Britain is surprised, again

Verity

11:13 p.m. Totally brilliant post.

Do you people in Britain really believe you can turn this around when there is no will at the top to do so? ... Indeed when the will at the top is a collaborator?

T. Sen

But Arab princely states and many of their devout citizens are untouchable and can continue funding directly and indirectly, through blatant religious brainwashing, the radical recruiters themselves. Of course they are huge purchasers of armaments and fund extremely lucrative consultancies for a bevy of retired US government (and other?)officials. And one must not cause undue offence either to the embedded terrorist masters inside Pakistan for reasons that are increasingly hard to fathom or justify. Getting to the bottom of it all is rather too difficult for the greedy and powerful with their flaring snouts in the proverbial trough. But wait for it because a much loved relative might happen to be the unlucky innocent blown up by a bomber or indeed a whole city when the devout get around to perfecting use of a WMD.

Ian C

I would recomend Michael Burleigh's piece in the S/Times today entitled "Birain's phonet war on Terror" to compliment and supplement this.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3997524.ece

London Calling

I heard that Nicky Reilly was hanging around with a group of Turkish Kurds leading up to his failed bomb plot and the community who knew him before he became a Muslim had noticed how withdrawn he had become, even though prior to his conversion he was known as the gentle giant, and yet this gentle giant carried a bomb on his back whilst travelling on a bus for forty five minutes before entering the Giraffe restaurant which was packed with parents and children enjoying a meal together.

What is going on in our community, social services and the police, not to see the warning signs in this case?, it beggars believe that no one heard the alarm bells ringing.

Obviously we cannot trust the system that is in place to protect us at all times, therefore it is for the public to keep vigilant and look out for those more vulnerable people in our society who are preyed upon by evil cowards.

Meanwhile this has been another wake up call and I for one want answers from the police and social services as to why Nicky Reilly fell victim and was not properly monitored for his own safety.

This time the bomb plot failed, but the next time we might not be so lucky.

Thinkster

Where is the post at 11:13pm that Verity refers too?

Darren

Melanie

Keep these coming. As you point out in the Cultural chasm piece too, the man in the street understands fully how weird things are getting, its just politicians (and more than a few of your fellow journalists) numbed by Correctness and blinded by moral relativism who refuse to speak plainly about threats like this one. Thank the Lord for the ballot box!

elixelx

Not new at all!

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his previous incarnation as Basiji "trainer" under Khomeini, thought up the brilliant and effective wheeze of giving his "innocent" and god-fearing recruits a green plastic key to hang around their necks which would open the gates of heaven if they died while charging, unarmed, the Republican Guard Brigades of Saddam.

Hearsay from the wife of one of these Basijis, an ex-student of mine who fled Iran, indicates that they were either drug addicts or mental patients.

The saddest part is that PARENTS COLLABORATED WITH THE "TRAINERS", and willingly, even happily, turned their handicapped children over to the murderers!

susan

why are we continually surprised?

G Miller

Only recently we heard that Islamists had used Downs syndrome people to carry out suicide attacks.

The so called security forces of the UK are asleep on the job. And to think we have to pay their pensions!

Well, you all do, I skipped over to France 5 years ago. Its the best decision I ever made.

Every day I expect to hear of another terrorist attack in the UK. I only hope that politicians, not ordinary Britons, are the target. At least something may get done then!

Ravi

According to written question to the Home Office and answer provided in March 2008 there have been 48 convictions for Terrorism. Its now 49 with the Bluewater plot terrorist having pleaded guilty a few days ago. I believe that all 49 are Muslims (if not then at least 95+% as a guess). The point is that of course we should be profiling those sections of the community from which it is proven that terrorists come from. We just cannot ignore this for politically correct motives. Yesterday we learn that one third (33%) of inmates in Whitemoor High Security prison are Muslims who form only 3% of the population. Is it politically incorrect to ask Why?

Peter A

Oh, and G.Miller,I guess you are so pleased with yourself for leaving us all behind that you have stopped noticing what is happening in the suburbs of Paris and other burnt-out car- strewn havens of Islamistlite Europe.....

anglicus

G Miller.
They are not asleep, they are busy trying to arrest people like this.
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.2288512.0.motorist_told_flag_could_be_racist.php

s. Jackson

You should have seen the quotes from Muslim leaders in the Western Morning News, a paper that regularly publishes a column by a George Galloway admiring journo. My letters always attract plenty of irate replies from Guardian readers and BBC listeners, so I know what’s coming. After toning it down considerably I wrote:

Dear Editor,
Have I been living in a fool’s paradise here in the far southwest?

Complacently believing that we were far removed from the effects of radical Islam, I was surprised to learn that there are a number of Islamic organisations in the Plymouth area, and alarmed to learn that some are centred around the university, for I fear recruitment to radicalisation and extremism frequently begins in colleges and universities.

However far southwest we are, surely we’re not far enough from reality to be unfamiliar with the theory that terrorist atrocities have a habit of being motivated by radical Islam. Yet Sayed Rahman, Dr Ibrahim Elbeltagi and Fareed Ahmad all seem to be unaware of this connection.

Mr. Ahmad seemed also to be unaware that Jews were the victims of the holocaust. On 26th January 2008, this newspaper published a letter from him commemorating Holocaust Remembrance day. He lamented the occurrence of various genocidal incidents, but he could not bring himself to make any mention whatsoever of the six million Jews that perished at the hands of Adolph Hitler. A feat of denial at which the mind boggles.

Certainly these Muslim representatives say they do not condone terrorist acts. But they would do much more to convince us of their opposition to violence by speaking out amongst their own communities and educating them away from these ideas, rather than protesting that it is ‘nothing to do with Islam’ as they seem to have been doing in your newspaper report.

Here in the pleasant surroundings of the southwest they are unlikely to experience a ‘backlash,’ which unfortunately seems now to be their main concern. Muslim community leaders and spokespersons have shown us time and time again that they have a great deal of difficulty in uttering the vital words that would assure us of their sincerity and good intentions.

Graeme, Canterbury

Guess What. The Restaurant in Exeter is one of a chain of 25 and is Jewish-owned.