Current Affairs How do we tackle terrorism?

[Groucho]

Ah the good old Britania at fault for the world's problems line. No wonder Europe is in the dire straits that it is when we've gone along with this false assumption for so long.

Effectively you can't stop this in a modern liberal society, stopping this completely would be to effectively outlaw Islam and it's practise/literature in the country and a ban on migrants from Middle Eastern countries. Effectively Islam would die out over the generations.

In reality in our society the best we could do I would imagine is:

1. Anyone on the suspected terror list or who has links to extremism to be deported or apprehended before it goes too far.

2. Put these Muslim prison gangs in isolation units to stop the radicalisation going on that's rife in our prison system.

3. Initiate some form of compulsory cultural integration programmes with the Muslim communities in the likes of Luton, Bradford etc. Which is difficult and I don't know how it could be done but their needs to be more integration so these fundamental issues are not allowed to fester in those vulnerable to be radicalised.

I don't agree with all of what you say here, however points 1&2 are reasonable ideas, regardless of a terrorists religious affiliation.

I believe it's a terrorism/extremism problem as opposed to a purely religious one.

The terrorists use religion as an excuse to be violent monsters.

 

[hullefc]

When did this latest type of terror start in the West? When the West began meddling more openly in the Middle East and sending in troops and bombs to change the regime. Most of these groups and splinter groups can be traced back to the Mujaheddin movement, financed and armed by the US to cause havoc for the Afghan Socialist government in the 1980s.

If history has shown us anything, it is that when a country or countries attempts to get involved in another countries affairs, there will be trouble.Unfortunately, the US can't stop itself from being the self proclaimed policeman of the world. Demanding regime change after regime change in the Middle East. And as a result has stirred up anger amongst, in this instance Muslims. Which in turn has resulted in creating people who take their anger out on the streets of Europe.

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Firstly, yes he was born here. The point is the ideology was not. If these psycopaths see a 'caliphate' that they can be a part of and give a reason to their own rage, then they'll latch on to it. We need to destroy that inspiration.

Second, no amount of education of our kids would have done a thing to stop this. I simply do not understand that argument at all.

I would rather destroy the inspiration by changing minds rather than dropping bombs which would undoubtedly kill more innocents. Dropping bombs helps perpetuate the cycle of violence.

 

[Mutzo Nutzo]

Wasn't he born and raised in Manchester?

Dropping a bomb on Syrian kids isn't going to do anything but give abhorrent justification for his actions.

The problem is much closer to home. @orly is right in that education is essential to prevent future atrocities.

The problem is one of disillusionment and disaffection. Lots of these home-grown Jihadis have a normalish upbringing, they generally attend regular state schools, go on to college/university, get a job. At some point in their lives though they must have some kind of retrospective look at themselves and think "who am I"? "Why don't I feel like I belong here"? Which in itself is not unusual however these thoughts play out against the backdrop of the wars raging in their spiritual homelands, and the daily images of brutality and atrocities.

This is when they become vulnerable to outside Jihadi influences. It might well be that someone in their local community senses this, puts an arm around their shoulder and starts to have a few words in their ear. This soon escalates to skilled and effective brainwashing and ultimately to radicalisation. Sometimes these "targets" decide on a visit back to the old country to see family members - Their journey will be tagged by these recruiters and at sometime on their visit they meet someone (this meeting will be setup by the recruiters). The "target" at this time will be unaware and totally unsuspecting, but that's where it will all begin. The relationship will deepen and the radicalisation will begin.

These targets are exactly what these groups depend on - so if we are going to stop this we have to focus on the targets, why do they feel so disaffected, why do they feel like they don't fit in with the modern western society.

I don't have the answers but this in my opinion is where Western society needs to focus its attention in order to stop this happening again and again

 

[Moomin]

When did this latest type of terror start in the West? When the West began meddling more openly in the Middle East and sending in troops and bombs to change the regime. Most of these groups and splinter groups can be traced back to the Mujaheddin movement, financed and armed by the US to cause havoc for the Afghan Socialist government in the 1980s.

If history has shown us anything, it is that when a country or countries attempts to get involved in another countries affairs, there will be trouble.Unfortunately, the US can't stop itself from being the self proclaimed policeman of the world. Demanding regime change after regime change in the Middle East. And as a result has stirred up anger amongst, in this instance Muslims. Which in turn has resulted in creating people who take their anger out on the streets of Europe.

Not only did we fund them, we got countries like Egypt to release its locked up extremists to not just fight against the Russians but to travel abroad and recruit foreigners to fight for them.

We let the extremists free, gave them weapons and money to fight the Russians.

We never really thought that through did we.

 

[Toffee-nerd]

My take on it is that everyone's out for a quick buck right and wrong don't exist anymore because we pick and choose what's right and wrong based on ourselves. Western nations need to stop selling arms to third world countries. Any child losing their life in these sorts of circumstance is tragic but this sort of thing happens all over the world and we don't even hear about it. Dropping bombs remotely on something that resembles a video game on places such as raqqa that killed civilians including children is just as "cowardly" as what this idiot has done in Manchester.

We as a species have got ourselves into this eye for an eye cycle. We build bigger bombs, faster shooting guns and sell them for the highest profit possible. Half the western world is obese and has diabetes the other half of mankind is starving and dying of dehydration. There's no level playing field in this world we've built for ourselves. It's luck as to what part of the world you are popped out in. We have completely [Poor language removed] it and it's all built on my original point. $$$$$$

 

[peteblue]

The problem is one of disillusionment and disaffection. Lots of these home-grown Jihadis have a normalish upbringing, they generally attend regular state schools, go on to college/university, get a job. At some point in their lives though they must have some kind of retrospective look at themselves and think "who am I"? "Why don't I feel like I belong here"? Which in itself is not unusual however these thoughts play out against the backdrop of the wars raging in their spiritual homelands, and the daily images of brutality and atrocities.

This is when they become vulnerable to outside Jihadi influences. It might well be that someone in their local community senses this, puts an arm around their shoulder and starts to have a few words in their ear. This soon escalates to skilled and effective brainwashing and ultimately to radicalisation. Sometimes these "targets" decide on a visit back to the old country to see family members - Their journey will be tagged by these recruiters and at sometime on their visit they meet someone (this meeting will be setup by the recruiters). The "target" at this time will be unaware and totally unsuspecting, but that's where it will all begin. The relationship will deepen and the radicalisation will begin.

These targets are exactly what these groups depend on - so if we are going to stop this we have to focus on the targets, why do they feel so disaffected, why do they feel like they don't fit in with the modern western society.

I don't have the answers but this in my opinion is where Western society needs to focus its attention in order to stop this happening again and again

Excellent post, but what about the recruiters, many of whom we know and tolerate.....

 

[Mutzo Nutzo]

Excellent post, but what about the recruiters, many of whom we know and tolerate.....

Monitor, collect intel, arrest, prosecute, lock-up and put them in solitary confinement in a welsh prison (that will remove any thought of escape as welsh people eat muslims - or so I'm told).

 

[Billy Dean]

There was never any reasoning to be done with this ideology. Stewart Lee did a stand-up on it - they want the obliteration of western culture; that isn't a negotiation starting point.

Just wipe them out, honestly. Military intervention, anywhere they have a stronghold, absolutely destroy them, over and over again. Stamp on the cockroaches as soon as you see one.

so you want to wipe out Saudi Arabia? Good luck with that.

 

[gonetomorrow]

You can't do anything about people who are prepared to kill themselves in order to further their "cause".
Armed police and troops strolling about will only crank up the febrile atmosphere and lead to tension in immigrant communities.
We can only rely on security services to monitor suspects and avert further attacks.

 

[JLW]

 

[Number_25]

I've spent 10 minutes reading through this, and I've spotted numerous people here that are effectively calling for genocide of millions of people.

Emotions are high, but we're supposed to be the good guys here.

For anyone that fancies understanding why this sort of thing happens, I'd advise you to take a look at this.

"To conclude, my findings show, representative only of the sample at hand, that the Western media has been playing a considerable role in the social construction of Islamic fundamentalism. Through its various representational practices it has contributed in giving ‘meaning’ to the culture of radical Islamists. For instance, in the articles analysed the frequent association of terms such as ‘extremist’, ‘radical’, ‘Islamist’ (and very often of ‘Muslims’) to Islamic fundamentalists transmits a negative discourse of a ‘disillusioned’ people seeking, for instance ‘revenge’ or ‘virgins in heaven’. Any attempt to put rationalisation in the heads of the ‘lost youthful Muslims’ was followed by a statement which discredited any such truth. With some exceptions, Islamic fundamentalism in the sample of newspapers I analysed has been portrayed as an ideologist cult –associating Islam to ‘terrorism’ gave it some personality which the reader can understand and relate to. It was noted many times that this ‘threat’ or ‘cancerous tumour’ we are facing in the twenty-first century is not tangible, something we cannot pin point and fight. Constantly coining new terms, journalists are appearing far more educated and informed. And now the media has begun to change its approach from isolation to expansionism when dealing with this ‘threat’. My findings on the demographic factors and cultural themes offer some interesting insights. Represented most frequently as ‘males’, most of these ‘young’ Islamic fundamentalists were represented natively as Arab or Middle-Eastern."

 

[GwladysPhil]

We all need to embrace Islam and accept it as the one true religion.

I prey we all bow to Allah and prevent any future incident.

 

[John23]

Radical Islamic extremists want to wipe out Western culture and society etc. Plain and simple. It's way beyond territory they're only interested in forcing their beliefs on the rest of the world. It's either be part of our Islamic Cult worldwide or be killed. Yet the West are happy to sign multi billion trade deals and give the World Cup to the countries where these beliefs originate from and they get there funding? But sure money talks and of course you can't offend the liberals, take the risk of getting called racist,etc. Absolute madness.

 

[The binman chronicles]

We all need to embrace Islam and accept it as the one true religion.

I prey we all bow to Allah and prevent any future incident.

Problem is they wouldn't stop there. Some people are just hardwired to fight. Any divisions they will look on as a reason for the cause to continue.