Date published: 2006/05/11
The BBC says:
A lack of resources prevented security services from intercepting the 7 July London bombers, a key report has said.
Two of the four bombers were known to security officers but the threat they posed was not realised.
But it was "understandable" the pair had not been investigated more fully, the committee of MPs concluded.
Home Secretary John Reid insisted there would be no public inquiry, as he gave the government's long-awaited account of the bombings to the Commons.
...
Mr Reid detailed the events of 7 July to the Commons, saying the whole operation to launch four separate attacks on London's transport system cost the bombers less than £8,000.He said the bombers' motivation was "fierce antagonism to perceived injustices by the West against Muslims" and a desire for martyrdom.
Meanwhile the MPs' report said the security services had come across 30-year-old Mohammad Sidique Khan and fellow bomber Shehzad Tanweer, 22, while they were investigating other cases.
They also discovered after the attacks that they had a phone number for Russell Square bomber Germaine Lindsay, 19, on their files.
Khan and Tanweer had been observed in Pakistan, where it was "likely that they had some contact with al-Qaeda figures".
"If more resources had been in place sooner the chances of preventing the July attacks could have increased," the report stated.
"Greater coverage in Pakistan, or more resources generally in the UK, might have alerted the agencies to the intentions of the 7 July group."
But the Intelligence and Security Committee conceded there were "more pressing priorities" at the time, including the need to disrupt known plans to attack the UK.
"It was decided not to investigate [Khan and Tanweer] further or seek to identify them," said the report, adding that this decision was "understandable".
Every organisation could always do better with more resources, so this is hardly a novel claim. The problem, as always, is that resources are not infinite. And it's hard to protect against terrorist acts (an extreme form of vandalism) which only cost £2000 pounds per incident, you can put that easily enough on a credit card.
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