YET again Britain is at the epicentre of an international terrorist plot intended to indiscriminately murder hundreds.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a mens Rubber Bracelets former London university student, was foiled only because his explosive device failed to detonate properly aboard Northwest Airlines transatlantic flight 253.
There are many disturbing questions for the U.S. authorities - who placed Abdulmutallab on a terrorist watch list, then still allowed him to fly.
But one troubling issue for Britain is the speed at which Whitehall officials let it be known they had barred Abdulmutallab from re-entering the UK, when he applied earlier this summer to study on a suspected bogus course.
The Government and security services - who failed to stop shoe bomber Richard Reid in 2001 or the July 7 and 21 Prada Handags Replica attacks - appear desperate to be seen as more fastidious than their U.S. counterparts.
Maybe they were more vigilant on this occasion - but isn't there every chance Abdulmutallab was radicalised under the noses of the British authorities, after being granted a visa to study engineering at University College London between 2005 and 2008? Nor does this son of a wealthy Nigerian banker fit any convenient stereotype of a terrorist, living as he did in one of London's most expensive streets, while studying at one of the world's leading universities.
Since 2000, an astonishing 1.5million visas have been granted to foreign students - including ten Pakistani nationals allegedly plotting an atrocity in North-West England earlier this year.
embroidered patches
How many more visas have been handed to well-disguised Al Qaeda fanatics? And how many are still here, hatching deadly plots? This is no time for complacency.
Other articles:
http://watches2010.gunmablog.jp/e35454.html
http://mywatches.wikimind.com/2010/02/02/paul-has-last-laugh/