"Islamic Extremists Find British Haven" is the title of a fairly chilling, but not surprising story in today's paper. This brave, very not-PC article by Ken Dilanian of Knight-Ridder, is written following the London subway and bus bombings which killed at least 48, and for which al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists have taken credit. The punch line of Dilanian's piece is that Western "tolerance" of multiculturalism has become negligence. Negligence of the deathly hatred for the West carried by too many young, first- and second generation Islamic immigrants.

LONDON — In Saleem Ali's world, it's all quite simple: The Jews control the global economy. The Americans are murderous thugs. And the British government was behind Thursday's attacks here. Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered it, Ali said in an interview, for the same reason President Bush orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, carnage: "To cause panic among the public so that people will hate Muslims."

Welcome to Bethnal Green, a heavily Muslim neighborhood just a few subway stops away from the heart of tourist London. Hardly wild-eyed, Ali, 30, a shopkeeper, spoke with measured eloquence. He stood next to his younger brother and four friends, each of whom echoed his sentiments in tones so lighthearted that a reporter repeatedly asked whether they were joking. Not at all, they said as they excoriated the West and praised al-Qaida.

....Britain's history of admitting large populations of poor, uneducated Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants from its former empire — along with a generous asylum policy that has allowed Arab dissidents to claim political shelter — has long made it a haven for Islamic radicals. And while the vast majority of British Muslims are law-abiding, a string of incidents in recent years has put the problem of the country's radical Muslim minority in stark relief.

...Some terrorism scholars argue that British society, especially on the left of the political spectrum, is in denial about its extremism problem. Politicians celebrate Britain's multicultural tableau, they say, without looking too deeply at the segregation and division below the surface.

"Assimilation was never policy, explicitly or otherwise, of the British government," said Michael Radu, who studies terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. "They accepted as natural what you may call cultural and religious tribalism, and now it's turning against them. They confuse tolerance with negligence."

Thomas Friedman says that it is the Muslim political culture within Western Islamic communities, including the elders and the religious leaders, that can best end the hate. Failing that, western governments will have to programatically boost surveillance and detention of suspected Islamic radicals, increasing polariziation just as bin Laden wants, posits Friedman.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at July 10, 2005 09:21 AM

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