Plots on Planes
10/8 (note I’m using the standard UK way of stating the date first, i.e. 10th August, 11th September)
That would have been another date up there with 11/9, 3/7, 7/7.
Or so we the Metropolitan Police/Home Office would have us believe. I have no doubt that there may well have been a plot. But there are a few questions I would like answered:
This threat has been monitored ‘for months’ and ’scaled up six weeks ago’, but why is there this grape-shot approach to the airports?
Is this like when Tanks were rolled into Heathrow (piccies here) and is this another method for the Government to instill the fear in us necessary to pass legislation which will infringe further on our civil rights? Just for the record, a couple of days before the Tanks @ Heathrow incident, there was a small demonstration in London. Also interesting is the Home Secretary’s speech to Demos which was delivered on Wednesday this week.
Now let’s turn to the alleged terrorists: The Bank of England has frozen the assets of 19 of the 24 people currently being questioned by Police in relation to yesterday’s plot. Thus the names of these 19 have been released to the public. What I find disturbing though is that one of them (Abdul Muneem Patel) is not even 18 yet. This is surely ‘redicalisation of the youth’ at its finest.
When will people realise that the foreign policy of the UK/US is what is driving these young men into doing crazy things? I’ve seen people in the UK Muslim community adopt the mantle of victimhood citing a litany of ‘crimes’ including the occupation of Iraq and the lack of WMDs, the failure of the US to capture Bin Laden, the Israel/Palestine problem, now Lebanon, the US’ preoccupation with Iran (which actually does go back to the Revolution in 1979), the placing of US troops in Saudi Arabia (or as some call it incorrectly, the ‘Hijaz‘).
Then there is also the perception that Oil is the main driver behind the US/UK interest in the Middle East. The relationship between the US and the house of Saud has cooled after 11/9 and the potential for getting oil from Iraq and the Caspian area has precipitated that. Many will cite other problems in the world which just dont get the same attention: Darfur, the troubles in Sri Lanka, the countries in the world which needed more ‘Regime Change’ than Iraq did, i.e. North Korea, Myanmar, heck even Zimbabwe. No Oil, No Interest.
People will counter this with, ‘Well I don’t see people from Sri Lanka blowing up Western interests.’ And they are right, but this is a misunderstanding on how Muslims see the world and how non-Muslims see the world. Muslims consider themselves part of one body. One part is cut and the pain is felt elsewhere. This is so that race, States (which have always come and gone through history) and the colour of skin plays no part in people’s allegiances. The allegiance for Muslims is to one ‘flag’ and that has no physical boundaries as it is a belief. Muslims as a whole should care about what happens in the world, as opposed to people who dont share this belief focus in on largely what happens in their backyard.
To finish off however, I must say that the if this was a genuine Terror plot, then the intelligence services have done a great job, but it doesnt just end there. They are under pressure to perform and prevent any future actions/plots, but they must use the Muslim community and bring it under its wing to make any serious attempts at stopping this threat. As said before, if I hear someone is gonna blow up a something or other, I go to the cops. I don’t want to see people blown up. That is not my Islam.
