attacks nearly fifteen years later, came the worst ever
terrorist attack in Britain, worse than anything seen in
over a century of terrorism from Irish nationalists. A
group of Muslims (brought up in Britain) became suicide
bombers on the London transport network in 2005, killing
52 innocent people and injuring another 700. In the wake of
this carnage, Tony Blair (the Prime Minister of the day),
gave a speech about the events which simply implied that
the Muslims who became suicide bombers must not have
been real Muslims.
The greatest danger is that we fail to face up to the
nature of the threat we are dealing with. What we witnessed
in London last Thursday week was not an aberrant act. [...]
Senseless though any such horrible murder is, it was not
without sense for its organisers. It had a purpose. It was
done according to a plan. It was meant. What we are
confronting here is an evil ideology. [...] They demand [...]
Sharia law in the Arab world en route to one caliphate of
all Muslim nations. [...] We must be clear about how we
win this struggle. [...] In the end, it is by the power of
argument, debate, true religious faith and true legitimate
politics that we will defeat this threat. That means not just
arguing against their terrorism, but their politics and their
perversion of religious faith. [...] It means championing our
values of freedom, tolerance and respect for others. [...] The
spirit of our age is one in which the prejudices of the past
are put behind us, where our diversity is our strength. It is
this which is under attack.^88
Despite claiming that we must “face up to the nature of
the threat” and “it is by the power of argument” that Islamic