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- Sadiq Khan has ordered a review of London’s strategy for coping with multiple terror attacks. Photo: Getty Images.
March 2017
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in the wake of the London terror attacks that he believes such attacks are “part and parcel of living in a big city”. Now Mayor Khan did add that he strongly advocates vigilance and the work of security services to prevent attacks, along with ordering a review of London’s measures to prevent future attacks.
I disagree with his assessment that we have to accept this as the “new normal.” I strongly believe it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a big reason why the Soviet Union never launched a nuclear attack; because they knew they’d likely get squashed right back.
By the way I’d also like to see Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau take a hard-line stance too, but that is unlikely as he’d rather go to a segregated mosque, “with the sisters upstairs”, than tackle the poison of Islamic terrorism; the same terrorism that is a danger to moderate, liberal Muslims in Canada too.
Of course, a big problem in combating radical Islamic terrorism is that most of these radicals want to die in their attacks so they can have their 72 virgins (we can only hope that it’s actually a 72 year-old virgin), besides the fact that they don’t wear uniforms and frequently work alone or in small groups, making them hard to stop prior to an attack.
Perhaps we should be more aggressive going after the leadership of these radical groups (including spiritual leaders), the same ones who let their minions carry out these suicide attacks rather than doing it themselves. If there really are 72 virgins waiting for them in paradise, why aren’t the leaders strapping on a bomb-vest themselves? Just asking.
At the very least, western liberal democracies should be deporting (if possible) or jailing Imams who preach hate in their mosques, such as what has been reported by Sun Media columnist and secular Muslim Tarek Fatah of Imams, “…calling for victory over the “Kuffar” — non-believers such as Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and atheists (and other Muslims whom the radicals deem to be “Kuffars”) — in a ritual supplication repeated at some mosques on Fridays, before the beginning of community prayer.” (1) Jailing and deportations may be harsh, but so is calling for the death of “Kuffars.”
I know this is not the magic bullet (no pun intended), but if this cuts down on home-grown radicalization, I don’t see a down side.
I also don’t accept the argument some of my liberal friends have made that Christians have committed atrocities in the past in the name of religion, as if to say that it’s now Islam’s turn. That’s not a valid point! I’d say that both are wrong.
I know that the Old Testament and the King James Bible both contain at least one passage, (and a second that could be construed) as granting permission to kill “non-believers”, but our Judeo-Christian society has kind of moved on from that kind of fire and brimstone.
What I’d like to hear from Mayor Khan is that the UK security services will find out who orchestrated this attack and crush them as a warning to others. If the attacker was a radicalized lone-wolf, find who or what radicalized him and destroy that group or mechanism to hopefully stop others from being radicalized.
Anything less is close to appeasement.
I know that ISIS claimed responsibility (unconfirmed at this point) and destroying ISIS is not an easy task, but we can certainly crush the cell that orchestrated it.
Once again, it’s not a magic bullet, but it’s better than sitting back and waiting for the inevitable next plot or attack.
It’s also true that fighting back hasn’t always prevented terror attacks in places like Israel or London before. However, seeing as radical Muslims have been, in the words of Muslim Brotherhood founder Sheikh Hassan al-Banna from 1948, stating that if Israel came into being, “…and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea,” (2) I’d say that they have failed miserably thus far because Israel punches back.
I think it makes a big statement that the Mossad tracked down and assassinated most, if not all, of the suspected Black September and PLO terrorists who murdered their athletes in Munich in 1972.
Of course there is controversy surrounding the actions and success of Mossad, including the killing of Ahmed Bouchiki, whom Mossad agents mistakenly thought was Ali Hassan Salameh in Lillehammer, Norway in July 1973 (the Lillehammer Affair).
In the wake of Operation Wrath of God, David Kimche, former deputy head of Mossad, stated that, “The aim was not so much revenge but mainly to make them [the Palestinian terrorists] frightened. We wanted to make them look over their shoulders and feel that we are upon them. And therefore we tried not to do things by just shooting a guy in the street – that’s easy…fairly.” (3)
Author Aaron J. Klein pointed out in his book Striking Back, that this action “…contributed to the creation of the belief that Israel was capable of striking anywhere, anytime.” (4)
Although it may be a false quote, I often think of a quote that (apparently) came out of the First Gulf War, “If they want to die for Allah, the U.S. Navy is happy to oblige.”
Sources:
(1) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sadiq-khan-london-mayor-terrorism-attacks-part-and-parcel-major-cities-new-york-bombing-a7322846.html
(2) http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/22/seriously-imams-try-decaf
(3) http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/word-for-word-who-s-throwing-who-into-the-sea-1.449269
(4) Quoted by Britain’s Channel 4. Channel4.com. Retrieved on May 8, 2012.
(5) Klein, Aaron J. (2005). Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response. New York: Random House, Inc. ISBN 1-4000-6427-9.
