What Hope Is There for Britain?

This article first appeared in New English Review.


Usman Khan


The (latest) London Bridge attack on November 29  underscores just how sick  Great Britain has become. Although it was heartening to see ordinary citizens go after the attacker with everything they could get their hands on and equally heartening to see (armed) cops shoot the killer down, what we learn in the immediate aftermath is so sickening that we have to question whether this country can really survive.

First, we learn that the attacker, Usman Khan, a Muslim born in Britain of Pakistani parents, had already been imprisoned for plotting a previous terrorist attack in 2010, an intended bombing of the London Stock Exchange. He was released in December 2018 and was even wearing an ankle bracelet when he was shot dead after killing two people with a knife. So what we know is that two innocent people are dead due to the feckless, naive judicial system of Great Britain. This man should have been locked up for life. Instead, he was enrolled in some rehabilitation program offered by Cambridge University. One wonders how the learned professors will explain this one to their classes.

But to add insult to injury, we are now subjected to the usual liberal talking points coming out of British media wringing their hands over the "discrimination" against Muslims that led Khan, in despair, to resort to radicalism and murder. Not only that, we are told that (as always) it is not the dead and wounded or their families who are the victims, rather it is the Muslim community itself because once again, the public is forced to associate Islam with violence. Britain's liberal media outlet, The Guardian has this piece in response to the latest savagery.

In addition, some are calling for an investigation into why the police shot Khan to death. He had been disarmed by the civilians and was then unarmed when shot though I can't say for sure they were aware that the knife had been taken away. He was also wearing what police are describing as a "hoax" suicide belt and was not submitting when the shots were fired. Given the facts and circumstances surrounding the stabbings and seeing what appeared to be a suicide belt, there was a clear perception of a deadly threat. I don't know what the laws and police guidelines in Britain are in police shooting cases, but in the US, if a cop is in reasonable fear for his/her life or the lives of others, deadly force can be justified. Had that suicide belt been real and the cops had held their fire, they might all be dead as well as a few of those by-standers.

Instead of laying blame on the police for killing Khan, Britain should be taking steps to ensure that all of their cops are armed. The days of the unarmed Bobbie in Merry Olde England should be a thing of the past. The country, especially London, has become too damned dangerous, thanks to the multi-cultural joys of Islam.

After each horrific attack, one wonders when the Europeans will say enough is enough. Close the borders, get rid of the so-called asylum-seekers and migrants (Khan was British-born), and put in place stiff punishments for terrorists. Yet, they never seem to learn the basic truth: While not all Muslims are terrorists or violent, Islam is an inherently violent ideology, and kid gloves will not protect the public from this savagery.