Half right Hari
Urgent comment
Half right Hari
- By Milan Rai
Johann Hari writes on the basis of his encounters with terrorists and suicide bombers (in the Independent, page 27 or paid-for access here):
'Some people are saying these massacres of civilians were simply mindless psychopathy, with no more purpose than Fred and Rosemary West's butchery of young girls in Gloucester. That is wrong. These were vile acts of political murder, emerging from a political context created, in part, by Western statecraft and driven by political goals. It is always better to know what you are up against.'
So far, so good.
On the other hand, Hari thinks that the 'simple solution' of Western withdrawal from Muslim lands will not work:
'when you realise that Osama bin Laden considers Spain (or "Andalucia", as he calls it) to be a Muslim land because it was an Islamic territory until 1492. Not to mention all of Israel (Bin Laden is no fan of the 1967 borders), much of the Balkans and all of Kashmir... Once the Middle East is handed over to sharia law, would we then cede Spain, Tel Aviv, Kosovo and chunks of India to get al-Qa'ida off our backs?'
This Is Not A War For Sharia Law
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2053.shtml
Urgent comment - By Milan Rai
Now that the police have identified at least three of the four bombers who struck London last Thursday as young British Muslim men, the question of how British Muslims could become so alienated as to carry out such a horrific attack has come to the centre of political and public attention.
In this context, it is absolutely extraordinary that the most authoritative source of information about this crisis, the joint Home Office and Foreign Office report, 'Young Muslims and Extremism', which was leaked to the Sunday Times and published with a front-page headline three days ago, has been entirely censored from today's coverage and commentary in the serious British newspapers.
Extraordinary, but predictable. The conclusions of the 'Extremism' report are politically explosive. The mass media is once again serving power, not truth - and not the security of the British people.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2051.shtml