Author Archives: Bob Pitt

‘Muslim terrorism in Britain is the direct responsibility of British Muslims’ – Lord Stevens

Posted on by Bob Pitt

lord stevens“When will the Muslims of Britain stand up to be counted? When will they declare, loud and clear, with no qualifications or quibbles about Britain’s foreign policy, that Islamic terrorism is WRONG?

“Most of all, when will the Muslim community in this country accept an absolute, undeniable, total truth: that Islamic terrorism is THEIR problem? THEY own it. And it is THEIR duty to face it and eradicate it. To stop the denial, endless fudging and constant wailing that somehow it is everyone else’s problem and, if Islamic terrorism exists at all, they are somehow the main victims. Because until that happens the problem will never be resolved. And there will be more 7/7s and, sometime in the future, another airplane plot will succeed with horrific loss of innocent life.

“Equally important, those British politicians who have seemed obsessed with pandering to, and even encouraging, this state of denial, must throw off their politically-correct blinkers and recognise the same truth – that Muslim terrorism in Britain is the direct responsibility of British Muslims.”

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, offers some helpful advice to the Muslim community.

News of the World, 13 August 2006

Surely this forthright expression of “anti-dhimmitude” merits an accolade from Jihad Watch?

Observer rejects ‘these ludicrous lies about the West and Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“British Muslim leaders are entitled, along with everybody else, to raise questions about the conduct and consequences of Mr Blair’s foreign policy. But they have a more immediate responsibility to promote the truth: that Britain is not the aggressor in a war against Islam; that no such war exists; that there is no glory in murder dressed as martyrdom and that terrorism is never excused by bogus accounts of historical victimisation.”

Observer leader, 13 August 2006

This of course ignores the fact that the letter from British Muslim leaders made no claim that the West was at war with Islam. It also explicitly denounced terrorism. As for “bogus accounts of historical victimisation”, this is a reference to what? The incontrovertible truth that majority-Muslim countries have historically been victims of Western imperialism?

Outrage over Bush’s use of ‘fascist’ term

Posted on by Bob Pitt

US President George W. Bush’s statement that the US is at war with “Islamic fascists” will deepen anti-American and anti-Western sentiments, a cross-section of expatriates contacted by Arab News said yesterday.

Describing the US president’s remarks as “ill-conceived” and “inappropriate”, expatriates from Britain, India and Pakistan said some hypermarkets in Riyadh had already withdrawn American products from their shelves in response to the US’ anti-Islam campaign. “By linking Islam with fascism, Bush is stoking the fire of hatred against his country and his people, besides further expanding the recruitment pool of extremists,” said the expatriates.

Giving his name only as Hamza, a British expatriate told Arab News that Bush’s remarks were racist. “Would the term fascist also apply to the members of other communities? We never speak of Christian fascists or Jewish fascists when they are involved in acts of terror. On what ground has the US president used the term with reference to Muslims?” he asked.

Arab News, 13 August 2006

See also “Bush’s language angers US Muslims”, BBC News, 12 August 2006

Islamic fascists’ – is it another war on Islam and Muslims?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Muslim Association of Britain while condemning all types of terrorism, whether by an individual, group, or State, which targets the lives of innocents whatever the reasons, condemns the comments made by the American President George Bush, in which he said ‘America is at war with the Islamic fascists’, because we believe that such comments increase hatred of Muslims, isolates them, and gives yet another excuse for the targeting of the Muslim minority by extreme right-wing forces in the West.”

MAB press release, 11 August 2006

Police fears of threat to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The police have increased their presence in areas with Muslim populations in the UK to deter attacks after the latest terror arrests.

Officers are investigating a small fire at a mosque in Chester but say it is too early to say whether it was in response to the alleged terror plot. The small blaze was quickly extinguished and no-one was injured.

The head of the Muslim Council of Britain said Muslims were “fully behind” efforts to prevent attacks. Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari said the community supported curbs on terrorism, but warned of “a distance” growing between them and the police.

Peter Fahey, the communities and diversities spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said forces would be “very alive” to any threats.

BBC News, 11 August 2006

Daily Mail explains causes of terrorist threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Britain’s most senior Muslim police officer, the less than inspiring Tarique Ghaffur, this week blamed ‘Islamophobia’ for creating a ‘generation of angry young people’. That hardly squares with what we know about the suspects.

“Never mind that modern Britain has as good a record of tolerance as any country on Earth. Such anti-Islamic prejudice as does exist is confined almost exclusively to a social underclass of illiterate yobs. [Surely a little harsh on Nick Cohen? – ed.] Are we really to believe the suspects being held by the police were so tormented by Islamophobia in the Acacia Avenues of the Home Counties that they saw mass murder as the only response?

“No. Mr Ghaffur was right about only one thing in his speech to the National Black Police Association on Monday: young people who turn to terrorism tend to be psychologically vulnerable and open to exploitation by fanatics. The greatest threat to Britain’s security comes from that handful of bigoted imams who spew anti-Western poison from their mosques. They have been tolerated for too long.”

Daily Mail editorial, 12 August 2006

Minister criticises Muslim letter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

kim howellsForeign Office minister Kim Howells has criticised Muslim leaders for condemning British foreign policy.

An open letter, signed by three Muslim MPs, three peers and 38 community groups, said the stance on the Middle East has put civilians at risk. They went on to say that UK policy has given “ammunition to extremists”.

But Mr Howells denied there was a “rational connection”. He told BBC News 24 the letter’s comments were “facile”.

BBC News, 12 August 2006

Over at Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer applauds this “refreshing anti-dhimmitude from the UK”.

Dhimmi Watch, 12 August 2006

It’s undeniable: British foreign policy is endangering all of us

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A year ago I was appointed by the Home Office to be the convenor of a working group on tackling extremism and radicalisation. In its final report, the group accepted that extremism was a reality in some sections of the Muslim community and that it must be confronted and defeated….

“That same group also made it clear that foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, could not be left unconsidered as a factor in the motivations of extremists. We believed it was a key contributory factor. Now it was the Government’s turn to go into denial about whether some of its actions might have contributed to undermining our national security and making the terrorist threat worse.”

Inayat Bunglawala in the Times, 12 August 2006

Arson attack on Chester mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Chester mosque was firebombed in what police are calling a “faith hate attack” which came just hours after an alleged major terrorist plot against UK airports was foiled.

The Shahjalal Mosque and Islamic Centre, in Blacon, was targeted by an arsonist who poured flammable liquid through the front entrance of the mosque and set light to it.

Carpets and fittings in the building caught fire, but a group of people who were inside the mosque were able to stamp out the flames.

But officers confirmed they are investigating the incident, which happened hours after a major terrorist alert brought airports to a standstill across the country, as a “faith hate attack”, and a spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said the blaze itself was “a very minor incident”.

It is not the first time the Shahjalal mosque has been targeted. Last September, Muslim leaders in Chester said they believed an arson attack on the same mosque may have been connected with the London bombings.

On that occasion, a fire was started with petrol outside a side entrance of the Blacon mosque while worshippers held an all-night prayer session. Other incidents at the mosque in recent years include an anti-Islamic slogan being painted on a wall outside, and on one occasion male worshippers, who leave their shoes outside the prayer room, found they had gone when they returned.

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Mosque arson ‘in revenge’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A fire which destroyed the roof of a mosque may have been in revenge for the alleged terror plot to blow up planes leaving UK airports. Police and fire crews were called to the Al-Birr Masjid Mosque in Sarum Hill, Basingstoke, at about 3.30am today after the roof had caught fire. The blaze took 16 firefighters almost two hours to put out.

Nobody was injured in the fire but Assistant Chief Constable Steve Watts, of Hampshire Police, said the fire was being treated as arson and a full investigation was under way. He said: “In this current climate, we cannot rule out the possibility that this incident is related to the recent security threat. Therefore we are treating it extremely seriously and dealing with it appropriately.”

Last year, two men were charged with racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage to a vehicle parked at the mosque.

Sun, 12 August 2006