Britain's radical Muslims warn U.S.

Omar Bakri Mohammad talks to reporters after a warning to the U.S. was issued saying: "You will never be safe"

LONDON, England (CNN) -- On the day Americans mourned the victims of the September 11 attacks, one of Britain's leading Muslim extremist groups met and issued warnings to the United States.

In a mosque in London's Finsbury Park, with banners outside proclaiming: "Islam is the future for Britain," three radical Muslim clerics -- Sheikh Abu Hanza, Omar Bakri Mohammad, and Muhammed al Masseri -- held a three-hour closed-door session.

Afterwards, the clerics told reporters the United States has to suffer much more to learn "obedience."

"We do not celebrate such a day, but every action has a reaction. The outcome of those attacks may be positive for Muslims in the East," one of the clerics said.

Those comments appeared to try to soft-pedal some of the clerics' earlier hard-line rhetoric.

Before the gathering, they had released a statement, saying: "It is the plan of the West to use September 11 to wage war against Islam and their Muslims, and the plan is to steal the heart of Islam."

Young Muslims wait outside the conference on "Sept. 11: The lessons, benefit and harm"

The three issued a broader warning to the United States, saying: "You are the most hated nation in the globe and Americans should heed the message of Osama bin Laden. You will never be safe."

The clerics also denounced U.S. and British plans to unseat Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. They called Saddam "an apostate" and said he should have been killed before now, but they said the West has no business declaring war on any Muslim country.

The conference had been widely publicised and drew a large group from Britain's radical Muslim community. Outside the mosque, barricades separated protesters from the British National Party, one of Britain's largest extreme right-wing groups, and anti-BNP protesters who shouted: "Racist scum, off our streets."

Several people in the two groups were detained but there was no violence.