Terrorist pastime - whitewater rafting

Scotland's first anti-terrorism tzar was unveiled to the public yesterday.

One of John Corrigan's first actions was to tell everyone to be suspicious, particularly people who run outdoor centres:

CHIEF police officers are contacting outdoor activity groups following concerns they could be used by those organising terrorist training camps.

Assistant Chief Constable John Corrigan, Scotland's first counter-terrorism czar, has called for groups running outdoor activities such as whitewater rafting to report suspicious activity. (...)

The move follows intelligence which revealed two of the 7/7 London bombers went whitewater rafting in Snowdonia a month before they carried out the attacks last year.
Mr Corrigan said Scotland's eight forces had started consultations with outdoor activity companies.

And people renting out flats:

"If someone is renting a flat and they are not confident about a prospective buyer or if they are suspicious, my message is, 'Do not keep it to yourself. Contact the police.'

"Maybe someone becomes suspicious about a group of strange males who are together for a weekend. The message is the same, 'Let us know'."

What exactly would members of the public see these "groups of strange males" doing? The London bombers went rafting (pictured above, planning their outrage with non-burka-clad female companion), but what did other members of the public see them doing that they didn't report?

I've been on many outdoor trips with groups of young Muslims, and this kind of loose police talk is a licence for paranoia.

The Scotsman meanwhile report that Alex Carlile, the government's reviewer of anti-terror legislation has found that Scottish police have operated a successful anti-terror strategy without indiscriminate use of Stop and Search as seen in England. This could undermine the need for the S&S law.

UPDATE 22/06/06: I've a letter on this published in the Herald today:

Scotland’s new anti-terror tzar has called for outdoor centres to be wary of suspicious would-be terrorists frequenting them. He said people “suspicious of groups of strange males” at weekends should call him, as well as people renting out their flats with similar suspicions about potential terrorists.

Assistant Chief Constable John Corrigan does not however, put any flesh on what such activity worth reporting would be. It’s said the London bombers went whitewater rafting. It is not said what it was that the general public missed in their behaviour that should have been reported. Presumably they did not parade around with bomb making equipment protruding from their pockets or shout “boom” in the faces of members of the public. One would think if someone saw people planning a terror attack they wouldn’t need to be told by the police they should report it.

Corrigan’s appeal then is simply a licence for paranoia. Taking former Home Office Minister Hazel Blear’s advice, I take it young Muslims should expect to be shopped under this simply for looking like Muslims. I’ve been on many outdoor trips with young Muslims. Would playing paintball in itself now be seen as preparation for terrorism? Comments like this from the police will leave many parents hesitant of how their kids will be viewed and deprive many of much-needed opportunities to get out and have a good time.

Coming hard on the heels of Forest Gate fiasco, one would hope the police would be more discerning in the intelligence they wished to acquire. It was reported at the weekend that the “specific intelligence” the Metropolitian Police had on Abdul Kahar, who came within a few inches of being the next Jean Charles De Menezes, and Abul Koyair was from a man with in IQ of 69. Not a great deal of intelligence at all then.

Comments

[Saracen]

Speaking of pastimes, while at university, a lecturer let us in on his hobby of building rockets; these things were real and flew for hundreds of meters. In a subsequent lecture, one of the pupils brought in his own rocket, a 3 foot long tube with real propulsion engines, and they showed off software that could plot the trajectory given certain parameters of the rockets. At the time, I jokingly asked what would happen if Muslim had been caught carrying that on the Tube. (This was in about 2002)

Another banned pastime to add to the list along with flying lessons, paintballing and outdoor pursuits!

[cdnmuslim]

Crap, now I have to cancel all those trips I was gonna take :''(

[The Antagonist]

Raft.org claims the July 7th accused went white-water rafting on July 4th 2005.

And, right on cue, one of the Queen's finest white-water rafters, ex-Special Boat Services (a crack team of 250, more secret than the SAS) operative, Martin 'Abdullah' McDaid, has finally made it back into the news nearly 12 months after it was revealed ex-Royal Marine and Muslim Convert worked at the Iqra Learning Centre in Leeds, a place frequented by the alleged suicide bombers on July 7th, thanks to the latest re-revelations by Martin Gilbertson, IT consultant to the Iqra Learning Centre.

The Sunday Times even printed a picture of the rather furtive looking 'Abdullah' who, back in July 2005, referred all press inquiries to his London-based solicitor. The Times also reveals that Mr McDaid had been under surveillance by the Polis since 2002.

Additional information comes from JamesTown:
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An investigation into the Iqra bookshop—where both Khan and Shehzad Tanweer worked as volunteers—has revealed links with 41-year-old Scots-born James McLintock. A Muslim convert who changed his name to Mohammed Yacoub, McLintock relocated to Pakistan in 2000. In December 2001 he was arrested by Pakistani security forces on the border with Afghanistan on suspicion of militant activities, leading to him being dubbed the “Tartan Taleban” by the media. He claimed to be working for a charitable organization and was released the following month. During a visit to the UK in 2003 he was again arrested on suspicion of extremist activities, but he has repeatedly denied such allegations.

While living in the city of Bradford in the mid-1990s, McLintock worked in nearby Leeds in an Islamic bookshop called “Rays of Truth.” One of his work colleagues was Martin “Abdullah” McDaid, a fellow Muslim convert and ex-UK Special Forces operative. McDaid had close contacts with the Iqra bookshop in Beeston where Khan worked from 2001. The shop sold jihadi multimedia products. A former friend of Khan from the area confirmed that McLintock had been in Beeston and ran a series of Islamic study sessions in Iqra in 2000. McDaid did not deny that McLintock had been involved in Iqra when queried by a journalist.

Further information has also emerged through a local community worker, and former associate of Khan, that a radical London-based Sheikh, Abdullah al-Faisal, had been in Beeston on at least two occasions. That worker had opposed Jamaican-born al-Faisal’s presence in the area as he preached violent jihad to local youths. Al-Faisal was jailed for his activities in 2003.
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As William Ehrman, Director General (Defence & Intelligence) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said:

"Dealing with Islamist extremism, the messages are more complex, the constituencies we would aim at are more difficult are more difficult to indentify, and greater damage could be done to the overall effort if links back to UK or US sources were revealed."

[j0nz]

I hope the general public take no notice whatsover and continue to be completely ignorant, and/or continue to be paralysed through paraoxysms of political correctness.

The Flight 93 terrorists could have been stopped by the clerk at the checking in desk; personal account was that they thought they was middle eastern terrorists, but didn't do anything out of fear of embarassment.

Avoiding embarassment to Muslims should be a priority, clearly. Who knows, you might oppress them to the point of, well, explosion.

[cdnmuslim]

j0nz,
why don't we haul all the Muslims to an island?? Let's do the same to the blacks because, well, you know, they do all those crimes...While we're at it, let's do the same to all those whites, theere might be a Timothy McVeigh amongst them...or a Hitler! Let's also take all along all the gays...they're spreading AIDS all over the place! Let's take the hispanics too, maybe some of them are illegal aliens. While we're at it, let's haul off all the Jews as well...man can they ever take over an economy!!!

Do you listen to your words? How did the clerk suspect they were terrorists? IF what you are saying is true...racial profiling?

[thabet]

cdn,

Don't be riled by j0nz, who is one of the many anti-Muslim bigots crawling over the internet.