Public Comment

Lurking below the surface of the latest attack is a serious problem. In a British-Muslim population of 3m there is a staggering number who are in danger of committing violence. According to British security services, there are 23,000 Muslims who are in serious danger of becoming radicalized. That is a very sobering number.

May’s government is under intense criticism for her decision to cut 20,000 police (1/6 of the police force) including 1,300 armed officers who were sent to Libya. The British and the US are committing the same blunders over and over again. Attacking or sending arms to Muslim countries will invariably cause a backlash. Remember, the bomber of the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester was a British Libyan. Weston governments, including the US, have flooded the Middle East and Afghanistan with billions of weapons to enrich their defense contractors. The Trump administration has boasted signing a $110 billion of weapons with Saudi Arabia which exports its extreme Sunni ideology all over the Muslim world. This is sheer madness and must stop. May also visited Saudi Arabia and signed a huge weapons deal, the details have been buried by British authorities.

What other factors drives young Muslims to violence? There are two principal sources – the Internet and the harsh passages of the “kill infidels” religious texts. The British would do well to elicit the help of Muslim religious leaders (perhaps a simple survey requesting an anonymous feedback on the root causes of radicalization might be helpful).