We
will never know exactly what made the leader of
the terrorist group Mohammad Sidique Khan and the
three Mujahadin he commanded 'tick'. However, the
media is hardly in a position to condemn Mr Stone,
as in the main it failed in its duty to ask the
type of questions Mr Stone [and others] have posed.
One
cannot help thinking the media behaved in the aforementioned
manner because to do otherwise would have led to
some awkward conclusions being reached by their
readership as to the legality of the invasion and
subsequent occupation of Iraq, and the degree of
opposition to it in the UK, especially within Britain's
Muslim Communities.
Instead
the words evil, brainwashed, extremists
dripped from the overwhelming majority of British
journalist's pens when describing the 7/7/05 bombers
and the act they have become infamous for. Even
the more thoughtful columnists felt they were duty
bound to add these words as a rider to any article
they wrote, through fear of being tarred as an apologist
for the men who committed the atrocities.
The
main conclusion the Horizon documentary that Mr
Stone appeared in came to was that if you factor
in the dynamics of the group, plus dehumanize political
opponents, then perfectly ordinary, sane and decent
people are capable of carrying out horrendous acts
of violence. Which is incidentally something the
people of Ireland hardly need reminding of as they
have experience of this, whether it be British squaddies
murdering peaceful demonstrators (Bloody Sunday)
or firing point-blank plastic bullets at children
playing in the street, or Loyalist and Republican
paramilitaries carrying out the atrocities that
took place in Omagh, Dublin and Monaghan.
Thus
it is to all our detriment, if we wish to understand
the modern world, that it has become a rule of thumb
within the media whenever those who oppose the State
act in a violent manner to condemn them as being
evil, brainwashed, cowardly and insane; but when
the State, or rather those that lead it order atrocities
in our name, they are rarely if ever described in
this manner.
So
what did make a man like Mohammad Sidique Khan wire
himself into a human bomb which when it exploded
killed his fellow citizens, none of whom had done
him nor his fellow Muslims any harm, indeed amongst
those he killed were Muslims?
Yet
all those who knew the man well and had the courage
to say so in the hostile environment post 7th July,
far from describing him as evil, extremist or brainwashed,
portrayed him as being a decent, humane man, who
not only cared passionately about those around him
but worked tirelessly on their behalf, whether it
was mentoring youngsters during their first days
at school or helping to educate those children who
needed special and individual teaching. He was a
family man, who loved and cared for his family diligently.
Indeed the word 'loved' has been used to describe
Mohammad Sidique Khan.
Thus
by all accounts Mr Khan was a compassionate caring
human being. Perhaps in a world where compassion
is often seen as being for wimps, this was his nemesis.
For unlike millions of his fellow Britons who opposed
the war on Iraq, but come election time put self
interest to the fore and voted for the man responsible
for this criminal stain, Mr Khan could not do so
and when he witnessed what he saw as the sheer callousness
of his fellow citizens, he was enraged. All the
million people anti-war marches, the countless demonstrations
and public meetings against the war in reality had
not mattered a jot in Mohammad Sidique Khan's eyes,
as he was unwilling to see, nor did he care about,
the political complexities of living in a Democracy.
For him Mr Blair's re-election meant most Britons
were prepared to overlook war crimes if their victims
were far away and Muslims.
In
Mr Khan's mind, instead of being re-elected Tony
Blair should have been in the dock, not sitting
comfortable inside 10 Downing St continuing to bring
suffering to the people of Iraq. Thus Mohammad Sidique
Khan decided he would participate along with his
comrades in bringing terror and destruction to London
in much the same manner as the British government
has on a regular basis brought to the streets and
people of Iraq. Perhaps he may have presumed the
British people would then recognize the evil which
he believed was at the heart of their government
and act accordingly.
The
above explanation does not make Mr Khan evil nor
brain washed, simply a product of his upbringing
and a world not of his making nor liking.
Just
as the Prime Minister Tony Blair, when he ordered
Britain's Armed Forces to participate in the illegal
invasion of Iraq was not prepared to respect the
restrictions of international law, nor was Mohammad
Sidique Khan.
Just
as Mr Blair was prepared to push from his consciousness
the death, destruction and sorrows his act would
inevitably cause, so was Mohammad Sidique Khan.
Just
as Tony Blair did not give a jot for the will of
the people, nor did Mohammad Sidique Khan.
Just
as Tony Blair neither cared nor thought about the
dreadful consequences for those he claims to be
there to serve, nor did Mohammad Sidique Khan.
Thus
if Mohammad Sidique Khan is evil and wicked, so
is Tony Blair and those who so servilely acted out
his evil intent.
However
for all these similarities between the two men,
there is one major difference. Mohammad Sidique
Khan was prepared to answer to his God for his actions
and the suffering he has brought upon others. Tony
Blair refuses to even acknowledge those he has brought
great suffering to, preferring to deceive his way
out of taking responsibility for his actions, whilst
in the process he grovels before and prostrates
the British people at the feet of the world's greatest
power, the US administration of George W Bush, which
is justifiably referred to by an increasing number
of the world's population as 'the great Satan'.
The
tragedy both for Mr Khan, and those who met their
deaths at his hand, is that he did not use his rage
against the oppression of millions of Muslims by
the USA and their satraps around the world and the
great love he professed for his religion in a more
humane and constructive manner, and by so doing
have continued to play his part in helping to create
a more equal and decent society here on earth.
