Forgiving Trespass Into Terror
"A lot of them feel trapped by the Islamic State not letting them go, and by the British government not letting them back."
"But if you want people to understand that it's bloody terrible out there, you have to hear from these people."
Richard Barrett, former counterterrorism director, MI6, Britain
"If you stop them from coming back, you're going to create more grievances, and more reasons for this country to be targeted. If we don't leave a doorway open for them, they're going to become more radicalized."
"If American soldiers were being hostile toward innocent civilians, so were al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This was hypocrisy."
Hanif Qadir, chief executive, Active Change Foundation
 Islamic State militants marching in Raqqa, Syria. — Photo by AP |
Mr. Qadir comes by his sentiments from the perspective of one who has his own experiences in the background to guide and ground him. He had himself travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2002, intending to perform humanitarian work. Admitting at the same time that, horrified by reports of American airstrikes killing innocent civilians he was attracted to the Taliban's 'struggle' against a foreign occupier. So attracted he was prepared to fight alongside them.
A closer scrutiny, he claims, left him repelled. The Government of Britain, he now says, should understand that the hyphenated British citizens who travelled to Syria to become part of the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad and who had turned out to be disillusioned can be converted into useful and effective spokespeople denying the attraction of Islamic State propaganda. And then, presumably, a balance might be achieved between those extolling its virtues and those condemning its brutalities.
British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of the chilling prospect that former fighters with British citizenship might return and carry out their malevolence against the West within the country that had given them haven, opportunity and citizenship, spurned through the more attractive opportunities they recognized in violent Islamist jihad. The prospect of their return was characterized by the Prime Minister as "a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before".
And Britain has been no stranger to episodes of enmity emanating from within its Muslim population, from imams preaching derisive disgust at British culture and the need to transform Britain into an Islamist state, to attacks by British-born Muslims that have killed ordinary British citizens. British security services raised the potential of violent threats to "severe", illustrating the belief that an attack is considered "highly likely" to occur on British soil.
The result of these viral concerns is the government's crack-down on its citizens suspected of planning to travel to Syria, and a keen watch placed on those who may have been, and returned. This, in response to the very real fact that thousands of Europeans have been drawn to violent jihad, some 500 Britons, men and women among them. On suspicion of joining the jihadis, 69 Britons have been arrested this year. Not to speak of concerns of British citizens heading directly toward Islamic State.
The government has altered established law to close any perceived loopholes, and has given police the power to confiscate passports temporarily as Islamists make an effort to come and go at airports. The estimable London Mayor Boris Johnson, a possible future prime minister, has suggested that suspected fighters be presumed guilty until proven innocence, and stripped of their citizenship. Too severe?
Its time has come.
Labels: Britain, Islamic State, Islamists, Terrorists
posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 15, 2014
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