In what appears to be a new front in the war on terror, Denmark has arrested nine suspected terrorists in Odense after tracking them for "some time":

Danish police have arrested nine suspected terrorists, the country's security intelligence service says.

The suspects, believed to be all men under the age of 30, were picked up during overnight raids in Odense, Denmark's third largest city.

The men had been under surveillance for some time and were detained on suspicion of planning terror acts. ...

He said the suspects "had acquired material ... to build explosives in connection with the preparation of a terror act".

The Danish security services had no clear indication of a target or a timeframe for their attack. However, it wouldn't be too difficult to imagine why terrorists have decided to add Denmark as another theater of operations. After all, the controversy over the editorial cartoons depicting Mohammed began in Denmark, touching off riots around the Islamic world and even angry protests in the streets of Western cities.

In the intervening seven months, the heat may have dissipated but the supposed insult has not been forgotten. Kofi Annan made an oblique reference to it this weekend in Iran at the exhibition of a series of editorial cartoons mocking the Holocaust that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sponsored in the wake of the Danish publications. He cautioned against all speech that might give offense -- after which the Iranians scheduled a Holocaust denial convention in Teheran.

The "some time" timeframe mentioned by the BBC almost certainly goes back to February or shortly thereafter. The aggregation of materiel by the terrorists within Denmark establishes their intent to strike within the country. The targets probably included the newspapers that published the cartoons, although knowing the Islamist strategic thinking, they probably also planned to target transportation and/or economic sites as well. The Danes, who refused to force the newspapers to withdraw the cartoons, prepared themselves to defend their liberty instead. It's a good lesson for all Western nations tempted to march the dhimmi trail rather than stand up for their freedom.

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» Terror Suspects Arrested In Denmark from Hyscience
It's a shame, and also a harbinger - the canary in the coalmine, for the U.S. unless we recognize our own very similar problems with immigration and home grown Islamist-related problems, and do something about it - now. [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 8:00 AM

» Terror Suspects Arrested In Denmark - A Harbinger And A Clue from Hyscience
It's a shame, and also a harbinger - the canary in the coalmine, for the U.S. unless we recognize our own very similar problems with immigration and home grown Islamist-related problems, and do something about it - now. [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 8:34 AM

» Bill's Bites from Old War Dogs
The webmaster's blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated, newest items at the top. 10:24 Nine held in Danish terror raids (H/T) Danish police have arrested nine suspected terrorists, the country's security intelligence service says. The suspects, belie... [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 10:26 AM

» Terror Suspects Arrested In Denmark - A Harbinger And A Clue from Hyscience
It's a shame, and also a harbinger - with Europe serving as the canary in the coalmine for the U.S. unless we recognize our own very similar problems with immigration and home grown Islamist-related problems, and do something about it - now. [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 11:38 AM

» Terror Suspects Arrested In Denmark - A Harbinger And A Clue from Hyscience
It's a shame, and also a harbinger - with Europe serving as the canary in the coalmine for the U.S. unless we recognize our own very similar problems with immigration and home grown Islamist-related problems, and do something about it - now. [Read More]

Tracked on September 5, 2006 2:02 PM

» More lone gunmen… from Strategic Outlook Institute - Weblog
Denmark has arrested nine suspected terrorists, and still has seven in custody. The charge is that they were plotting a terrorist attack within Denmark. This supports my previous post on Pakistan where a Muhammad cartoon gets a death sentence, but b... [Read More]

Tracked on September 6, 2006 5:01 AM