Foreign Policy and Terrorism

John Reid said last night in an interview that terrorism was linked to Iraq and Afghanistan:

Of course, they were not the cause of the problem, that predates Iraq and Afghanistan. It goes far deeper than that. But I do believe that foreign policy is sometimes a motivating factor in the radicalisation of young Muslims and the potential recruitment to terror. It is better to be frank about it. To say it isn't a cause isn't to say it has nothing to do with the whole process.

No doubt, the left-wingers will jump on this as an admission that we are responsible for terrorism and it is all our fault. This is a favourite mantra of the left. However, it just isn't true. As Dr Reid points out, terrorism aimed at Britain started long before the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. We are facing attack for having the sheer temerity to be non-Islamic.

We are, obviously, at more risk of terrorism because of Iraq; the evil men of this world are using it as a tool to encourage more young men to kill themselves. Yet, that doesn't mean we should stop what we are doing.

In WWII when we fought for freedom and democracy against the Nazis, that too put us in more danger. To argue that we should leave Iraq and Afghanistan to rot in order to save ourselves is both short-sighted and racist. It is short-sighted because we will still be attacked in the future, just as America was attacked on 9/11 by an Al Qaeda that had plenty of time and space to plan and prepare.

It is also racist because it is saying that we aren't prepared to risk getting attacked in order to help them. This is another thing that the left is famous for. They spend all their time demanding freedoms and fighting racism but are as guilty as anyone else, if not more so. They prefer to see others die and suffer rather than putting ourselves into danger. And they push for limits on freedoms all the time.

Think about the banning of the Burqa in Holland. The left are up in arms about it being made illegal to wear that item of clothing in public. But who was it who pushed for it to be illegal to smoke in public? That ban is also an "affront" to civil liberties. Wouldn't it be nice if all the left-wingers could stop and think about their own duplicity, just for a minute.