Obama now attacking UK, accuses Downing Street of making ‘a mistake’ over intelligence claim

abdulmutallabAccording to the UK Telegraph, the White House is now accussing Downing Street of making a mistake over allegations that Britain told American intelligence agents more than a year ago that the Detroit bomber had links to extremists. The Prime Minister’s spokesman had indicated that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was named in a file of people based in Britain who had made contact with radical Muslim preachers. The file was sent to the US authorities in 2008 (during the Bush days). But the White House sources are now disputing the Downing Street account, stating that it was a mistake and no such intelligence information was passed by Britain before the attempted Christmas Day attacks. The White House declined to respond officially.

However, White House sources disputed the Downing Street account, stating that it was a mistake and no such intelligence information was passed by Britain before the attempted Christmas Day attacks. The White House declined to respond officially.

The news comes as Barack Obama prepares to unveil plans aimed at thwarting future attacks as he seeks to limit political fallout from the incident.

He will outline an initial series of changes, including enhancements to the much-criticised “watchlists” of terrorism suspects, after he meets with intelligence chiefs and other top security advisers on Tuesday, first full day back from his Hawaii vacation, an administration official said.

The implication that the US failed to act could embarrass President Barack Obama, who is already under pressure after failures by US intelligence to identify the bomber.

A British official also backed claims that there appeared to have been a misunderstanding about what Downing Street had said: “There is nothing to stand up the suggestion that the UK provided information to the US that it could or should have acted upon.”

Diplomatic sources said that the Prime Minister’s spokesman had intended to refer to information gleaned by MI5 after the Christmas Day incident following an exhaustive examination of records going back through Abdulmutallab’s time in Britain up to October 2008.

It could also add to concern over the state of the “special relationship” between Downing Street and the White House following last year’s dispute over the early release of the Lockerbie bomber.

It is extremely unusual for the Prime Minister’s office to comment on intelligence matters. The move could be seen as an attempt to rebuff criticism from senior American figures who claimed that Britain had nurtured Islamic extremism.

At first it was thought that MI5 gathered only limited information on Abdulmutallab and had therefore not alerted the US.

However, in an official briefing, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said that British intelligence was shared with the Americans.

He said: “Clearly there was security information about this individual’s activities and that was information that was shared with the US authorities. That is the key point.”

The spokesman added: “We are pretty certain that he was radicalised outside the UK. He [Abdulmutallab] left the UK in October 2008.

“But it is also clear that while he was here he was attempting to make contact with people and that is the intelligence we were able to secure from the intelligence services.”

Last night, a Downing Street spokesman added: “We do routinely share large quantities of intelligence with the US on a two-way basis so we can build up a picture of the potential threats we face.

In regard to the Detroit bomber, the UK and US had gathered partial information and this had been shared in the usual way. Since the incident, we have built up a fuller picture.

There is no suggestion that the US did not act on intelligence information that they received from the UK.”

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January 5, 2010 · Filed Under Terrorism


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