In an ominous portent of what may happen in the United States when Guantanamo detainees get their Supreme Court mandated trials, the United Kingdom is being forced to release one of al-Qaeda's most dangerous European operatives.
MI5 believes that Qatada avoided being drawn into the al-Qa'eda structure in order to maintain his independence and continue his activities in Britain but he did have links to the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, whom he met in Afghanistan and who is now Bin Laden's number two.