The brief wave of Islamic terrorism in the UK followed our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and effectively stopped when those occupations ended. In every case of actual terrorist attack, the terrorists involved cited those invasions as a key part of their motive. There may yet be another residual attack, but as a campaign it is over, and historical perspective will show it related purely to our invasion of Islamic lands.
Yet we have suffered a week of media propaganda aimed at repeating the mantra that Isis’ success in Iraq will lead to terrorist attacks in the UK. The only apparent purpose of this mantra is to justify some degree of US/UK intervention in Iraq’s current civil war. As it was the US/UK invasion which caused this civil war in the first place, this is ironic. As any form of UK intervention is the only thing that might in fact provoke Iraq related terrorist attacks in the UK, it is a crazed argument; the absolute opposite of the truth.
The brief period of Islamic linked terrorism in the UK killed about eighty people – a tiny percentage of those who died in the UK from Irish linked violence in the 70’s and 80’s – but had two disproportionately dreadful effects. The first was a massive reduction in civil liberties in the UK. The second was the spawning of a vast and parasitic security industry, both within government, and in the private sector but government funded.
The patent absence of any genuine Islamic terrorism in the UK to fight is an obvious threat to the funding of this huge industry. Hence the current hype about the threat from Birmingham school governors or British residents fighting in Iraq and Syria. We have the usual propagandists for this threat thrust upon the airwaves again – Frank “Goebbels” Gardner and even the utterly discredited “Quilliam Foundation” who have been back on the BBC. At the moment they are peddling the utterly untrue line that 9% of those who travel from the UK to participate in fighting abroad, on return get involved in terrorist activity in the UK. Frank Gardner has been repeating this ad nauseam.
This claim is absolutely unfounded. It is brought to you by the same people who claim there are 4,000 active terrorists in the UK, or that MI5 foiled 34 active terrorist plots.
How gullible do you have to be to believe that in the last seven years this 4,000 committed terrorists in the UK, with their 34 active plots, managed to kill nobody at all, except for the two deranged and utterly disorganised Nigerians who murdered the unfortunate Lee Rigby? The other 3,998 must be the world’s least productive terrorists. Surely between 3,998 fanatical and committed murderous terrorists they could at least have injured somebody? The truth is that in the last seven years Irish political violence has again killed more people in the UK than Islamist political violence.
If you have 4,000 totally non-productive fantasy terrorists, then it is not surprising that you think that one in nine of those who go to fight abroad are involved in such “terrorism” in the UK. In fact, the terrorist threat in the UK is miniscule and the entire narrative is a nonsense. You have a much greater chance of drowning in your own bath than of being killed by a terrorist. The death of Gerald Conlon should be a sobering reminder of the willingness of English juries to make completely improbable terrorist convictions on the say-so of the authorities.
There has probably not been a war abroad in the last two hundred years in which some UK resident did not go and fight. The BBC and Sky news headline today is about someone from Aberdeen who went to fight for Isis. That is meant to terrify us about terrorism here.
Nonsense.
Somebody else from Aberdeen went to fight in a war abroad. George Gordon, Lord Byron, went to fight for the Greek revolt against Ottoman rule, and died of fever in a Balkan swamp. (Under Blair’s “anti-terror” legislation, that would have made Byron guilty of terrorism in the UK). In the same decade George De Lacey Evans went to fight for the Spanish Infanta against her uncle. Several Britons including David Urquhart fought against the Russian invasion of Circassia. I am talking in all these cases of politically motivated volunteers, not mercenaries. A number of British residents fought in the Franco-Prussian war. Several Britons fought for the Confederates in the US civil war – almost certainly some fought for the Union as well, but I can’t claim to know of them. Garibaldi had a Welsh officer called Griffiths. We should all be terrifically proud of the Britons in the International Brigades in Spain. British residents fought on all sides in the recent civil wars in the Balkans. I should be astonished if some British residents of Ukrainian and Russian heritage had not gone to join militias there at present.
Nor should we forget that the same political establishment which so deplores Britons going abroad to fight, has legalised, massively encouraged and financed the mercenary activities of hired killers like Tim Spicer and Tony Buckingham. The hypocrisy is rank and stinking.
The dreadful violence and destruction the West has inflicted and promoted in recent years in its efforts to gain control of the mineral resources of the Middle East continues to play out. Those who see communities with which they identify abroad engaged in military conflict will always produce a small number of people going to join the fight. This is in no sense unusual, and in no sense a threat to ordinary citizens in the UK. The link to terrorism here is entirely a fiction. The unfortunate thing is that the mainstream media allows no outlet for people to mock its false assertions and point out its sinister agenda.
@Fred re latest post: I suppose you think it was right also that Yugoslavia was partitioned after externally instigated civil war? If so, what about Ukraine, or the United States, or the United Kingdom for that matter. Every country has its own mix of peoples. Each continues to exist as a country because people unite behind common values (amongst other things…)
mj & villager : thank you for your kind words.
@Mary: Wasn’t it Rebekah Wade that wrote (or sanctioned…) the Sun headline “45 minutes from doom!”
@Mary: Good point about Boris. Why did he suddenly have Damascus-like conversion and go all “impeach Blair”, anyway?
@Peacewisher
I think the people of Iraq should decide for themselves, peacefully, by ballot.
Phil @4.43…
Curious you should mention Aegis – perhaps not. Its ex CEO, Tim Spicer, has been linked both with Liam Fox and more closely, with Tony ‘Walking Eagle’ Blair:
http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0266.html
The article, a summary of deniable warmongering in pursuit of resources, goes a good deal further into the murk, and is well worth a look.
Villager; I didn’t see you slip in. Hope you are fit as a fiddle.
@Peacewisher
Did you find someone who wasn’t suspected of a crime who had been required to hand over an encryption key yet? Or a request made without a court order?
@Fred: Sorry, I’ve got better things to do with my time. But don’t you think Craig has got a point with this thread? Too many unaccountable people could even lead to collusion and black ops… (especially worthy of note now we know that (a) Coulson wasn’t vetted, and (b) Coulson colluded with others to break the law.
@Fred: So do I, if there is a free media, and no coercion.
But we don’t even have the former in this country! One advantage of becoming the 51st state might be that we’d have a freer press LOL
@Peacewisher
I agree with Craig that the claims by Cameron that ISIS are a threat to people in Britain are probably not true and designed`to dissuade opposition to British intervention in Iraq should it become necessary to protect British commercial interests there.
That has nothing to do with my pointing out that your claims about RIPA are just not true or my belief people in Iraq have the right to self determination.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-soaring-profits-of-the-military-industrial-complex-the-soaring-costs-of-military-casualties/5388393
“There are two major beneficiaries of the two major wars launched by the US government: one domestic and one foreign. The three major domestic arms manufacturers, Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOG) and Raytheon (RTN) have delivered record-shattering returns to their investors, CEOs and investment banks during the past decade and a half. The Israeli regime is the overwhelming foreign beneficiary of the war, expanding its territory through its dispossession of Palestinians and positioning itself as the regional hegemon. Israel benefited from the US invasion which destroyed Iraq, a major ally of the Palestinians; the invasion provided cover for massive Israel’s settler expansion in the Occupied Palestinian territories. In the course of its invasion and occupation Washington systematically destroyed Iraq’s armed forces and civil infrastructure, shredding its complex modern society and state. By doing so, the US occupation removed one of Israel’s major regional rivals.”
First there’s the hardware costs. Then there is the occupation costs. Then there is the human cost. It’s one thing for a young man to lose his life. It’s quite another for a wounded survivor. The cost over 40 years for a paraplegic…..$50 million. NGO’s take the cream off the top courtesy of taxpayers, Then the taxpayers get the Butcher’s Bill for the long-term costs.
First, there’s the promissory note (Treasury bill) to the banksters, then there’s the interest incurred, and austerity based upon the debt ginned-up by the warmongers seeking to feather their nest. It all falls on the working-class hero. He pays the bills both in blood and treasure.
Fred asks:
“Did you find someone who wasn’t suspected of a crime who had been required to hand over an encryption key yet? Or a request made without a court order?”
Yes, Fred. It happens at UK borders, all the time.
Greenwald’s partner is the most famous example, but ordinary travellers are subject to it every time they enter or leave the UK.
No suspicion is needed, not even reasonable suspicion, and you have to answer ANY question they put to you, however irrelevant you think it, under pain of imprisonment.
I also find the 7/7 bombings odd in that such a dramatic and terrible incident seems to have had no part in any long-term terror campaign (as with Irish terrorism) nor have had any follow-up. It’s rather the same kind of dog that doesn’t bark as our lack of a return to the moon – the longer we go with no repeat, the more suspicious the initial event seems.
On Syria, quite frankly it’s not our problem if someone wants to go and fight there – as long as we don’t let them back in the country afterwards.
Excellent and important points. Most of us know all this, but Craig does a great job of visualizing the extreme hypocrisy.
Let’s not forget, though, that apart from people of Islamic faith, our crackpot government also regards people who care about the environment and animals, and groups like Fathers for Justice, as terrorists. Paranoia and public expenditure on waging war against these groups (which are simply trying to point out that morality should precede money) is currently at an all time high.
@Herbie
I have no doubt it does.
But what has that to do with RIPA?
@Fred: We’ll have to disagree about the finer points of RIPA part 3. However, we do have common ground about democracy, and a peoples’ right to self-determination. As with Scottish folk, of course. Assuming a free media!
Also, what about the people of Donetsk and Lugansk. When will their right to self-determination be recognised?
The enemies of elites are always first and foremost, their own people, their own flock, their own herd.
That’s why we’re so surveilled.
Up until recently the flock has been managed through media, bread and circuses, but lately there’s much less bread, and the circuses are becoming a bit repetitive and worn.
With the growth of the internet and many more sources of information, elites realise they can no longer use these tools of compliance, and must return to much more coercive measures, to retain control.
They obviously know they’re losing it a bit and so have removed the legal contract between themselves and their peeps.
The US seems the worst so far. They’ve moved far from the Constitutional settlement, so that’s an admission that they’re expecting social breakdown.
The UK seems to be next.
It’d be a good idea to draw up a list of those countries which have moved most from the social and legal contracts they had with their peeps.
These are the countries in which there will be the most radical decline.
Can I write from here in an Apple Orchard…next to my wife asleep in a wigwam that ain’t too good in the rain…If so I would like to point out…that it is far better being owed £50,000 than owing £50,000… particularly when your customer can easily afford to pay…and if he doesn’t…you can just threaten to turn it off…knowing that he is making far more than you…and that…it is so complex…that he has no alternative supplier…I keep telling my Son this….but he just doesnt seem to realise he can charge 10 times as much…and get paid on time…He says Dad…I’m just increasing my customer base..He lives at home for free…and we cook for him…and all his Girlfriends…
Peacewisher: of course we have a free press. You just have to find it:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/blair-unhinged-say-lots-of-people-who-agreed-with-him-at-the-time-2014061687653
You of course want to know what the message is. Well how on Earth can I or he know what the message is…there are Millions of them…most in Foriegn languages. He is running an International ISP from his Bedroom…with Servers on the Fastest Backbone in the World. The Yanks can’t compete…London and Manchester…have much bigger pipes and are much faster…Does that make him a Globalist?
Tech; Not much redemptive self-awareness in the US either. Cheney keeps doubling-down on the dumb with his daughter Liz, who aspires to public office. It is insane, as one would expect from people of this caliber.
Fred: Craig Murray made a post some weeks back, on the subject of post-colonial African (Nigerian) attachment to wholly irrational, at times troublesome state/national boundary constructs of the colonisers. The people nevertheless quite aware of the apparent contradiction in this sentimentality.
“The strange thing is that these totally artificial colonial constructs of states generate a genuine and fierce patriotism among their citizens”
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/dysfunction-in-nigeria/
It seems unlikely to me that this feeling would be as strong in the middle-east Arab lands, the hardline Ba’athist Sunnis perhaps an exception, though they could just lament the passing of the days when they unfairly held upper (whip) hand, where advancement, even when well-merited not only required membership of The Party, but also membership of the right religious sect. Change simply for changes sake however wouldn’t be wise, particularly in the midst of the country’s enduring torment, and regional insecurity, though others could say there could be no better time for a clean break. Such things must surely however be better considered in conditions of calm, mutual respect and understanding. Putting aside all the religious nonsense overlaid, the arguments come down to just economic claims and counterclaims, on a resource which all the while they argue is being drawn down. Some form of increased Kurdish autonomy, and the same for the Shia in the south, while increasing Sunni influence in the Baghdad government, seems to be the path they are moving on; with scrupulously non-sectarian political parties, it could work.
Tony M; My view is that people always seek to suppress the minority because of self-interest. When the US cobbled an Iraqi gubmint principle they sought to level the playing field t the advantage of the Shia, an oppressed minority. Naturally, the minority sought to consolidate their own power to the disadvantage of the nation, as a whole. Human nature is eminently predictable.
@Technicolor: Interesting that there is a suggestion in this article that Blair was “unhinged” from 1994, when he was Shadow Home Secretary? How, then, did he become Labour leader? Was Brown considered even more unhinged, or did becoming Labour leader and realising the potential power of the post unhinge him?
Ben
“If I sounded racist, many apologies.”
Sorry to be unclear. I was talking beyond your comment mate. I didn’t mean to suggest you were sounding racist. I didn’t mean that at all.
Mary
“It is not racist to say that Israel is the problem. It is a fact.”
In what way is Israel the problem?
Theresa of May is busy catching fish out of muddy waters; now “jihad” has gone equal opportunity and Muslim women go to Syria to fight too!
What can a government do to stop the tsunami of the “jihad” hoards?
Obvious silly, it is a no brainer; spy on the bally lot of the nation even more! As she goes on record; “we must use our capabilities and enhance these capabilities, and not diminish these”!
Freedom dunch you luv its smell? Never mind it smells more like manure as the days go by.
Freedom of the press means; you are free to own one
Baal
That Spicer/Blair article makes the blood boil. I think Aegis subsequently got the contract to protect the US embassy in Kabul. Worth big money.
These mercenary armies are just another example, albeit extra in your face deadly, of private profit made from public investment. i.e. They are all state trained killers.
Technicolour..I did laugh at your link…but I have to put up with blokes knocking on my door..thinking they are offerring to clean my gutters..and its The Fraud Squad…a bit like the Sweeney…though Posh…wanting to speak to my Son. I insisted on being present..They said your son is under no charge or investigation whatsoever…We just want himto help us provide more information about a fraud of one if his customers that he has reported to us. Good Lad.
Tony