Woolwich terrorist Michael Adebolajo was previously arrested in Kenya in 2010 having been suspected of leading a group of Islamists trying to join the al Shabaab group. He was arrested with five others, and later deported, which is standard procedure in Kenya when involvement with terrorism is suspected.
The Somali militant group al-Shabab, is affiliated to al-Qaeda and is thought to have 7,000 to 9,000 fighters. It killed 76 people in a double bomb attack in Uganda as football fans had gathered to watch the 2010 World Cup.
Downing Street announced it was launching a new terror task force to deal with and crack down on extremism. The group, a classic political task force, will supposedly focus on radical preachers and where they seek their potential recruits. Home Secretary Theresa May said "thousands" of people were potentially at risk of radicalisation in the UK and that the government’s new programme would help those who could be sucked in. She did not state how that might occur, and whether there would be any strategy geared towards Muslims being more tolerant of Christianity or other faith’s.
Ed Pickles, Communities Secretary and general Conservative Party bulldog, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph “Our answer to the extremists and preachers of hate is to speak out, to show them for what they are. That is why the Government's ‘integration’ strategy focuses on working with people of goodwill to marginalize and outflank the extremists – not only Islamist preachers of hate, but also their malevolent counter-point, the racist English Defence League. As we reflect on the events of this week, there is no doubt that more can and will be done by the Government to challenge radicalisation and extremism.
Politicians of all colours, and clerics of all mainstream faiths should challenge hatred and the politics of division. That means the public not standing idly by - refusing to listen to their sermons and refusing to accept their literature. That means broadcasters making a sensible editorial judgement not to give oxygen to their publicity. And that means councils not giving taxpayers’ money to organisations which promote segregation or shelter extremists."
Pickles was much more forthcoming than May but also revealed how Cameron government strategy would be bogged down in political correctness. Unwilling to simply just take on radical Islam they run the danger of quashing free speech in a much more general way.
The English Defence League of whom he speaks does have racist elements at its core but also captures a more general populace who are simply fed up with excessive immigration, terrorism, and the subjugation of the British culture.
Pickles extols broadcasters to make sensible editorial judgements, but will it go further with a new government task force crafting legislation to limit the free press. Is it simply empty words by the Cameron administration which has thrown this together very rapidly, or is it the birth of massive new media oversight that broadly punishes good journalism and commentary to extinguish a radical minority.
Who will decide which organizations shelter extremists or promote segregation? These things need to be clearly determined in a world where a Spanish golfer gets accused of racism for offering a black golfer fried chicken. Decisions need to be made based on criminal intent rather than perceived ideology.
Like with the Boston bombing, we’ve discovered home-grown radicalization. The British terrorists grew up in their country, the Boston ones came to a part of America that specializes in anti-Americanism. In both cases as is now being revealed there were previous links to terrorist activity. Rather than clamping down on a nation’s liberty the government needs to strive towards identifying suspects early and devising methods of intervention.
It is yet to be determined if the Woolwich, London attack is related to the attack on a French soldier who was stabbed in the neck in a busy shopping area in Paris on Saturday. Regardless the reaction of the public brings hope but the inadequate reaction of governments causes us to continue to fear.
