August 24, 2014
Philip Hammond Says Militants Pose a Threat to Britain
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-k-foreign-secretary-issues-stark-warning-on-islamic-state-1408885145
Britain is close to identifying a suspect who is seen in an Islamic State video beheading U.S. journalist James Foley , Britain's ambassador to the U.S. said Sunday, as hundreds gathered for a memorial church service in Mr. Foley's hometown of Rochester, N.H.
Ambassador Peter Westmacott declined to confirm British news reports naming the suspect in the video but told CNN that "we are close" to doing so.
He said the identification was made possible through the use of sophisticated voice-identification technologies and other information. The suspect in the video has what appears to be a British accent.
Mr. Foley was one of several Americans held by the group known as the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria, U.S. officials say.
"Of course, the problem goes beyond one horrendous criminal," the ambassador said. "We've got more people than we would like. People think that maybe as many as 500 British subjects have gone to Syria and Iraq for this cause of Jihad."
If Islamic State isn't stopped it will eventually seek to carry out an attack on British soil, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned in an article published on Sunday.
Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper, Mr. Hammond said security services estimated some 500 British jihadis had travelled to Syria and Iraq in recent years. The likely involvement of a British citizen in the killing of Mr. Foley was further proof of the threats the U.K. faced from individuals "who may carry our passport but do not share our values," he said.
"ISIL [Islamic State] members are turning a swathe of Iraq and Syria into a terrorist state as a base for launching attacks on the West....Unless they are stopped, sooner or later they will seek to strike us on British soil," he said, adding that it was horrific to think that the man suspected of beheading Mr. Foley could have been brought up in Britain. "It is an utter betrayal of our country, our values, and everything the British people stand for."
The U.K. Foreign Office on Sunday said a separate story in the Sunday Times reporting that British security services had identified Mr. Foley's suspected killer as a former London rapper was speculation. It declined to comment on whether a hunt was underway for the man with a London accent who was seen killing Mr. Foley in a gruesome video released on Tuesday. A spokesman for London Metropolitan Police, which is investigating the video, on Sunday declined to comment on the case.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said the British government won't enter another war in Iraq and won't commit combat troops to the conflict. But he has said it will use its diplomatic, humanitarian and military assets to help keep pressure on Islamic State, which is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Mr. Hammond said British military aircraft had flown more than 180 hours of sorties to gather intelligence and deliver humanitarian supplies and equipment in Iraq, and planned to deliver Eastern European ammunition and weaponry to the Kurdish forces fighting the militants there. Britain was also looking at what equipment it could supply, from night-vision gear and body armor to weaponry and ammunitions, he said.
"What they need from us is equipment, advice, support and training," Mr. Hammond said.
The suspected involvement of a Briton in the killing of Mr. Foley has spurred concerns about whether the government and Muslim community is doing enough to tackle homegrown extremism.
The upsurge of violence across the Middle East has politicized fringe elements of Britain's estimated 2.8 million Muslims—one of the largest Islamic demographics in Europe. While the larger Muslim population comes from diverse backgrounds, officials have been wary of a small group of foreign radical Islamic preachers and groups who had been given asylum before the war on terror began.
British Home Secretary Theresa May said late on Friday that the U.K. government could strengthen powers to tackle radicalization. In an article on the Telegraph newspaper's online edition, she said 69 Britons had been arrested this year for offences relating to terrorism in Syria, of which 12 had been charged and four prosecuted. Mrs. May said she was re-examining the case for new bans on extremist groups that fall short of the legal threshold for terrorist proscription, as well as for new civil powers to target extremists who seek to radicalize others.
—Jennifer Levitz in Rochester contributed to this article.
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