What kind of response do you think she will get from the adherents of the “great and noble faith of Islam”? I expect there will be charges that she is racist and “Islamophobic,” and that it is the British government’s fault that moderate Muslims aren’t working against jihad terrorism.
“Beckett in terror plea to Muslims,” from the Guardian:
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is to call on mainstream Muslims to “stand up and be counted” in the struggle against terrorism.
The UK’s 1.6 million Muslims have a “special ability” to counter extremist propaganda about a “clash of civilisations” between Islam and the West, she will say.
And she will urge them to act as “ambassadors for Britain” by speaking up about the reality of life in the UK when they visit countries with large Muslim populations.
Speaking to the foreign affairs think tank the Royal United Services Institute in London on Thursday, Mrs Beckett will warn that the threat from international Islamic terrorism “remains serious and is increasing”….
“I am not underestimating the gravity of the threat we face. But let us deny the terrorists the historical importance they claim to themselves. They have no right to speak for the great and noble faith of Islam.
“This is a not a battle between civilisations but a stand-off between the whole of society on the one hand and a fairly small and particularly nasty bunch of murderers and criminals on the other.”
Mrs Beckett is expected to add: “I want to … put out a challenge to all those who reject violence to stand up and be counted.”