Amid a backdrop of hundreds of civilians being blown up in Iraq during recent days, the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacres, and with Palestinian residents of Gaza bracing for a new “unrestrained” Israeli onslaught, Muslims everywhere have been loudly condemning the London bombings and saying mea culpa on behalf of extremist rogue elements within their societies.
In Britain, the genuine shock and horror felt by the country’s 1.6 million Muslims when they heard that four of their own had embarked on a killing spree was instantly pounced upon by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It was up to the Muslim community in Britain to root out such extremists, he said, while attempting to stave off criticisms of his foreign policy by laying the blame firmly at the feet of “an evil ideology”.
Blair’s response to the attacks was to wave away demands for an official enquiry, denounce those who sought to analyze any political motives the bombers might have had, hurry in stringent anti-terror legislation and urge British Muslims to grass on the suddenly devout, who grow beards and swap their jeans for national dress.
Following the blasts, it became heresy for anyone in authority to link them with Britain’s illegal foray into Iraq, although as far back as 2002 British security services warned that the Iraq war could result in reprisals on British soil.
The Respect MP George Galloway was one of the first to lift the unspoken taboo pointing out that the majority of people in Britain “warned Mr. Blair that if he joined Mr. Bush in the war in Iraq, he would make the world a more dangerous place...” But now that emotions have cooled, respected voices, both within and without, are echoing Galloway’s sentiments, including that of former Cabinet Minister Clare Short, who contends, “we are implicated in the slaughter of large numbers of civilians in Iraq and supporting a Middle East policy...that creates anger.”
And on Sunday, a respected British think tank Chatham House (formerly the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs) weighed in on the argument. Its members conclude that the main obstacle Britain has when preventing terrorism is the fact it is “riding as a pillion passenger with the United States in the war against terror.”
There is no doubt that Iraq’s invasion has “given a boost to the Al-Qaeda network” as to “propaganda, recruitment and fund-raising”, states the organization.
However, despite the very real anger and frustration felt by Muslims around the world caused by contemptible US and British foreign policies, individuals who retaliate against innocents hiding behind a false flag of religion are even more contemptible.
They cannot be excused nor their actions justified but this doesn’t mean they should not be understood in the same way that the motives of a murder suspect are always crucial to his or her ultimate conviction.
When the police ask a man why he killed his wife, this does not mean they condone his action, yet when the government is called upon to investigate the terrorists’ angst or the injustices that have contributed toward it, this is strangely perceived as a “no-go” area.
Or, perhaps, it isn’t so strange after all because if it were to be established with certainty that Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine are major contributing factors, fingers might point toward the Bush-Blair doctrine.
Furthermore, those Muslim commentators bending over backward to show sympathy for the London victims, while virtually ignoring the dozens of children recently blown up in Iraq, should realize this. There are many other victims of the London bombings beside those who tragically lost their lives, limbs and loved ones. These are Britain’s Muslim communities currently being targeted by racists and bigots.
Despite the fact that the Muslim Society of Great Britain has utterly condemned the attacks and some 500 Muslim clerics have discussed issuing a fatwa against such incidents, British mosques have been firebombed and vandalized with pigs’ entrails. At the same time, Muslim individuals have been spat at, beaten and women of cover ridiculed, their scarves torn from their heads.
This knee-jerk reaction on the part of a tiny minority of narrow-minded Britons only serves to further fuel the flames of mistrust. Young Muslim lads, born and bred in Britain, already feel isolated from their parents due to a cultural generation gap, while post-Sept.11, many have been excluded from Britain’s mainstream society, which looks upon them with suspicion. This has led to a ghetto-type, siege mentality ripe for exploitation.
In essence, Blair must open his mind and heart to his country’s Muslims. He must listen to what they have to say instead of continually being on the defensive in an attempt to justify his own agenda.
Last week, the BBC interviewed a group of Muslim boys who live in the town of Leeds, hometown of the bombers. They all expressed allegiance to Britain and all condemned the blasts but they also let fly at the heinous way their “brothers and sisters” in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine have been treated and denounced the desecrations of their holy book.
And speaking at a rally last Sunday, Dr. Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Great Britain urged his fellows to tell their intimidators: “I am not responsible for what happened on July 7. My heart bleeds. I condemn it, yes, but I did not make those boys angry. I did not send those bombs to Iraq.”
Pakistan isn’t prepared to shoulder blame either. Yesterday, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Munir Akram openly blamed Blair’s Middle East policies for the blasts along with his country’s failure to integrate Muslims.
At the same time, the Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Al-Adli has criticized the British authorities for hastily implicating Egyptian biochemist Dr. Magdy El-Nashar by allowing him to be dubbed “the chemist” with his image plastered all over the media. Ordinary Egyptians share his outrage.
What is clear is that the British government needs to give the issue an entire re-think. Heaping responsibility on British Muslims to sort out the wheat from the chaff among their own won’t cut it, especially when the Cabinet is going all out to absolve itself.
Eventually, when Muslim self-flagellation stops and scenes of a shattered London bus make way for the daily carnage on the streets of Baghdad and Gaza once again, Britain could find itself fighting an enemy within — one that its government has unwittingly helped to foment.
