British play down terrorist threat

Five years ago Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people with their attacks on the London underground and a bus. The four perpetrators were all British-born. The British government's current appeasement regarding extremists only encourages new attacks instead of hampering them, The Daily Telegraph, a conservative paper, writes: "The Security Service believes that more than 2,000 people in the UK pose a terrorist threat; in March 2005, it was estimated that up to 200 al-Qaeda operatives were in the UK. ... Yet for the past five years the major political parties have failed in their principal task, which should be to argue for British values. MPs who have spoken out frankly have been silenced or reprimanded by their parties. Outspoken critics of radical Islam have been sidelined or ignored. Senior counter-terrorism officials have made clear that it is a matter of 'when' not 'if' the next July 7 occurs. By engaging extremists and sidelining not just progressive Muslims but also the mainstream opinions of British society, government has done much to store up far more problems in the future."

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » United Kingdom