Sunday Post Article

[brant grebner]

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/isis-targeted-scot-to-force-a-yes-vote-in-referendum-1.562793

ISIS ‘targeted Scot to force a Yes vote in referendum’

By Gordon Blackstock, 7 September 2014 8.10am.

A leading intelligence expert fears Islamic extremists are deliberately threatening to behead a Scots aid worker to break up the UK.

David Haines was paraded by Islamic State fighters this week following the second beheading of a US journalist. A macabre video makes it clear the 44-year-old faces a brutal death at the hands of an IS executioner.

Last night highly-placed intelligence sources revealed it is “extremely likely” ISIS terror chiefs believe beheading Haines will make Prime Minister David Cameron appear “weak”, fuelling anti-English sentiment among referendum voters.

One expert believes they are using the dad-of-two in a propaganda drive as the Scottish independence referendum approaches.

Professor Anthony Glees, one of the UK’s most respected intelligence analysts, is convinced ISIS sense an opportunity to weaken the UK via their brutal campaign of terror.

He said: “ISIS are believed to be holding around 30 hostages. Some are Scandinavian but there are other Brits among the group. So you need to ask why David Haines has been picked after two Americans.

“ISIS are masters of propaganda and realise the impact of selecting a Scot. They will hope by showing the UK is weak and unable to defend its citizens it will drive Scots to embrace independence.

“One of the UK’s big selling points in remaining together is the strength of the UK on the world stage – their sword and shield. If they can no longer strike hostile forces who attack their citizens, the UK is clearly in danger of being a spent force heading towards division. And a weakened UK is exactly what the ISIS wants.”

Based at the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, Professor Glees has become a world authority on ISIS.

He says the jihadists “are clearly playing politics with the captives they are selecting and using in propaganda videos”.

The fanatics monitor Western media and will be attuned to the subtleties of the referendum debate, he says. Their understanding of British politics will be further augmented by terrorists who have travelled to Syria and Iraq from the UK to fight for ISIS.

They include the world’s most wanted man, “Jihadi John” – the black-clad knife-wielding executioner who speaks with a London accent. “It has moved from being a distant foreign conflict to a Brit potentially committing horrific crimes on another Brit,” added Professor Glees.

He believes the horrifying spectre of a British-born terrorist butchering a fellow Briton would leave the UK with no option but to act. That stance was seemingly underlined by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who believes the hostage situation will not deter the Government from launching air strikes against ISIS.

Professor Glees said: “The British Government has no option but to put boots on the ground to eradicate ISIS, who have potentially 18,000 fighters covering an area the size of the UK committing all sorts of butchery.

“We need to support the people of Syria who are in the centre of a horrific conflict. And we have a moral obligation not to abandon the civilians of Iraq to the horrors of ISIS.”

Former Security Minister Admiral Lord West backed the academic’s assertions.

“Islamic State are pretty cute about how we work in the West,” he said. “The people who run their propaganda and online operations are probably aware of the referendum.”

The plight of Mr Haines made headlines around the world. He was born in East Yorkshire but brought up in Scotland. His family, including his devastated teenage daughter to his first wife, still live in Scotland.

Mr Haines is said to be fiercely patriotic and hostages held with him believe his Scottish background saw him singled out. Over nine months the Scot was moved at least 10 times to different spots across Syria, sharing a cell with now executed Americans James Foley, 40, and Mr Sotloff, 31.

Mr Haines, who had remarried and was living in Croatia, was kidnapped in March last year alongside fellow Italian aid worker Federico Motka, 31. They had been working with French aid organisation, the Agency for Technical Co-operation and Development (ACTED), near the huge Atmeh refugee camp in northern Syria. Motka was freed in May after the Italian Government reportedly paid a £5 million ransom. Mr Haines had only arrived at Atmeh 10 days before to work as a regional manager for the group.

A spokesman for ACTED, speaking from Paris, told The Sunday Post: “David had been working with us since 1999 and had a lot of experience. Atmeh is close to the Turkish border and hundreds of humanitarian workers crossed it daily.”

When asked if the workers would have been on alert, the spokesman said: “Definitely not. This was 2013. There were hundreds of workers helping displaced Syrians and nothing like this had happened.”

The spokesman added: “We’ve kept in touch, sharing information. We are David’s employer and they are his family – we are all aiming for a satisfactory solution.”

David’s family is thought to have congregated at the Ayr home of his parents, Herbert, 77, and Mary, 79, which has been under police guard since the chilling threat to behead him was made

David has ex-wife Louise and their daughter, Bethany, 17, in Perth; a brother, Michael and his family in Dundee, and his second wife, Dragana, and their four-year-old daughter in Croatia.

A colleague of Michael’s partner, who is an admin assistant in Dundee, revealed: “Four men in suits came into reception on Tuesday asking for her.

“It was a very mysterious, but of course everybody’s thoughts are with the family.”

It’s understood a member of David’s family will be personally briefed by PM David Cameron on the situation, amidst reports military bosses have been asked to draw up plans for a Special Forces rescue.

Yesterday Bethany’s maternal grandmother, Margaret Doig, speaking at her Perth home, said: “The situation is extremely delicate. I can’t say anything.”

[adamntg]

Was this on the same page as The Broons?

[brant grebner]

It was after I'd been to take a dump.

[Ally Bongo]

What an absolutely scumbag article from an odious rag

Should be taken to task