Former Justice Dept. prosecutor John Loftus claims alleged London bombing mastermind Haroon Rashid Aswat is a "double agent" who "works for the MI6".

For those who don't know who he is, Loftus is the author of "The Secret War Against the Jews", a (highly recommended) book resulting from his research into American corporations' and intelligence agencies' collusion with the Nazis before, during and after WWII, research which he conducted with an above top secret security clearance which gave him access to hitherto secret intelligence archives. He is now usually billed as a "terrorism expert".

Prosecutors in Seattle wanted to indict Aswat in 1999 for trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, but were ordered not to touch him by the highest level in the Justice Department. According to Loftus, the reason was that Aswat was an agent of British intelligence. He claims that "while British police were trying to catch him, the MI6 were trying to hide him".

Aswat allegedly left London for Pakistan on July 6, one day before the London bombing. He was then arrested in Pakistan, but released within 24 hours. He reportedly travelled to Zimbabwe and then Zambia, where he may have been arrested again (conflicting reports).

(http://www.foxnews.com / - click on "video" under "Answering questions", then click "Nabbed - finally".)

It would appear that someone's got some splainin' to do. Loftus says the CIA and Israeli intelligence have been critical of the MI6 for giving terrorists a free pass to operate in London, and he claims the reason for doing so has been "appeasement" - we leave you alone, you leave us alone. But many have suspected, long before 9/11, that radical Islamists have been used as a tool for Britain's covert foreign policy, notably in Bosnia in the 90s, when it is alleged that the MI6 clandestinely recruited young radicals in Britain's Pakistani community to fight a guerrilla war against the Serbs.

Former MI5 officer David Shayler has alleged, and French intel sources have corroborated, that the MI6 paid a Libyan al-Qa'ida cell £100,000 in 1995 to assassinate colonel Qaddafi.
(see this Guardian collection of stories on Shayler)

And then there's this, reported in the Independent in January this year:

The Independent is reporting today that in his testimony before a US military tribunal, Bisher al-Rawi claims that he acted as a "go-between" for MI-5 and Abu Qatada, "the militant Islamic cleric alleged to be al-Qa'ida's "spiritual leader" in Europe." Al-Rawi was seized (kidnapped?) by US intelligence agents in 2002 while on a business trip to Gambia, on the strength of his relationship with Qatada.

Al-Rawi has named three MI5 agents - "Alex", "Matthew" and "Martin" - and asked that they be called as defence witnesses. The tribunal agreed, but "the British Government refused to allow them to give evidence.

(...)

The Independent closes with this:

His claims follow allegations, by Islamist militants as well as French security sources, that Abu Qatada had contacts with British intelligence, which the Palestinian strongly denies. His legal advisers are adamant that he was only questioned as part of routine attempts by MI5 to gather intelligence about Islamist groups in the UK.

(http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/01/mi5-asset... - The Independent link appears to have expired)

Haroom Rashid Aswat, Abu Qatada - which other "al-Qa'ida leaders" are or have been on Her Majesty's payroll, or at least have enjoyed cordial relations with Her security services? Isn't this a question the British media, in particular, ought to be asking? Furthermore, Mr Aswat is not the only "al-Qa'ida member" who appears to have been "untouchable" while in the US - the 19 9/11 hijackers and their associate Zaccharias Moussaoui seem to have been as well. The sabotage by the highest levels in the FBI of Coleen Rowley's desperate attempt to investigate Moussaoui, for instance, is a striking parallel to the "hands-off" order regarding Aswat, and it's far from being the only one.