It is much more deeper than Iraq

As I walked toward the newsagent this morning I chatted with my wife about the whole arrest, muslims and airports thing. I said to her that I imagined by the end of the weekend the "mainstream" media would have talking heads on it suggesting that the timing of these twarted attacks were "convenient", this would be followed by "wag the dog" movie references, not to mention references to past incidents as justification for cynicism masquerading as scepticism. I was wrong, it took less than a day for it to happen.

This evening, as I read my Friday Standard I came across an op-ed piece saying that Londoners were not so much afraid, as angry. We - apparently - are angry at Blair and Bush and our foreign policy. It's all about foreign policy you know. If we hadn't invaded Iraq none of this would've happened you see. Forget the fact that 9/11 pre-dated the two wars, it's about foreign policy, oh yes and Israel too. We are angry that we now live in fear because of them!

In fairness this sort of nonsense started last night on Channel 4 News. I didn't really count it though, as I wouldn't expect anything less from them. They had some talking head American professor telling us that 95% of suicide terrorists are acting for political reasons. If we solve the political, the expert says, it will all go away.

And there we have it again, that flawed analysis. Yes, no doubt these people are influenced by political events, but as the Times leader pointed out today, it does not define them. Ideology is what defines these people, they don't believe in democracy, they don't believe in liberty and they certainly don't believe in any god but theirs. They have no room for tolerance. You're not with them or against them, you're with them or dead. It doesn't take a genius to realise that you can not take on medieval zealotry like that by applying Enlightenment assumptions. These people are not rational actors, there is no game theory applicable to them.

As Iain Dale quite rightly points out, it's time for those sane people that exist in the Brtitish Mulsim community to stand up, start being counted, and genuinely act. That doesn't mean just saying something over the next week and then forgetting about it. That means real, tangible action by the Muslim Community. It's time for the Immans to teach that the Muslim identity of Brotherhood does not apply to these fanatical throwbacks.

There is absolutely nothing that we can do to stop these people thinking the way they do. Whatever we do, be it in domestic or foreign policy, it will be wrong for them because the underlying ideology allows nothing else to be the case. Those that think that we just need to understand their grievances and then change our actions to accomodate them, really have failed to "get it".