Latest on London terror raids
It is looking increasingly like the intelligence that led to the terror arrests in London on Friday was flawed. We're inevitably going to see a lot more of this kind of thing. If the security services get a tip that there is a bomb being kept in a house, they have to go in—and quick. ...
It is looking increasingly like the intelligence that led to the terror arrests in London on Friday was flawed. We're inevitably going to see a lot more of this kind of thing. If the security services get a tip that there is a bomb being kept in a house, they have to go in—and quick. There's no time for the kind of surveillance that would help avoid cock-ups.
It is looking increasingly like the intelligence that led to the terror arrests in London on Friday was flawed. We're inevitably going to see a lot more of this kind of thing. If the security services get a tip that there is a bomb being kept in a house, they have to go in—and quick. There's no time for the kind of surveillance that would help avoid cock-ups.
The problem is that every time a Muslim home gets raided in dramatic fashion, it becomes easier for irresponsible demagogues to allege that this is a war on Muslims. See this quote from George Galloway's Respect party, "Muslims have the right to oppose the government without being criminalized or branded as terrorists." What makes this so dangerous is that at the same time leaks are flowing from the Security Services which paint a chilling picture of the terrorist threat. All of which means that the public is likely to be particularly short with those who protest the police's tactics.
Tony Blair dismissed this fear today by saying that he was unconcerned about a Muslim backlash as British Muslims understood there was a terrorist threat. Yet, earlier today, the new head of the Muslim Council was warning that relations between the community and the police could break down and that "Angry people can even feel they should take the law into their own hands, so anger has to be directed into positive action."
The ideal solution is for the Muslim community to proactively co-operate with the police. This report, though, from the Sunday Telegraph shows precisely the kind of attitudes that people like the head of the Muslim Council must do their utmost to change: "According to neighbours, the brothers underwent a transformation after the September 11 attacks on America in 2001, adopting beards and more traditional Muslim dress. 'Lots of young Muslims these days are getting more religious, especially after 9/11,' said one neighbour. It's nothing to be suspicious about.'"
Meanwhile, the arrests of suspected terrorist conspirators in Canada should show that simplistic assumptions about the links between terror and Iraq are just that.
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