THE security service MI5 is seeking to recruit 800 extra spies to combat the heightened threat of Islamic terrorism since the London bombings of July 7.
Ministers are expected to approve the expansion plan, which will contribute to a doubling in the size of the spy agency by 2009. Staff numbers are expected to increase from 2,000 last year to nearly 4,000.
Since intelligence is the leading weapon against terrorism - with immigration controls and proper sentencing for the terrorists’ support staff - rather than banging people up for 3 months while you try to work out if they’ve actually done anything I’m glad The Times reports that ministers are going to approve the funds necessary for the expansion.
And if intelligence is indeed the leading weapon against terrorism then Muslims themselves are the leading intelligence gatherers against the evil in their midst:
Hundreds of spies, surveillance and desk officers will be recruited. They will include many candidates from ethnic minorities. The agency wants to hire “streetwise” young Muslim men who are capable of infiltrating groups of Islamic hardliners.
And they can get cracking against the buggers who have decided Her Majesty is one of their ’severest enemies’. In the full version of the video featuring Mohammad Sidique Khan, ringleader of the London bombings,
…al-Zawahiri not only labels the Queen as one of Islam’s “severest enemies” but also sends a warning shot to British Islamic leaders who “work for the pleasure of Elizabeth, the head of the Church of England”.
He said those who followed her were saying: “We are British citizens, subject to Britain’s crusader laws, and we are proud of our submission . . . to Elizabeth, head of the Church of England.”
