Tony Blair’s entrenchment of Islamists at every level in British society

Author: Tarek Fatah
Source: Ottawa Citizen, July 4, 2007

Original title: Attack the ideology; Tony Blair’s strategy of cosying up to hard-core Islamists only helped to excuse those who condemn terror attacks but refuse to actually denounce jihad

The sight of a burning SUV stuck at the entrance of Glasgow Airport’s passenger terminal had me begging God for reprieve. “Please let it not be a Muslim,” I prayed. But the odds were stacked against me. Unfortunately, deep down I knew such acts of callous cowardice have become the hallmark of my co-religionists. Yet, I crossed my fingers and hoped for a miracle.

One of the first eyewitnesses to appear on BBC dashed my hopes. “The bloke was on fire and when we tried to approach him, he started throwing punches and shouting ‘Allah! Allah!'” said an exasperated Scot.

Fortunately, this clumsy attempt by Islamic terrorists failed. But what was extraordinary about this attack was the profile of the accused. Among those arrested were Arab professionals, one a neurosurgeon, the other a physician. These were no inner-city sons of impoverished immigrants invoking their right to fight injustice. These were well-placed, Mercedes-driving, upper-middle-class Muslims responding to the call of jihad against non-Muslims, which is the basis of all Islamic terrorism.

If the profile of the arrested was unusual, the reactions were predictable. As usual, Islamic groups lined up to utter cliche-ridden denunciations without once attacking the ideology of jihad that provides the fertile soil for Islamic extremism. The condemnations were just enough to put some distance between themselves and the jihadis, and to absolve themselves of any responsibility.

The current state of affairs in Britain is not just the fault of the Islamists and their apologists. It is also the fault of politicians such as Tony Blair, who, after foolishly entrenching Islamists at every level in British society, then lied about weapons of mass destruction and helped U.S. President George W. Bush launch his illegal invasion of Iraq. Mr. Blair set up state-funded Islamic schools and knighted a known Islamist, a person who had defended the death sentence on Salman Rushdie. Mr. Blair appointed another Islamist, an admirer of Ayatollah Khomeini, to the House of Lords.

To make matters worse, Mr. Blair endorsed and funded the so-called “Radical Middle Way” for British Muslim clerics. This “middle way” has become a front for all those who provide convoluted academic analysis, explaining the root causes of Islamic terrorism and falsely promising the British taxpayer that they will counter the ideology of hate against secular societies. But its media savvy scholars promote a very narrow view of Islam, carefully avoiding any rejection of the doctrine of jihad, choosing instead to suggest that Britain’s foreign policy is at the root of terrorism.

Even the new British prime minister failed to take the bull by the horns. Instead of stating that there was no room for jihadi ideology in Britain and challenging the Islamic organizations to join him, Gordon Brown coyly referred to “moderate majorities” and “extreme fringes.”

Time has come for this to change. Time has come for ordinary Britons and Canadians to say that if our politicians do not have the spine to stand up to the Islamists, we will. We have to say to those apologizing for Islamists, “Enough is enough,” and stand up to the Jihadis and Jihadi-Lites. We should not hesitate to say to those who will not embrace the principles of secular democracies, “shape up or ship out.” My passport is not for rent. My country is not a parking lot and neither is it a port of convenience. It is my adopted home and I am not willing to let it decay at the hands of parasites.

This victimhood mentality forced on young Muslim men, mixed with the exaltation of martyrdom and the doctrine of jihad, has been at the root of Islamic terrorism in Britain. When prosperous young Muslims use Mercedes as car bombs in London and Glasgow, the groups who instilled in them this frenzy are equally guilty of the crime, if not more.

Those who incite young Muslim men in Britain and Canada into believing that western society is satanic and that the West is waging a war against Islam have a moral obligation to take responsibility when these same men become suicide bombers and terrorists.

Muslim organizations in Canada must do more than simply pay lip service to cliche-ridden patriotism while preaching against the values and foundations of this great country.

Muslim organizations must come out and state clearly that the only laws that matter in Canada are the laws of this country, not medieval Shariah laws of the ninth century. If they do not reject the doctrine of jihad as an option for Muslims, they should be considered part of the problem, not the solution.

It is only recently that the Canadian government has started talking of “Canadian identity.” However, while not a penny is spent to instill pride in Canadian values, hundreds of millions are being spent to undermine these values in the name of multiculturalism.

Unless this trend is reversed, Islamists will succeed in instilling doubt in the minds of young Muslim professionals toward western values and institutions. If a neurologist can be brainwashed, who next — a nuclear physicist?

Tarek Fatah is founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and author of Chasing a Mirage: The Islamic state or a state of Islam, to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2008.

Photo: Mark Runnacles, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images / British forensics police officers remove gas canisters from the burnt wreckage of a vehicle used to ram a passenger terminal at Glasgow Airport on Sunday. Some of those arrested were upper-middle-class Muslims responding to the call of jihad against non-Muslims, which is the basis of all Islamic terrorism.