The two men accused of hacking the soldier to death were monitored by the security services for years, and one of them was allegedly approached with a view to acting as an informant, the Telegraph reported on Sunday. British Prime Minister Cameron's visit to headquarters of the British the security services, known as MI5, and then deciding to go on holiday with his family has only fueled more ire by parliament members toward him, questioning his judgment in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on British soil since July 7, 2005 when twin bus bombings killed scores of people in downtown London.
Last Thursday, Cameron announced that the Intelligence and Security Committee would carry out an independent investigation into what they knew about the two terrorists who hacked, killed and nearly decapitated ritish soldier Lee Rigby in broad daylight in southeastern London last week.
Suspect Michael Adebolajo had been known to the security services and police for a decade. He was arrested six years after violent protests by extremists outside the Old Bailey six years ago. Adebolajo was arrested in Kenya in November 2010 after being caught trying to travel to Somalia, allegedly to join Al-Shabaab, a terrorist network. The authorities in Kenya said they returned him to British intelligence officers, who reportedly in turn did not take heed their concerns seriously enought, The other suspect Michael Adebowale was also known to police and the intelligence services, British media said.
John Mann, a Labor Parliament Minister was harsh in his assessment of Prime Minister Cameron taking time off during the investigation. This past weekend, Cameron was on vacation with his family in Ibiza in a privately rented villa with his family.
"People expect him to be at his desk leading from the front. It is inappropriate that he is away. It suggests that he think he can run the country from a beach in Spain. Does anyone think Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair would disappear at a time like this?"
British politicians were also critical that Cameron visited the intelligence officers to thank them, perhaps too prematurely. "I just wonder what he was going to thank them for. While they [the Security Services] did tremendously well during the Olympics 10 months ago a number of pieces of information have come to light since then. The interesting question is how much David Cameron knew about the potential intelligence failings when he went to see them."
Cameron's spokesman said that the Prime Minister "wanted to thank them for the work they had done both on that particular operation - there had been a lot of people working around the clock - but also more generally.The work that they do is obviously highly secretive but the Prime Minister is one of the few people who gets to see the effects of that work."The idea that he was either blaming the security services or exonerating them when an investigation into what happened actually hasn't taken place isn't right."
