It’s no wonder British Prime Minister David Cameron cut his vacation short and rushed back to London:  It was that darned Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary again.

British media outlets and the New York Post are reporting that Bary, who rapped under the name “L Jinny,” is a suspect in the beheading of American journalist James Foley.  (You can find this scum’s videos on YouTube if you’re in the mood to be nauseated.)  In truth, British intelligence probably knew who he was almost immediately.  The whole story of bringing in Professor Henry Higgins to determine the origin of his accent was probably being laughed at by those in the know…or anyone who read the British tabloids.

In December 2013, the Daily Mail ran an article on Bary, who left his £1m home in West London several months before proclaiming he was, “leaving everything for the sake of Allah.”

(Abdel is the son of Egyptian born Adel Abdul Bary, the terrorist charged with participating in the bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998.  He pleaded “not guilty” in a New York Court in 2012.  The elder Bary is also a suspected lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden.)

The younger Bary was reported by his friends to have grown “increasingly radical and violent” after following the hate-filled teachings of British based preacher and spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK, Anjem Choudary.  (As recently as this past June, Choudary told Britain’s Daily Star that he would like to leave the UK for Iraq or Syria, saying he would “love to live” under a terror group like ISIS rather than his native Britain.)

The Daily Mail’s December article on Bary was complete with pictures he’d posted of himself online.  They reported: “Posing with an assault rifle after joining rebels fighting the Syrian regime, this is the British son of a suspected Al Qaeda mastermind.”

The Metropolitan Police wouldn’t comment on whether their counter terrorism unit was aware of Bary’s trip to Syria, or his very public calls for “martyrdom.”  They would only say:

We are investigating a number of individuals who are believed to have travelled to Syria to engage in the conflict but are unable to comment on any specific case for operational reasons…Travelling abroad for the purpose of engaging in terrorist related activity is an offence and we will seek to prosecute, where possible, anyone engaged in this type of activity…

I guess it wasn’t possible.  And since President Obama seemed to abandon the whole “Syria thing,” U.S. intelligence on the ground in that country deteriorated to practically nothing; even as extremists used social media and savvy to bolster their ranks by luring foreign punks like Bary -- who wanted to do something more meaningful with their lives than protest outside the Bank of England while declaring their allegiance to Anonymous.

The Metropolitan Police said:

We are also keen to prevent young and vulnerable individuals becoming engaged in this type of activity and would urge anyone who is concerned about relatives or friends that they believe to be susceptible to, or involved in this sort of activity to get in touch with us.

While that at least sounds like they’re doing more than we’re doing in America, it’s doubtful whether they will be able to get an upper hand tracking such activities in a country where the most popular name for a baby boy is Muhammad.

Susan D. Harris can be reached at http://susandharris.com/