Theories and Uncertainties abound about the London bombings

OK, for those who love this investigative stuff, there seems to be way too many different stories/theories about how exactly the London bombings were carried out, and there isn't even absolute certainty about whom exactly carried out these attacks (i.e. the particular individuals names, or some other bigger terrorist network, or even that it was possibly state-sponsored).

I find all this very intruiging...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20050716/ts_nm/security_britain_suicide_dc

London police avoid term 'suicide bombing'

LONDON (Reuters) - Police have not yet definitively established that four men who carried bombs on to London's transport network intended to die in last week's blasts, a Scotland Yard spokesman said on Saturday.

He was commenting on a report in the Daily Mirror newspaper suggesting the bombers, who all died in the July 7 explosions, may have thought they had time to get away after planting the devices.

Police have carefully refrained throughout the investigation from publicly using the term "suicide bomber," describing the four men only as bombing suspects.

"We've never used the phrase 'suicide bombers'. We've always been aware that among the things we need to clarify is the notion these people intended to die as well as letting off a bomb," the spokesman said.

Asked what alternative explanations were possible, he said: "Obviously, there's human error of various types or misjudgments of various types. It may seem unlikely, but that's policing -- you start with all the possibilities and narrow down the certainties."

Fifty-five people died in the blasts on three underground trains and a bus. Police suspect the attacks were masterminded by al Qaeda Islamist militants.

The Daily Mirror report said several factors cast doubt on the suicide theory -- two of the men had pregnant wives, they did not carry the explosives strapped to their bodies, and they bought return rail tickets from Luton to London.

It quoted unnamed security sources as suggesting the bombers may have been duped into believing they could escape unscathed.

 

Another article addressing these uncertainties in more detail...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_obj...exclusive--58--was-it-suicide--name_page.html

EXCLUSIVE: WAS IT SUICIDE?
Why did they buy return train tickets to Luton? Why did they buy pay & display tickets for cars? Why were there no usual shouts of 'Allah Akhbar'? Why were bombs in bags and not on their bodies?

By Jeff Edwards

THE London bombers may have been duped into killing themselves so their secrets stayed hidden.

Police and MI5 are probing if the four men were told by their al-Qaeda controller they had time to escape after setting off timers. Instead, the devices exploded immediately.

A security source said: "If the bombers lived and were caught they'd probably have cracked. Would their masters have allowed that to happen? We think not."

The evidence is compelling: The terrorists bought return rail tickets, and pay and display car park tickets, before boarding _ a train at Luton for London. None of the men was heard to cry "Allah Akhbar!" - "God is great" - usually screamed by suicide bombers as they detonate their bomb.

Their devices were in large rucksacks which could be easily dumped instead of being strapped to their bodies. They carried wallets containing their driving licences, bank cards and other personal items. Suicide bombers normally strip themselves of identifying material.

Similar terror attacks against public transport in Madrid last year were carried out by recruits who had time to escape and planned to strike again.

Bomber Hasib Hussain detonated his device at the rear of the top deck of a No 30 bus, not in the middle of the bottom deck where most damage would be caused.

Additionally, two of the bombers had strong personal reasons for staying alive.

Jermaine Lindsay's partner Samantha Lewthwaite, 22, mother of his one-year-old son, is expecting her second baby within days. Mohammed Sidique Khan's wife Hasina, mum of a 14-month-old daughter, is also pregnant.

Our source disclosed: "The theory that they were not a suicide squad is gathering pace. They were the weakest link.

"We think it's possible they were told that when they pressed buttons to set off timers they'd have a short time to abandon the bombs and get away before the blast. Instead, the bombs exploded immediately."

Another intelligence source added: "Whoever is behind this didn't want to waste their best operatives on a suicide mission. Instead they used easily recruited low-grade men who may have believed they'd walk away."

At least 54 people were killed in the 7/7 blasts. Khan, 30, of Dewsbury, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, of Leeds, and Jamaican-born Lindsay, 19, of Aylesbury, Bucks, detonated devices on the Tube at Edgware Road, Aldgate and King's Cross.

Hussain, 18, of Leeds, blasted the bus at Tavistock Square. The Tube explosions went off almost simultaneously. But the bus went up an hour later.

Yesterday, Hussain's family told of their horror at the teenager's involvement in the massacre. They said in a statement: "We are devastated over the events of the past few days. Hasib was a loving and normal young man who gave us no concern and we are having difficulty taking this in.

"Our thoughts are with all the bereaved families. We have to live with the loss of our son in these difficult circumstances.

"We had no knowledge of his activities and, had we done, we would have done everything in our power to stop him. We urge anyone with information to cooperate fully with the authorities."

Police are urgently investigating the missing 81 minutes between Hussain arriving from Luton in London and the time his bomb went off.

His device may have malfunctioned. He may have lost his nerve. Or he may have panicked when he discovered the Northern Line, on which he is thought to have been due to travel, was suspended.

Officers want to discover if Hussain met anyone else who either strengthened his faltering resolve or reset his flawed bomb.

 

Here is another article that basically comments on the one above...

http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0348a.html

Forcing the facts to fit the theory

A story in the Daily Mirror, 16/7/05 titled ‘Exclusive: Was it suicide?’, attempts to use essentially the same facts presented here but still make them out to be bombers. There are a lot of problems with this approach, especially in the light of the latest information to emerge.

Firstly, they all bought return tickets and bought an eight-hour ‘park and ride’ ticket in Luton, so they most definately intended to return. The Mirror story asserts they intended to plant the rucksacks but were ‘fooled’ by their ‘handler’.

All four men had rather large rucksacks which would be difficult leave on a train without being immediately noticeable. Anybody who is familar with London Underground trains will know that trying to hide anything in a carriage is impossible, there are no spaces under seats, no luggage racks, in fact nowhere a large rucksack can be tucked away. So how did they intend to leave the rucksack without being noticed? Not impossible I’ll grant, but it increases the likelihood of discovery. And during the more than a decade of IRA bombing, not a single bomb was planted on the tube.

The story tells us

Police and MI5 are probing if the four men were told by their al-Qaeda controller they had time to escape after setting off timers. Instead, the devices exploded immediately.

A security source said: "If the bombers lived and were caught they'd probably have cracked. Would their masters have allowed that to happen? We think not."​

I thought the police had discarded the timer idea? More forcing the facts to fit the theory. And who exactly are the police and MI5 going to probe? The ‘chemist’ that the media have made a big song and dance about? The ‘chemist’ we now learn, has absolutely no connection to the bombings, he just happens to come from Leeds, be an Eygptian and went on a trip to Eygpt at the “right’ time (see the BBC story, ‘Biochemist has ‘no al-Qaeda link’’).

Two of the alleged bombers had pregnant wives, and finally, they all carried plenty of identification, drivers’ licenses, credit cards and so on. Not exactly a description of fanatical disciples of ‘al-Qu’eda’ and indeed, the Mirror story asserts that ‘Suicide bombers normally strip themselves of identifying material’, though it gives us no supporting evidence for this assertion, but assuming it’s true, the Mirror story gets around this by asserting that they were ‘expendible’ quoting yet another ‘intelligence’ source

‘Whoever is behind this didn't want to waste their best operatives on a suicide mission. Instead they used easily recruited low-grade men who may have believed they'd walk away.’​

All very convenient no doubt but the idea that they were ‘low grade’ introduces yet another, wholy unfounded supposition about the nature of suicide bombers, namely that they now come in different gradations (or should it be qualifications?). After all, dead is dead. Again, the Mirror story gets around this by quoting yet another ‘security source’

If the bombers lived and were caught they'd probably have cracked. Would their masters have allowed that to happen? We think not.​

And just in case we don’t get the message, yet another ‘intelligence source’ tells the Mirror

Whoever is behind this didn't want to waste their best operatives on a suicide mission. Instead they used easily recruited low-grade men who may have believed they'd walk away.​

I am at a loss as to how one ‘easily recruits’ someone who will blow people to pieces whether or not they believe that can just ‘walk away’. You’d have to be pretty dumb to be fooled into thinking that you can just ‘walk away’, especially from an underground train, if indeed that was the intended location and nothing so far indicates that the alleged bombers were educationally sub-normal, indeed they seem to be relatively well-adjusted and ‘normal’ individuals according to the accounts I’ve read.

The story also refers to the Madrid bombings of last year

Similar terror attacks against public transport in Madrid last year were carried out by recruits who had time to escape and planned to strike again.​

Except that in the case of Madrid, the bombs all went off out in the open, adjacent to trains and buses, where it was easy for the bombers to escape. The bombs were also much, much larger than the ones used in London, so the comparison just doesn’t wash.

The other problem that neither the story nor the police have a ready-made answer to, is the 81-minute time lag between the tube and the bus bombs.

An alternate explanation that fits the drug courier hypothesis is that on finding the Northern Line shut at Kings Cross, he took a different route after contacting his ‘handler’, to go to his intended destination and that the devices might well have been remotely detonated. My colleague Edward Teague has suggested that the bombs might have used Wi-Fi or even Bluetooth to accomplish the task (although the limited range, especially of Bluetooth, I think rules them both out). Alternately (and much simpler), there could well have been a fault with one of the timers. According to one witness on the bus who saw a man fumbling with a rucksack just prior to the detonation, the man let out a loud scream just before the bomb went off! Perhaps he had just discovered what exactly he was really carrying?

And it now emerges that the police have changed their story yet again and are absolutely sure they used timers and commercial explosives. So what happened to the super-charged nail polish remover, acetone peroxide that was supposedly found in the home of one of the bombers?

The more one learns, the more the notion that these were four bombers, whether suicidal or not, looks unlikely. But it still leaves the question of who set this it up unanswered and critically, that the outrage doesn’t fit the ‘pattern’ of previous bombings begs the question, especially the sophistication of the bombs (well, according to the police). Taking all these facts into account, it points to a very sophisticated operation that has all the hallmarks of a state-sponsored operation.