 The British government Thursday dropped a key part of the anti-terrorism legislation proposed after the deadly July 7 suicide bombings on London's transit system, abandoning its effort to let police shut down extremist mosques.
| "Yasss. We're very content merely pulling an occasional handful of leaves from the tree of terrorism. Actually digging up the roots would get dirt all over the carpets." |
The plan, introduced a month after four suspected suicide bombers killed 52 bus and Underground passengers,
| ... before the national attention span ran out... |
had been criticized by police and religious organizations.
| And now George Michael is engaged and that's ever so much more important... |
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said in a written statement to the House of Commons that he was dropping the proposal "although we will keep the matter under review."
| "Next time somebody blows up the transit system, by golly, they're really gonna get it!" |
The proposal would have given police powers to temporarily close places of worship being used by extremists. The trustee or owner would then be served with an order to halt radical activity. The Home Office spokesman said 66 people and organizations had responded to a consultation on the proposal, and most were opposed.
| Of course they're opposed! They're the ones that would have been closed down! Do we have any aspirin? |
| We're fresh out of aspirin, but I did find this Cluebat™ in the closet... |
The Association of Chief Police Officers also opposed the idea, saying it risked alienating ordinary Muslims and driving extremism underground.
"We much prefer to have the Bad Guyz out where we can see them, even if they're throwing things at us!"
"Have you considered putting them in jail?"
"Oh, that'd just drive the rest of them underground and we'd never catch them."
"But if you caught them, what would you do with them?"
"Well, we wouldn't put them in jail!" |
The Rev. Graham Sparkes of the Baptist Union of Great Britain said Baptists had suffered persecution and imprisonment in the past in their efforts to "secure control over what was preached, where it could be preached, and who could preach."
| I'm not aware of any transit systems ever blown up by Baptists. Did I miss something? |
"We would be very sensitive toward any proposals that put these hard won freedoms under threat," Sparkes said in a statement to the government.
| Don't preach jihad in your Baptistries and you'll be fine... |
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, said mosques were being branded wrongly "as incubators of violent extremism, while the social reality is that they serve as centers of moderation. The bombers were indoctrinated by a subculture outside the mosque."
| Two words, Sir Icky: Finsbury Park. |
The proposal had been part of the government's anti-terrorist proposals introduced after the July 7 transit attacks in London, in which four suspected suicide bombers killed 52 bus and Underground passengers. |