The endless whodunnit
The Polish and Bulgarian "crusaders," it continued, only understand "the language of blood that has been spoken in Spain, Washington and New York," adding that "booby traps in cars are ready."
However, the letter, which claimed to have been inspired by Abu Musaba al-Zarkawi, a key member of the terrorist international, was withdrawn a few hours later and replaced with a correction signed by people purporting to be al-Zarkawi's true collaborators.
While offering an interesting insight into the PR dilemmas faced by those engaged in terrorist activity, the letter did raise fears that this country could be next on the list of targets for Islamic terrorists. Poland has, after all, been mentioned by Osama bin Laden himself in one of his numerous communiqués released via the Qatar-based TV station al-Jazeerah.
Home Affairs Minister Ryszard Kalisz said that al-Tawhid is known to the secret services and its links with al-Qaeda have been well established. However, he was later contradicted by General Ivan Chobanov, the head of Bulgarian counter-intelligence, who claimed that the organization in question does not in fact exist. Chobanov also went on to blame the actions of Spain and the Philippines in the aftermath of terrorist attacks upon their citizens as encouraging extremists to make new threats.
Be that as it may, panic on the streets of Warsaw would probably be premature, as al-Tawhid has never claimed responsibility for any attacks. On the other hand, some experts claim that the threats should be seen as encouraging any groups or individuals that might be willing to perpetrate an attack. Whether there are such groups or individuals, though, is a moot point, and this will remain a "known unknown," as one prominent U.S. politician might put it, until it actually happens.
An anonymous member of the intelligence services said that similar threats had been made in the past, but "fortunately, they had been overlooked by the media." The message coming from the nameless spook is clear though: the intelligence services keep a watchful eye on any threats, but it's best if the media keeps its mouth shut. But developments in other areas seem to put the authorities' ability to combat terrorism in doubt.
Just two days after the threats were posted on the Internet, the prosecutor's office closed an investigation into the manipulations of the text of the law on capital concentration in the media market. As the parliamentary commission investigating the so-called Rywingate affair discovered last year, two words were unlawfully deleted from the act by a group of lawyers after it had been approved by the government.
The deletion of the famous "or magazines" sub-clause clearly favored Muza, a publishing house co-owned by Włodzimierz Czarzasty, a powerful secretary of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiTV), who was found to have had a hand in writing the law, despite his own protestations made under oath to the commission.
Experts were able to determine the time this change was made and the commission established who was present in the room at that precise moment. And yet the prosecutors were unable to identify the culprits and subsequently gave up the ghost in terms of prosecuting anyone.
So we know a crime was committed. We know who was in the room where it was committed at the time it was committed. We know who benefited from the crime. But still, the perpetrators mysteriously elude the authorities.
In the same week that the Polish prosecutors made this decision, the 9/11 commission of the U.S. Congress criticized that country's intelligence agencies for missing ten operational opportunities that could have prevented the largest terrorist attack in the history of the world.
The sad impression is though that had 9/11 happened here the Polish authorities would not only have failed to prevent the attacks, but would also have struggled to link them to al-Qaeda. If the perpetrators of terrorist atrocities are pursued with the same toothless ruthlessness as corrupt officials in this country, then they can sleep sound at night, with their dreams of Jihad unhindered by the long arm of the law. For even if caught on a crime scene, armed to the teeth with a couple of tonnes of explosives and recorded messages promising bloodshed, they would no doubt get off scot-free due to an obvious lack of evidence.
However, the letter, which claimed to have been inspired by Abu Musaba al-Zarkawi, a key member of the terrorist international, was withdrawn a few hours later and replaced with a correction signed by people purporting to be al-Zarkawi's true collaborators.
While offering an interesting insight into the PR dilemmas faced by those engaged in terrorist activity, the letter did raise fears that this country could be next on the list of targets for Islamic terrorists. Poland has, after all, been mentioned by Osama bin Laden himself in one of his numerous communiqués released via the Qatar-based TV station al-Jazeerah.
Home Affairs Minister Ryszard Kalisz said that al-Tawhid is known to the secret services and its links with al-Qaeda have been well established. However, he was later contradicted by General Ivan Chobanov, the head of Bulgarian counter-intelligence, who claimed that the organization in question does not in fact exist. Chobanov also went on to blame the actions of Spain and the Philippines in the aftermath of terrorist attacks upon their citizens as encouraging extremists to make new threats.
Be that as it may, panic on the streets of Warsaw would probably be premature, as al-Tawhid has never claimed responsibility for any attacks. On the other hand, some experts claim that the threats should be seen as encouraging any groups or individuals that might be willing to perpetrate an attack. Whether there are such groups or individuals, though, is a moot point, and this will remain a "known unknown," as one prominent U.S. politician might put it, until it actually happens.
An anonymous member of the intelligence services said that similar threats had been made in the past, but "fortunately, they had been overlooked by the media." The message coming from the nameless spook is clear though: the intelligence services keep a watchful eye on any threats, but it's best if the media keeps its mouth shut. But developments in other areas seem to put the authorities' ability to combat terrorism in doubt.
Just two days after the threats were posted on the Internet, the prosecutor's office closed an investigation into the manipulations of the text of the law on capital concentration in the media market. As the parliamentary commission investigating the so-called Rywingate affair discovered last year, two words were unlawfully deleted from the act by a group of lawyers after it had been approved by the government.
The deletion of the famous "or magazines" sub-clause clearly favored Muza, a publishing house co-owned by Włodzimierz Czarzasty, a powerful secretary of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiTV), who was found to have had a hand in writing the law, despite his own protestations made under oath to the commission.
Experts were able to determine the time this change was made and the commission established who was present in the room at that precise moment. And yet the prosecutors were unable to identify the culprits and subsequently gave up the ghost in terms of prosecuting anyone.
So we know a crime was committed. We know who was in the room where it was committed at the time it was committed. We know who benefited from the crime. But still, the perpetrators mysteriously elude the authorities.
In the same week that the Polish prosecutors made this decision, the 9/11 commission of the U.S. Congress criticized that country's intelligence agencies for missing ten operational opportunities that could have prevented the largest terrorist attack in the history of the world.
The sad impression is though that had 9/11 happened here the Polish authorities would not only have failed to prevent the attacks, but would also have struggled to link them to al-Qaeda. If the perpetrators of terrorist atrocities are pursued with the same toothless ruthlessness as corrupt officials in this country, then they can sleep sound at night, with their dreams of Jihad unhindered by the long arm of the law. For even if caught on a crime scene, armed to the teeth with a couple of tonnes of explosives and recorded messages promising bloodshed, they would no doubt get off scot-free due to an obvious lack of evidence.
