And too many such officials, on both sides of the Atlantic, continue to laugh — not only at the possible reach of Al-Qaeda, but at the jihad and Islamic supremacist threat in general. “Intelligence officials ‘laughed’ at al Qaeda 7/7 bomb link,” by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, May 19 (thanks to Sr. Soph):
Senior intelligence officials initially dismissed suggestions the July 7 bombings were al Qaeda linked, it has been claimed.
Chris Driver-Williams, a former senior IED analyst for the Defence Intelligence Staff said his claim provoked laughter at a meeting of intelligence agencies on the morning of the bombings.
One senior intelligence officer attending the Cobra meeting said the idea of an al Qaeda link was “absurd”.
“When I suggested this at Cobra, I was met with laughter. This was by people in the intelligence community who knew their onions,” Mr Driver-Williams said.
“Someone senior from an intelligence organisation said: ‘Who are you and what possibly qualifies you to come out with such an absurd statement?”‘
Later that day the al Qaida link was widely accepted by investigators as the details of the simultaneous planned attacks became clear….
They laughed when I said it was Al-Qaeda, but when the bombs started to explode…