CNN
London - Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected comments by
London's mayor that Western "double standards" in the Middle
East contributed to the growth of Islamic extremism and
terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.
A spokesman for Blair, who announced Wednesday his desire
for a global conference on Islamic extremism in the wake of
the London bombings, said the PM and Ken Livingstone had
"different views of the world."
Livingstone had told BBC radio that Western intervention
in the Middle East since the end of World War I had been
motivated by a desire to control the flow of oil.
While condemning suicide bombings, Livingstone indicated he
recognized the conditions that had led Palestinians to take
that route in Israel.
"Under foreign occupation and denied a right to vote, denied
the right to run your own affairs ... I suspect that if it
had happened here in England we would have produced a lot of
suicide bombers ourselves," said Livingstone.
"But I don't just denounce suicide bombers. I denounce those
governments which use indiscriminate slaughter to advance
their foreign policy."
While dismissing Livingstone's comments, a Downing Street
spokesman the UK's Press Association: "We recognize that
Ken Livingstone has provided, as an elected official in
London, a lead to the people of London at this tragic time
- at the same time as he expresses views which we
fundamentally disagree with."
Blair said Wednesday he was considering calling a global
conference to discuss ways of tackling Islamic extremism
following the July 7 bombings on London's transit system
that killed 56 people and injured hundreds more.
"We are looking at the possibility of holding a conference
which would bring together some of the main countries who
are closely involved in these issues," he said.
Blair said his conference on Islamic fundamentalism would
focus on rooting out extremist teaching in religious
schools, known as madrassas, and said concerted action was
needed across the world.
After meeting Muslim leaders Tuesday, Blair described
extremism as an "evil ideology" that needed to be confronted
"by the force of reason."
Blair also praised the work of British intelligence and
security officials following a report in the New York Times
which claimed the UK's terror alert was lowered prior to the
London bombings because no imminent threat was anticipated.
"Though it is terrible that these terrorist attacks took
place ... over the past few years our security services and
our police have done an immense amount to protect this
country also," Blair said.
He said he was satisfied they had done "everything possible"
to reduce the terror risk and said the government was moving
in the "right direction" to combat the threat of further
attacks with new anti-terror legislation.
In a briefing before Parliament on Wednesday, Home Secretary
Charles Clarke outlined three new criminal offenses at the
heart of the government's proposals.
One provision would make the indirect incitement of
terrorism an offense, a measure intended to silence radical
clerics who have praised terrorist attacks.
Another proposed offense would be acts considered
preparatory to terrorism. That would enable security
authorities to intervene at an earlier stage to protect
the public.
A third would apply a broader definition applied to the
giving and receiving of terrorist training.
Clarke said the government also intended to establish a
database of extremists around the world who had demonstrated
"unacceptable behavior," such as preaching intended to
provoke terrorism and running extremist Web sites.
Anyone on the list would face possible exclusion from the
UK, or could be refused entry to the country.
Powers already exist for the home secretary to exclude
individuals on grounds of national security or public order,
but Clarke said they had to be applied "more widely and
systematically both to people before they come to the UK
and when they are here."
"In the circumstances we now face, I have decided it is
right to broaden the use of these powers to deal with those
who foment terrorism or seek to provoke others to terrorist
acts," he said.
"There is unity of purpose. The Government wants to work
with other parties to make sure we have the most effective
anti-terrorism legislation on our statute book. Similarly
we want to work with the Muslim community to isolate and
weaken dangerous extremists."
CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said lawmakers
would consider the legislation on their return from summer
recess in October and could pass the measures by December.
British Muslim leaders said Wednesday they had called for
an independent judicial inquiry into what motivated the
London bombings during their talks with Blair at Downing
Street.
"The scale of disenchantment amongst Muslim youth is very
clear to see," Inayat Bungalwala of the Muslim Council of
Britain told the Associated Press.
"Various factors are at play: underachievement in education;
a high rate of unemployment; discrimination in the
workplace; social exclusion, and also the government's own
policies, especially in Iraq.
"The process of how we get four homegrown suicide bombers
must be understood and that is why we are calling for an
inquiry."
The Home Office said Clarke would decide whether to open an
inquiry in September, AP reported.
Meanwhile a Pakistani official said British investigators
had asked Pakistan to pick up a number of men for
questioning in connection with the bombings.
October 15, 2003
Killing Moslems Makes Them Angry And Possibly Even Violent, Says Report
The Link
The British Institute Of Brilliance And Uncommon Foresight announced in its Annual Report today that killing, maiming, and dismembering members of Moslem families "irritates surviving family members to no end."
"It can make them violent, extremely so, even to the point of forming themselves into quasi-military or terrorist organizations and vowing to get even," explained Hugh Wensleydale, a Senior Prognosticator of BIABOBAUF.
"We discovered that invading their countries and depriving them of basic freedoms and control of their own future also pisses them off a great deal," he added.
These considerations were overlooked in planning the war and the larger war against terrorism "of which your self-installed leader speaks frequently," said Wensleydale, who claimed not to be British at all, but merely something resembling Welsh, he said.
Wensleydale said that the study by he and the other "Brilliantists" explains why Al Queda's ranks are now swelling as a consequence of America's war.
"But only really amazing geniuses, truly monumental intellects the like of which this world has not seen for millennia -- such as ourselves -- could have foreseen so inexplicable an outcome," said Wensleydale.
To eradicate the mosquito that is the terrorist,
we must first drain the swamp that is hunger, inequity and dominance.
