Clearing Out the Plotting Jihadis

"When we checked these people, we were surprised more than once. It was men with a radical ideology and a long police history."
"Even today, there are at least 50 supporters of the Islamic state who work at the airport. They have a security badge and have access to the cockpit of a plane."
"In the past, a number of people had their badges revoked because they had IS sympathies. But clearly not everyone, especially in store personnel, cleaning services and baggage where we find the most suspicious people."
"Some people suspected of having fought in Syria came to the airport as [false tourists]. We reported their presence but we do not know if anything was done with that information."
Group police letter to the Daily Mail

In an astonishing open letter, the officers said they have warned about the terrorist sympathisers whose security badges give them access to planes, but they remain employed

Belgium was concerned that their global hub at the Brussels Airport was closed for enough time to do real financial damage to the country in the wake of the March 22 attack at the airport and the subway station that killed 32 people and seriously injured hundreds. Their concern appeared riveted on the financial loss more than introspection over security at the country's nuclear facilities which appear to have been on the radar of the jihadis associated with Islamic State.

Belgian authorities know they have a time bomb on their hands in Molenbeek and its sister ghettos. It seems that Belgian sympathy with generations of Moroccans who migrated to Belgium when they were invited fifty years ago to augment the country's workforce feel aggravated that they are not properly respected, that their prospects for advancement and employment opportunities do not match those of native Belgians, and so some take to acting out in sympathy with Islamic State.

Not their fault, then, that the country has failed their aspirations. Impossible though it is to accept, the paternalistic indifference to the vicious assaults and the ongoing potential for harm seems to be tinged with regret at upsetting the Muslim community, estranged from the broader society for reasons linked with their perceived position as outsiders. But the police do what they can, it seems, under a leadership that seems not quite as committed to rooting out the rot as they might be.

The airport police, who are threatening to go on strike because of security deficiencies, also said they have raised the issue of terrorists scouting the airport to plan possible attacks

An open letter to news media written by an unofficial police group in Brussels outlines a situation whereby they feel their government is failing in pulling its weight in the fight against Islamist jihad. They cite the fact that an estimated 50 airport workers with sympathies toward Islamic State remain employed at the Zaventem Brussels airport, with the inside track to enabling any additional attacks that may be in the works. The British Daily Mail has published a news scoop since they were the beneficiary of the letter.

Which could only have occurred if the police felt that their government was ignoring their concerns. Hoping to bring international attention to yet another intelligence failing by a lax government and its agencies, Belgium once again appears in a particularly unattractive light. Federal prosecutors confirmed a third suspect has now been charged with plotting yet another major attack on France, so this is a government polarized by inaction yet by the need to act.

The latest arrest is connected to the same investigation leading to the arrest of 34-year-old Reda Kriket in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil last week, and another suspect in the Netherlands, A French citizen, Anis Bahri, 32 also involved in the France attack plot. In the apartment occupied by Kriket French police found assault rifles, handguns and explosives, including TATP, a trademark explosive of ISIL, used in both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

In Brussels, the government claims that security at the airport will remain tight. How tight, when it does nothing about the presence of ISIL sympathizers working at the airport in various capacities? The Belgian police who wrote the accusing letter also wrote that these workers openly celebrated the airport attacks and the casualties. "When we checked these people, we were surprised more than once. It was men with a radical ideology and a long police history."

"Even today, there are at least 50 supporters of the Islamic state who work at the airport. They have a security badge and have access to the cockpit of a plane."
"In the past, a number of people had their badges revoked because they had IS sympathies. But clearly not everyone, especially in store personnel, cleaning services and baggage where we find the most suspicious people."

And to cap things off, the uncle of the two brothers who had been principals in the airport attack as suicide bombers, also worked at the airport. Khalid and Ibraham el-Bakraoui worked as cleaning staff at the airport, so they knew their way around the facility very well; where security would be, and where they wouldn't be interrupted prematurely when they set about delivering an Islamic State message to Europe.