It’s official: Gordon Brown is no Tony Blair

Erasing any doubt that he is not as resolute on confonting the threat of terrorism on his own soil from Islamofascists as his predecessor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has mandated a ‘new tone’ from the Brown government on how to refer to terror attacks and the war on terror in the UK:

Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word “Muslim” in ­connection with the ­terrorism crisis.

The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on ­terror” is to be dropped.

The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more “consensual” tone than existed under Tony Blair.

However, the change provoked claims last night that ministers are indulging in yet more political correctness.

[…]

Mr Brown’s spokesman acknowledged yesterday that ministers had been given specific guidelines to avoid inflammatory language.

“There is clearly a need to strike a consensual tone in relation to all communities across the UK” the spokesman said. “It is important that the country remains united.”

He confirmed that the phrase “war on terror” – strongly associated with Mr Blair and US President George Bush – has been dropped.

Officials insist that no direct links with Muslim extremists have been publicly confirmed by police investigating the latest attempted terror attacks. Mr Brown himself did not refer to Muslims or Islam once in a BBC TV interview on Sunday.

Ms Smith also avoided any such reference in her statement to MPs yesterday.

One Brit official in the government has the right idea:

Tory backbencher Philip Davies said: “I don’t know what purpose is served by this. I don’t think we need pussyfoot around when talking about ­terrorism.”

Indeed. Too bad he’s not the new Prime Minister.

And what to make of these comments?

But former Tory homeland security spokesman Patrick Mercer said: “This is quite a smart idea. We know that the vast majority of Muslims are not involved in terrorism and we have to accept there are sensitivities about these matters.”

What a stupid remark that conveniently ignores the real problem. No one has asserted that “most Muslims” are terrorists: they’ve correctly asserted that most terror attacks today are committed by Islamofascists, most of whom happen to be Muslims.

This is worrisome, to say the least, because being politically correct on any issue – especially this one – only infects and kills open and honest discussions about the threats we face, discussions that should lead to effective responses and solutions for the problem. More problematic is that we have a Congress led by Democrats right now who have outlawed the use of the phrase “global war on terror” amongst each other, in reports, and to the public when …. well, referring to the global war on terror. Not only that, but the left for years has been decrying the use of the term “Islamofascists” (CAIR is on the same page with the left on the use of that term, BTW) to describe Muslim terrorists (in addition to trying to make Bush out to be more of a threat to civilization than Islamofascism). Couple that with the real possibility that we could have a Democrat elected to the WH next year, and you can just bet that Islamic terrorists are laughing at it, loving it …

… and looking forward to exploiting it.

Melanie Phillips nails it:

If we don’t understand, even now, that what we are facing is a religious war, a jihad against the unbeliever and backsliding Muslims across the world we cannot possibly hope to defend ourselves against it. Yet while former Islamist extremists such as Hassan Butt and Ed Husain are urgently telling us the truth, Gordon Brown’s new administration is shutting its ears and embarking on a suicidally stupid and cowardly strategy. Astoundingly, it has decided to deny the religious element of this jihad altogether, to redefine Islamic terrorism as mere criminality and to ban all terms that call this horror by its proper name.

[…]

For ‘consensual’, read bowdlerised, censored and dissimulatory; and for ‘united’, read defeated. This is a disastrous beginning to Brown’s premiership. The terrorism we face is a jihad carried out in the name of Islam, mandated by the principal religious authorities in the world of Islam and drawing on theological concepts in Islam. That doesn’t mean all Muslims go along with it; many do not, and many are indeed its victims. But to deny that it is a war which draws its authority from Islamic precepts is to deny the truth. That is why it is not enough for British Muslims to condemn these acts of terror. They have to acknowledge that what drives these acts is a part of the faith to which they subscribe — a part which they must renounce.

In the light of that, the Commons statement yesterday by the new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith — whose performance had our terminally frivolous and ignorant media drooling in pleasure this morning — was an absolute disgrace. Clearly following instructions to avoid telling the truth in this new strategy of ‘consensual’ dissimulation, she conspicuously avoided talking about Muslims or Islam. Instead, she spoke — absurdly — about ‘communities’ and insisted that these terrorist outrages were merely ‘criminal’ acts. Exactly which ‘community leaders’ will she be talking to, one wonders, about the problem posed by these purely ‘criminal’ activities? Hindus? Chinese? Rastafarians?

Bang on.

So many on the left – whether at home or abroad, seem to relish wallowing in ignorance because – as they say -ignorance is bliss, but in this case, ignorance can be deadly. Has been deadly.

Blair’s gone. Let’s just hope the UK’s fighting spirit hasn’t left with him.

Gateway Pundit writes:

The verdict may still be out on Great Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but this was not a very promising sign.

My verdict is in. The headline of this post pretty much says it all.

Also blogging about this: Jules Crittenden, Little Green Footballs, Solomania, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, American Mind

Prior/Related:

• 5 arrested, search is on for more after three attempted terror attacks in London, Glasgow
• Blair formally hands over power to Gordon Brown
• The end of an era: Tony Blair to announce tomorrow when he will leave office

Flashback:

• UK: Teachers not teaching Holocaust out of fear of ‘offending Muslims’
• It’s official: British police to brief ‘panel of Muslim leaders’ before terror raids
• Tony Blair slams anti-Americanism in Europe