Osman Hussein, one of the four terrorists who attempted to bomb London transit on 7/21 and who was arrested in Italy, has confessed to the plot. Hussein though claims the attacks were not meant to hurt anyone.

Osman Hussain told interrogators he wasn’t carrying enough explosives even to “harm people nearby,” the expert told The Associated Press. The expert spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation, which under Italian law must remain secret.

[snip]

Hussain was calm and coherent at a hearing in a Rome prison Saturday, but doesn’t consider himself a terrorist and may be gearing up to fight his extradition to Britain, his court-court appointed lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, said.

Grilled by a pair of Italy’s top anti-terrorism prosecutors, Hussain said that months ago in London, his chief - who he identified as “Muktar” - taught him how to assemble explosives using fertilizers and stuff explosives and timers into backpacks, the Rome daily La Repubblica said.

Hussain was referring to Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, one of the other bombing suspects captured Friday in a London raid, the newspaper said. Ibrahim is suspected of planting explosives on a London bus on July 21.

“Muktar urged us to be careful” La Repubblica quoted Hussain as telling his interrogators. “We didn’t want to kill, just sow terror.”

Right. If the Muktar, the alleged bombmaker, knew what he was doing the bombs though would have killed people, but Hussein just wanted to frighten people. Sorry, I don’t buy it and hopefully neither will the English courts.

According to the AP, the four said anger of the war in Iraq was cause for the attack. Again, I don’t buy it. The twisted form of Islam where people think it’s their duty to kill infidels while killing theirselves is the reason for the attack, Iraq is the excuse. We all know about excuses too; everyone has one.

It appears British authorities targeted the correct four and their plot will soon be unraveled. The bigger question though is if there is a deep connection with 7/7 or if there are more terrorists in England plotting to wage another attack.

Update:
More has been released of what Hussein has told interrogators including this statement which I find interesting.

“Religion had nothing to do with this. We watched films. We were shown videos with images of the war in Iraq. We were told we must do something big. That’s why we met.”

Assuming this is accurate, which I tend to believe it is a slight misdirection on the part of Hussein, it is a direct contradiction to what the killer of Theo Van Gogh said. I’ve seen some of the film spread by terrorist groups operating out of Iraq and some footage of suicide bombings which have targeted and killed children are shown in these videos with overlays stating this was the work of U.S. soldiers. These videos are prevelant, or at least were at some time, in certain areas of England.

If we are to believe Hussein acted not from his religion but only because of the war in Iraq, he was used by those who led him this direction. He was shown propoganda which influenced his decision making process. The alleged leader of this group is believed to be a high-ranking member of Al Qaida. No one can reasonably argue Al Qaida does not act based upon their religion and only lashes out because of the war in Iraq.

Hussein and other four were either duped or Hussein is simply lying. Perhaps a combination of the two.