British intelligence 'misjudged' Bali terror threat: Lawmakers<\/p>\n
Ben Perry, Agence France-Presse, London<\/p>\n
Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, was guilty of
\n"serious misjudgment" when warning of terror threats to British
\nnationals in Indonesia ahead of the Bali bomb blasts, a report by
\nBritish lawmakers released on Wednesday said.<\/p>\n
The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee report
\nsaid MI5 failed to upgrade its threat assessment for Indonesia
\ndespite receiving information a month before the bombings that
\nBritish and U.S. interests there were possible targets for terror
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
As a result, travel advice issued by the Foreign Office was
\nnot updated and "did not accurately reflect the threat" to
\nBritish tourists, the report said.<\/p>\n
More than 190 people, including 26 British nationals, died in
\nthe Oct. 12 blasts on two Bali nightclubs packed with Western
\ntourists.<\/p>\n
Committee chair Ann Taylor, a lawmaker for the ruling Labour
\nparty, told parliament that "the committee did not lightly reach
\nits conclusion that there was a serious misjudgment in terms of
\nthe threat assessment that was made for Bali".<\/p>\n
The committee's report stressed that there was no intelligence
\navailable to Britain or any of its allies that could have
\nprevented the attack.<\/p>\n
Despite receiving intelligence about possible terror attacks
\nin Indonesia, MI5 concluded on Oct. 9, three days before the
\nresort island blasts, that there was no need to upgrade its
\nthreat assessment of the region.<\/p>\n
"A threat existed to Western tourists in Indonesia -- the
\nlargest concentration of Western tourists there is on Bali -- and
\nthey gather in large numbers in a limited number of nightclubs,"
\nthe committee's report said.<\/p>\n
"These facts should have been recognized by the security
\nservice as pointing to a potential target. This was a serious
\nmisjudgment and meant that the security service did not assess
\nthe threat correctly and, therefore, raise the level of threat,"
\nit added.<\/p>\n
Responding to the committee's findings, Foreign Secretary Jack
\nStraw told parliament that MI5 had already launched a review of
\nits threat assessments.<\/p>\n
"The tragic lesson from Bali is that British nationals are the
\ntargets of terrorism in many parts of the world," Straw said.<\/p>\n
"The message for the government is that we must all exercise
\nconstant vigilance if we are to avert future such tragedies."
\nRelatives of British victims expressed shock at the committee's
\nfindings.<\/p>\n
Tobias Ellwood, who lost his brother Jon, 39, said: "Our
\nfamily are still coming to terms with it all, however we are very
\nupset to hear that the threat level had not been increased.<\/p>\n
"We understand the intelligence service could not have
\nprevented the bomb, but had they passed on these warnings
\nproperly my brother would be alive today because he just would
\nnot have gone to Bali," he added.<\/p>\n
The Jamaah Islamiyah regional terror network is widely accused
\nof staging the Bali bombing.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Australian government said on Thursday that
\nthe final Australian death toll from the Bali bombings was 88 and
\nall of the victims had now been identified.<\/p>\n
"As of last night, all the known Australian victims of the
\nattack in Bali have now been identified," Prime Minister John
\nHoward told parliament.<\/p>\n
"Eighty eight Australians have died as a result of this
\nterrible tragedy." Howard said 81 Australians died in Bali, six
\nin Australia and one in Singapore.<\/p>\n
In all, the bomb attacks in the Balinese capital of Denpasar
\nkilled more than 190 people and Howard said many Australian
\nforensic experts would remain on the Indonesian resort island to
\nhelp identify non-Australian victims.<\/p>",
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