McGuinness and the evil of terrorism
IRONY of bitter ironies. Barely had MPs finished paying sickeningly fulsome tribute to that egregious terrorist Martin McGuinness – and wasn’t the reverential coverage in much of yesterday’s media truly gut-wrenching? – than terrorism’s horrific reality spilt blood on their own doorstep. Men, women and children mown down indiscriminately on Westminster Bridge… a policeman stabbed to death while protecting MPs and the public… panicstricken tourists and office workers hurried to safety, as emergency services sealed off the streets… the families of the dead and the catastrophically injured left to suffer and grieve for the rest of their lives.
The ideological cause may have been different from that of McGuinness, the Butcher of Bogside. But the intention was apparently the same – to achieve a political end by striking at the heart of our democracy through the random mass murder of innocents.
Indeed, with the capital on high terrorism alert for months, the only wonder is that an attack like this didn’t come sooner.
For this, huge credit is due to GCHQ and the security services, which are said to have foiled 13 plots in under four years, while running 500 investigations into extremist groups at any one moment.
But as we all knew in our heart of hearts, it could be only a matter of time before a terrorist cell or a lone fanatic would once again slip through the net.
Consider the long series of atrocities since 9/11 – London 7/7, Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin… and now Westminster. This is the reality we all have to live with in modern Europe, since the animosities fed by misguided foreign wars – for which Messrs Tony Blair and George Bush bear much of the responsibility – spilled over the borders of our continent.
Should yesterday’s attack turn out to be connected to Muslim extremism, let us not deceive ourselves that the threat will end if Donald Trump succeeds in his aim of vanquishing Islamic State in the Middle East. Who knows how many IS-trained terrorists are among the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have fled to Europe from war zones – more than a million to Germany alone?
Meanwhile in Britain, young people continue to be radicalised by hate preachers and incendiary material spread with impunity by the internet giants.
Yes, our foremost thoughts must be with the Westminster victims and their families, who will never forget this dreadful day. But this is also a time for deep reflection on the implications of such atrocities for the way we regard civil liberties.
For many years, this paper stood up for the privacy of individuals against surveillance by the state, expressing grave reservations about such measures as the ‘snooper’s charter’.
But the truth is that in this fast-changing world, it seems increasingly perverse to deny the authorities power to eavesdrop on our electronic communications for the purpose of protecting the public.
After all, don’t firms such as Google snoop on our every purchase or choice of website, for no higher motive than commercial gain?
Indeed, the security services need every weapon we can give them to keep up the guard against bloodthirsty maniacs intent on destroying our way of life.
Meanwhile, with Westminster Bridge stained with innocent blood, how can the Left go on lethally idolising those such as US traitor Edward Snowden, who put countless lives at risk by alerting terrorists to the authorities’ monitoring methods?
As we prepare for the nauseating spectacle of Mr Blair, Bill Clinton and the rest paying homage at the Bogside Butcher’s funeral, yesterday was a savage reminder of the indiscriminate evil of terrorism. We forgive and forget that at our peril.