LONDON, 9 July 2007 — Britain yesterday received its bleakest warning that the fight against “Islamist” terrorism could take up to 15 years to eradicate and that the danger from both home-grown and foreign terrorists is at its greatest ever level currently. The government, indeed, needs a new approach to tackle the terror threat. This is the assessment of Adm. Sir Alan West, the former First Sea Lord, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s surprise choice of minister for security.
Britain’s security chief’s remarks come in the aftermath of the recent terrorist campaign involving two attempted car bombings in central London and the attack on the arrivals terminal at Glasgow Airport. Yesterday, Scotland Yard got an extra week from magistrates to question five suspects led by alleged ringleader Dr. Mohammed Asha, held at the top security Paddington Green police station in central London.
On Saturday, Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, 27, one of the two suspects involved in the foiled flaming Jeep bombing of Glasgow Airport, became the first suspect to be charged in connection with the above campaign and was remanded in custody by magistrates at the City of Westminster Court in central London and sent for trial at the Old Bailey on July 21.
West, in a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Telegraph — his first since becoming minister — in a significant change of tone from the rhetoric of the previous Blair government, attacked the expression “war on terror” and “Muslim community” which he said were unfortunate mistakes.
“I hate that expression. When I first heard it — I think it first came over from the (United) States — I thought it was totally the wrong thing. Its not like a war in that sense at all. It demeans the value of a war, and it demeans a value of a lot of things. I (also) don’t like the fact that we talk about “the Muslim community” and this sort of thing.
“I have a lot of Muslim friends and they see themselves as British. We’ve got to be very careful. The threat is to our British way of life and all of our British people,” he said.
The former navy chief said that the terrorists have “severely damaged” one of the world’s great religions (Islam) — the one which they purport to support. He described the terrorists as “a disparate core of people — based abroad primarily — whom I’m afraid are racist, they’re bigoted, they seek power, they’re avaricious in money terms and they talk of the caliphate.”
He called on the British public to be “a little un-British” by informing on those plotting to take innocent lives to the authorities.
“Britishness does not normally involve snitching nor talking about someone. I am afraid in this situation, anyone whose got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life,” he explained.
West, who has a far-reaching brief spanning all departments of state, warned that the biggest challenge was dealing with the radicalization of young Muslims.
“This is not a quick thing. I believe it will take 10 to 15 years. But I think it can be done as long as we as a nation apply ourselves to it and it’s done across the board,” he said.
Swiss Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan, speaking to BBC Radio, backed Admiral West’s call for more “snitching” in that all citizens should “come together and fight” terrorism, including giving support to the police.
But he cautioned that “we must be very cautious not to nurture this sense of suspicion toward Muslims. I think that the current political discourse and also what is going on at the grass roots during the last three years, it’s just worrying, about the change of atmosphere in our society.”
On Saturday, Muslims organizations led by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) had a closed-door meeting on the latest terror campaign and the duty of British Muslims in playing their role in countering extremism and fighting terrorism.
“One of the key factors that we are agreed on is that there’s an Islamic duty to co-operate with the police to ensure the safety of British citizens — Muslims and non-Muslims,” stressed Inayat Bunglawala of the MCB.
The problem, he said, lay with a small number of extremists who shared a “violent world view” and who are “killing civilians for what they believe is an interpretation of Islam.”
In a declaration on tackling Islamic extremism and terrorism in Britain, the meeting agreed that “all Britons — Muslim and non-Muslims — should stand united against the threat of terrorism,” and “Islam requires us to protect and safeguard the life of civilians. As citizens we will address international issues of concern by promoting political engagement of our people in the democratic processes.”
