Freedom of Speech

We must always remember that the reason the extreme Jihadists are in open and democratic societies where they can openly express their views, like America and Britain, is that they fled from the persecution and lack of tolerance of free speech at home ─ from Muslim governments that will jail or kill them because they will not tolerate their views.

For a government to allow preachers to preach and run websites that advocate the violent death of British or U.S. soldiers is unacceptable behavior in a civilized country. The laws drawn up in America after 9/11 and in Britain after the London train bombings of July 7, 2005 designed to end such provocations by extreme Muslim fundamentalists that lead disgruntled young men and women towards violence, must be backed by the judiciary and enforced. Anyone who advocates that it is just for Muslims, in any country, to kill their hosts in the name of Islam should be jailed or deported.

The Bush administration, under laws toughened after 9/11, has prosecuted a number of individuals for encouraging terrorism, but not enough. In one of the more high profile cases, a Muslim scholar in Northern Virginia, Ali al-Timimi, was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for urging his young Muslim followers to wage war against America. At a dinner meeting on September 16, 2001, Timini told some of the men in the group that it was their Muslim duty to fight for their religion overseas and to defend the Taliban in Afghanistan against U.S. forces, according to testimony at his trial. In an internet message in 2003, he described the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia as a “good omen” for Muslims in an apocalyptic conflict with the West.

We are in the midst of an apocalyptic conflict that unbridled freedom of speech is fueling. Responsible governments have a duty to curtail such destructive self fulfilling prophesies without curtailing or violating the basic civil rights of law abiding citizens.