A Tip From a Muslim Saved Thousands of Lives

Kudos to The Anchoress for being the only right-wing blogger so far to point out, without qualification, that the British investigation that resulted in yesterday's arrests of 24 British Muslim men for plotting to blow up 10 or more planes over the Atlantic Ocean got started because of a tip from a Muslim man.

The news about the tip is in today's Washington Post:

It all began with a tip: In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on London's transit system, British authorities received a call from a worried member of the Muslim community, reporting general suspicions about an acquaintance.

From that vague but vital piece of information, according to a senior European intelligence official, British authorities opened the investigation into what they said turned out to be a well-coordinated and long-planned plot to bomb multiple transatlantic flights heading toward the United States -- an assault designed to rival the scope and lethality of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.

This morning, The Anchoress wrote the following:

Took a little heat, yesterday, for seeming too "moderate" about Muslims. I don't mind taking a little heat, but while you're dishing it, please read this piece and try to remember that not all Muslims are Islamofascists.

It all began with a tip: In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings on London's transit system, British authorities received a call from a worried member of the Muslim community, reporting general suspicions about an acquaintance.

From that vague but vital piece of information, according to a senior European intelligence official, British authorities opened the investigation into what they said turned out to be a well-coordinated and long-planned plot to bomb multiple transatlantic flights heading toward the United States -- an assault designed to rival the scope and lethality of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.

Worth keeping in mind. If we want moderate Muslims to come forward, we can't be jumping up and down saying they're all evil, they should all be interred, etc ... that will just discourage people who can be of real help.

Here is how other neocon bloggers have treated this stunning slap to right-wing Islamophobia:

Ed Morrissey mentions that a tip from a British Muslim started the investigation, but does not comment on it.

Ace of Spades grudgingly acknowledges that a Muslim was instrumental in saving either his ass or the asses of his acquaintances, friends, and loved ones; and then proceeds to leverage his reluctant admission into a fresh new attack on Muslims:

The Brits had an inside man -- a fairly stunning feat of counterintelligence:

They had an undercover operative deep inside the group of at least 30 terrorists...

And that man was almost certainly a Muslim, so, let me say: Thank you. Sorry I give your correligionists such grief. There are, indeed, heroes in the Islamic world as well.

And of course there are a lot of villains -- as Allah's recounting of further cries of "Islamophobia" from the patriotically British Muslim "leadership" demonstrate.

Adapting my little quote:

"Is it just me, or is your first reaction after turning on the news and hearing someone complain of 'Islamophobia' or 'anti-Muslim backlash' to wonder, 'Oh God, what did they blow up now?'"

Guys: If your fellow Muslims weren't killing people, and you weren't offering safe harbor and moral support to the killers among you, there would be nothing to lash back against.

Think about the "root causes" of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim backlash.

Root causes.

You like talking about root causes, don't you?

John at Powerline mentions that all of the arrested plotters are British Muslims; and he mentions that the Brits got important details of the plot from two British Muslims arrested 8 to 10 days ago (and who were tortured to get the details, John strongly implies, although this is, of course, something he assumes, not something he knows) -- but John does not mention that a phone call from a worried member of the British Muslim community immediately after the London subway bombings is what started the investigation to begin with.

A.J. Strata, astoundingly, points to the fact that the British authorities were able to track "...substantial sums of money [...] wired from Pakistan to two of the alleged ringleaders in Britain, so that they could purchase airline tickets" as proof that the New York Times article about the SWIFT financial surveillance program crippled the authorities' ability to do what they actually did.

I know many UK and US administration officials have been noting that this group of people had been under surveillance for some time, but it is also clear the actual plans this group had only recently came to light. What is also clear is we could have missed this attack if they terrorists paid more attention to the NY Times. The late news on the plan caused a rapid response by law enforcement since the attack was apparently only days away.

[...]

Last night US officials told reporters that substantial sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to two of the alleged ringleaders in Britain, [emphasis Strata's] so that they could purchase airline tickets.

One report said they were planning a "dry run" to see if the mechanics of the plot worked -- and hinted that this was what decided the security services and Special Branch to move in, ending a huge surveillance operation that had lasted a year.

Well, I guess these terrorists forgot to read the NY Times or they would have known their money transfers were not safe. Who knows what would have happened if they had adjusted their actions in light of the NY Times declaring an end to the war on terror and exposing the SWIFT financial surveillance. While Pakistan may have just saved hundreds of lives, the NY Times just came close to helping kill hundreds of people. Note that the US was the one pushing for the us of SWIFT. It may not have been possible for the UK to accomplish this feat.

It is clear now the NY Times was horribly wrong to expose the terrorist surveillance efforts of the US and the West. The media needs to sit down, stop complaining about the criticism being heaped on them (rightfully) and admit they have been used by partisan operatives to cripple our efforts and these partisans nearly got a lot of people killed. Would we have caught this without the financial transaction lead? You are either with us, or killing us it seems.

Are you following this logic? Let's boil it down: The fact that the NYT article revealing the SWIFT financial surveillance program did not prevent the British authorities from tracking the terrorists' financial transactions means that the NYT article really has crippled our ability to track terrorists' financial transactions.

One wonders what A.J. Strata and his fellows would have concluded if (God forbid) these attacks had taken place and it turned out afterward that the British authorities had missed the wiring of funds to the terrorists.

Needless to say, A.J. Strata did not mention the phone call tip from a British Muslim man that started this entire investigation.