London Bridge Must Not Fall Down

From Professor Michael Curtis, at the New English Review, "Enough is Enough: The Fight against Terrorism":

Iconic London Bridge is not falling and must not fall down, my fair lady. The attack on innocent citizens in the area on June 4, 2017 makes it a symbol of the need for the struggle of civilization against Islamic barbarism to continue. That struggle requires changes in policies of Western democracies. The soft power of humanity so far is not sufficent to eliminate Islamist dominated terrorism, to prevent, detect, and destroy it.

Britain is fully aware of the urgent need for change. It has suffered an attack by vehicle and knives in London on March 2017 when five were killed, the attack in Manchester at a concert on  May 22  when 22 were killed, and now the latest manifestation of evil on June 3, 2017 when three terrorists used a van to mow down pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed people at random  in bars and pubs in nearby Borough Market which is always busy on a Saturday night. The three murdered 7 and injured 48 before being killed by London police. The motive was unmistakable as one of the villains while stabbing an individual shouted, "This is for Allah."

 Enough is enough. An Islamic terrrorist is not a freedom fighter, but an evil murderer, seeking the most deadly venue, and must be recognized as such. It is insufficient to respond to these Islamist murderers by limited remarks as did new French President Emmanuel Macron wih "My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones," and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, "Awful news..we're monitoring the situation." Trudeau, like the character Fagin in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver, is apparently "reviewing the situation to see if a fellow can be a villain all his life."

What is frightening are three things. One is that the murderers were obeying the ideology and instructions of major Islamic terrorists, especially ISIS calling for killing non-believers, "Crusaders," by using weapons, fire, and vehicles in shopping malls, restaurants and clubs. The killers attacked soft targets not with bombs that may need technical skill of some kind or even guns, but by vehicle and knives.

The second is the apparent considerable network of support for the killers; more than 12 people have so far been arrested in connnection with the attack on June 3. The third aspect is that the attack came during Ramadan, giving the lie to the supposed peaceful religious nature of life and faith. In cynical fashion one of the killers even wore an Arsenal shirt, the emblem of the London soccer club perhaps dear to many of the victims.

President Donald Trump may have been too quick to condemn London Mayor Sadiq Khan and perhaps to misunderstand his remark after the attack, "no reason to be alarmed," and his suggestion there were more important things to worry about. But Trump's remark did not deserve a response such as that from CNN's Reza Aslan that Trump's renewal of call for a travel ban was a "piece of s..." and that the President was an embarrassment to the US and to humankind.

The truth is otherwise. One does not have to be in accordance with Trump's tweets to acknowledge certain facts.  The Islamist terrorists, a minority of the Muslims in the world, are extremists who are the embarrasment to their own religion and to humankind, and are believers and activists in favor of creating a way of life incompatible with western democracy. They reject systems based on the rule of secular law, and advocate Islamist rule to be established by jihad, holy war and terrorism.

Meaningful action is essential...