Posted on 07/11/2005 7:00:10 PM PDT by blam
Crackdown on Muslim clerics who preach hate
By George Jones, John Steele and Catriona Davies
(Filed: 12/07/2005)
New laws to catch people planning acts of terrorism will be fast-tracked through Parliament if the police and security services investigating the London bombings want extra powers, Tony Blair promised yesterday.
As the first of more than 50 victims of the blasts was officially named, Mr Blair said the Government was considering clamping down on radical Muslim clerics who were "inciting hatred".
Vanessa Sykes comforts Caroline hall after laying flowers near King's Cross station yesterday
He promised one of the most "vigorous and intensive" manhunts ever seen to find those responsible for Thursday's bombing of three Underground trains and a double-deck bus.
Hundreds of detectives are working on the hunt, securing closed circuit television footage from all stations through which the trains passed and on the route used by the No 30 bus on which a bomber is thought to have blown himself up, possibly accidentally.
Mr Blair said it seemed probable that the bombs had been planted by "Islamist extremist terrorists" of the kind responsible for September 11 and last year's attacks on trains in Madrid.
Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, said the Government would do "whatever it takes and spend whatever is necessary" to defend the public.
Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, and other MPs cast aside normal party politics to praise the "resolute and statesmanlike" way the Prime Minister had responded to the tragedy.
The Tory leader soft-pedalled on Conservative demands for an inquiry into any intelligence failings and pledged full support in tackling the terrorist threat.
Mr Blair responded by promising to seek cross-party consensus on any new anti-terrorism laws, including measures to catch and convict those helping to plan terrorist activity, or glorify and condone acts of terror.
The Government's current plan is to publish an anti-terrorism Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny this autumn and introduce it in Parliament next spring. That means that it might not be on the statute book for another year.
But Mr Blair said that if it became clear as the investigation proceeded that the police and security agencies needed new powers immediately, the Government would accelerate the timetable.
He told MPs that a two-minute silence would be held throughout the country on Thursday, with a memorial service attended by the Queen to be held at a date to be arranged.
The number of confirmed deaths was 52, Scotland Yard said, although Mr Blair indicated that it could still rise.
Fifty-one bodies have been removed from the scenes of the bombings and one victim died in hospital last week. Mr Blair said that 74 families, including relatives of badly injured passengers, were receiving help from police family liaison officers.
All bodies have been recovered from the trains at Liverpool Street and Edgware Road and from the scene of the bus bombing in Tavistock Square, and all "visible bodies" have been recovered from the Piccadilly Line near King's Cross.
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, acknowledged the distress and frustration of families who had been waiting to learn the fate of those still missing.
"I appeal to everybody to give us time," he said. "We will identify people as quickly as we can but this is the biggest crime scene in English history and we have got to get it right."
Sir Ian emphasised that the police, who are answering to the Westminster coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, were faced with a slow process of identification.
It involved finding forensic proof, including dental records, fingerprints and DNA, or corroborative material, such as relatives' descriptions or documents found on bodies, to establish the identity with certainty.
Much of the difficulty has arisen because of the mutilated state of the bodies, many ripped apart by the force of up to 10lb of high explosives in confined areas. However, sources said they hoped to complete many identifications by the weekend.
Susan Levy, 53, from Cuffley, Herts, was the first victim to be named formally yesterday. An inquest was opened and adjourned.
Kick all the Islamists out of your country?
"Crackdown on Muslim clerics who preach hate"
Too little, too late.
Mr Blair said the Government was considering clamping down on radical Muslim clerics who were "inciting hatred".
Considering!!! ?
man, they should clamp down like tempered steel Tomorrow !
This is not the time for talk and further discussion Mr. Blair
it is the time for resolute action . And fast!
Savage has been playing some sound bites from London on May 23 saying "nuke, nuke Washington"... "bomb, bomb USA".
The St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemns the London bombings and demonstrates why so many of us have a hard time taking Islamic condemnations of mass-murder seriously:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, St. Louis Chapter, joins Americans of every faith and people of conscience across the world in condemning Thursday’s bomb attacks in London.
We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed or injured in these attacks. We also call for swift action in apprehending and punishing the perpetrators.
No injustice done to Muslims can justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any group or individual who commits, condones or justifies such brutal and un-Islamic acts, whatever name they give themselves. These acts violate the Islamic principles of preserving the sanctity of life and protecting the safety and security of innocent civilians.
We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of the Quran and the teaching of Prophet Muhammad.
Fine words. They would have been worth something without that line about "injustice done to Muslims." Does CAIR-STL actually think that's why these mass murders are happening?
Which "injustice done to Muslims" are they referring to? The fact that Israel refuses to commit seppuku? The liberation of Roman Catholic East Timor from Muslim oppression? The fact that the world disapproves of killing or enslaving southern Sudanese Christians? The fact that Nigerian and Indonesian Christians refuse to convert en masse? The break-up of the Ottoman Empire? The Reconquista?
Islam IS hate!
"Deport all Muslim clerics who preach hate" means that they'll ALL get deported within the month of such a law getting passed. :-P
Like here in the USA, they will never get a law that allows for anything that can be construed as non-politiacally correct (prejudiced). The world needs to make it illegal to support terrorism materially or rehtorically. Sure it is extreme. Put a 15 year time limit on it. Then we can have courts sort our whether the individuals are terrorists.
I know, Free Speech....yadda yadda yadda. I concur. But when your free speech enables harm against me, my rights are infringed upon.
Besides, I thought the courts finally decided it was against the law to offend anyone. Thes damn radical islamofacistism offends me. ARREST THEM!
Gee, the Muslims are a problem.........to quote Gomer Pyle,
"SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!.........any questions?
bttt
Bring back all the powers that were in place during WW2. No quarter to traitors, seditionists and 5th columns of the enemy.
I am waiting for immams preaching jihad to be arrested - after having been turned in by those attending their mosques. Until such things become common place, all this will be is blowing smoke.
its too late. England has been a hollow shell penetrated by socialists, KGB and Arabists since the end of WWII.
I agree. Te people of the country would be better served by cutting off all immigration from Islamic country's immediately and locking the country up tighter than a drum for all illegal immigration as well.
Yea, a pipe dream there as well as here in the States.
How bout closing all mosques for a start, they are nothing more than terrorist hideouts.
Reinstate the death penalty and use it 'liberally'.
How come the "good" Muslims(which don't exist IMHO) aren't marching in the street demanding we jail the bad guys in their religion? When is that going to happen?..... not any time soon, I'm afraid.
that's why it's hard to take that religion, if that's what it is, seriously.
Amen to that!
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