Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Countdown to the big bang.
Front page on my newspaper today is the warning that Osama Bin Laden's second in command issued a warning yesterday that Britain faced fresh terror attacks as ''punishment'' for Salman Rushdie's knighthood. The threat - addressed directly to Gordon Brown - came in a 20-minute audio-tape posted on jihadi websites by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He threatened ''a very precise response'' in retaliation against Britain for having knighted the controversial novelist in the Queen's Birthday Honours last month.
"I say to Blair's successor that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London," he said. "And if you did not understand, listen, we are ready to repeat it for you, God willing, until we are sure you have fully understood."
I wonder how long it will be before there is another terrorist incident here in the UK? Al-Qaeda have a history of repeating terrorist attacks until they become successful. The recent London and Glasgow attacks failed but it will not take long before they perfect these improvised explosive devices. There are too many terrorist cells working quietly towards jihad for our intellegence services to monitor them all effectively as the latest trial in London demonstrates. The clock is ticking away but shortly our Parliament will start it's annual summer recess. Just how long will it be before COBRA has to meet again due to another terrorist crisis?
Our foreign and domestic policies are listened to abroad. We should listen to the protests being made abroad about our government and respond by changing our policies to keep us all safe and secure in our homes and workplaces. You cannot win by fighting jihad because their supporters are prepared to die for their cause and become martyrs. The only way is through diplomacy and by changes to your foreign policy. Take a pacifist view on these problems rather than adopt an aggressive military view which you can never win. The history of Afghanistan will teach you that guerrilla jihadists, some of whom the West has trained, cannot be beaten. The only way forward that I can see is from spreading peace through diplomacy and withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
If it also takes the withdrawal of the knighthood to Salman Rushdie, then so be it. That is the price of diplomacy and will not let our national pride get in the way of our personal safety in our towns and cities. Better to loose a knight than a civilian life.
Front page on my newspaper today is the warning that Osama Bin Laden's second in command issued a warning yesterday that Britain faced fresh terror attacks as ''punishment'' for Salman Rushdie's knighthood. The threat - addressed directly to Gordon Brown - came in a 20-minute audio-tape posted on jihadi websites by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He threatened ''a very precise response'' in retaliation against Britain for having knighted the controversial novelist in the Queen's Birthday Honours last month.
"I say to Blair's successor that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London," he said. "And if you did not understand, listen, we are ready to repeat it for you, God willing, until we are sure you have fully understood."
I wonder how long it will be before there is another terrorist incident here in the UK? Al-Qaeda have a history of repeating terrorist attacks until they become successful. The recent London and Glasgow attacks failed but it will not take long before they perfect these improvised explosive devices. There are too many terrorist cells working quietly towards jihad for our intellegence services to monitor them all effectively as the latest trial in London demonstrates. The clock is ticking away but shortly our Parliament will start it's annual summer recess. Just how long will it be before COBRA has to meet again due to another terrorist crisis?
Our foreign and domestic policies are listened to abroad. We should listen to the protests being made abroad about our government and respond by changing our policies to keep us all safe and secure in our homes and workplaces. You cannot win by fighting jihad because their supporters are prepared to die for their cause and become martyrs. The only way is through diplomacy and by changes to your foreign policy. Take a pacifist view on these problems rather than adopt an aggressive military view which you can never win. The history of Afghanistan will teach you that guerrilla jihadists, some of whom the West has trained, cannot be beaten. The only way forward that I can see is from spreading peace through diplomacy and withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
If it also takes the withdrawal of the knighthood to Salman Rushdie, then so be it. That is the price of diplomacy and will not let our national pride get in the way of our personal safety in our towns and cities. Better to loose a knight than a civilian life.
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