ISIL's happy hunting grounds...........

When Maggie memorably said that ‘terrorism is indivisible’, she was absolutely spot on, although Americans were slow to catch-on, regarding IRA bombers as ‘freedom fighters’ and refusing UK extradition applications.

 

Until 9/11, that is.

 

The West is now facing an unprecedented terrorist threat from Jihadist ‘freedom fighters’ who are nihilistic and have a death-wish so any notion of any kind of negotiation is ludicrous. There is no shortage of alienated Asian youth impatient for martyrdom.

 

And they have a ready-made conduit to Europe via the Mediterranean ‘boat people’ a fact that has scarcely been mentioned in the endless debates about ‘something must be done’. European politicians appear to have been mainly concerned about an illegal influx of impoverished immigrants and the consequent political fall-out from voters who have become increasingly impatient with ‘benefits migrants’.

 

The security aspect has been well-down the agenda; at least it was until the Italians recently collared one of the boat people who turned out to be a known ISIS terrorist.

 

Corralling refugees in camps in North Africa is replete with danger. Arab Muslims with no money, nowhere to go and no hope are ready recruits to such as ISIL and Al Qaeda, as was demonstrated years ago in Lebanon. There will be about a half-million of them if Europe succeeds in throttling the trade between Libya and Southern Europe. It only takes a handful to cause mayhem. One person can kill hundreds with a single bomb in an inter-city train, a ferry,  a truck being transported via the Channel Tunnel, in the London Underground at 8 a.m.

 

And amid the pious hand-wringing, the West’s alternative to actually doing something about the dire plight of the Rohingya in a completely different part of the world where there are 140,000 in refugee camps out of a population of 1.1. million, the situation has not been recognised as a potential threat to Western security.

 

These benighted people are the world’s most persecuted. They have no citizenship despite having been in Burma for generations. They are non-people with no rights or protection. They have suffered decades of violence, pogroms, destruction of schools and killings of pupils and teachers. The ruling regime, militant Buddhist monks, agents of Government, police and army have been involved in ethnic cleansing for years with scarcely a peep out of the UN or anyone else.

 

The crucial and dangerous implication for the West is that the Rohingya are Muslim. Terrorist organisations offering a way out of serfdom or a refugee camp, money, respect and the prospect of martyrdom would surely find a ready reception especially when weighed against the alternative of hopelessness.

 

The plain truth is that the West has only been nibbling around the edges of the terrorist recruitment threat. It can only be tackled at source – in Syria and Burma. There is no sign of this happening.

 

But there is a distant sound of boots-on-the-ground.

 

When Maggie memorably said that ‘terrorism is indivisible’, she was absolutely spot on, although Americans were slow to catch-on, regarding IRA bombers as ‘freedom fighters’ and refusing UK extradition applications.

 

Until 9/11, that is.

 

The West is now facing an unprecedented terrorist threat from Jihadist ‘freedom fighters’ who are nihilistic and have a death-wish so any notion of any kind of negotiation is ludicrous. There is no shortage of alienated Asian youth impatient for martyrdom.

 

And they have a ready-made conduit to Europe via the Mediterranean ‘boat people’ a fact that has scarcely been mentioned in the endless debates about ‘something must be done’. European politicians appear to have been mainly concerned about an illegal influx of impoverished immigrants and the consequent political fall-out from voters who have become increasingly impatient with ‘benefits migrants’.

 

The security aspect has been well-down the agenda; at least it was until the Italians recently collared one of the boat people who turned out to be a known ISIS terrorist.

 

Corralling refugees in camps in North Africa is replete with danger. Arab Muslims with no money, nowhere to go and no hope are ready recruits to such as ISIL and Al Qaeda, as was demonstrated years ago in Lebanon. There will be about a half-million of them if Europe succeeds in throttling the trade between Libya and Southern Europe. It only takes a handful to cause mayhem. One person can kill hundreds with a single bomb in an inter-city train, a ferry,  a truck being transported via the Channel Tunnel, in the London Underground at 8 a.m.

 

And amid the pious hand-wringing, the West’s alternative to actually doing something about the dire plight of the Rohingya in a completely different part of the world where there are 140,000 in refugee camps out of a population of 1.1. million, the situation has not been recognised as a potential threat to Western security.

 

These benighted people are the world’s most persecuted. They have no citizenship despite having been in Burma for generations. They are non-people with no rights or protection. They have suffered decades of violence, pogroms, destruction of schools and killings of pupils and teachers. The ruling regime, militant Buddhist monks, agents of Government, police and army have been involved in ethnic cleansing for years with scarcely a peep out of the UN or anyone else.

 

The crucial and dangerous implication for the West is that the Rohingya are Muslim. Terrorist organisations offering a way out of serfdom or a refugee camp, money, respect and the prospect of martyrdom would surely find a ready reception especially when weighed against the alternative of hopelessness.

 

The plain truth is that the West has only been nibbling around the edges of the terrorist recruitment threat. It can only be tackled at source – in Syria and Burma. There is no sign of this happening.

 

But there is a distant sound of boots-on-the-ground.