Under Siege
"[What little is known to this date about Abedi] seems to fit into a pattern that has been seen in a number of places. A second-generation immigrant, often from a Muslim country, who cannot reconcile his new life and that of his family with their lives in their country of origin and is somehow driven to violence."
"It also points, I believe, to the necessity for Canada and other Western countries to be concerned about -- and do more about -- the effective integration of newcomers. Better to do more before violent crimes occur."
Richard Fadden, former National Security Adviser, Harper Government
"Like many ISIS adherents, he's a young man, born and raised in Europe to immigrant or refugee parents. We've seen a lot of that in recent months and years in attacks from Belgium to France, and from Germany to Russia."
"There's obviously also a process of radicalization going on. We'll find out more as the investigation continues, but it would be surprising if he hadn't had some level of interaction, in person or online, with other radicals and terrorists."
"A suicide bomb is kind of a gold standard in terrorism, common across the globe and especially in the conflict zones of Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Thousands occur each year."
"And yet, for those able and willing, a suicide bombing provides a huge amount of error and mayhem, precisely as we've seen in Manchester."
Professor Alex Wilner, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa
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| An image of what is believed to be the detonator, released by the New York Times. |
The level of sophistication of this bomb used by Salman Abedi to detonate himself in the entrance hall of the 21,000-seat Manchester Arena to kill twenty-two people, children and adults alike, attending a pop concert, was of a type that no novice could produce. Accordingly, British intelligence feels that the bomb-maker is out there somewhere -- despite that Abedi had been to Libya and taken jihadi training there -- and planning yet another devastating attack. Spurring Prime Minister Theresa May to increase the nation's threat level advisory.
The internal threats that Europe reels under are the product of having absorbed millions of Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East over the years, under the mistaken belief that all these immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers would be so grateful to have the opportunity to live in countries where no conflict reigns, where the citizens are not considered to be disposable fodder by their dictators-- that they would happily assimilate and grasp at European values, respecting its laws and becoming model citizens.
What wasn't taken into account is that Islam is not merely a religion, but also an ideology, a total and complete way of life dictating to its faithful how they must live every second of their lives and dedicate and re-dedicate themselves in prayer to Allah five times each day. Islam, which encompasses every vestige of social, political and legal focus for Muslims also requires of the faithful that they remain true to the precepts of Islamist expansion through jihad to achieve religious and political conquest.
Muslims living in the West are nurtured on the concept of grievance, that they are victimized, sinned against by the non-Muslim world, which constantly discriminates against Islam and engages in actions meant to subvert the sacred nature of Islam through Islamophobia. The idee fixe of victimization and vengeance lingers in the subconscious and the consciousness of Muslims acting as a spur to incite to reaction to perceived slurs against Islam.
This cultural/religious/social contract serves to prepare young Muslim men in particular to yearn to extract revenge from the perpetrators of ill-will against Islam, to indulge in the covert activities that will lead to the support of violent jihad or the perpetration of it at their own hands. At the very same time, Muslims living in the West, and witnessing the reaction of non-Muslims to continual Muslim assaults, are swift to declare that terrorism has 'nothing to do' with Islam or with religion; it is a perversion of the Islam they know and love.
And the Liberal, socialized West is quick to respond by its own declaration of faith in the innocence of Islam. Exquisite care is taken not to harm the delicate feelings of Muslims by connecting Islam with terrorism even while violent jihad, a vital construct of Islamic hegemonic prosetylization reflects concisely Islam's instructions to the faithful. The latest violent eruption of hate and malevolence is doomed, like those before it, to be repeated against the innocence of the West which does its utmost to pay heed to the Muslim voices that assure that violence is not Islam's way.
Labels: Atrocities, Britain, Immigration, Jihad, Muslims
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, May 24, 2017
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