Representative Press Blog: London Bombers' Motives

Tom · at 7/07/2006 05:15:00 AM

CNN's show called Anderson Cooper 360 plays a clip of London suicide bomber but only plays this part: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a strain of attacks that will continue and become stronger"

COOPER: We begin with the terror tape and a dead man talking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The video, like so many others from al Qaeda, first appeared on Al-Jazeera. Shehzad Tanweer, one of the London suicide bombers, seems to appear from beyond the grave, a dead man talking on a video recorded months before he detonated his bomb on a crowded subway train a year ago.

SHEHZAD TANWEER, LONDON SUICIDE BOMBER: What you have witnessed now is only the beginning.

COOPER: He is the second bomber to send such a message. The first, from suspected ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, was released just before 9/11 last year.

MOHAMMAD SIDIQUE KHAN, LONDON SUICIDE BOMBER: Until we feel secured, you will be our targets.

COOPER: Tanweer, like Khan, threatened more attacks.

This latest video was designed, says a senior Scotland Yard officer, to cause maximum hurt to the families and friends of those who died last July 7, also, says a terrorism expert, to win new recruits to al Qaeda.

ASSAF MOGHADAM, RESEARCH FELLOW, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: What the video footage does, it -- it helps empower the organization. It actually helps portray the organization as more important and more powerful than it actually is. And that, then, has an -- an effect on -- on people who potentially will join the -- the group.

The Christian Science Monitor, the LA Times, CBS news, ABC news reported only this much in reports: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a strain of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq"

The New York Times, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Times (of the UK), among others, managed to give a full quote that mentions all the motives, the demands made to the British government: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a strain of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel."

ABC NEWS OMITS Mention of AMERICA and ISRAEL

This AP report at ABC NEWS leaves out "and until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel."
ABC NEWS International at this web site: Video: 2 London Bombers al-Qaida Trained

Glancing down at his text, which was off-camera, Tanweer said: "I tell every British citizen to stop your support to your lying British government and to the so-called war on terror. And ask yourselves: Why would thousands of men be ready to give their lives for the cause of Muslims?"

"What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a series of attacks that will continue and increase in strength until you withdraw your soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq," he warned.

NOTE: The next part, the end of this sentence, is "and until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel." but the AP report at ABC NEWS leaves this out.
The question is why the AP chops off the end of the sentence that mentions Israel. Many news outlets rely on the AP and end up with reports that omit what AP omits.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann Plays the Same Game of Omitting Motives on July 7

Dawna Friesen, NBC News, London, is playing the game by playing the clip of the 7/7 suicide bomber saying "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning" BUT cutting off the end part of the sentence which was: "of a strain of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel."

OLBERMANN:... Solemn remembrances and simmering anger and anxiety, covered for us by our correspondent in London, Dawna Friesen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAWNA FRIESEN, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, there was silence, two minutes to reflect and pay tribute to the 52 who died.

The images from that day are as unforgettable as they are horrific. Four bombs, three on the Underground, one on a bus. All four bombers, caught on security cameras hours before, died in the blast.

Yesterday, the video farewell of one of the bombers surfaced. In it, al Qaeda‘s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, claims two of the bombers trained in al Qaeda camps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you have witnessed now is only the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRIESEN: His thick Yorkshire accent a chilling reminder his hatred was home-grown.

(on camera): Police have, they say, foiled three, possibly four terrorist plots since last July, have 70 active investigations under way, and say they have at least 1,200 suspicious people under surveillance.

(voice-over): But one year later, no one has been arrested in connection with July 7.

CRISPIN BLACK, FORMER BRITISH INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: A rough rule of thumb is that for each bomber, you have three or four helpers. And the worrying thing about the 7/7 plot is, we haven‘t got any of those people.

FRIESEN: There have been mistakes, botched raids, an innocent man killed, all leading to a dwindling of trust in the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) from the British police shooting people at left, right, and center, OK...

FRIESEN: In this Leeds suburb, where three of the four bombers lived, there‘s a feeling the community is under siege.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they going to raid my house next? What happens if I run away, will they shoot me?

FRIESEN: So is Britain any safer today?

PETER CLARKE, METROPOLITAN POLICE: I think the only sensible conclusion to draw is that the threat in London and in the rest of the United Kingdom is very real.

FRIESEN: Apart from a few visible signs of tighter security, daily life has changed little.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world has to continue. Life has to continue.

FRIESEN: Never forgetting, but not giving in to fear.

Dawna Friesen, NBC News, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)