“It’s also important that we treat them fairly…with justice tempered with a bit of mercy.”
We should accept no excuses, nor indulge in any illusions – we are facing a barbaric, medieval death cult.
Instead of seeking yet more powers, the Government should use those already at its disposal to nip extremism in the bud.
No more foreign funding of extremism. No more self-appointed “community” intermediaries. No more pretence that it’s all about cyberspace.
Fears that the public are shifting towards aggressive, populist cultural policies targeted at Muslims are misfounded.
This problem may have started abroad, but it is now here, in our own society. It must be dealt with.
The Prime Minister proposed four steps to take on and defeat our enemies and their ideology.
From the IRA through to today’s Islamist extremist threat, the Labour leader has misidentified the causes and proposed the wrong solutions.
Action must go beyond ISIS to prevent other, similarly-minded, jihadist groups prospering.
At best, sending him to Guantanamo failed – and at worst it backfired spectacularly.
But we must only consider them at the right time, and only when we know some facts, not as a tasteless kneejerk.
The way to defeat a bad idea is with a better idea – we should be more confident in our model of society.
Using the right language is important, lest we lend undue legitimacy or credibility to terrorists and murderers.
Constant criticism has distracted from the strategy’s essential focus: stopping people from becoming supporters of terrorism or terrorists themselves.