The London Blasts: Media Review

DAY 78: 23 September 2005

Contents

Realism - Public Inquiry Update

REALISM - PUBLIC INQUIRY UPDATE

CLEVER TREVOR

The Muslim taskforce saga moves into its next phase. The Government is having to give ground on the holding of a public inquiry - not because of media or public pressure, because there isn't any, but entirely because of the resistance within the Muslim community.

One reason there isn't any media pressure is because of the strange coincidence of Trevor Phillips' much-trailed speech on the dangers of 'ethnic segregation' in Britain. The head of the Commission for Racial Equality made his speech on the same day that the Muslim taskforce reported on what was needed to reduce the likelihood of another 7/7 attack.

Peculiar timing, helpful to the Government just ahead of the Labour Party Conference (which starts on Monday).

'Mr Phillips, who has blamed years of "multiculturalism" for driving communities apart, was accused of "headline grabbing" by Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer.'

'He said: "I think that Trevor Phillips has been insensitive to start a debate when the Muslim community is facing one of its biggest challenges in 50 years. I don't think Trevor Phillips visits much of Britain outside the M25." ' (Telegraph, page 4)

Not many people noticed this complaint (also voiced by Lord Ahmed on the Radio 4 Today programme).

CLARKE GIVES GROUND

Virtually no one noticed that the Home Secretary started to give way on the Muslim taskforce proposal to hold a public inquiry into 7/7. Only the Telegraph and the Guardian seem to have noticed this, and, typically, only the Telegraph came close to giving it the treatment it deserved.

The Guardian focused on a minor element of the taskforce proposals, and headed their article, 'British imams to tackle radicals in mosques'. The subheadings were: 'Umbrella group to nurture homegrown preachers' and 'Clarke offers £5m to fund multi-sectarian council'. The whole thing appeared on page 4.

Halfway through paragraph eight, we start to see something about the public inquiry (there is no trail for it in the initial paragraphs):

'Mr Clarke said he supported the proposals from the Muslim community and announced that £5m would be made available to fund the work over the next 18 months. At yesterday's launch he also came closer to conceding the Muslim community's demand for a public judicial inquiry into the bombings of 7/7 and 21/7 by saying that there would be an inquiry but he would consult ministerial colleagues over the form that it would take.'

' "Of course there will be an inquiry. There is no question about that," he said. "The issue is the nature of the inquiry. We have not ruled out a public inquiry. We are ready to look at it." '

'He acknowledged that there was controversy between the government and the Muslim community working groups over the role of the Iraq war and other foreign policy issues in tackling extremism and said there was no direct link between Iraq and the tube bombings.'

'Last night John Denham, the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said Britain needed to be prepared to change "the emphasis of our foreign policy" if it was to win the consent of the Muslim community in the domestic fight against terrorism. "It is no exaggeration to say that Israeli policy in the occupied territories is not simply a matter of foreign policy - it is a matter for British domestic security policy too," he said in an interview with the Spectator.'

These are the last four paragraphs in the story, by Alan Travis, Home Affairs Editor.

ANOTHER EDIT

The same story could have been reported this way: the Telegraph put on its front page (below the fold): 'Clarke considers a public inquiry into Muslim extremists'. (The story runs onto page 4.) The order of stories is reversed, with the imam training programme coming on page 4. After trailing the possible watering-down of the three-month detention proposal, Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor continues:

'Muslim leaders believe that a public inquiry into the July 7 suicide attacks will expose a deep well of resentment at Government policy in Iraq and the Middle East.'

'However, community representatives who sat on several Home Office task forces set up after July 7 said that such disagreements never justified violence. At yesterday's meeting in London, they promised to confront fundamentalist imams who preach hatred of western values. They vowed to travel the country denouncing terrorism. The Home Secretary said he would be consulting Parliament about the form of the inquiry.'

'Officials said later that there was no guarantee that it would be in public. It would be difficult to resist open hearings once the principle had been conceded. Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain who chaired a taskforce on Islamic extremism, said: "There was a consensus that holding a public inquiry would enable us to move forwards. A public inquiry would help us find out what led these four men to do what they did.'' '

'However, any inquiry would have to range wider than what motivated the July 7 suicide terrorists - and there are judicial constraints on looking at other cases in which trials are pending.'

'Muslims accept that an inquiry would expose fundamentalism and extremism in their community to public scrutiny. But they believe that it would draw Government policy in Iraq and the Middle East into the spotlight.'

Note that crucial sentence: 'The Home Secretary said he would be consulting Parliament about the form of the inquiry.'

NO ASSURANCES

First, note that the idea of a full Royal Commission, as requested by the Muslim taskforce, is no longer on the agenda.

Secondly, the Government is trying for a secret inquiry (similiar to the one they have already held, following the Young Muslims and Extremism agenda set last year).

It would be naive to believe that the Home Secretary has given any assurances. He's merely said that 'there will be an inquiry'.

We can predict now that there will not be a public inquiry with the mandate that the Muslim taskforce has asked for. The questions the taskforce has quite sensibly listed have answers that this Government is determined the public will not hear.

The question is how the Government will ease its way out of this dilemma with minimal political cost, and maximum political benefit.

At least they can count on the mass media to maintain, and on occasion deepen, the ignorance of the public.

REALISM - THE FOURTH 7/7 BOMBER

REALISM

Samantha Lethwaite, the wife of the 7/7 bomber Lindsay Germaine, has spoken to the Sun newspaper. The Times (part of the same newspaper group) carries the story on page 2:

'The couple, who married in October 2002 after meeting on the internet, first came face-to-face at a Stop the War march in Hyde Park. He told her then he wanted to qualify as a human rights lawyer and had been a member of Amnesty International at school. He said he wanted to make a difference to the world by peaceful means.'

'Ms Lewthwaite said it was because of her husband’s love of people that she could not believe what he did.'

' "The killing of innocent British civilians by Jamal was something I could never comprehend because he was always a peaceful man who loved people," she said. "He was so angry when he saw Muslim civilians being killed on the streets of Iraq, Bosnia, Palestine and Israel — and always said it was the innocent who suffered. Then he is responsible for doing the same thing." '

This is the only identified motivation for his actions in the interview.

DENIAL

However, Ms Lethwaite is reported as blaming mosques in London and Luton for 'poisoning' her husband's mind:

' "I firmly believe if we had stayed up North he would be the same Jamal," she said in an interview with The Sun newspaper, "but he got involved in mosques in London and Luton and became a changed person. In October through to November 2004 he met a group who changed his life. He became a man I didn’t recognise. I have no doubt his mind was twisted in there." '

This is the picture being hammered home by a thousand different routes: there are evil groups, preachers of hatred, 'brainwashing' naive young Muslims into carrying out atrocities.

The British media is wearing away at the understanding of the vast majority of British citizens immediately after the bombings that the bombings have to do with the crimes that this Government has carried out abroad.

JNV welcomes feedback.