Far right and football gangs plot ‘revenge’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plans by an alliance of rightwing extremists and football hooligans to exact “revenge” on Muslims after last week’s bomb attacks are being monitored by police. The Guardian has learned that extremists are keen to cause widespread fear and injury with attacks on mosques and high-profile “anti-Muslim” events in the capital.

Football hooligans communicating over the internet have spoken of the need to put aside partisan support for teams and unite against Muslims. Hooligans from West Ham, Millwall, Crystal Palace and Arsenal are among those seeking to establish common cause.

As part of wider plans to generate a backlash, rightwing groups such as the Nationalist Alliance and the National Front are said to be planning marches. Extremists hope to hold a march along Victoria Embankment in London tomorrow.

It is also known that many mosques have received bomb threats since the attacks.

Guardian, 15 July 2005

Carole Malone – the voice of reason

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In my gym last week, a young white woman was watching coverage of the London bombing on TV. She suddenly turned to me, ashen faced and angry, and said: ‘They’re talking as if this just affects Muslims. Why are we concentrating on placating and reassuring them when we should be concentrating on the dead and injured?’

“And she’s right. In the past week there has been less time spent talking about the victims of London’s 9/11 and more on what this atrocity means to British Muslims. To make matters worse the head of the Muslim Council, Iqbal Sacranie, has been screaming about how we keep referring to the terrorists who killed 54 people and injured 700 more as Muslim extremists: ‘Why not just call them criminals?’ he demanded. And that’s precisely the kind of idiocy that gives root to the political correctness that has allowed this country to become the world headquarters for Islamic terrorism.”

Another thoughtful piece by Carole Malone.

Sunday Mirror, 17 July 2005

But what should we do, Carol? “We can start getting things done by forbidding Tariq Ramadan to come to this country on July 24 on a lecture tour funded by the Met Police to tell us why suicide bombings in Iraq are justified. We can round up every member of Al-Muhajiroun in this country – the organisation which celebrated the death of the victims of September 11 – and chuck ’em out.”

Well, yeah, except that Tariq Ramadan opposes suicide bombings and attacks on innocent civilians, Al-Muhajiroun formally dissolved itself some months ago and therefore doesn’t have any members, and in so far as Omar Bakri still has any organised followers, most of them are British citizens, so where would they be deported to?

Crying shame of Ken

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Was anyone as sickened as I was to see Ken Livingstone crying on national TV talking about his beloved London and the assault on our capital city? This is the same Ken Livingstone who invited one of the most extremist Islamic clerics on the planet to London last year and proudly paraded him around the city on his arm.

“Just for your information, Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the lunatic who said all victims of the tsunami deserved to die, he hates women and he advocates the death of all homosexuals – preferably by burning at the stake. How dare Ken now show surprise or hurt at what has happened here? It is precisely the influence of extremist clerics that drove those four British men to become suicide bombers.”

Carole Malone in the Sunday Mirror, 17 July 2005

Anti-war vigil attracts hundreds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Russell Square VigilHundreds of people have attended a vigil in memory of those killed or injured in the London bombings. Stop The War Coalition (StWC) and the Muslim Association of Britain organised the rally in Russell Square.

Crowds listened to speeches by members from the two groups and Respect MP George Galloway who blamed the war on Iraq for the London bombings. Organisers said their aim was also to show solidarity with the families of victims and the Muslim community.

BBC News, 17 July 2005

A modest proposal for dealing with Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The average American knows the so-called war on terror is not really a war on terror. He knows in his gut that what’s happening is that we are fighting another war with Islam. That’s what it is, no matter what the politicians say….

“As long as a liberal ideology of tolerance prevails in the West, Islamic terrorist will strike at will. It is a simple matter of Islam taking the liberal ideology of the West and turning this ideology against itself. It is the great irony of liberalism that by being tolerant it undermines its own existence. Liberalism now goes out of its way to encourage those who want to overthrow it. When confronted with an aggressive and intolerant force like Islam, tolerance ends with its own extinction….

“Deportation of Muslims from Western societies is not a picture the liberal press wants to see, but it may be necessary to do this. With their reluctance to assimilate, more so in Europe than in the United States, Muslim ghettos are breeding grounds for terrorists.”

Robert Klein Engler writes.

ChronWatch, 16 July 2005

Public ‘split over new hate laws’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Public opinion is divided over controversial plans to ban incitement to religious hatred, according to an ICM poll for the BBC News website. The poll, taken in the days following the London bombings, found 51% in favour of such a move but 44% against….

“In January an ICM poll for The Guardian newspaper suggested stronger public support for incitement to religious hatred laws. The poll found 57% agreeing a ban was ‘needed to stop those who want to stir up hatred against people who want to stir up hatred against people of particular religious faiths’. It found 36% said the new law was ‘wrong because people should be allowed to express their opinions freely, however hateful’.”

BBC News, 17 July 2005

The reason for this change, however, is that BBC got ICM to ask a different question. Respondents were asked: “Which comes close to your view? 1. I support laws preventing abuse or inciting hatred on faith grounds 2. Banning criticism of of those with different religious beliefs is a curb on free speech.”

The issue of religious hatred is thus expanded to include the more general category of “abuse” (which the current bill does not deal with) and it is suggested that the new law would amount to “banning criticism of of those with different religious beliefs” – which of course it doesn’t propose to do.

Rise in anti-Muslim attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

About 500 faith-hate and race-hate crimes – ranging from arson attacks on mosques to Muslim women being spat at in the street – have been reported in Britain since the London bombings, writes Dipesh Gadher.

According to police sources, about 200 of these incidents are deemed significant enough to have potential repercussions within communities. They include mosques being set alight in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Telford, Shropshire and Leeds.

Sunday Times, 17 July 2005

Guantánamo trials ‘violate justice’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

guantanamo7The military tribunals of suspected terrorists held at Guantánamo Bay were a “tremendous failure”, a US military lawyer told Congress yesterday.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift was testifying before the first full Senate hearing on the Bush administration’s treatment of detainees since the “war on terror” began.

His comments come amid calls from Democrats and some Republicans that the Guantánamo Bay prison camp be closed down.

Lt Cdr Swift was assigned to represent Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, whom he said had been left mentally disturbed after being held in solitary confinement for seven months. Lt Cdr Swift said that Mr Hamdan was offered the opportunity to see a defence lawyer only if he pleaded guilty to the charges made against him.

Guardian, 16 June 2005