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Issue 211, Friday 24 November 2006 - 4 Dhu al-Qa'dah 1427 Facing up to policy denials US President, George W Bush, had little choice but to sack his Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, for the continuing debacle of the Iraq war after the Republicans suffered humiliating mid-term election defeats this month. No one so far in Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s Government has been similarly sacrificed. Geoff Hoon long ago lost his job as Britain’s Defense Secretary, Jack Straw also was also replaced in May as Foreign Secretary. It leaves the Prime Minister himself exposed to face the same fate, yet both he and Bush remain in denial about causing the horrific human consequences of their 2003 invasion. Instead, the British premier appears determined to press ahead with more draconian anti-terrorism legislation, despite the recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust chastising his government for “exploiting fears” in its war on terror strategy. The report accused Blair and his cabinet of playing to a “tabloid agenda,” saying that its “anti-terrorism campaign was often driven by party political and electoral motives.” The actions of ministers, “particularly Home Secretary, John Reid, could have a ‘boomerang effect’ by alienating the Muslim communities whose trust and cooperation are vital,” it also warned. Prior to the Queen’s speech on November 15, Reid used a series of interviews to warn that Britain faced a “wave” of terrorist plots, prepared strategically and directed from abroad by al-Qa’idah. “It is a very great threat. It means that a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom is highly likely,” Reid said, in backing a rare startling warning from MI5 head Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who claimed there were at least 30 active plots to attack Britain and that the security service was targeting more than 1,600 people. But unlike the repeated denial by ministers, Dame Manningham-Buller said that the motivation for the attacks were in part by “their interpretation as anti-Muslim of UK foreign policy, in particular the UK’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.” In response, the Prime Minister also backed the warning saying that the dangers were “very real” and that there was a “poisonous propaganda” warping the minds of young people. But like the warning about plots to carry out 10 simultaneous mid-air explosions on flights to the US, the terrorist threat appears to have been blown out of all proportion. With statistics showing that out of over 1,000 arrests made under anti-terrorism law since 9/11, only 27 have been found guilty, including nine who are thought to be Muslims. Even former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has accepted the public was in danger of having “terror fatigue.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today on November 16, Blunkett admitted that the fact the Government’s intelligence had turned out to be “wrong” about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction had “undermined confidence in other parts of the counter-terrorism thrust.” In addition, there has been a huge increase in open season of abusing Muslims, which ministers and the media have helped to create. British National Party leader, Nick Griffin, spoke of the changed climate against Muslims after being acquitted of inciting racial hatred when calling Islam a “wicked, vicious faith.” After the trial, Griffin was able to declare that he had been vindicated, saying that he was not racist but “against Islam.” The second acquittal of the BNP leader led to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, the Constitutional Affairs Secretary, Lord Falconer, and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, to suggest that the incitement laws may need to be reformed. The incitement to racial hatred laws offers protection to Jews and Sikhs, but offers no protection for Muslims. Although a new legislation was passed in February to outlaw the incitement to religious hatred at the third attempt, it had been watered down so much that its effect is virtually meaningless. The Muslim News applauds Lord Falconer for saying the country had to show it would not tolerate being “anti-Islam,” but remains unconvinced whether the Government is really sincere in offering equal protection to Muslims under the law. In the current climate, many comments by ministers and the media have themselves bordered on incitement to religious hatred. There is also massive concern in the Muslim community over the attitude by the Government in refusing to accept any responsibility for the quagmire in Iraq, while persisting with the claims that the UK’s foreign policy is principled and even-handed. It again beggared belief that ministers once again refused to condemn Israel’s latest massacre of Palestinians at Beit Hanoun in Gaza, in which 18 civilians, mostly women and children were killed. In an official statement, Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, could only muster that she was “gravely disturbed.” The latest Israeli massacre followed a six day long invasion of the northern part of the Gaza Strip that had already led to 60 Palestinian deaths, during which Beckett called for the end of retaliatory rocket attacks on Israel. It also came after the Government repeatedly refused to call for an immediate ceasefire during Israel’s month-long invasion of Lebanon in which over 1,200 civilians were killed. The question must be asked whether there is any diplomatic yardstick in the Foreign Office’s vocabulary to use condemn and Israel in the same sentence, is it 100 lives, 1,000 lives or 1,000,000 lives.
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