Posted on 07/13/2005 7:15:01 PM PDT by Brilliant
Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said he is "shocked" the suspected London suicide bombers were British-born.
Mr Clarke said the attacks were a "clarion call" for everybody in the UK to defend their society rather than assume "we are all OK".
The Muslim community especially must "stand out" against the ideology which promotes bombings, he told BBC News.
He said he would consider all means necessary - including deportation - against those fomenting terrorism.
'No coasting'
Speaking ahead of an emergency EU summit about security measures in Brussels, Mr Clarke said it was "a central hypothesis" that the bombers were part of a wider network.
Mr Clarke said there were organisations who wanted to destroy the fundamental structure of UK democracy.
"I think that is the clarion call to us, to us as politicians, as broadcasters, to faith leaders, to lawyers, to everybody, to say we have to fight for this society we have, rather than just coasting along and assuming it's all OK."
Mr Clarke said the right balance was needed between civil liberties and security.
The belief that "home-grown terrorism" was to blame for the bombings means intelligence must be improved, despite the "first class" job done by the police and security services, he said.
Ready for more attacks?
During the EU talks in Brussels, Mr Clarke will push for European agencies to share more intelligence information.
But he argued the anti-terror strategy had to address the fact that ideology, not poverty, was the driving force behind such attacks.
"It's ensuring that the whole of the Muslim community, supported by the whole of the society, stands out against this sort of belief."
Mr Clarke said he was encouraged by the Muslim community's response.
He said he was looking directly at people who "preach hatred", with deportation one option.
The home secretary said the UK had to assume other people were prepared to carry out attacks.
Intelligence had to be at the centre of addressing that problem, he argued.
Muslim 'anguish'
Former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Stevens has suggested that three thousand people, who are now in Britain have trained in al-Qaeda camps.
Mr Clarke said he did not accept that figure but a "large number" of people had attended such camps.
"But only a very few come to this cataclysmic decision that those four individuals did on Thursday," he added.
Tony Blair on Wednesday met a delegation of Muslim MPs to discuss the discovery of the suspected bombers.
The Muslim Council of Britain says it reacted with "anguish, shock and horror" to news that British-born Islamic youths were involved in the attacks.
The council's secretary-general, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, said: "Nothing in Islam can ever justify the evil actions of the bombers."
Shahid Malik, whose Dewsbury constituency was the scene of police raids in the bombing investigation, said the Muslim community faced a "massive wake-up call".
He told BBC News after his meeting with Mr Blair: "The challenge is straightforward - that those voices that we have we tolerated will no longer be tolerated, whether they be on the streets, in the schools, in the youth clubs, in a mosque, in a corner, in a house.
"We need to go beyond condemning - we need to confront."
This is no surprise.
Maybe Clarke should get out more often...
Could Clarkie be any more of a moron?
For being "Home Secretary" Clarke is completely clueless.
Really? To Gitmo??
They're not British, they're Pakistani.
this is funny!
what planet has he been living on?
Oh, man.... deportation. He's really serious now.
I bet he'd even cut off welfare benefits!
I agree. I think the word choice is extremely deliberate -- "Hey! I bet all you bigots thought that some radical Islamic Arab was responsible for those bombs! Well, you sure were wrong!! We now know that it was a radical Islamic Brit! So ease up on the whole "Middle Eastern Terrorist" bit, Okay? It seems that terrorists come in a wide variety!!!!"
Pathetic. We know who the enemy is. And it ain't "British-born persons".
Not to me either, but it is very troublesome. These British borns had to have been indoctrinated in-country. That should awaken more than a few snoozers! Now, will it? I doubt it.
Lets not go overboard now!
Liberals are ALWAYS wrong.....Rush did a great commentary today about their ECONOMIC predictions with a Tax Cut....and as usual....The LIBS are WRONG....ALWAYS!
?Why?
Was NOT 'Kim' and the Cambridge '5,000,000' not ALSO,....British-born?
/BP gas prices in the U.S.A.
What's really scary about these Euro-Muslims is that they can travel to the US without even having to get a visa. Just hop on the plane and show their passport when they get here. After all, they're "British", "Dutch", "German" or whatever. And of course we wouldn't want our government paying any special attention to the just because they have Arab sounding names. That would be profiling after all. Can't have that.
Stand out???
The Muslim community IS the ideology which promotes bombings.
....mere rumor....
/sarcasm
To combat these "bombers," Clarke advised his countrymen to make sure their lights are doused at night.
Whole sections of Western Europe are supposedly Muslim-only with radical clerics regularly calling for jihad, and he's shocked.
Remind me why the Dems and fellow libs worship these countries and their "progressive" direction more than our own.
The Brits bragged that they survived Hitler, but I'm not so sure they can pull this off. "Douse" their lights at night? Come on, now. Next he will advise hiding in your closet.
Sorry, should have indicated my sarcasm in the first line. I was just pointing out how a) the BBC make a point to call terrorists "bombers," and b) the Home Secretary is ignorant enough to not realize that the new world of tolerance and understanding is a great cover for radicals to preach any jihad they like right under their noses.
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