Report: US rendition threat forced Britain to act on airport terror plot

Blair "pleaded in vain with George Bush to share vital combat intelligence

Also, new book says Pentagon kept key Iraq info from Britain.
By Tom Regan csmonitor.com

The United States warned Britain that it was about to seize the key terrorist suspect in Britain's largest ever international terrorist operation and "render" him to a secret prison, according to a report Sunday in a British newspaper.

The Observer said it was told by sources in British intelligence that the US was prepared to seize the suspect even if it undermined the British operation.

American intelligence agents told their British counterparts they were ready to 'render' Rashid Rauf, a British citizen allegedly linked to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and who was under surveillance in Pakistan, unless he was picked up immediately. Rauf is the key suspect in the alleged plot to detonate explosives on up to 10 transatlantic planes that was exposed in August and, according to the police, would have brought 'mass murder on an unimaginable scale.'

The Americans' demand for Rauf's quick arrest dismayed the British intelligence services, which were worried that it could prompt terrorist cells in the UK working on separate plots to bring forward their plans or go underground. In the weeks preceding his arrest it is understood that MI5 and MI6 discussed with their US counterparts the best way to dismantle the alleged plot. Britain wanted more time to monitor Rauf, but the US was adamant that Rauf should be arrested immediately.

The Observer reports that the US demanded the British take action because they did not trust Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI. US intelligence agencies allegedly believe that the ISI had not done enough to combat terrorism and were worried that Pakistan would allow Mr. Rauf to slip away. But while the British had hours of wiretapped conversations, such evidence is not admissible in British courts, so the British wanted to continue surveillance.

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