Michael Burleigh isn’t impressed by Gordon Brown’s latest proposals to combat terrorism:
“Toughness is not really Brown’s thing; he prefers ‘values’ and ‘hearts and minds’. The most striking aspect of his proposals was the sheer number of agencies he was hoping to engage in preventative measures designed to pre-empt the radicalisation of young Muslims…. It conjured up a vision of a vast army of the public sector; good, ready and willing to aid Ahmed or Ayman get over the murderous rage that seems to derange a minority of Muslim adolescents….
“The dread word ‘deportation’ (surely a welcome prospect to any sincere Islamist fed up with life in Sodom-by-Thames) was touted, with a few figures rolled out to suggest that evil people are being expatriated. In reality, all attempts to deport foreign nationals are aggressively frustrated by human rights activists exploiting the European Human Rights Act that his predecessor signed into law…. Mr Brown also intimated that he will be seeking to persuade senior media figures to tone down reporting that allegedly gives rise to ‘Islamophobia’. This is sinister….
“Nor did Mr Brown have anything to say about organisations such as Hizb-ut Tahir – which function as sectarian totalitarian parties bent on dominating institutions they manage to infiltrate – beyond the pathetic assurance that they would not receive grants from local authorities….
“There was nothing in Brown’s speech about the plans to build a 25,000-capacity mega-mosque near the 2012 Olympic stadium in West Ham, which is intended to serve as a Muslim quarter for athletes and spectators during the Games, in flagrant violation of everything the Olympic Games represent.”
Daily Telegraph, 15 November 2007
Yes, this is the same Michael Burleigh who featured in this week’s “Is Islam good for London?” debate hosted by the Evening Standard … and he was one of the speakers who was supposed to be putting the case in favour! Although, to be fair, Burleigh did distance himself from Rod Liddle: “I have to say I agree with Mr Liddle that Islam is masochistic and homophobic, but I’m not sure I could agree with the accusation of fascism.”