24 hour rolling news is having a shocker this morning. I have not witnessed this much banality since the last Bob Peeters Press Conference. On the negotiations with the hostage takers, Sky News presenter to reporter: "that will be a difficult conversation I imagine"
"Terrorists" is too good a word for them. All they are interested in is death, including their own. Anti-music, anti-booze, treat their women like dogs, anti-life really.
They have a woman and a baby hostage from reports. If anything happens to them the fallout could be unimaginable. I can honestly see a religious war in Western Europe if this goes wrong.
There was a time when I used to go to war. I fought for Queen and country and considered it to be an honour and a privilege as well as a noble duty to serve the British national values, in which I sincerely believed. I served in my countries uniform and was motivated by my certainty in the rightness of freedom and western democracy. Now that those days of armed service are over and I am a peace loving civilian, I find it difficult to see how anybody can believe that killing in the name of religion is justified and to all those young British Muslims who commit acts of violence, burn the Union Flag or desecrate war memorials, I would say that they are not only criminals, but worse than that, they also do a terrible disservice to their forefathers. In the two world wars of the 20th Century, around four million Indians (including those who would one day become Pakistanis) volunteered to fight alongside British troops. Asian combatants were involved in every theatre that Britain was involved in during World War II. One third of those were Muslims. 27 Indians were awarded the Victoria Cross. Rather than hailing Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban insurgents as “heroes”, young British Muslims should look to men like Sepoy Ali Haidar whose actions in Italy earned him a VC. Tens of thousands of Asian men died and many more were wounded fighting for Britain. What would they have to say about the Jihadists who shoot journalists or hack off duty soldiers to death? Those moronic English Defence League idiots who talk about Britain being overrun by “Pakis” would do better to learn about the reliance we put on men from all over the former Empire in those times of national emergency, rather than attacking those who live among us now, for being different. Those thugs are wrapping themselves in a flag that was saved by the blood of Asians, and others, who fought the Nazis, including many Muslims whose religion they denigrate. I believe though, that our politicians should listen to the grievances of young British Muslims. Our elected representatives must recognise that the foreign policies they implement, and the resultant military actions, are the root cause of Muslim discontent. The two sides may be a long way apart at the moment, but bridges must be built and that cannot begin to happen until we open a full and frank dialogue. If Tony Blair, and the rest of Parliament, had listened to the – literally – millions of people who protested on the streets before he and his cohorts dragged us unwillingly into the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as lickspittle poodles of an aggressive and vengeful USA, it is quite certain that the London bombings of July 2005 and other terror attacks on British soil since then, would not have happened. The elders of the British Muslim communities should instil in their young people a sense of respect and aspiration for the way of life their grandfathers and great grandfathers fought to preserve when they served on our side. In the name of decent Islam, the Muslim communities of Britain must stop tolerating the hate-mongering, Sharia-peddling extremism in their midst. Condemn the Jihadists, each and every one, every single day and at last show some respect for their forefathers.
You make some fine points, BR, and you make them with eloquence and sincerity. I cannot agree, however, that today's terrorists commit atrocities as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the Nazis, modern terrorists attack civilised societies for no other reason than warped ideologies. Our wonderful nation would have become a target sooner or later. The Muslims of the world need to take responsibility. If they don't, the good will be lost to the bad minority.
B R your wrong. Well meaning but wrong. Muslims have been killing Muslims for centuries. It's what they do, what they want to do and will continue to do until their is just one Muslim left in the world. They stopped killing Thousands of Christians about 400 years ago when the Christians got better armed and organised. They then turned on each other such is their bloodlust. They are determined to kill for any reason for any slight, life is cheap. If a Muslim can hang another Muslim for being gay or do a walking mastectomy on a 14 year Muslim girl for wearing a bra then I doubt that anything Tony Blair has done makes the slightest difference. And what grievances do British Mulsim youth have? Any more than white Christian youth, black youth, Hindu, Jew or Seikh. The playground is big enough for everyone but these horrible cants want the lot and the swings as well. It's simple really the meaning of life. Be nice, don't rape murder or thieve and try not to be a twat too much.
