British PM: We have not done enough to stop Islamic extremism in the U.K.
In wake of suicide attack in Sweden by a U.K.-educated bomber, David Cameron tells British parliament that further steps need to be taken to de-radicalize British universities.
By Reuters Tags: UK David Cameron al-Qaida SwedenBritain admitted lapses in its attempts to tackle Islamist militancy on Wednesday after an attack in Sweden by a U.K.-educated bomber revived old charges the country is overly tolerant of the threat.
Britain became a hub of Islamist activity in the 1990s thanks to a tradition of granting asylum to Middle East dissidents, but after Sept 11. cracked down on what many
believed had become a dangerously radical militant scene.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron |
| Photo by: AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis, File |
The attack in Stockholm on Saturday by Taymour Abdulwahab, a Swede of Middle Eastern origin who had studied in Britain, has reheated accusations that the country is soft on militancy, particularly in its universities.
Critics point to attacks dating back to the 1990s by radicals who had studied in Britain, including the failed bid by a London-educated Nigerian to bomb a plane over Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009.
Speaking about the Swedish blast, Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament Britain had to do more to stop militants and ask why "so many young men" had become radicalized.
'Not done enough'
"We have not done enough to deal with the promotion of extremist Islamism in our own country," he said.
"Whether it is making sure that imams coming over to this country can speak English properly, whether it is making sure we de-radicalize our universities, I think we do have to take a range of further steps," he told lawmakers.
"But we've also got to ask why it is that so many young men in our own country get radicalized in this completely unacceptable way."
Fellow worshippers at a mosque where Abdulwahab prayed in the English town of Luton have said they knew he had radical ideas, a fact apparently not known to police or local government.
Andy Hayman, formerly Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, said the amount of information flowing to police from Britain's Muslim minority remained scant despite large sums spent on efforts to identify young men most vulnerable to recruitment by al-Qaida-aligned groups.
"If it was drug dealing or housebreaking being done, the phones would be red hot," he told BBC radio.
"I know it is difficult for some parts of the Muslim community because only a very small part are involved in extremism. But we cannot ignore it otherwise what we saw in Sweden will be on our home shores soon."
Security Minister Pauline Neville-Jones acknowledged the authorities efforts were insufficient.
But she added that, unlike theft or dealing drugs, preaching extremism was not in itself illegal and persuading communities to inform authorities on radicals was therefore a tougher task.
"What we are dealing with here is something much subtler and harder to get at," she told BBC radio. "It's a pre-lawbreaking and pre-criminalization period in somebody's life that we need to try and get at."
Previous attempts by authorities to tackle militancy have met suspicion from Muslim communities, who have equated the program with spying and evidence of anti-Muslim
stigmatization, Muslim community workers and academics say.
Britain has about 1.8 million Muslims, mainly of Pakistani descent, and the security services say that nearly all major terrorism plots since 2001, including the 2005 London bombings which killed 52 people, were linked to Pakistan.
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You'd think that the London transit bombings would have been a wakeup call. But better late than never...
In fact British Security forces are about to be reduced by 25%. Doubt there will be much happening Cameron playss to the gallery, he is a man of no substance bit like Netanyahu, he tells people what he thinks they want to hear.
I think it might be too late for them..I spoke to my Korean friend who is a professor of philosophy and he said:" when Jews are forced to leave the country due to anti-semitism(currently radical muslims flooding Europe bringing with them staunchly anti-semitic agendas)that would mark the beginning of downfall of that country". Protect your Jewish population as if they are gone mayhem and death will follow... Stop muslim immigration to Europe and US!!!
Out of millions and millions of Muslims in the west there are only a tiny number who are "radicalized". Of those radicalized few, the vast majority are either adolescents (who naturally like loud noises) or people who are angry at the Afghan / Iraq situation.
And you base this insight on what research? Peerhaps you only consider someone "radicalized" after they commit jihad. But there are huge neighborhoods in London that are inaccessible to non-Muslims, filled with supporters of jihad. Imams preaching hatred attract thousands at mosques. The "non-radical Muslims" are doing little to curb their brethren.
The medrassehs were radicalised at the time of the mujahideen war against the Soviets. At the time, the West loved it. Unfortunately it's all gone a bit 'tits up' as we say over here. Cameron's right that we need to get some home-grown imams rather than constantly getting them from Pakistan. There should also be an open discussion about Islam. Both Christianity and Judaism, as well as positive messages, have some rather unplesant things in their respective holy books, but in polite society Christians and Jews have learnt to ignore the negative and stress the positive. That's the kind of Islam we need.
The largest ethnic population there is Punjabi (~80 million) followed by Pashtuns (~28 million), Sindhis (~25 million), Seraikis (~15 million), Muhajirs (~13 million) and Balochis (~6 million). Granted they're all mostly Sunni Muslims but they do have differing cultures and interests.
There was even call in Britain to demand explanations from Israel why those 2 London Pakistanis (graduates of LSE btw) doing the bombing "were not catched alive" They got they bomb in Gaza and evaded control by travelling with British journalists into Israel-British press helping terrorists. "Nobody in London was involved in it" was the conclusion of the MI5 unwilling investigation. Israel was too meek and didn't demand interrogating suspects in London ,not like Brits demanding "full Israeli cooperation" after Dubai . It has been hitting BRits ever since ,the Pakistyani environment have subsequently produced the London Tube bombers Now it hits us
The presenter posed the question, if the suicide bomber in Sweden succeeded only in blowing himself up, will he still get the 72 virgins in Heaven. The replies were alarming with one aggrieved woman demanding to know why he mentioned Islam. Apparently the bomber was not a real Muslim. Ahh good, you might think but when pressed she said a real Muslim male would go to Afghanistan and fight shoulder to shoulder with his brothers in Afghanistan. What does does this tell you about confusion/Koran and Radical Islam? Another man said it was all a matter of, "Intent" but couldn't explain further. There was a general feeling that the presenter was having a laugh at Islam's expense. Not to make light of the fact that America and the UK in particular have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Civilians based on a lie, why aren't Muslims enraged at the Millions who have been murdered in countries such as Sri lanka, Somalia, Sudan, Algeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, East Timor, Indonesia, Yemen , Burma etc...but will demand death for anyone printing a Cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed. Something fundamental is wrong because the argument that it's all the West's fault does little to answer the question, Why are Muslims killing themselves and as many innocent Women and Children as they can? And then they go to Heaven?
They will never do anything to upset the Islamic community in the UK. His words are empty of any sincerity.
Not only has Britain not done enough, they are encouraging it by their constant Israel bashing.
He is strangely silent.
When Israel sorts its nutters out, we'll sort ours out. One huge difference is that in Israel, they have POWER!!!!
Even if a bit late.
Actually, you did worse than nothing, you appeased and nurtured islamic extremism and succumbed to it. You chose "political correctness" over the truth. If you lived in 15th century Spain you would have said: "The Spanish inquisition may be all over us, but this is not the spirit of the Catholic Church, and we certainly can't blame the bishops or the Pope". I knew the British are masters of understatement, but "not done enough" is a new record!
I don't understand it, but British Universities are rife radicals, promoting anti-semitism and violence. You only have to look at the anti-tuition fee protests last week, to see who the main contingent of protesters were.
Tell Me Dan, who were they? Demonstrations took place all over the UK, I suppose that the muslims were the main block across the country?
Perhaps the answer is to allow these people to cleanup their act before they bring their philosophy to our shores. I have no interest in having them join our populations. They are quite backwards and exteremely dangerous.
TOO LATE ....................David Cameron