Does this mean they will begin seriously confronting the jihad ideology? What do you think? From AP, with thanks to Satinder:
LONDON – Britain began reaching out to Muslim communities Tuesday, launching what is likely to be a yearslong effort to confront the resentment and anger that helped breed suicide bombers who attacked London’s transit system.
A top law enforcement official also sought to ease fears that anti-terror police will target Muslims for searches.
Good. Be sure to search those Methodists. They’re vicious.
Britons were stunned to learn that three of the suicide attackers suspected of killing 52 victims in the July 7 attacks were young Pakistani Britons; the fourth moved from Jamaica as a child. Most of the suspects in failed bombings on July 21 are immigrants from East Africa.
The apparent willingness of men born and raised in Britain to turn to militancy has prompted soul-searching in a nation proud of its diversity and tolerance.
After the attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed to Muslim leaders for help in combating the “twisted logic” of terrorism. He said later he was considering calling an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism, particularly in the religious schools known as madrassas, many of them in Pakistan.
Hazel Blears, a minister in the Home Office, met community representatives in Oldham, a gritty former mill town in northern England that was the scene in 2001 of race riots that began when white youths attacked a South Asian family’s home. It was the first of a series of gatherings she plans around the country.
Blears said the government and Muslim communities must cooperate to fight the spread of militant ideologies.
“These people who are extremists are a tiny, tiny minority,” she said. “We have got to make sure that the mainstream feel strong enough to take them on.”
If they’re such a tiny minority, why haven’t they felt strong enough to take them on?