![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/01-header-Cameron-Hague-RAF-Libya.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Manchester bomber was a UK ally<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nGrave question<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe great mystery is whether Sir John Saunders, the chair of the public inquiry, will answer the grave question which was evaded after 7\/7: did innocent citizens pay a blood price for British foreign policy? Or to put it another way: was the British state a part of the apparatus of terror which killed 22 innocent people in Manchester?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus far this question has been obscured or ignored. There\u2019s been a lively media campaign to demonise the blameless local mosque where Salman Abedi sometimes worshipped, while Sir John Saunders devoted several months to examining the peripheral security at the Manchester Arena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he could hardly avoid the subject altogether, Sir John has shown less interest in the domestic impact of British foreign policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hence the importance of this week\u2019s unique investigation<\/a> by Declassified<\/em>. Sifting through evidence presented to the inquiry, while drawing on material elsewhere, Declassified<\/em> has painted by far the most detailed picture yet of the Manchester bomber: his early life as part of the small Manchester community of Libyan exiles; his shambolic early career; his drift into minor crime and above all his Libyan connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs a result it is fair to say that far more is now known about the personal history, ideological motivation and wider connections of Salman Abedi than any other British suicide bomber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Manchester bomber and his closest family\u201d spells out<\/a> the Declassified<\/em> investigation, \u201cwere part of Islamist militia forces covertly supported by the British military and Nato in the Libyan war of 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nOr to quote Pete Weatherby, one of the lawyers for the bombing victims, in testimony to the inquiry; \u201cIt is highly likely that [Salman Abedi] had a baptism of violence by exposure to the 2011 uprising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n \n \n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/01-header-SA-camo-jacket.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n Counter-terrorism officials allowed Manchester bomber to operate in Libya warzone<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFree travel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nDeclassified<\/em> highlights the astonishing fact that the British authorities allowed Salman Abedi to travel freely<\/a> to and from Libya in the years running up to the Manchester atrocity. At no point was Abedi stopped and questioned on his way in or out of Britain. <\/p>\n\n\n\nYet he was in Libya during key periods of 2014, when Islamic State (IS) emerged as a potent force in the country and spent much of the summer of 2016 there too, at a time when IS was running training camps and planning attacks on Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great mystery is whether Sir John Saunders, the chair of the public inquiry, will answer the grave question which was evaded after 7\/7: did innocent citizens pay a blood price for British foreign policy? Or to put it another way: was the British state a part of the apparatus of terror which killed 22 innocent people in Manchester?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus far this question has been obscured or ignored. There\u2019s been a lively media campaign to demonise the blameless local mosque where Salman Abedi sometimes worshipped, while Sir John Saunders devoted several months to examining the peripheral security at the Manchester Arena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he could hardly avoid the subject altogether, Sir John has shown less interest in the domestic impact of British foreign policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hence the importance of this week\u2019s unique investigation<\/a> by Declassified<\/em>. Sifting through evidence presented to the inquiry, while drawing on material elsewhere, Declassified<\/em> has painted by far the most detailed picture yet of the Manchester bomber: his early life as part of the small Manchester community of Libyan exiles; his shambolic early career; his drift into minor crime and above all his Libyan connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result it is fair to say that far more is now known about the personal history, ideological motivation and wider connections of Salman Abedi than any other British suicide bomber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Manchester bomber and his closest family\u201d spells out<\/a> the Declassified<\/em> investigation, \u201cwere part of Islamist militia forces covertly supported by the British military and Nato in the Libyan war of 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or to quote Pete Weatherby, one of the lawyers for the bombing victims, in testimony to the inquiry; \u201cIt is highly likely that [Salman Abedi] had a baptism of violence by exposure to the 2011 uprising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Declassified<\/em> highlights the astonishing fact that the British authorities allowed Salman Abedi to travel freely<\/a> to and from Libya in the years running up to the Manchester atrocity. At no point was Abedi stopped and questioned on his way in or out of Britain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet he was in Libya during key periods of 2014, when Islamic State (IS) emerged as a potent force in the country and spent much of the summer of 2016 there too, at a time when IS was running training camps and planning attacks on Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRELATED<\/h3>\n
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Counter-terrorism officials allowed Manchester bomber to operate in Libya warzone<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFree travel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/01-Manchester-fighters-mural.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n