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UK Counter-terror chief rejects proposal to allow jihadis to go to Islamic State if they surrender their British passports

Jul 21, 2015 4:18 pm By Robert Spencer

Mark Rowley“If you have a British citizen, why are you going to allow them to go somewhere where you think they are going to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts? What about then coming back more trained, more angry, to this country? I think that’s completely unacceptable.” So says Mark Rowley, Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief. He seems to have missed the salient point, however: if they’ve surrendered their British passports, on what grounds would they be able to return to Britain? Or does the hopelessly dhimmi government of David Cameron now welcome any and all jihadists, passport or no?

Rowley does have a point, however, about not letting them go somewhere where they’re “going to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts.” Yet since the British are doing nothing and don’t dare do anything to counter the belief system that leads them to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts, they may simply decide to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts right there on British soil.

“Counter-terrorism chief rejects British passport deal for would-be extremists,” by Vikram Dodd, Guardian, July 21, 2015:

Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief has dismissed the suggestion that those wanting to join Islamic State should be allowed to go in return for surrendering their British passports. Appearing before MPs on the home affairs committee, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said extremists should not be allowed to leave Britain to join the terrorist group because they could return as hardened violent jihadists.

He was responding to the suggestion by Robert Quick, who served as Britain’s counter terrorism chief from 2008-09, that it may be better to have extremists surrender their passports rather than having them “fester” in Britain.

Quick told the Guardian a fortnight ago: “We should try and convince them not to go. If they want to go, you have to ask the question, are we better off, if they surrender their passports and go? It’s better than them festering away here. Should we say we’ll lay on charter flights to Syria; turn up with your passport and if you are over 18, if this is the life you want, then go?” But Rowley said he disagreed when questioned by MPs.

About 700 Britons have fled to join the “caliphate” declared by Isis, enforced by high levels of violence in Iraq and Syria.

Rowley said: “I think it’s the wrong idea. If you have a British citizen, why are you going to allow them to go somewhere where you think they are going to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts? What about then coming back more trained, more angry, to this country? I think that’s completely unacceptable.”…

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United Kingdom Tagged With: Mark Rowley, Robert Quick


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Comments

  1. Susan B says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    “Rowley said about a quarter of terrorism investigations now involved “vulnerable” people, including those with mental health issues, who were being targeted by Isis”

    Islam is a mental illness makes perfect sense.

    • cs says

      Jul 22, 2015 at 2:01 am

      C’MONE, IT IS JUST A TINY MINORITY…..
      very tiny indeed. Sure. Believe.

  2. Nonblvr says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Allowing jihadis to leave seems like a win-win situation. If they get killed=win. If they don’t, they don’t get back in=win. It is nice to daydream but we all know the loony left will insist they be allowed back anyway.

    • BW022 says

      Jul 21, 2015 at 9:42 pm

      I don’t see the win if they blow up some Iraqi, Kurdish, or Syrian troops.

      In any sane world, they would be in a western prison. During WWII, they didn’t ask any of the German sympathizers if they wanted passage to Germany so that they could fight.

      • PRCS says

        Jul 21, 2015 at 11:49 pm

        Correcto Mundo!

        Note, too, that Western troops now in theatre would also be targeted by them — and already are by those currently there.

      • Evolution says

        Jul 22, 2015 at 2:29 am

        Lifetime prison sentence. No parole, no bail, no house arrest, no community service.

        Even if their passports are taken, they can still get back in to the country.

    • Henry Page says

      Jul 22, 2015 at 5:38 am

      Hello? As far as I was aware the ‘loony left’ went out of favour after GE2010. The Tories have been running the show for nigh on six years, not the ‘loony left’.

  3. abad says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    What trailer-park did Rowley come out of?

    He should know that once these Muslim immigrants forfeit their passports, it’s no more back into the UK for them. And PLEASE let the Muslims in the UK go back to their sandbox.

    • Bamaguje says

      Jul 22, 2015 at 8:34 am

      How are the wannabe Jihadis supposed to travel without passports?
      Perhaps UK should allow ISIS open a London consulate, where intending Jihadis can obtain ISIS passports after surrendering their British ones.
      Alternatively, Britain could issue some other travel documents in lieu of passport.

  4. Angemon says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 6:37 pm

    If they want to go, you have to ask the question, are we better off, if they surrender their passports and go? It’s better than them festering away here. Should we say we’ll lay on charter flights to Syria; turn up with your passport and if you are over 18, if this is the life you want, then go

    Sounds reasonable.

    Rowley said: “I think it’s the wrong idea. If you have a British citizen, why are you going to allow them to go somewhere where you think they are going to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts?

    Ah, I see his point – why go abroad to take part in murder and all sorts of awful acts when they can do it at home?

    What about then coming back more trained, more angry, to this country?

    If they’re living in their model of perfect society they’re not motivated to come back. The lack of passport makes their return very difficult, especially if they’re given a worldwide “burn notice”. In any case, if they’re willing to pledge allegiance to a foreign entity who declared war on the UK they should be charged with high treason and given a fair trial before being hanged, drawn and quartered (or getting life in jail, which I believe replaced the death sentence for traitors).

    • Peggy says

      Jul 21, 2015 at 9:14 pm

      I definitely agree with you on all points.
      This business of coming back better trained etc. is just an excuse as far as I am concerned. It doesn’t take a lot of training to slit someone’s throat or to shoot unarmed civilians.
      I can’t see why allowing them to go without coming back is a bad idea at all. They will only kill us if they stay but if they go they have a good chance of getting killed.
      Win, win as far as I am concerned.

  5. mortimer says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    No country wants an influx of TERRORISTS. Why send British citizens to Syria to be killed by British soldiers and their allies? Doesn’t make sense.

    Of course, no one can admit that Islam is the problem per se. Islam is the most warlike religion according to researcher Tina Magaard, Ph.D.

    After three years analyzing the original texts of ten different religions, Tina Magaard concluded that the Islamic texts stand out by encouraging terror and violence to a larger degree than other religions do. She stated that ‘Islamic texts encourage terror and fighting to a far larger degree than the original texts of other religions. The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree.’

    No change in Islamic aggression will occur until Islam’s violent texts are targeted for criticism.

    Muslims need to be deprogrammed from their Bronze Age Death Cult.

    • Babs says

      Jul 22, 2015 at 1:24 pm

      Back in the 80s and 90s there was a surge in cult recruitment and a corresponding surge in exit counselling. I am not sure how successful that was, but given that Islam has all the characteristics of a death cult, it makes sense to give it a try.

      Or better still, put cameras into mosques in the West and clamp down hard on the imams who are programming these jihadis.

  6. katherine says

    Jul 21, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    I’m so angry I could almost explode reading about Mark Rowley’s imbecile reply. Is he already senile or are those old MPs in the same state of mind ? Why wasn’t the defective logic pointed out straight to his lying face ? Whoever surrenders his passport has already made a strong statement of his rejection of British citizenship – that’s his personal choice and responsibility , so where did the concept of his RETURN emerge ?

    Does this fellow even have an A-level or was he one of those dumbed-down recruits promoted through the ranks to the limit as per the Peter Principle ?

    • PRCS says

      Jul 22, 2015 at 12:00 am

      His statement about surrendering a passport and then returning is odd.

  7. Concerned Citizen says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 4:50 am

    Even if they get their passport taken away and allowed to go to Syria, they can’t make a fake passport while in Syria? I worry about the airlines being competent enough to see the passports being fake and reject them from coming back to the UK. Yes, these individuals being in Syria is much better than being in the UK, so they can’t commit atrocities in the UK. With that said, it’s also not good to allow them to go to Syria because the Christians, Yazidis, Iraq’s military and the Muslims rejecting ISIS’ ideologies will now have to worry about another one coming into Syria to commit more atrocities. It’s a very sad situation.

  8. Henry Page says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 5:42 am

    What Rowley is saying is that we should not allow extremists to leave. We should keep them here. This from the same government that deports people who really have become British and want to get on here. Madness!

  9. Babs says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    Nothing to stop them getting false passports given the lamentable state of the Border Agency in the UK.

    At least this police chief isn’t apologising for existing.

  10. Mark says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    This has been discussed on the radio. The issue is that under the international law óf the right to return those born in the uk world have to be allowed back even of they renounced their British nationality and surrendered a passport.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_return

    • katherine says

      Jul 23, 2015 at 6:18 am

      Simply take a cue from the some governments – sentence them to death in absentia – they immediately lose the right of return due to persecution and danger . That’s the same ploy being used against the UK government by convicted Muslims who claim they cannot be returned to their ideal societies.

      Use the same tactic in reverse to the hilt . It’s War isn’t it : they said so themselves.

  11. pdxnag says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 5:07 pm

    Preventing people from leaving is what is best symbolized by the wall between East Germany and West Germany. The East killed people for trying to escape. This is precisely the model for blocking exit of citizens of the Islamic Ummah (to which all Muslims pledge their exclusive loyalty). Don’t block their exit. Aid their departure with utmost fervor before this Islamic army within is fully activated.

  12. Iwantto unbelieve says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 3:06 am

    I’m not sure if anyone quite gets the point here. Absolutely everyone has seen what the creatures called IS are and do. They are mainly well-fed, well-educated foreigners (to Syria) who go there to satisfy the prerogatives the Quran indoctrinates them in from early years – to murder and humiliate ‘non-believers’, rape and abuse women (plus slavery). Their ‘prophet’ did this, they feel it is right to do the same to all ‘unbelievers’. This means anyone making the choice to join them is implicitly agreeing to join in with this – ‘intention to commit murder’ – case of point in law. In the USA they are arrested for such and jailed. Here, they are patted on the head as if in need of loving care and given free legal aid when ordinary British citizens can’t get it. They aren’t ‘mentally deficient’, they are just evil. We do after all have free choice in such matters. The authorities who believe in cosseting them are the ones in need of strong medication and care.
    There is a big difference in choosing to commit murder/evil and ‘needing care’. Our authorities need to recognise the difference and train all lawyers/judges/politicians alike. At present our legal system is too vulnerable to abuse and confusion in these matters, it seems.
    I’m afraid they have already allowed too much damage to be done to ourselves. Too many Islamic law professionals for one, allowing dangerous, gibbering fools like Corbyn into power being another.
    I’d advise all British people confused about why there is always war-mongering in the Middle east, and now spreading to us, to fully, with the perspicacity of adulthood, read the Quran. It is a blueprint for cultic indoctrination. That is what we are really up against.
    Thank goodness for the Council of Ex-Muslims, though I fear they may be too few, and too late.

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