UK facing 30-year battle against extremism: security chief
Pastor Dale Morgan
*UK facing 30-year battle against extremism: security chief*
From correspondents in London
October 31, 2007 12:49pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
BRITAIN is facing a generational battle against Islamist extremism that
could take up to 30 years to win, a former British Navy chief turned
security minister said.
Sir Alan West, who has responsibility for security and counter-terrorism
within the defence ministry, told The Sun tabloid that "we are talking
about a generation - and by that I would say 30 years".
"That doesn't mean necessarily that we are going to stay at a severe
level of threat for all those years. But to be able to say one has
absolutely changed the mind-set and thought of people is going to take a
generation."
Sir West, formerly head of the British Navy, had said in July that he
estimated that Britain faced a 15-year clash with Islamist extremism,
and his current comments come just days after Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah, currently in London on a state visit, accused Britain of
failing to act on Saudi intelligence that could have prevented the 2005
London bombings, a claim Britain has denied.
Of the battle against extremism, Sir West said: "It will be in phases.
After some years, it will become much better - and then (the threat)
will hopefully go."
"Perhaps I am being optimistic in thinking that we can get rid of it
entirely. But I think we can. I think 15 years is still a good time for
reducing it dramatically.
"But look at the Cold War. That lasted from 1949 to 1989, which was 40
years."
In the interview with The Sun, Sir West also conceded that it was
"highly likely" that Britain would be the site of another terrorist
attack, saying: "We hope they won't be an attack (sic) ... we can't
always predict it."
Sir West's initial estimate of 15 years was made in the immediate
aftermath of failed car bombings in London and Glasgow in June, days
after Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister.