Non-eco Sunday Posting - some people may not like this. But I agree with this journalist who opposes the attempted ban on the ISIL video of the barbaric killing of US journalist James Foley. It is absolutely ridiculous for the UK police to claim that downloading this video is a criminal terrorist act! I can understand how some people will regard looking at the horrific pictures as being tasteless or offensive but it is not a terrorist act. Calling it such demeans the real meaning of the word terror and the suppression of free speech only further inflames the sense of persecution and victimhood that many young muslims feel in the UK, a country which has and is visiting terror on many Muslim countries (Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan). ISIL to my mind is a clear direct consequence of the criminal invasion of Iraq by Bush and Blair. An erormous criminal act for which they have not been held accountable - even the tame Chilcot Report remains unpublished. I do not see why UK citizens should be charged with terrorism for watching the horrific results of our own leaders decisions, whilst those leaders remain uncharged and unpunished. Let us not forget either that the blood of Iraq also lies on the hands of Cameron and many other currently serving Labour and Tory MPs who voted for the illegal disastrous invasion. ISIL was an inevitable consequence of decades of Western terrorism in the Middle East and the destruction of all of Iraqs army, civil service, infrastructure,political parties and government. But I will admit to being unsure as to what the UK should now do in relation to the horrific mess that the Iraqi invasion has left behind. The recent horrors are our horrors and I fully support the humanitarian intervention to save the Yazidis, Christians and Muslim minorities being threatened with genocide by ISIL. I also do not want to see the Kurds subjected to the horrific massacres and genocidal brutality that ISIL plans for those who do not support their Islamic extremism. But I also understand that violence begets violence. ISIL is a result of a political disaster. It seems to me that there needs to be an urgent major summit of all the interested parties in the region and with the west to see what should be done. At a minimum, Isils access to arms, fighters and banking facilities and economic activities such as oil revenues needs to be urgently closed down. Camerons and Obamas statements this week were understandably based on anger at the barbarity of Foleys execution but anger is not a good place from which to be making decisions about war and peace. And we must also remember that for years, our governments have been raining terror and summary extra-judicial executions on Islamic fighters in Pakistan and Afghanistan and have not objected to the Israeli terrorist states decades long similar programme of extra-judicial exections of Muslim Palestinian fighters. This is not simply a black and white issue of goodies and baddies and if we could remember this maybe we might start finding a way forward whereby thousands of young muslims would not feel called to serve with ISIL? theguardian/uk-news/2014/aug/20/police-warn-james-foley-video-crime-social-media
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 07:52:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015