David Cameron’s speech just now to the UN General Assembly, New York, in full. 24/09/14. Any comments, apart from the misuse of the acronym ISIL and the fact he cant say Ku Klux Klan properly?? Mr President, this year we face extraordinary tests of our values and our resolve. In responding to the aggression against one of our member states, Ukraine. In seeking peace in the Middle East. In dealing with the terrifying spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. And in overcoming what I want to focus on today - which is the mortal threat we all face from the rise of ISIL in Syria and Iraq. Deir al-Zor is a province in Eastern Syria. Home to the al-Sheitaat tribe, it was captured by ISIL last month. 700 tribesmen were executed, many were beheaded. The vast majority were civilians... Muslims - who refused to take an oath of allegiance to ISILs sick extremist world view - and who paid for this with their lives. They are not alone. Across Syria and Northern Iraq thousands have suffered the same fate. Muslims - both Sunni and Shia. Christians, Yazidis, people of every faith and none. ISIL is not a problem restricted to just one region. It has murderous plans to expand its borders well beyond Iraq and Syria…and to carry out terrorist atrocities right across the world. It is recruiting new fighters from all over the world. 500 have gone there from Britain... and one of them almost certainly brutally murdered two American journalists and a British aid worker. This is a problem that affects us all. And we must tackle it together. Past mistakes must not become an excuse for indifference or inaction There is not one person in this hall who will view this challenge without reference to the past. Whether in Iraq. Whether in Afghanistan. Of course it is absolutely right that we should learn the lessons of the past, especially of what happened in Iraq a decade ago. But we have to learn the right lessons. Yes to careful preparation; no to rushing to join a conflict without a clear plan. But we must not be so frozen with fear that we dont do anything at all. Isolation and withdrawing from a problem like ISIL will only make things worse. We must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference…or inaction. The right lesson is that we should act - but act differently. We should be comprehensive - defeating the ideology of extremism that is the root cause of this terrorism - so we win the battle of ideas and not just the battle of military might. We should be intelligent - supporting representative and accountable governments and working with them at their request, not going in over their heads. We should be inclusive - working with partners in the region who are prepared to be part of the solution, potentially including Iran. And we should be uncompromising - using all the means at our disposal - including military force - to hunt down these extremists. Let me take each of these in turn. The root cause of this terrorist threat is a poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism. This is nothing to do with Islam, which is a peaceful region that inspires countless acts of generosity every day. Islamist extremism believes in using the most brutal forms of terrorism to force people to accept a warped world view and to live in a quasi mediaeval state. To defeat ISIL - and organisations like it - we must defeat this ideology in all its forms. As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that many of them were initially influenced by preachers who claim not to encourage violence, but whose world view can be used as a justification for it. The peddling of lies: that 9/11 was a Jewish plot and the 7/7 London attacks were staged. The idea that Muslims are persecuted all over the world as a deliberate act of Western policy. The concept of an inevitable clash of civilisations. We must be clear: to defeat the ideology of extremism we need to deal with all forms of extremism - not just violent extremism. For governments, there are some obvious ways we can do this. We must ban preachers of hate from coming to our countries. We must proscribe organisations that incite terrorism against people at home and abroad. We must work together to >>>take down illegal online material>The twentieth century taught us the vital role of representative and accountable governments in offering their people opportunity, hope and dignity>But, lets be clear: the failure to meet peoples aspirations can create a breeding ground where extremist and even terrorist insurgency can take root. Governments that only govern for some of their people cause deep resentment>In Syria, it must mean a political transition>ISIL is a threat to us all.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 02:31:42 +0000
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