War of the Worlds, The Reality

In response to the London terror attacks last week, Sadiq Khan, a member of parliament gave this statement as printed in the Guardian.

His primary theme is the Muslim community cannot solve the problem of rooting out potential terrorists on its own.

"The issues surrounding the attacks need to be in the mainstream, and so do the solutions. Muslim organisations and community leaders are doing a good job with limited resources, skills and infrastructure - but it is simply not possible for them to influence the sections of society in which the extremism that motivated the bombings is being harnessed."

I find his statement to be ludicrous. With far fewer skills, resources and infrastructure terror organizations are able to convince young men to kill themselves and innocent civilians. Surely this is a more difficult task then convincing people to stay alive and get along with others.

So how can al Queda recruit, train and unleash suicide bombers in London, yet the local religious community is incapable of controlling its members? The answer, in my opinion, is the local Muslim population is not trying very hard to stop hard liners from perverting their religion, thus allowing the creation of fanatics. If a respected Imam were to stand in front of his people and say what al Queda and its allies are doing is wrong and must be stopped, the I would imagine it would be difficult to find suicide volunteers.

Next Khan takes on another sore point with Muslims.

"The parts we cannot reach are the parts we have to worry about, and the Muslim community cannot solve this on its own. "

Khan's comment strikes me as being at odds with one of the primary problems the West has faced in dealing with the Middle East. That is that region's fragile ego. I have read accounts that many Iraqi's feel humiliated when they cannot take care of their own problems, such as getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Instead of realizing they need outside assistance they become bitter and resentful at their helpers.

With this in mind, I think the end game is centered on Muslims helping themselves. Their leaders, such as Khan, have to stand up in the media every day and vehemently denounce terrorists actions. Where are the fatwa's being issued to demand and end to suicide bombings that kill Iraqi children? They are few and far between and I think this speaks volumes about the true feelings of Muslims. Could it be that despite the claims by those like Khan that most Muslims are against terror attacks they are in fact on the side of the attackers? Not that they wish to see their fellow Muslims killed, but because they feel every terror attack is a defeat for the West?

I certainly hope not because if that is true then this war truly has no chance of ending anytime soon.