7/7

We've just had a national 2 minute silence to remember the first anniversary of the London underground and bus suicide bomb attacks. These were such cynical and calculating attacks - suicide bombers targetting rush hour public transport to inflict maximum casualties. They were not foreign terrorists either. These were all young men born and raised in Britain. Through studying Islam they became extremists, believing that they would be furthering their cause by murdering people going about their daily business. I struggle to understand this on a few different levels. If they had issues with the presence of British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, then why not join the militias in those areas fighting those combatants? The answer they would probably give is that they wanted to bring the conflict to our shores and to make the public think about the involvement we have in those areas. But their attacks were so random that they had no way of knowing who they were killing. Picking a soft civilian target only seems to harden the resolve of those who can make decisions to never capitulate to the extremists' demands. It also hardens the public's stance, and only seems to have generated mistrust and build barriers between communities. Yes they've instilled fear into people, but these are people who have no real way of changing events. All major political parties over here have backed the stance the current government has taken. What saddens me more are the results of an opinion poll published this week. A survey of muslims in this country revealed that 5% would actively encourage or support their children if they joined Al Qaeda. A further 12% would be indifferent if their children joined Al Qaeda. That's almost one in five muslims not particularly concerned that their children might get involved with a terrorist organisation. What chance do we have for peace and unity with those sorts of attitudes prevailing?