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Straw withheld Bali warnings
Fraser Nelson Westminster
Editor
JACK Straw, the Foreign
Secretary, yesterday admitted that he withheld intelligence
information about the terrorist threat in Bali, believing it
too unspecific to be of any practical value.
Warnings
relating to terrorist activity in six of Indonesia’s largest
islands - including Bali - were not passed on by the Foreign
Office because they were considered too "generic".
Although Mr Straw defended his decision, he
nonetheless formally issued the missing warning yesterday -
and repeated his apology for failing to provide enough
immediate help for the families of the 60 Britons caught in
the blast.
Mr Straw angrily dismissed accusations that
he had not taken seriously information which could have saved
the 33 British lives feared lost in the terrorist attack. He
said yesterday that he was aware of a "generic threat"
relating to the six Indonesian islands: Bali, Jakarta,
Sumatra, Yogjakarta, Kalmaty and Lombok.
Such
information was not passed on, he said, because "we should
always err on the side of caution when it comes to circulating
intelligence".
In a hard-hitting response, Michael
Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, said Mr Straw’s excuse
was implausible. "How on earth can this information about six
islands out of 6,000 inhabited islands be regarded as generic
rather than specific?" he said.
"Why on earth, if
Britain had the same information available to it as the
Americans, did we not issue the same warnings to our citizens
at the same time?"
Mr Straw said that the six islands
"covered 55 per cent of the land mass on Indonesia and 100
million of its population" and could be described as generic,
not specific threats.
After he spoke, the Foreign
Office reinforced its warnings on Indonesia, saying there is
now a risk of reprisals to avenge the recent arrest of
Abubaker Baasyir, the radical Islamic leader believed to be
linked the attack.
Britons who choose to stay in
Indonesia, the Foreign Office continued, should "exercise
extreme caution in public places, in particular places of
entertainment such as nightclubs, bars, restaurants, outdoor
recreational areas and places of worship known to be
frequented by foreigners".
This language is almost
identical to the warnings issued on 26 September and 10
October, two days before the Bali attack, by the US
authorities.
While both warnings were based on advice
available to the Foreign Office, it said it would not have
replicated them - partly through concern over identifying its
sources.
Downing Street has said this information had
been "reflected" in Foreign Office guidance to travellers
issued on 27 August, identifying Indonesia as one of a number
of countries where there was "an increased threat to visible
British interests from global terrorism".
The Foreign
Office has now listed a number of specific suburbs of the
Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and five other hot spots where
Britons should be "particularly careful". This now matches
updated advice from Australia, which bore the brunt of
casualties in the explosions.
"The arrest of Abubaker
Baasyir and the possible arrest of other extremist leaders
could lead to a strong reaction from their supporters,
including demonstrations targeting Western interests and
Indonesian government buildings," it said.
Baasyir,
founder of Jemaah Islamiah, was arrested by the Indonesian
authorities on Saturday. Although he remains in a hospital, he
is suspected of taking part in a recent assassination plot
against President Megawati Sukarnoputri. |
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