Posted on 08/13/2006 6:54:38 PM PDT by white trash redneck
When will the Muslims of Britain stand up to be counted?
When will they declare, loud and clear, with no qualifications or quibbles about Britain's foreign policy, that Islamic terrorism is WRONG?
Most of all, when will the Muslim community in this country accept an absolute, undeniable, total truth: that Islamic terrorism is THEIR problem? THEY own it. And it is THEIR duty to face it and eradicate it.
To stop the denial, endless fudging and constant wailing that somehow it is everyone else's problem and, if Islamic terrorism exists at all, they are somehow the main victims.
Because until that happens the problem will never be resolved. And there will be more 7/7s and, sometime in the future, another airplane plot will succeed with horrific loss of innocent life.
Equally important, those British politicians who have seemed obsessed with pandering to, and even encouraging, this state of denial, must throw off their politically-correct blinkers and recognise the same truth—that Muslim terrorism in Britain is the direct responsibility of British Muslims.
If only they would follow the lead of Home Secretary John Reid, whose tough, pragmatic, clear-sighted approach has been a breath of fresh air. Only then can they properly work out how to tackle it.
For instance, every airport in Britain is in chaos over the plane bomb-plot alert as every passenger is subjected to rigorous security checks. Why? They take lots of time, lots of staff, and are extremely expensive.
I'm a white 62-year-old 6ft 4ins suit-wearing ex-cop—I fly often, but do I really fit the profile of suicide bomber? Does the young mum with three tots? The gay couple, the rugby team, the middle-aged businessman?
No. But they are all getting exactly the same amount and devouring huge resources for no logical reason whatsoever. Yet the truth is Islamic terrorism in the West has been universally carried out by young Muslim men, usually of ethnic appearance, almost always travelling alone or in very small groups. A tiny percentage, I bet, of those delayed today have such characteristics.
This targeting of airport resources is called passenger profiling—the Israelis invented it and they've got probably the safest airports and airlines in the world.
In all my years at the front line of fighting terrorism, one truth was always clear — communities beat terrorists, not governments or security forces. But communities can't beat terrorism unless they have the will to do so. My heart sank this week as I saw and read the knee-jerk reaction of friends and neighbours of those arrested in this latest incident, insisting it was all a mistake and the anti-terrorist squad had the wrong people.
I have no idea whether those arrested are guilty or not. But neither have those friends and neighbours. They spoke as if it was inconceivable such a thing could happen in their community; that those arrested were all good Muslims; that Islam is a religion of peace so no Muslim could dream of planning such an act.
But we heard the same from the family and friends of the 7/7 bombers, didn't we?
And the two young British Muslims who died as suicide bombers in Israel. Then there are the British Muslims known to have become suicide bombers in Iraq.
There is currently a huge, long-running and complex alleged Islamist bomb plot being tried at the Old Bailey. And a fistful of other cases of alleged Muslim terrorism plots such as the 21/7 London Underground case are also awaiting trial.
All this would suggest the blindingly obvious—that terrorism is a major problem for the Muslim community of Britain. Of course, there will be instant squealings that this is racism. It's not. It's exactly the same as recognising that, during the Northern Ireland troubles that left thousands dead, the IRA were totally based in the Catholic community and the UVF in the Protestant.
And that, most importantly, IRA terrorism only began to draw to a close when that Catholic community it was based in decided as a whole that it was no longer prepared to back violence as the only way forward. Interestingly, it was Catholic revulsion over republican terrorist atrocities such as Enniskillen and Omagh that fuelled that change.
Well, Muslim terrorism in Britain is based in, has its roots in, and grows in, our Muslim community. The madmen of 7/7 and other suicide bombings didn't hide among the Hindu communities, worship in the Sikh temples, recruit at Catholic churches, did they? It may be true that events in Iraq have angered sections of the Muslim community. I have no doubts, whatever Tony Blair says, that it was a catalyst. I also think it's entirely fair for Muslims, if they wish, to vocally oppose Britain's continuing involvement there.
I can recognise, too, that recent events in Lebanon inflame some people, and they want their voices of protest heard. The absolutely unacceptable problem is that this opposition is used by too many to turn a blind eye to, or excuse, terrorists in their midst.
Blasting a passenger airliner out of the sky, killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children, is NEVER acceptable. Under any circumstances. There is NEVER an excuse.
A terrible tragedy costing Muslim lives in Lebanon or Iraq or Afghanistan is never ever an excuse for terrorism here.
It is totally unacceptable, totally wrong. What one party perceives as a wrong, no matter how strongly they feel, does not, in turn, justify another wrong being done to avenge it.
And until every single member of the Muslim community believes that and preaches that—from an ordinary parent to imam or madrassa teacher—terrorism can't be beaten.
Politicians must accept this truth, and do something about it. One example would be to tackle this chaos at our airports and the passenger profiling I described earlier. Another must is to reconsider ID cards. The importance of knowing whether someone really is who they say they are has never been higher.
This must be combined with improved border controls, logging exactly who goes OUT of the country as well as who comes in should also be reconsidered, whatever the politically correct among us may say. The time terrorism suspects are kept in custody before charge has also caused dissent. Currently the maximum is 28 days—it may well be this should be reconsidered and, if necessary, raised again to, say, 42 days.
Plainly, Muslim terrorism isn't going away. We need to consider everything in our battle to defeat it. But that's the responsibility of all.
Not least the community where, sadly for them, it is festering.
A total bull's eye. Target acquired, target destroyed.
It's long past time that people need to get in their face and tell them to STFU, listen and then they might learn something.
I like the headline.
If you belong to a backwards death cult, it's your fault. Shut up and have a ham sandwich.
If Christians blew up Mecca, Muslims would not be shaking their heads disapprovingly at polls that showed that many of them felt slight prejudice against Christians.
The trick will be to keep these truths available to the public, and unfortunately, that is done by the PC MSM. However, I'm starting to believe that the general public is getting more attuned to this issue, and it's sinking in, at least to their subconscious. I hope the muslims keep trying to commit murder, we keep intercepting it, and the general public becomes more angered and concerned about wanting to do something about it....like send them all back to where they come from.
later
Now, turn the clock 60 years - the US acts with mercy - captured combatants treated pretty good. Look at Terrorslamists... they have no Guantanamo's, they have no Abu Grahabs. All they do have is ball-bearing-laden bombs, hit/kill and run tactics, plant IED and run tactics, and for those that are captured, combatants and non-combatants alike, slice their heads off. What a contrast!
This guy knows how to write. The prose is almost poetry. I admire and savor that skill.
Great article, but it needs to be applied to the muslims of the world. You can't condemn terrorist acts and then follow it up with a 10-minute rant about western foreign policy and then launch into a tangent about how poor they are and how we must understand them.
that'll do, pig. that'll do.
Last time that I was in Seatac, waiting for an Horizon flight, home, a blonde haired man, about 40 years old, wearing hornrimmed glasses and a brown over coat (expensive), stopped next to where I was sitting and said his Muslim prayers. Profiling would not have stopped a nut like that. He looked like some media personality or wealthy college professor. I was torn over whether to complain or not, because I got the feeling that he was trying to get a reaction from me.
"He holds an Honours Degree in Law, a Masters Degree in Philosophy, is a Doctor of Law and an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law. He is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and was visiting Professor at City University, New York and a member of the directing staff at the Police Staff College, with special responsibilities for legal topics and crime. He assists and advises the South African, Jamaican, Bulgarian, Romanian, Qatar and Greek Governments on policing. He has a wide interest in sport as a spectator and a participant. He holds a multi-engine and single jet pilots licences."
My CV compared to his, is well just so colorless and drab. Pity.
It's a hell of a headline. Someone needs to rewrite the Koran, (therefore, committing the ultimate blasphemy in Islam) to set Muslims straight about their illicit god.
I agree. That article hits the nail on the head.
How about a "Hurumph" for Lord Stevens!
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