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October 29, 2005
Islamists Smuggled SAMs, WMD Into France

According to the London Telegraph, European counterterrorist agencies now hunt a group of Islamofascist terrorists with "links to al-Qaida" that successfully smuggled surface-to-air missiles as well as chemical and biological weapons into France. The missiles, they fear, will serve as the next phase of terrorist attacks on commercial air service, possibly outside one of the major French airports such as Orly:

French and Algerian extremists with links to al-Qa'eda bought the Russian SA-18 Grouse missiles from Chechens in 2002 and smuggled them via Georgia and Turkey, according to French anti-terror sources quoted in Le Figaro.

Both missiles and several of the extremists are reportedly still at large.

French anti-terrorism investigators learned of the missile terror plan while interrogating a Jordanian al-Qa'eda operative close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of the Islamic terror group in Iraq.

Adnan Muhammad Sadik, alias Abu Atiya, is now being held by the Jordanian authorities.

Sadik has quite a terrorist pedigree. He apparently arranged a purchase of Russian SAMs from the Chechens while training new al-Qaeda terror cells throughout the Caucasus. He also has worked closely with Zarqawi in Iraq. Sadik's resume shows the intertwining of these varied "insurgencies" and how they all relate back to al-Qaeda and the coordinated Islamofascist attack on the West. These are not isolated nationalist movements, but a region-wide effort by Islamists to re-establish the Caliphate or to end the world trying to do so.

One has to wonder, when seeing Sadik's list of chemical and biological materiel he admits to sending into Europe, where al-Qaeda managed to get it. He told the Jordanians that he sent ricin, botulin, and cyanide with the SAMs. All three will kill with great efficiency, but ricin is especially deadly and not exactly difficult to produce. However, it seems unlikely that AQ has a stable enough shelter system to have its own production facilities. If it doesn't, the WMD had to come from somewhere -- either the Russians, who deny having any, or one of the countries which AQ has infiltrated, perhaps even Iraq.

The Europeans now have a new terrorist crisis to face. This could, of course, be a hoax or a disinformation campaign. If not, the French might find themselves the next target of AQ violence after the Americans, Spaniards, and British. If that happens, how will the French government explain this to their people? They have appeased the Islamists at almost every turn; they actively undermined the effort to topple Saddam Hussein and still refuse to cooperate with the Coalition in establishing a democracy there. Just the fact that AQ has targeted France shows the emptiness of the argument that AQ only attacks America because of our policies in the Middle East. If any country could have avoided attack because of appeasement, it would be the French; and yet, now they not only have to protect against two SAMs but also track down these deadly chemical weapons before they get unleashed against the French people.

Will this change minds about the nature and span of this conflict? Doubtful, but the extent to which people ignore it will be telling.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at October 29, 2005 9:27 AM

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» Terror Cell Smuggled Missiles Into Europe from CALIFORNIA YANKEE
The London Telegraph reports that an Islamic terror cell has smuggled two surface-to-air missiles into Europe in a plot to shoot down planes in France: French and Algerian extremists with links to al-Qa'eda bought the Russian SA-18 Grouse missiles from [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2005 11:26 AM

» France May Be a Target of Islamists from The Dread Pundit Bluto
What will the French do if faced with their own 9/11? Will they fight like Yanks and Brits or cower like Spaniards? [Read More]

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