As reported in last week?s WAR Report, the German government began a clamp down on Islamic extremists in December, which had, up to last week, resulted in the arrest of 23 terrorist suspects. It is now reported that the Germans have arrested two al-Qaeda suspects, including one who had allegedly trained at a camp in Afghanistan . The two suspects are accused of not only planning suicide attacks, which is to be expected, but also of attempting to purchase uranium in Luxemburg . If proven, this would be the clearest indication yet of al-Qaeda?s ongoing effort to acquire, at the very least, a radiological device and, at worst, the materials to assemble a crude nuclear weapon. Given the proliferation of radiological and fissionable material from multiple sources and the lack of effective security at many sites, particularly in Eastern Europe and in Russia , it may only be a matter of time before al-Qaeda succeeds.

These arrests are also further proof, if any were needed, that al-Qaeda continues to exploit Western Europe as a logistical base, as was the case with the 9/11 plot, as a source of new recruits and as a target. With 18 million Muslims resident in Europe and with a growing minority willing to embrace the extremist?s cause, this growing extremism should be of great concern to the United States . A senior French counter-terrorism judge has reported that Western Europe is now al-Qaeda?s new front, but this misses the point that al-Qaeda has been operating in Europe for some years. The key differences are that Europe has finally woken up to the threat in their midst, the ground swell of pro-al-Qaeda support amongst Muslim immigrants has increased significantly since the invasion of Iraq , and the extremists are now targeting Europe as well as using it as a logistical base. This threat was, of course, demonstrated most vividly with the Madrid bombings in March 2004 .