Any Changes Post 7/7? Austin Bay...

[Annie]

http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=409

7/12/2005
UPDATED: Crackdown in Britain
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* General

— site admin @ 9:06 pm

Consider this report from the London Times. The British people overwhelmingly support a crack down on terror.

Here are the key stats:

Nearly nine out of ten favoured giving the police new powers to arrest people they suspect of planning terrorist acts (86 per cent), tighter controls on who comes into the country (88 per cent) and security check and baggage inspections at stations (89 per cent).

More than two thirds of the public (70 per cent) backed an increase in police powers to stop and search people on the street, while three fifths (61 per cent) said that they supported the introduction of ID cards. There are were marked regional variations.

Those living the furthest away from London were the strongest supporters of tough action.While 95 per cent of Scots support security checks and baggage inspections at stations, 84 per cent in London and the South East back this measure.

Working-class respondents were stronger supporters than the middle classes of giving the police new powers. While 93 per cent of unskilled workers wanted the police to have new powers to arrest people suspected of planning terrorist acts, 79 per cent of professionals and managers did so.

Security checks and baggage inspections at stations were backed by 92 per cent of women and 85 per cent of men.​

This isn’t the response Al Qaeda wanted. This week’s column will touch on Al Qaeda’s looming loss of its propaganda edge.

UPDATE: James Pinkerton explores Great Britain’s failure to integrate Muslim immigrants.

His analysis and key question:

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants are turning London into “Londonistan.” According to The New York Times, the Syrian-born, London-based Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad said last year that if Western governments did not change their Middle East policies, Muslims would give them “a 9/11, day after day after day.”

Summarizing the impact of the Muslim influx, the newspaper continued, “If London became a magnet for fiery preachers, it also became a destination for men willing to carry out their threats. For a decade, the city has been a crossroads for would-be terrorists who used it as a home base, where they could raise money, recruit members and draw inspiration from the militant messages.” Does that sound like good national policy?
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Pinkerton adds:

Meanwhile, the United States confronts problems, too. A warning sign is the noisy existence of a New York City group called the Islamic Thinkers Society. According to the New York Observer, its members set up street displays and then enter into yelling spats with passersby as they promote anti-gay, anti-female and anti-American propaganda. Sample sign: “Your Terrorists Are Our Heroes.” As one woman who had been verbally assaulteddeclared in the story, “To me, it’s synonymous with the Nazis recruiting on 42nd Street during World War II.”

Are the Islamic Thinkers just exercising their right to free speech, however hateful? Maybe. Although , of course, there’s a fine line between speaking freely and inciting violence.
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His conclusion:

Here’s a safe bet: Most, if not all, al-Qaida-related terrorists will be of either Arab or Muslim descent. Yes, America has produced many home-grown terrorists from other ethnic groups - Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph - but in the wake of 9/11, 3/11 and now 7/7, it’s clear the main terror threat to the United States and the West can be traced to one region.

Which means we must get serious about homeland security, which means getting serious about immigration, especially from certain countries. Let’s not let New York become “New Yorkistan.”
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Six months ago Pinkerton’s comments would be “pushing the envelope.” The Saddamite and Zarqawi fascists have waged an incessant war against the Iraqi people, and that has had an effect on opinion in the Middle East. Perhaps the NY times editorial page isn’t aware of it, but the change is real. The London bombing, instead of producing a new crop of Zapatero appeasniks, may prove to be a sea-change in the information. Time will tell.