[USA Today] Melanie Phillips - Britain is now fighting a war it dares not name. The new prime minister, Gordon Brown, has banned his ministers from using the word "Muslim" - and presumably "Islamic" or "Islamist" - in connection with the terrorist crisis. He has also put an end to the phrase "war on terror." Accordingly, the new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, referred to them as "criminal" acts rather than Islamic terrorism and talked about "communities" that are involved rather than Muslims. How can Brown talk about winning a battle of ideas - when he is not even prepared to name the central idea that is driving the terrorism? Britain has never been in a more dangerous position - not just because of terrorism but because, faced with an enemy whose platform is the decadence and weakness of the West, it is going out of its way to prove the terrorists right.
2007-07-11 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive