London Police Defuse Car Bombs

[Engelwood]

Here's a quote from Tony Blair for everybody to digest:

'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2115929,00.html

[DeltAlum]

It isn't real easy to change a fanatic's mind by talking to him/her.

[Engelwood]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

It isn't real easy to change a fanatic's mind by talking to him/her.

Of course. I'm just talking about the general attitude in the west regarding radical Islam. When the new British PM bans the word "muslim" when talking about the current incidents, it's PC gone crazy.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/12172/Brown:-Don

[UGAalum94]

I'm not sure if it's really PC run amok, which it might be, or if it's a way of trying to marginalize the terrorist networks and supporters from anyone who might be mainstream and Muslim.

There are elements of PC that I think have contributed to the recent problems, and we're going to have to figure out how to handle them in the future: the whole "Flying Imams" flap may provide a good example of what I mean here.

But if you have a rapidly growing Muslim population like all of Western Europe does, you've got to figure out a way to make clear that you're not targeting all Muslims for the actions of a limited few, or if it's not a limited few, you've got to figure out what your long range plan is before you tip your hand.

ETA: which isn't to say that I think we have to pretend that we don't notice that the terrorists are Muslim. But when we're condemning the people responsible, we want to make sure the focus in on condemnation for the terrorism.

[RACooper]

Originally Posted by AlphaGamUGAAlum

Of course. I'm just talking about the general attitude in the west regarding radical Islam. When the new British PM bans the word "muslim" when talking about the current incidents, it's PC gone crazy.

No it's just being exact... and not fueling the feeling of isolation or being under attack that many Muslims in the UK feel - feelings that the Muslim community says only drives more into the hands of the extremists. So instead of Muslim you'll see the terms Islamists or Muslim/Islamic Extremists.

Its the ideology not the faith of the terrorists that is the issue, and to confuse or muddy the waters about this distinction only makes fighting that ideology all the more difficult.

[UGAalum94]

Not that it matters, but I didn't say what you have me quoted as saying. It was the poster above me.

[RACooper]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

Agreed. London bombings do seem to occur much more often than anywhere else in the world. I'm not claiming that as fact or anything, just from what I've seen on television over the years. (FOX news, of course. Don't worry, I wouldn't waste my time on those other stations.)

You might want to... you know to actually get a clearer picture of the news.

Agreed.
Watching their friends being publicly hanged would be a much better deterrent.

Why yes that makes perfect sense... afterall 'martyring' terrorists willing to kill themselves would really teach them

Anyways it definitely didn't work with the Irish republicans since all it did was create martyrs or heroes - heroes still lauded or sung about in pubs today. Killing people ready to die for a cause is self-defeating since they and their supporters accept and expect it really... locking them up is a greater punishment really, and a greater political and intelligence asset than a dead 'martyr'.

[DeltAlum]

While I don't know this to be fact, my understanding is that at least "life" in prison really means that in the UK, as oppossed to getting 75 years off for good behavior or whatever.

If these guys get convicted, we hopefully won't hear from them again.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by RACooper

You might want to... you know to actually get a clearer picture of the news.

Agreed. I especially like the BBC and the people they have on that like to say that Al-Qaida and Osama Bin Laden don't really exist, just decoys that Blair And Bush came up with to invade Iraq for oil (which in america we've seen so much of).

Originally Posted by RACooper

Why yes that makes perfect sense... afterall 'martyring' terrorists willing to kill themselves would really teach them

What do you suggest we do then? Give them universal health care and free college? Look at it this way, these guys want to die as martrys anyway..It's a win-win scenario, they get their glory and we get their head.