GUARDIAN, COMMENT IS FREE, 16 NOV 2006: The threat we face, the response we need
What’s the greatest problem facing the world today? It’s not the war on terror, nor is it law enforcement. Yet the Queen’s Speech (link here to: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/queensspeech2006/story/0,,1948306,00.html)-
has just one sentence on climate change (link here to: http://www.laboursbigchange.org.uk/ )the bill will anyway probably not include annual targets which is the one thing that would make the government’s CC programme much more effective – while terror and law enforcement have 8 separate Bills or projects.
Of course the Government must give absolute priority to protecting the security of the nations against terrorist or any other threats. But endlessly ratcheting up the controls over every aspect of our national life, in the process undermining the very civil liberties and freedoms which the whole policy is supposed to be protecting, will never deliver real security unless we address the underlying motives. If we are tough on security, equally we need to be tough on the causes that generate our insecurity. And there is no doubt that the rage that drives terrorist activity is prompted by the horrendous daily carnage in Iraq, the refusal to condemn the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon and the widespread perception among Muslims of a grossly imbalanced policy favouring Israel to the neglect of the Palestinians
Dealing with these causes that jeopardise our security will be difficult, but there is no other way. We need to commit to withdrawing out troops, or at least the great majority, as soon as possible and within a year. We’ve got to give the highest priority, through our influence with the EU & US, to achieving a viable, sustainable Palestinian state – probably the only way to stop Al-Qaeda recruitment. We need to demonstrate a much more even –handed policy between Arab states and Israel in the Middle East. And we need to do much more to promote positively the integration of Muslim citizens in this country in terms of employment, housing and education, and to promote a positive culture that doesn’t allow Islam to be equated with all that is vicious, wicked and dangerous.
Doing all those things would achieve more than anything else in diminishing the terrorist threat – certainly much more than the continuous and relentless authoritarian crackdowns which undermine the values we all want to uphold.
