Admiral Sir Alan West thinks it will take fifteen years to stamp out the jihad ideology in Britain.
“Terror fight ‘may take 15 years,'” from the BBC (thanks to Davida):
The battle to deal with radicalisation in the fight against terrorism could take up to 15 years to achieve, says the UK’s new security minister.
Former navy chief Admiral Sir Alan West told the Sunday Telegraph the UK faced a “disparate core” of “racist” people, often based abroad, who wanted power.
A “disparate core” of “racists”? Disparate in what way?
And he urged people to be “un-British” by “snitching” to the authorities.
For pete’s sake, Admiral, the people you want to “snitch” are not avoiding “snitching” because to do so would be “un-British.” They are avoiding “snitching” because they are “un-British”: they feel no loyalty to the British state, but rather consider themselves only members of the worldwide Islamic umma, and a Muslim doesn’t turn in another Muslim to a non-Muslim authority.
Meanwhile Gordon Brown said he wanted a system to help identify potential suspects put in place across Europe.
In his first interview since being appointed by the prime minister, Sir Alan said he hated the expression “war on terror”, saying it was “totally wrong” for the current situation.
“It’s not like a war in that sense at all. It demeans the value of a war and it demeans the value of a lot of things,” he told the paper.
BBC political correspondent Sean Curran said Sir Alan and other political leaders saw the situation as being more comparable with the Cold War, in that it was a “long haul” task in which a “battle of ideas” needed to be won.
It is a long haul task in which a battle of ideas needs to be won, but it is a war also. In any case, saying it isn’t war and then saying it is like the Cold War is a bit muddled, no?
Sir Alan said the new prime minister had asked him to help “sort out” the government’s response to the terror threat, when he appointed him last week.
“We are not getting our message across properly,” he added.
The most important aspect of countering the terror threat was prevention of the radicalisation of young Muslims, he said.
He said: “This is not a quick thing. I believe it will take 10 to 15 years.
“But I think it can be done as long as we as a nation apply ourselves to it and it’s done across the board.”
It will be interesting to see how he proposes to do it, and to do it so quickly. How will he eradicate a 1,400-year-old ideology from among Muslims in Britain in only 15 years? I am sorry to say it, but it does seem as if his timetable indicates that he hasn’t a clue about the realities of this situation.
‘Muslim community’
Sir Alan described those threatening Britain as “a disparate core of people – based abroad primarily – whom I’m afraid are racist, they’re bigoted, they seek power, they’re avaricious in money terms and they talk of the caliphate.”
Hmmm. They’re disparate, but they talk of the caliphate. All right, we’re getting warmer. At least we have one indication of a way in which they are not disparate.
The term caliphate generally refers to the dream of unified Islamic rule, with Sharia law applying to all.
Sir Alan also disagreed with the use of general phrases such as “the Muslim community”.
“I have a lot of Muslim friends and they see themselves as British. We’ve got to be very careful. The threat is to our British way of life and all of our British people.”
He added: “Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone.
“I’m afraid, in this situation, anyone who’s got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life.”
Yes, but Sir Alan, if they all want to impose Sharia in Britain, maybe working with the Muslim community and demand that they institute comprehensive programs to teach against that notion, and against the caliphate, and against political Islam in general, might be a good place to start. Or to try to start. Assuming that most Muslims reject these concepts only puts you in line for a series of rude awakenings.