew C. McCarthy, Senior Fellow at National Review Institute

“Robert Spencer is the leading voice of scholarship and reason in a world gone mad. If the West is to be saved, we will owe Robert Spencer an incalculable debt.”
— Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

"The consummate Islam critic and expert." — Bruce Bawer

“Over the years, we have become friends, and I have received his assistance on several pieces of legislation I proposed.”
— Former Congressman Tom Tancredo

“Few people are capable of applying scholarship, analytical reasoning, and objectivity to their topic -- while simultaneously being readable and witty -- as can Robert Spencer.”
— Raymond Ibrahim

“A national treasure...The acclaimed scholar of Islam.”
— Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy

“I am indeed honored to call him my friend.”
— Brad Thor, novelist

“A top American analyst of Islam....A serious scholar...I learn from him.”
— Daniel Pipes

“A brilliant scholar and writer.”
— Douglas Murray

"One of my best teachers."
— Ashraf Ramelah, Voice of the Copts

“Thank God there’s at least one man with balls left in the West.”
— Kathy Shaidle, Five Feet of Fury

“I read people like [Mark Steyn] and Bob Spencer and the rest of them, and I say, ‘Boortz, you’re pretending you’re an author. These people really are. They really write some entertaining, some standup stuff.’”
— Neal Boortz

“Robert Spencer is the Stephen King of Jihad.”
— Chris Gaubatz, Muslim Mafia

“Armed with facts and fearlessness, Spencer stands up for Western civilization.”
— Michelle Malkin

“Widely read in conservative foreign policy circles.”
— New York Times

“Widely read in many quarters in Washington.”
— Washington Post

“A canny operative who likely has the inside track on the State Department’s Middle East affairs desk should the tea party win the White House.”
— New York Magazine

“A hero of the American right.”
— Karen Armstrong

"The leading anti-Islamic intellectual in the United States....The go-to Islam expert for the right wing."
— Salon Magazine

“Robert Spencer is an Edward Said turned upside down.”
— Stephen Suleyman Schwartz

“One of the nation's most notorious Islamophobes.”
— Hamas-linked CAIR

"Geller and Spencer are probably the most important propagandizing Islamophobes in the world. These people's voices speak very loudly — not just here in the United States but overseas."
— Heidi Beirach, Southern Poverty Law Center

“Satanic ignoramus.”
— Khaleel Mohammed

“The Likud anti-Christ.”
— Dar al-Hayat newspaper (Saudi Arabia)

“Zionist Crusader, missionary of hate, counter-Islam consultant.”
— Al-Qaeda’s Adam Gadahn, “Azzam the American”