………The fact that the July 7 attacks were suicide bombings was equally unexpected. British intelligence recognized that such acts of terrorism were a possibility as early as 2002 but did not consider them to be a domestic threat. Prior to July 2005, Britons had carried out suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq, but never within the United Kingdom. Traditionally, authorities believed that Islamist suicide bombers would not come from Europe because the ideological culture and extremist population required for long-term indoctrination of recruits was not present in the West. The July 7 bombings demonstrated that this radicalization can occur relatively quickly, however, was one of the bombers was a recent convert to Islam.