There are too many good posts there to link to them all. Just go there. (There's a permanent link off this site, but here it is again just in case.)
Read Hitchens' response to the attacks, see the stuff about the BBC and the word 'terrorist' and loads more.
Here's a choice Hitchens quotes on the subject of grievances:
We know very well whatthe "grievances" of the jihadists are.
The grievance of seeing unveiled women. The grievance of the existence, not of the State of Israel, but of the Jewish people. The grievance of the heresy of democracy, which impedes the imposition of sharia law. The grievance of a work of fiction written by an Indian living in London. The grievance of the existence of black African Muslim farmers, who won't abandon lands in Darfur. The grievance of the existence of homosexuals. The grievance of music, and of most representational art. The grievance of the existence of Hinduism. The grievance of East Timor's liberation from Indonesian rule. All of these have been proclaimed as a licence to kill infidels or apostates, or anyone who just gets in the way.
FOR a few moments yesterday, Londoners received a taste of what life is like for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, whose Muslim faith does not protect them from slaughter at the hands of those who think they are not Muslim enough, or are the wrong Muslim.
You'll also find the inevitable stuff about Israeli warnings (which may warrant a separate post - so far I haven't sorted the facts from the anti-zionist conspiracies.)
12 comments:
Great post. Yup, many excellent discussions, including for example this one:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2005/07/07/a_letter_to_a_friend.php
...which echoes many of the points I am currently reading in:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141019123/qid=1120864997/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-3964108-1183859
Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam
From Harry's place: we have often discussed the use of the word "terrorism", and the BBC. Here both threads come together....
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2005/07/08/the_bbcs_terrorist_problem.php
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2742
British "Covenant of Security" with Islamists Ends
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
July 8, 2005
Just re-read my post and spotted a fairly serious typo - I have NOT sorted the facts from the conspiracies. I will corrrect it now, but though it was worth drawing attention to in case anyone wanted to pick up the baton.
A brilliant article by Charles Moore is worthy of a separate thread:
http://impdec.blogspot.com/2005/07/where-is-gandhi-of-islam-by-charles.html
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2764
Weak Brits, Tough French
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
July 12, 2005
Thanks to the war in Iraq, much of the world sees the British government as resolute and tough and the French one as appeasing and weak. But in another war, the one against terrorism and radical Islam, the reverse is true: France is the most stalwart nation in the West, even more so than America, while Britain is the most hapless.
British-based terrorists have carried out operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and America. Many governments - Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Spanish, French, and American - have protested London's refusal to shut down its Islamist terrorist infrastructure or extradite wanted operatives. In frustration, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak publicly denounced Britain for "protecting killers." One American security group has called for Britain to be listed as a terrorism-sponsoring state.
Counterterrorism specialists disdain the British. Roger Cressey calls London "easily the most important jihadist hub in Western Europe." Steven Simon dismisses the British capital as "the Star Wars bar scene" of Islamic radicals. More brutally, an intelligence official said of last week's attacks: "The terrorists have come home. It is payback time for … an irresponsible policy."
BBC and terrorism terminology revisited - I'd be interested to know Wembley's take on this....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/12/nbbc12.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/07/12/ixportal.html
BBC edits out the word terrorist
By Tom Leonard
Telegraph
12/07/2005
The BBC has re-edited some of its coverage of the London Underground and bus bombings to avoid labelling the perpetrators as "terrorists", it was disclosed yesterday.
Early reporting of the attacks on the BBC's website spoke of terrorists but the same coverage was changed to describe the attackers simply as "bombers".
As a follow-up to the Pipes postings I put in this thread about "Londonistan", some good work from The Sun today about Tariq Ramadan, who was their front page item:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005320126,00.html?sectionID=2
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,31-2005320086,00.html
Some background info on the guy:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2043
Why Revoke Tariq Ramadan's U.S. Visa?
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
August 27, 2004
...and a somewhat left-field objection:
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=SQ1215179K&news_headline=terror_row_cleric_is_too_liberal_say_muslims
Terror row cleric is too liberal, say Muslims
Good, good, just checking you're being consistent.
;-)
BTW, how are you with "terror attacks"? See follow-up article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/07/13/do1302.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/07/13/ixopinion.html
BBC language that Labour loves to hear
By Tom Leonard
Telegraph
13/07/2005
http://youblewmeupyoubastard.com/
More confirmation of "Londonistan":
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1698544,00.html
MI5 'was looking for the wrong kind of terrorists'
Times
July 18, 2005
BRITISH security forces may have missed the emergence of suicide bombers on home soil because they were looking the wrong way for years, according to an expert analysis published today.
UK Intelligence focused on Irish extremists and allowed individuals in London to foment terror in the Middle East, believing that they were no threat to Britain, the report from Chatham House and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) said.
...
The report said: “By the mid-1990s the UK’s intelligence agencies and the police were well aware that London was increasingly being used as a base by individuals involved in promoting, funding and planning terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“However, these individuals were not viewed as a threat to the UK’s national security, and so they were left to continue their activities with relative impunity, a policy which caused much anger among the foreign governments concerned.
“As a result the British authorities did not fully appreciate the threat from al-Qaeda. The failure to gain any warning from existing information of the 9/11 attacks on the US was an intelligence failure of the entire Western alliance.”
Question: if we can get these damn guys laid, will the problem go away?
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/477
How a Young British Muslim Was Tempted into Jihad
Daniel Pipes Weblog
July 14, 2005
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