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View Full Version : Congress should take notes from Blair!



Joseph P Carey
08-10-05, 10:41 PM
Maybe Congress should listen to what PM Blair has said, and the Liberals should pay heed to what he says!

You Go get them, Tony!

Blair: Extremists no longer welcome in UK

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

LONDON — The Hizb ut-Tahrir Party wants to bring Islamic rule to the world one country at a time. But Prime Minister Tony Blair vows that won't happen from its offices in Britain.

The Islamic organization has operated freely in Britain for more than 20 years, writing, leafleting and rousing the faithful to overthrow secular governments through political activism. The party on its Web site and in pamphlets denounces Britain and the United States as "crusaders" bent on destroying Islam.

Now, a month after four bombers attacked London's transportation system, killing themselves and 52 others, Blair has announced a crackdown on extremism. The policy, which is based on existing government powers, more sharply defines the boundaries of free speech and broadens the grounds for deporting and excluding people from Britain who the government determines are not acting in the "public good." The new grounds for deportation and exclusion include fostering hatred, advocating violence to further a person's beliefs or justifying or validating such violence.

Blair says radical Muslim groups have taken advantage of tolerant policies to set up hate groups on British soil. In a news conference Friday, he mentioned two by name: Hizb ut-Tahrir and its related organization, Al Muhajiroun.

Blair says the government will compile a list of extremist Web sites, bookstores, networks, centers and organizations. "Active engagement with any of these will be a trigger" for deportation, he said.

Such deportations may violate the country's human rights and free speech protections, says Gareth Crossman, director of policy for Liberty, a civil liberties organization in Britain. If the deportations are challenged in court and the courts reject them, Blair says he would consider asking Parliament to rewrite Britain's human rights law to more closely parallel the European treaty on human rights, under which other European governments, such as France and Germany, have deported radical clerics.

"The rules of the game are changing," Blair said Friday.

Britain has a history of welcoming people whose unpopular views have forced them out of their home countries. London, in particular, has become home to so many Muslim organizations that some columnists have dubbed it "Londonistan."

Britain had already rejected similar anti-terrorism laws after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, finding some inconsistent with its values.

The courts had also struck down on human rights grounds some previous attempts at deportations.

Blair, however, is betting that the country has changed its mind after two attacks in one month. "The mood is now different," Blair said.

Polls conducted after the bombings found that Britons support strong government actions to prevent another attack. A survey of 1,506 adults for The Times of London by the polling company Populus found that 60% supported deporting foreign Muslims who speak in support of suicide bombings or encourage extremism.

"It's made us question whether we're too multicultural," says Aleksandra Olenska, a fashion editor in London and a British citizen.

Josh Bull, 35, an Australian who has lived in London for seven years, says he enjoys the city's cultural mix, but says Britain needs to draw a line. "I think where the British have screwed up is allowing all those hate preachers," Bull says.

Under the new rules, several highly visible groups and clerics also may be subject to monitoring, and possibly banned, such as the Muslim Association of Britain and cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Bakri, a Syrian who was granted asylum in Britain after he wasdeported from Saudi Arabia in 1985, has said in speeches in London's main square that he won't rest until the flag of Islam flies over No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence.

Azzam Tamimi, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, supports Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government. He has said he would be willing to blow himself up for the Palestinian cause. Hizb ut-Tahrir has called on Muslims to go to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight the United States and its allies.

Spokesman for these groups denied that their activities crossed the line into incitement. The new rules, they said, may instead drive more people toward extremism by limiting outlets for them to vent their frustration with British society and politics.

"This is a blurring of the margins of people who are engaged in non-violent political speech, an attempt to bunch them in with extremists and terrorists," Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Imran Waheed says. "In fact, we are directing people's anger and frustration into political work." Waheed denies that the party uses "hate speech."

Hizb ut-Tahrir has been described by the British government as non-violent, but anti-Semitic and anti-Western.

The Muslim Association of Britain said it had "grave concern" about Blair's announcement. It reiterated its condemnation of terrorism that targets "innocent people," including the London bombings.

"I actually have a moderating influence, rather than radicalizing influences," Tamimi says of his writings and speeches.