Archive for category Security
One Small Step for a Convicted Terrorist, One Giant Blunder for a Country
Posted by David Conway in Politics, Security on 25/08/2009
Last week’s release on ‘compassionate grounds’ from Scottish jail of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdul Ali al-Megrahi must surely go down as one of the most disgusting acts of political ineptitude ever perpetrated by anyone to hold any kind of ministerial office in Britain.
Could Have Fooled Me… Almost
Posted by David Conway in Security on 26/02/2008
Today’s Times reports that 20,000 Muslim leaders have just issued a declaration condemning terrorism as un-Islamic.
Their declaration was made at a conference held yesterday at the Dar Uloom madrassa in Deoband, northern India. It runs:
“Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.”
Clearly, Muslim scholars should know what their own religion condemns and what it condones far better than any non-Muslim. But the remarkably pacifistic tone of the declaration not only seemed too good to be true. It also seemed at variance with numerous other claims made by Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Islam condones and sometimes mandates physical violence in the form of jihad.
Could any further light on this matter be shed by visiting the website of the madrassa at which yesterday’s declaration was made?
continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.
In Whose Hands Does London’s Safety Now Rest According to Counter-Terrorism Chief?
Posted by David Conway in Security on 19/02/2008
Who is it that can keep London safe in the run-up to the Olympic Games?
If you have been tempted to answer either the ‘Metropolitan Police’ or the ‘Special Branch’, then you would have been wrong.
That is the view of the recently retired head of the Special Branch’s Muslim Contact Unit.
continued on the Centre for Social cohesion blog.
The Potential for On-Campus Extremism Extends Beyond Universities
Posted by Nick Cowen in Security on 28/08/2007
While Britain’s university lecturers and Vice Chancellors obdurately continue to refuse to offer any form of assistance in the fight against on-campus violent extremism, a trial currently underway in a Glasgow courtroom suggests that the problem towards which Britain’s academics seem willing to turn a complacent blind eye could well extend much further than the University sector.
continued on the Centre for Social cohesion blog.
Why the Government is Just Asking for Trouble by Pressing Ahead With the 2012 London Olympics
Posted by Nick Cowen in Security on 10/07/2007
According to a report in today’s Times, the Public Accounts Committee has condemned the government for having ‘left itself “financially exposed” over the 2012 Olympic Games and at risk of letting costs spiral put of control’. The basis for its charge has been the government’s having let the original Olympic budget treble to £9 billion.
continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.