More Disturbing Linkage

In a post on Saturday, I wrote about the seeming apparent linkage between Iraq's production of ricin and the arrests of terror suspects in London who may be linked to the planned release of ricin. There's more on the story to report, but nothing conclusive. (Read that post first for the necessary background.)

Today, as reported in the UK's Guardian, the mosque that has been the chief center of Islamofascist agitation in London was raided and searched. (You can also use that link to find more stories.) This mosque has also been tentatively linked to American terror suspects Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard "Shoebomber" Reid.

The ricin terrorists arrested last week were Algerians who were living in England. London has a large Algerian population, as a result of lax visa distribution and enforcement. Many of these Algerians came from or through France, which has a permanent Algerian community, a result of its complicated colonial past with the north-African country. French police have long been watching the Algerians, in part because of their Islamofascist agitation and in part because of the violence they've been importing from Algeria itself.

Algeria has been wracked by terrible violence for more than a decade as the Army fights ruthlessly to suppress the fundmentalists who are trying to take over the country, Taliban-style. These fundmentalists have been outlawed there, but continue to function partly thanks to their brethren in France.

There have been documented relations between the Algerians and Al-Qaida. There has also been documented relations between Iraqi Kurds and Algeria. And the Iraqi government has been caught sending poison gas to Europe. But what is missing is a clear link between the Algerians and Iraq itself.

I think as the British investigate this, and the French continue their own investigations, we may yet find that link. It's not there yet, but it bears watching.