Posted on 07/22/2005 11:59:45 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
The country is stunned by a series of violent and terrifying events in London. These "incidents", as the police insist on calling them, have the potential to instil a permanent state of fear among the population. Action, both bold and sensitive, is required to prevent more of them.
Ultimately, terrorism will only end through a change of heart among the fanatics who are prepared to immolate themselves and others in the name of God. The war on terror is a war of culture, between the civilisation which stands for freedom and democracy and the corrupt mentality which sees death and destruction as the only acceptable alternative to the establishment of Islamic theocracy.
This war must be fought on both the cultural and the security fronts. We here set out a list of 10 proposals which, we believe, should be implemented as a matter of urgency.
It is unfortunate that just as Britain faces its most severe internal security threat in decades, MPs have this week risen for a three-month holiday.
We strongly urge the Government to recall Parliament to debate and enact this legislative programme.
1. Confidently assert British values
We must recognise that a root cause of home-grown terrorism is the pollution of British values by Britain herself. Our own culture has actively, if unconsciously, helped to foster a contempt for our country among our own young people.
The result is not merely a loss of Britain's collective memory and communal understanding - it is a class of alienated young men of foreign extraction who regard our civilisation as weak, decadent and despicable.
We must prove them wrong. The Government, schools, the BBC and other cultural outlets should launch a campaign to celebrate the virtues and values of Britishness, and to inculcate these values in the children who grow up, and the migrants who settle, in our country.
2. Exclude foreign undesirables
Although the July 7 bombers were British, it is likely that they were the dupes of intelligent and well-connected fanatics from abroad. Some of those who instigate terrorism have been given a safe haven in Britain under our asylum laws.
This must change. The 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees theoretically allows governments to deny or revoke refugee status to those who conspire against their host country. British judges, however, have interpreted the 1951 Convention to deny the Home Secretary the right to refuse admission to undesirables.
The Government should unilaterally withdraw from the 1951 Convention and other related protocols. This will, inter alia, allow us to return unwanted arrivals to the last safe country they visited before arriving in Britain.
3. Repeal the Human Rights Act
Judges have also used the European Convention on Human Rights (incorporated into UK law by the 1998 Human Rights Act) to second-guess government decisions, arguing that Article Three of the ECHR gives people the right not to be returned to countries where they may face degrading or inhumane treatment.
This is not an argument which troubles other signatories to the ECHR (notably France, which frequently returns undesirables to Algeria). The Government should repeal the Human Rights Act and consider withdrawing from the ECHR altogether.
4. Crackdown on propaganda
London is a global centre for the dissemination of Islamist propaganda. The Government should expand the legal provisions against the incitement of violence. A specific law banning "religious hatred" is unnecessary; anyone encouraging or exulting in the murder of the citizens of Britain or her allies should be liable to prosecution.
Glorifying terrorism should also be illegal. This will enable a thorough crackdown of jihadist websites and publishers, as well as the firebrand imams who flourish in our country.
5. Intercept evidence admissable in court
The Government has consistently refused to allow intercept evidence (phone taps and other surveillance techniques) to be used in court to aid the prosecution of terrorism suspects. But if we are serious about preventing attacks before they happen, and locking up those who plan them, we must allow these most informative of techniques to be legally admissable.
6. Visible police presence
The Government should abandon its planned legislation for identity cards. By far the most effective preventative action we can take against terrorists is to increase the number of front-line officers dedicated to listening to and reporting on suspicious activity in the Muslim community, and to patrolling likely target sites. Therefore, ministers should devote the estimated £584 million annual cost of the ID card scheme to increasing the numbers of police officers on duty in Britain's streets and transport networks.
7. Sensible policing
As well as growing in number, the police should be freed to exercise common sense in their pursuit and questioning of terrorism suspects. Following the Macpherson Report of 1999, the Government has required police officers who stop and question a member of the public to fill in a 40-question form reporting the encounter, including information on the racial profile of the suspect.
The effect of this requirement, which was intended to restore confidence in the sensitivity of the police to ethnic minorities, is to alienate the police from the community by erecting a barrier of officialdom between policeman and citizen. "Sensitivity", in today's context, is a policy of wilfully ignoring the individuals most likely to be terrorists. In the face of the threat of terrorism, we must all accept an impact on the way we live: the unfortunate additional burden borne by British Asians must be an inevitable increase in frustrating attention from the police.
8. Expectation for Muslims to join the police and security forces
Asians will more happily accept being stopped if it is Asian officers doing the stopping. Britain is also badly disadvantaged by the lack of Muslim police and security officers who could infiltrate radical Islamist networks in Britain.
There is little that legislation could do to correct this lack. But a clear signal should be sent to all Muslim leaders that the role they can play in winning the war against terrorism is to encourage members of their community to join up.
9. Effective border controls
Only when the national government assumes and enforces absolute control over entry to and egress from these islands will we have the capability to contain the threat of terrorism from abroad.
To do this we must unite the diverse agencies which guard our borders into a single border security force, charged with defending our airports, ports and coastline from illegal immigration and smuggling. Also, embarkation controls, abolished by this Government, should be restored, so that the identity of those who come and go from Britain is recorded.
10. Increased detention facilities
Currently there are only 1,200 places available for the detention of would-be migrants and refugees who arrive in Britain without adequate documentation, or who arouse the suspicion of the authorities.
Many thousands of migrants are admitted to the UK each year and allowed to move freely around the country before security checks are performed on them. We must considerably enlarge Britain's detention facilities.
Ted Nugent would make Britain safer.......
Perhaps Parliament should review the final moments in the life of Anwar Sadat prior to enacting this provision.
I feel the same way every time I watch "Mrs. Miniver", the ultimate British-upper-lip movie. The ending scene is a classic, all the players gathered at their bombed-out village church as they listen to the immortal "vicar's speech" [still so apt today]:
"This is not only a war of soldiers in uniform, it is a war of the people - of all the people - and it must be fought, not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom! Well, we have buried our dead but we shall not forget them. Instead, they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after us from the tyranny and terror that threatens to strike us down! Fight it, then! Fight it with all that is in us! And may God defend the right." - Vicar (Henry Wilcoxon), Mrs. Miniver (1942)As he finishes, the camera shows the outside view of the damaged church as the congregation sings "Onward Christian Soldiers"...and a Britsh air squadron drones overhead.
I instantly recalled that scene on September 14, 2001 at the closing of the Day of Remembrance services at the National Cathedral. After President Bush's awesome speech (his best, I think) the cameras pulled back to the outside of the cathedral, aimed skyward showing drifing clouds...as the choir sang a powerful version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I always wondered if the resemblance was accidental.
Anyway, great movie. If anyone hasn't seen it, try to rent it. It represents what Britain should be trying to recapture.
Good muslim, bad muslim?
There are not two versions of the koran. All muslims read from the same perverted unholy scribblings of the demented pervert.
Recruiting more muslims into Britain's security forces would truly play into the hands of the perpetrators.
Realizing that coexistance with muslims is futile would be positive.
"What happened yesterday confirmed that as long as the cause and the root problem is still there ... we will see the same effect we saw on July 7," Bakri said.
"If the cause is still there the effect will happen again and again," he said, adding he had no information about future attacks or contacts with people planning to carry out attacks.
Bakri, a Syrian-born cleric who has been vilified in Britain since 2001 when he praised the September 11 hijackers, said he did not believe the bombings and attempted attacks on London were carried out by British Muslims.
He condemned the killing of all innocent civilians but described attacks on British and U.S. troops in Muslim countries as "pro-life" and justified.
In an interview with Reuters, Bakri described Osama bin Laden, leader of the radical Islamist network al Qaeda, as "a sincere man who fights against evil forces."
Bakri said he would like Britain to become an Islamic state but feared he would be deported before his dream was realized.
"I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world," he said.
Its nice of you to do that but you have plenty to worry about here at home.
11. give back the right to the subjects to keep & bear arms,
bump for common sense
You don't hafta get personal. I said I was sorry about that incident with the curry at the Bombay Brassery.
This is certainly a good start, but they forgot the bit about reinstating the ability of citizens to defend themselves with guns.
What they value over family is their holy sites.
You must not have many friends. How does caring and worrying about the fate of a friend lessen how I feel about home?
Many people can walk and chew gum at the same time ya know.
Response: Turn the hen house over to the fox.
Comment: Note everything is proposed except the only rational choice-Mass Expulsion! If the Brits want to be great again then they must remember: "All Great People are exclusive."
Wow! How can such a nice person have such a thin skin? I meant no harm. I am delighted you are so loving and compassionate. I just didn't want you to be looking overseas and get blindsided here at home.
Sorry, if you were offended. I will put you on my do-not-call list.
Yes!! A point lost on many lefties. And the terrorists among them are counting on our tolerance. The ten steps are indeed on the right track, but your point needs to be on the list, too.
Except #8.
I allow the possibility of being wrong, although I am concinced I'm not: That's like allowing undercover foxes into the henhouse.
Foreign national groups known by experience to be fanatically anti-host-country should earn the right to be among police and security forces. The bar should be set very high, and their commitment to a free society and their abandonment of the murderous barbarian culture-disguised-as-a-religion crystal clear.
50% in my universe is not minuscule.
And if it is 50% in Britain, what is it likely to be in Egypt? In Syria? In Algiers?
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