Finger pointing time!
UK intelligence services were warned of the threat posed by al-Qaeda in the mid 1990s but did not act quickly enough, says a spy who infiltrated the network.
The agent told the BBC he warned his handlers that al-Qaeda was better organised than was previously thought.
Known by the pseudonym of Omar Nasiri, he worked for intelligence in the UK and France, and trained in Afghanistan.
Mr Nasiri also claimed a senior al-Qaeda operative planted evidence to provoke the US into war against Iraq.
Ibn Sheikh Al-Libi fabricated links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when being questioned by US forces in late 2001, he said.
Al-Qaeda was far more organised, coherent and determined than was appreciated at the time
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the revelations had provided an "insight into the emergence of al-Qaeda in the 90s".
He said French authorities had been concerned about Algerian terrorists and British authorities feared attacks in the UK.
But the details given by the agent, who worked for both the French and British intelligence services, showed that "people were not necessarily looking at those global interconnections".
Source: BBC NEWS | UK | UK 'ignored spy's al-Qaeda fear'
Technorati Tags: Politics - Interesting
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