UK: 'NO PUBLIC INQUIRY' INTO JULY 7th LONDON ATTACK

There will be no public inquiry into the 7 July London bombings which killed 52 people, the Home Office has said. Ministers will instead publish a definitive account of what happened in a written narrative.


The account will include material gathered from intelligence and security agencies and the police. But some Muslim groups and victims' relatives have expressed anger, saying a wider public inquiry is essential for understanding what happened.

The attacks by four suicide bombers on three Tube trains and a bus on 7 July killed 52 people and injured hundreds. After the bombings there were calls for a public inquiry and, in September, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said one had not been ruled out.

But ministers have decided it would divert attention and resources away from pressing security and community issues, and take too long.

The government has acknowledged, however, that the public requires a complete picture about the events, and details about the four men who carried out the attacks. "A narrative of events will not satisfy anybody. This is not something we will go away on" Saba Mozakka, whose mother Behnaz died in the Piccadilly Line bomb attack

The remit of the inquests into their deaths does not extend that far and the information will not emerge at a criminal trial - because there will not be one as the bombers also died in the attacks. Instead, a senior civil servant will compile a narrative, drawing together intelligence and police material. Leading Muslims who have been lobbying for an inquiry say such a straight narrative would not be enough.

"There has to be a fully comprehensive public inquiry that will provide us the information we need as to what actually happened on the day, how it happened and why it happened so that we will be better prepared to prevent such tragedy happening again," Sir Iqbal Sacranie, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told the BBC.

Opposition MPs want to know if key intelligence questions on the bombings will be fully answered. They want to find out why there was no intelligence of the planned attack, whether officers should have followed up an earlier sighting of the alleged ringleader, and why the UK threat level was reduced.

Source : Here .

Of course nobody will notice that it is the British Muslims who are pushing hard for an open and public inquiry into the attack and few will question the motive behind the decision not to have an open inquiry.

Is it any wonder that many people think they have something to hide .