UK’s Cameron Offers Plan to Counter Attraction of Extremism

He warned young Muslims tempted to join IS that the terrorist organisation did not offer a life of glamour and said: “If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up”.

Government sources cited by Reuters say Cameron is expected to wait until a new leader of the opposition Labour Party is elected in September before seeking a fresh vote on whether Britain should join US-led strikes in Syria against IS.

Louise Casey, the head of the government’s troubled families unit, is due to be announced as the chairwoman of a new review of how to improve integration in the most isolated and deprived communities.

He also said his government would tackle sectarian and communal segregation in schools, and would give communications watchdogs stronger powers to take action on foreign TV channels broadcasting hate preachers and extremist messages. Britain has provided logistics, air-to-air refueling, and surveillance, Cameron said. “Challenging extremist ideology is what we all want, but we need to define tightly and closely what extremism is rather than perpetuate a deep misunderstanding of Islam”.

“And like so many ideologies that have existed before – whether fascist or communist – many people, especially young people, are being drawn to it”. This argument, the grievance justification, must be challenged.

“I am going to set up a new community engagement forum so I can hear directly from those who are challenging extremism”, he said.

Cameron called on Internet and media companies and college campuses to show more restraint in giving platforms to inflammatory rhetoric – not just overtly jihadist speech but also other pernicious ideas that feed such viewpoints, such as anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. “It’s groups like [Islamic State], al-Qaeda and Boko Haram that are the ones murdering Muslims”.

He added that the strategy must be to tackle both the “non-violent and violent” parts of the ideology and to “embolden different voices” within the Muslim community.

And there would be a “total rethink” of efforts in prison to combat radicalisation.

Cameron, returning to one of his common themes, criticised what he said was the overly careful treatment of religious minorities in Britain and said his government would more forcefully confront “some pretty uncomfortable debates” about faith-based issues such as forced marriage, female genital cutting, indoctrination in schools and the legitimacy of Shariah courts. “But as we do, the British values we adhere to and the British institutions we rely on are open to everyone”. “You are cannon fodder for them,”.

“Although these chemical attacks appear to be test cases, we expect Daesh construction skills to advance rapidly as they have for other IEDS (improvised explosive devices)”, said Emmanuel Deisser, managing director at Sahan Research.