11.09.2011
The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has stirred up debate as to whether the response to the attacks by the West was effective in diminishing the threat of terrorism. The Telegraph concludes that some elements were effective (such as improvements to the work of security services, which have succeeded in frustrating several attacks), but others were not. It is, therefore, a fact that the threat of attacks from terrorists inspired by Islam is as real as ever. For Islamism to wither into insignificance, more needs to be done ‘to ensure that Muslim communities within the West embrace the values of tolerance and respect that we cherish’. According to Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, it was vital to break up structures of isolation that were allegedly fostered by the state’s political multiculturalism. Similar plans were communicated by PM David Cameron earlier this year, when he claimed that state multiculturalism had to be replaced by a national identity that all can embrace (as reported).
Addressing the same issue, the Mirror reports that, on Saturday, Tony Blair warned on Radio 4 that the war on terror was not over yet. He said it was naive to believe that the West’s response to the 9/11 attacks had radicalised Muslims extremists. According to Blair, “(t)hey believe in what they believe in because they believe their religion compels them to believe in it”. The threat would only end, once this ideology was defeated.
