KHAN, USMAN: London Bridge: Facing Terror TV -
London Bridge, November 2019: Reports are coming in to us of an incident at London Bridge …’ London Bridge: Facing Terror, news, Channel 4 2023
At the time of the event, Darryn Frost had been a Communications Manager for the Ministry of Justice for 12 years. ibid.
John Crilly had served 13 years in prison for his role in a murder. He was released a year before the incident. ibid.
At the time of the event [Learning Together], Steve Gallant was 14.5 years into a life sentence for murder. He was granted a special day release to attend the event with a prison officer. ibid.
‘Another student who didn’t know his way there which was Usman Khan.’ ibid.
Usman Khan enrolled in Learning Together’s creative writing course whilst serving time in prison for terrorism offences. He was released 11 months before the Fishmongers’ Hall event. ibid.
In 2004, 13-year-old Usman Khan was expelled from school after a fight with another pupil who had ‘racist tendencies’. Usman never received another day of formal education in his life. ibid. Fishmongers’ Hall Inquest
It looks like part of the building has been blown away. An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th, helicopter news report, Sky Documentaries 2024
It felt to me as if my skin was burning off. ibid. Nancy Shaw
In the heart of Oklahoma, in the heart of the capital city, a terrible bomb has exploded … ibid. TV news
The bomb killed 168 people, including 19 children. ibid. caption
I didn’t want to believe an American could do this. ibid. man
So McVeigh and Nichols represent the crisis in American agriculture and the crisis in American industry. ibid.
He [McVeigh] comes back home [from Iraq] and has a nervous breakdown. ibid.
Waco: The turning point for McVeigh. He said that at that moment he decided he was going to commit an act of terrorism. ibid.
The idea of blowing up the Murrah building was hatched ten years earlier among members of The Covenant, Sword & Arm of the Lord. ibid.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, and Timothy McVeigh is a great man. ibid. Richard Butler, cited investigating mother
Excuse me, this case is not in your way, is it? The Wednesday Play: The Compartment/Playmates by Johnny Speight, starring Marty Feldman, madman to passenger, ITV 1969
See, this is why so many trains get lost … ibid.
You have ignored me! Is that polite? ibid.
When the revolution comes, you’ll be one of the first to go. ibid.
You didn’t know I had a gun. ibid.
Bark like an Alsatian …. Down on the floor … We’ve had a lovely game. ibid.
Big house like this. Miles away from anywhere … ibid. Playmates, madman terrorises woman home alone
Woman like you living in a big house like this … ibid.
Mumbai, India, November 2008: The world watches on as a fire rages at the city’s most famous landmark, the luxury Taj Mahal hotel. It’s rumoured that up to sixty terrorists [Lashkar-e-Taiba] are behind a series of commando-style attacks. 59 hours after the attacks began, 166 innocent people are dead. Seconds from Disaster s5e6: Mumbai Massacre
Two men armed with machine guns enter the Concourse. ibid.
2 car bombs explode in different parts of the city. ibid.
A populist revolution in Iran, hostage crisis at an embassy, in Mecca the assassination of an Egyptian head of state, a military invasion in Afghanistan, a series of terrorist attacks in the Philippines, an official reception in Washington DC. All these events are pieces of a giant puzzle scattered around the world. The Terror Routes I: 1979-1993: They Were On the Side of the Angels, Amazon 2011
We should attempt to follow that road: it winds through a transforming Arab world, a crumbling Soviet empire, and an American nation at the hands of would-be sorcerers, the object of mounting hatred. ibid.
Kabul, Afghanistan, 24th December 1979: Operation Storm 333 has just begun. That is the codename given by the Soviets for the invasion of Afghanistan. ibid.
All along the road leading to September 11th are a number of men who are part of an Islamic galaxy. ibid.
Ayman al-Zawahiri is released after three years spent in Egyptian jails. Under torture, he reveals the names of a number of underground Islamist leaders. There years are crucial in al-Zawahiri’s evolution. They only served to reinforce his radicalism. ibid.
Peshawar near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan is now a strategic hub in the war against the Soviets. Support for Afghan rebels, the Mujahideen, is organised with the help of western powers led by the United States. ibid.
‘Ali Muhammad created the encyclopaedia of jihad, the training syllabus that was used extensively in Afghanistan.’ ibid. US man in the know
‘Reagan openly supported jihadists, including some that are now fighting us.’ ibid.
‘Everybody took credit for it but they all forgot that there was this Islamic muscle which took credit for Allah. And nobody thought of devising some sort of a strategy or policy to contain this muscle. Indeed, they did the opposite.’ ibid.
‘I don’t know why the blind sheikh was issued with a visa to come to the United States.’ ibid.
The Towers held but the countdown to their demise was launched. The Terror Routes II: 1993-2001 The Countdown
Americans and jihadists lose their common enemy. Exhilarated by their victory against the Soviet Union, Islamists turn against their former protectors. ibid.
During the same period, in the middle of the ’90s, Saudi Arabia is facing an important surge of Sunnite extremism. ibid.
‘Bin Laden had come to our attention because his money was increasingly linked to people that the US was worried about.’ ibid. man in the know