Jeremy Corbyn is wrong to blame Britain for the Manchester bombing
SIR – If Jeremy Corbyn really believes that the root cause of terrorism against Britain lies with our military involvement overseas, he must be very naive.
Today, terrorism is worldwide, directed against the West as well as Arab countries. Has Mr Corbyn forgotten the 2002 attack on the holiday resort in Bali which killed 200, or the al-qaeda attack in 2004 on trains in Madrid leaving 191 dead? Countries such as Denmark and Sweden, which are not involved in overseas conflicts, are not exempt.
We hear of attacks against churches and synagogues; car bombs by Isil in Iraq and by the Taliban in Pakistan, and attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Terrorists will use any excuse to promote their vile cause, religious or political, and, to them, the more civilian casualties the better. Edward Pryce
Plymouth, Devon
SIR – Mr Corbyn is right about Britain being to blame for the terrorism that now affects this country and many others.
Hanging on to the coat-tails of America, we invaded Iraq to free its citizens from the dictator Saddam Hussein, giving them Western-style democracy in exchange.
We now know that Saddam was keeping the lid on a very difficult and divided country not yet ready for democratic government. The same applied to the dictatorships in Libya and Syria.
We are now paying (and will continue to pay) a heavy price for that misguided interference. Don Roberts
Prenton, Wirral
SIR – Of course Jeremy Corbyn is wrong. We are where we are in Britain because of the mass immigration, over several decades, of inadequately screened people whose cultural, ideological and religious beliefs are at odds with our own. Steve Haynes
Chichester, West Sussex
SIR – If Mr Corbyn is correct in saying that wars involving Britain are to blame for terrorist attacks today, then where are the Argentinian terrorists? Geoff Cooper
Bournemouth, Dorset
SIR – My bride-to-be had gone to a 5pm appointment with the Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London on July 17 1974, to finalise arrangements for our wedding there two days later.
She found them courteous and calm, but with their blue tunics covered in blood. They had being dragging out some 40 badly wounded children and the body of a dead woman since 2.30 that afternoon, when Mr Corbyn’s friends, the IRA, detonated a bomb in the basement of the White Tower. S H Waters
Pebworth, Worcestershire
SIR – Simon Millar (Letters, May 25) proposes internment for possible extremists and the withdrawal of citizenship for those returning from extremist Muslim environments.
I agree with the latter, but internment (a name for imprisonment without trial or sufficient evidence) is a slippery slope on which to tread.
When Edward Heath introduced such measures for IRA “suspects”, it became the biggest recruitment drive for the IRA and drove many into their ranks. They couldn’t believe their luck at such a tactless move by the government. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake. John Sutherland
Uxbridge, Middlesex
SIR – The IRA was certainly Catholic (Letters, May 26), but carried out its
vile deeds in the name of republicanism. Islamist terrorists link their acts explicitly with their faith. Guy Bargery
Edinburgh
SIR – Sebastian Gorka, President Trump’s adviser, is unrealistic in suggesting that “we will vanquish jihadists as we did communism and the Nazis” (Comment, May 25).
Nazism lasted 12 years in power and Soviet communism 72 years, whereas Islam has been a mortal threat to European civilisation since Charles Martel led the Franks to defeat an invading Muslim army at Poitiers in 732. M John Clayton
Ipswich, Suffolk
SIR – The estimated six million people in Libya awaiting travel to Europe (report, May 24) will change the culture of whatever country is eventually expected to take them.
Germany, under Angela Merkel’s open-door policy, must take full responsibility for the mess created for future generations. Britain must, surely, not be financially liable to Europe in any way, nor expected to take any of these refugees. Philip Hodges
Edwalton, Nottinghamshire
SIR – What is a “strong” response to an outrage like the Manchester bombing? Is it candlelit vigils on the steps of the town hall? Is it renditions of All You Need Is Love and T-shirts printed with “Love Conquers Hate”?
I say it is not. No Western liberal democratic government has grasped the nettle of domestic Islamist violence. It is no more and no less than the obvious outcome of a wilful failure to insist upon integration. The current Prime Minister is as culpable as anyone in this regard. A “lone wolf ” is more often than not a “known wolf ”, with countless unheeded prevention opportunities not taken.
We are only an outrage away from being told, as the French were by their own prime minister last year, that these events are a fact of life. Given that mass immigration from Muslimmajority countries to Britain and Western Europe will be a certainty for decades, a new approach is vital. Alasdair Ogilvy
Stedham, West Sussex
SIR – Radicalisation involves persuading the convert that the West is at war with Islam and that the West is deliberately bombing “innocent Muslim children”.
Muslim leaders and mosques must not simply denounce the bombing but state, loudly and publicly, that there is no holy war with the West and that claims of Western atrocities are false. David Mitchell
Great Glen, Leicestershire
SIR – It is surely time for us to adopt the Australian requirements for immigrants: you are welcome here, but you will learn the English language, conform to all our laws and not wear clothing which sets you apart from the community.
Join us in heart and spirit or move to a country that suits your religious and social practices. Richard Statham
Langport, Somerset
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Hook, Hampshire
SIR – It was in a south Manchester hospital some years ago that I encountered the full horror of multiculturalism. All the direction signs were in several languages.
I wondered at the time how on earth our new citizens would integrate when they weren’t even being encouraged to learn our language. Terry Thorneycroft
St Austell, Cornwall
SIR – Deploying masses of soldiers and police is to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Why did the security forces fail to follow up the reports about the terrorist? Why are people allowed to travel repeatedly to known suspect countries without action being taken? Damian Grimes
Formby, Lancashire
SIR – “UK’S first gender-fluid police officer going by names ‘Callum’ and ‘Abi’ ” (report, May 25). The Met is not so much a police force, more a care home for the confused. No wonder they can’t catch terrorists. Professor John Staddon
University of York
SIR – It has been suggested that the bomb used in Manchester had been made abroad.
Currently we have no checks on incoming baggage. Airport security is often not as good in the country of origin as it is here. How long before incoming baggage searches become a routine part of air travel? Duncan Rayner
Sunningdale, Berkshire
SIR – I have just seen the television footage of the Queen visiting the wounded in the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
It made me realise just how fortunate we are to have this wonderful woman as our monarch. Ken Culley
Marlborough, Wiltshire