Security Adviser To U.K. P.M. Foresees More Terrorist Threat

A day after the British government suffered a severe set-back in parliament in its effort to pass a key counter-terrorism law, a top security official said Wednesday the country might be faced with a major terrorist attack, media reports said.Lord West, security adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, warned that there is one more "great plot" being hatched, and that the authorities are monitoring the situation."The threat is huge. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of 'severe'", he said. "We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building, the complex plots are building," West told the House of Lords, without elaborating.His warning came after the House of Lords Tuesday rejected a controversial security measure -- in the pipeline after suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters in London July 2005 -- to empower police to detain terror suspects without charge up to six weeks.British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith dropped the counter-terrorism measure after a cross-party revolt in the House of Lords, where 24 Labor peers, including more than two former Ministers, joined the opposition ranks to defeat the move by a whopping 191 votes -- one of the biggest defeats for a government bill in many years.She said though the government was dropping the plan for now, it would be brought forward as part of a separate bill in the event of a national emergency.Smith accused critics of ignoring the "terrorist threat" to score cheap popularity. "I deeply regret that some have been prepared to ignore the terrorist threat for fear of taking a tough but necessary decision. Let no one kid himself that this issue can go away," she told the Commons.A growing threat from within the Algerian, Somali and Yemeni Muslim communities in Britain along with the established threat from youths returning from the al-Qaida heartlands on the Pakistan-Afghan border are giving counter-terrorism officials sleepless nights.For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.comCopyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2 leader of al Qaeda in Iraq killed

American troops acting on a tip killed the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda in Iraq -- a Moroccan known for his ability to recruit and motivate foreign fighters -- in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said today.The military statement described the man, known as Abu Qaswarah, as a charismatic leader who had trained in Afghanistan and managed to rally al-Qaida followers in Iraq despite U.S. and Iraqi security gains MORE..http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq16-2008oct16,0,5862699.story