Back in May I linked to an article from the London Times about a young guy who had been recruited as a jihadist after he turned to Islam seeking answers. According to today's Times, one of Thursday's bombers, Hasib Hussain, had a similar experience only he didn't live long enough to change his mind.
A cousin said yesterday that Hasib "went off the rails and his parents were very worried. They wanted to instil some discipline in him; I don'’t know what happened, but 18 months to two years ago Hasib suddenly changed and became devoutly religious."I said it then and I'll say it again – this problem must be solved mostly by Muslims themselves. They must show zero tolerance for extremism and zero tolerance for separatism.
This is now a moment of truth. Either Muslims root this problem out immediately or there will be more attacks. And, if there are more attacks it won't take long before the British people begin to believe Enoch Powell was right. The National Front will be jerked from extremes to center stage.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't think so. If I were a Muslim in Britain today I'd be advocating close cooperation with the police and draconian measures. I'd beg the authorities to exclude foreign rabble-rousers, demand that extremist publications and other media are shut down, start identifying trouble-makers and begin offering other alternatives other than jihad to wayward young men.
This is not the time for proclaiming victimhood. This is not the time to be worrying about being tarred with the one brush by the authorities. My guess is that the police and government are way behind public opinion in such 'tarring'. It won't take much for what's now being muttered at the dining room table to become the accepted wisdom on the street.
